About Us
Page Last Updated: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 8:45 PM

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Otumoetai Intermediate School is a decile 7 school located in the north of Tauranga City. This area is not only one of the fastest growing areas of the city, but also represents a diverse range of cultural groups.

Over the past five years the city has experienced dynamic change through rapid and continued population growth. The roll of the school at the end of 2009 was 812.

The staff, pupils and community are driven by a desire for excellence. A special feature of the school is the strong parental support it receives and a commitment by everyone involved towards giving each pupil a quality education.

The school's current focus is on developing a learning partnership between students and their teachers throughout each classroom, enabling each pupil to be able to articulate the following questions:

• What am I learning and why?
  
  
• How do I know how well I am doing?
  
  
• How am I going towards achieving my learning goals?
  
  
• Where to next?

A significant aspect of this focus is the expectation of continuous improvement in all that we do. That is students, teachers and the school generally.

Change has been ongoing and dynamic with the school site extensively redeveloped over the past few years. Emphasis is on achieving a positive learning environment. The staff and community believe "If the students are happy they'll be able to learn. If the staff are happy they'll be better teachers." Our community works hard to foster this approach and ensure our students become life-long learners.

We are a school where:

• A wide variety of rich learning experiences engage students in activities of choice where they can pursue and extend their interests.

• Skilled teaching is evident and there are examples of professional practice where programme delivery is exemplary.

• The range and quality of the specialist courses experienced by students is a feature of the school.  Innovative and committed teachers work in well-resourced rooms to provide stimulating and challenging programmes. 

• Classrooms are characterised by a strong sense of order, established routine, respectful reciprocal relationships and high expectations for learning and behaviour. 

• Teachers have established learning environments that are calm and settled, where students are focused and engaged in purposeful learning. (ERO 2007)