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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.
Message from Precision Chess Academy
I'm excited to share that our new online chess platform has just launched and is being offered free of charge to all students across New Zealand for the next 14 weeks.
The platform provides a safe and secure environment for students from schools across New Zealand to play chess against one another, with no open communication or messaging features.
Students receive an Elo rating based on FIDE conventions, allowing them to track their progress and improvement over time. Alongside playing games, the platform also provides puzzles, lessons and full game analysis with coaching feedback to help students develop their understanding and improve their chess.
I've attached the platform brochure, which provides further information on how the platform works and how students can join. If you'd like to share it with your students, that would be fantastic, and we'd be very happy for them to take advantage of the free 14-week access.
Ben Ottewell
Administration & Business Development Coordinator
Precision Chess Academy
Good morning, We will be finalising our futsal teams this morning and entering them in the draw.
If you have put your child's name forward and have changed your mind or they have changed theirs, can you please let us now asap, as it may affect the make up of teams
Thanks
Hi all, here is some additional information that may be of use if you are still considering the futsal option
Thanks
Years 1–4
Tuesday, 13 October–1 December
8 weeks | 22-minute games
$322 per team, including GST
Registrations close Friday 25 September
Years 5–8
Wednesday, 14 October–2 December
8 weeks | 22-minute games
$322 per team, including GST
Registrations close Friday 25 September
Hi, everyone, this is the final call for Term Four futsal. Please let us know asap if your child is keen to play.
Thanks
Big Rock Primary School Board of Trustees Update – September 2026
Kia ora koutou,
The Board met this week, and we’d like to keep you informed on a few current matters.
Welcome to our new Board member: We were pleased to welcome Catherine Shayler to
her first Board meeting. We look forward to working with her as part of our Board and
continuing to support our school and wider community.
Education Review Office (ERO): The Board took the opportunity to reflect on the recent
ERO visit. The initial feedback and communication from ERO was very positive, and we
appreciated the opportunity to showcase the great work happening across our school. We
are now awaiting the final report, which we look forward to sharing with our school
community when it is available. We would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge
and thank our teaching and support staff for the care, commitment and hard work they put
into supporting our tamariki every day. We are grateful for the work they do to create a
positive learning environment and support our children to grow and thrive.
School Policies: Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the recent survey
about our school dress policy. The overall response indicated support for the current policy.
The Board is progressing with the review of our school policies through a new policy
management system. Once the system is fully established, relevant policies will be available
to our wider school community to view.
Community Consultation: We have been working on plans for a community consultation
event early in Term 4. This will be an opportunity for our school community to share their
ideas, aspirations and vision for Big Rock Primary School over the coming years. We look
forward to hearing from our whānau and wider community and working together to help
shape the future direction of our school.
Our next Board meeting will be held on Thursday, 22nd October at 3:30 pm.
Ngā mihi nui
Lisa Daniels (Presiding Member)
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