Effort overlooked in new curriculum: principal

Curriculum changes could leave pupils feeling they are failures, outgoing primary school principal Susan Dennison says.

Next week, Mrs Dennison leaves Mataura Primary School after 20 years in the top job.

But she leaves with concerns new government-mandated report cards do not take enough account of pupils’ effort.

‘‘It’s very hard, I think, to put children into boxes and say ... ‘this is where you’re at’.

‘‘Because we never want to feel that our kids are failures,’’ Mrs Dennison said.

A government shake-up of the primary school curriculum means student progress is now evaluated differently in reports sent to parents and extended family each year.

From this year, new progress markers have been rolled out that determine a student’s proficiency as emerging, developing, consolidating, proficient or exceeding.

However, this did not allow teachers to highlight a pupil’s strong effort even if their achievement was not high, Mrs Dennison said.

‘‘You [may] think your child’s not doing well, but actually for them, they’ve made great progress,’’ Mrs Dennison said.

Schools and kura started to implement the new reporting standards in term 2.

From the start of term 3, Mrs Dennison will take over as principal at Tainui School, in Dunedin.

This will be her fifth school since she began teaching more than three decades ago.

She taught in Greymouth and Christchurch before moving to Gore in the mid-1990s.

In Gore, she taught at Longford Intermediate (which merged with Gore High School to form Māruawai College in 2023), was deputy principal at St Mary’s School and then returned to Longford to fill the same role.

She was appointed principal of Mataura Primary School in January 2006.

Among the highlights of her 20 years at the school, Mrs Dennison noted the rural school’s year 5 and 6 camps, an All Blacks visit to the school in 2015, a hot air balloon ride for pupils in 2021 and Paralympian Dame Sophie Pascoe’s visit in 2024.

Mrs Dennison also spoke highly of her teaching colleagues.

‘‘[It will be] very hard leaving this lot ... they’re real special to me.

‘‘I will miss them terribly.’’

Mrs Dennison said she often spoke of the school as being her ‘‘fourth child’’.

‘‘Sometimes the boundaries between home and school are very much blurred.’’

Former Mataura School pupil Ian Hastie has been appointed acting principal.

‘‘I know that they have certainly got a fabulous, kind principal coming for terms 3 and 4, and [Mr Hastie] will do a magnificent job,’’ Mrs Dennison said.

‘‘He will continue to be a strong advocate for those kids who need someone in their corner.’’