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School Day

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Latest News

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Our Learning

Our Learning

‘Learning in Paradise’

 

These are a few of the things that make the learning culture at Big Rock School special:
  • Equality and Equity in Education
  • Little Rockets (Let’s Get Ready for School for 4 year olds)
  • Excellent literacy programmes and high achievement levels
  • Great maths programmes and learning resources leading to great achievement
  • Specialist Maths programmes
  • Information and Communication Technology (1 laptop for every child aged 8 and over at no cost to family and whanau)
  • No fees or donations
  • Outstanding children and families
  • Kapa Haka
  • The Kid's Kitchen- Regular cooking and nutrition experiences for all children
  • An amazing Education Outside the Classroom (Camps, kayaking, paddle boarding, skiing, deep sea fishing, scuba diving, curriculum based trips and of course our beautiful beach) 
  • Beautiful heated and covered swimming pool
  • Senior Surfing Programme
  • EOTC Cycling adventures (Year 4 Up)
  • Minecraft Education
  • Well stocked library with all books purchased after surveying whanau
  • STEM and integrated learning programmes
  • Google school
  • Mountain Bike Adventure Extension Groups from Year 3-8

Kia ora and welcome,

My name is David Grant and I have the very real privilege of being the Principal of Big Rock Primary School. A role where I get to work with amazing teaching and support staff, supportive whanau and most importantly incredible, hard-working, engaged, friendly, resilient, happy children.

Our aim at Big Rock Primary School is to ensure that we provide the very best educational and developmental experiences we can for all of our students.

We do this by having Rock solid foundations in Numeracy and Literacy and by working hard to provide an environment that is stimulating and safe for your children to learn and grow. Our success levels in the core areas of Reading, Writing and Mathematics are excellent. Our programmes are based on a topic based integrated approach where children’s interests and key learning areas such as Science, Social Sciences, Art and Technology are integrated into Reading and Writing and Mathematics programmes to add meaning and depth as well as creating engaging and relevant learning experiences. 

This is supported by modern teaching methods, plentiful modern teaching resources, sensible class sizes and highly skilled positive teachers.

To further support our Reading, Writing and Mathematics programmes we utilise a teaching model that we developed at Big Rock, that is based on the three concepts of Investigation, Explanation and Presentation. This allows and encourages the children’s inquiring minds to explore, share their thoughts and ideas, while developing their presentation skills and strategies.

Further to this, we understand that for a curriculum to be meaningful we utilise E.O.T.C. so that there are class trips to support all topic based learning. Learning experiences have to be real and meaningful.

We also have an in-depth adventure based Education Outside the Classroom programme that includes surfing, kayaking, mountain bike adventures and road safety, deep sea fishing and scuba diving. The benefits of these programmes is much more than just biking, kayaking etc, but they support self-esteem and mental health, which has led to improved outcomes for many children in core curriculum areas.

We also have a full biking programme as part of our curriculum, that involves all children, from early riders in the younger years, to Advanced Mountain Bike extension groups.

Our goal is to have happy, resilient, lifelong learners with Rock solid foundations in Reading, Writing and Mathematics. Our curriculum and curriculum delivery is achieving this, with excellent achievement levels, high levels of engagement and attendance and happy resilient children. Of course this would not be possible without the support of our amazing whanau and the incredible children.

Big Rock is a great place to learn, play, grow and develop. It’s a pretty cool place to come and work as well.

What's happening at Big Rock Primary School?

Upcoming Events in October

Thu 23

New Zealand Primary School’s Strike Action - School Closed

23 Oct 2025

Latest Notices

An Important Message from the Board of Trustees
16 Oct 2025

Please find attached an important letter from the Board of Trustees

Thank you

Road-safety-message-from-the-Board-of-Trustees-1.docx

Air hockey table
16 Oct 2025

Hi, earlier in the year we were gifted an air hockey table. At the time it seemed like a great idea, however, it is just too big for the school to make any real usage of. It is is very large.

It is in full working order.

It would be suitable for a sports club, social club or a very lspace at home like a garage.

If anyone is interested, it is free to a good home but will need to be collected. 

If you are interested or know of an organisation that is interested, please get in touch. It will be first in first served, but that will also be dependent on how quickly it can be collected.

School families will be given priority.

Thank you

Chicken Pox
16 Oct 2025

Good morning, we have a reported case of Chicken Pox in the school. Please keep an eye out for symptoms. The initial symptoms are flu like- headache, achy body, nausea etc, beofe the spots appear.
Chicken Pox is highly contagious, if your child has the symptoms or the spots have started to appear, please keep your child home.
We would also greatly appreciate it of you could inform us asap.
Thank you

Supporters and Sponsors

Parents, please support our local businesses

McClelland Heat Pumps & Refrigeration Ltd Justin Time Plumbing Services Ltd Keith Kippenberger - Cutlers Real Estate
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