Thursday, May 14, 2026

2:00 PM - 2:30 PM

P2

---

Overview

Ensuring collective well-being across the whole school for teachers, students, and parent community is not rocket science. It is about ensuring we all work together through a collaborative approach identifying our core philosophy to inform our priorities as an educational institution. This is informed by our local community connections and environmental context. Andrew will draw on his experience leading Ōropi School, where the local context and environment has been utilised to ensure our children are motivated to come to school and immersed in real life experiences to motivate them in their learning, on a daily basis. He will outline how this has brought staff and parents together for the wellbeing of our community, while also optimising the mental health of our children. It is relatively simply; connecting kids to the real world and natural environment, which does wonders. Links will be made to the work of the New Zealand Rural Schools Association, where an important element of our work is to highlight the strengths and opportunities a rural context can provide.

---

Speaker