A new school year means new students, but in the case of Totara Park School, the principal is hoping not too many.
Principal Joel Webby (above) describes his school as a “country school in the city”.
“We’re not too big, yet we’re big enough. It’s that community feel that attracted me to the school initially, and I’m enjoying that part of it,” he says.
The decile seven primary school currently has a roll of 285 pupils and he is expecting the count to rise to 315 by the end of this year.
“Our size is our strength, it allows us to form really good relationships with the kids and their parents,”he says.
Julie Ripaki, who has two children attending the school, says it’s a great school.
“It has a supportive network of teachers and is great at engaging with parents and teachers.”
The school does its best to make the environment safe, fun, and engaging.
Stacey Te Puia, who has a daughter attending the school, says her daughter loves going to school every day.
“She’s learning and she’s having fun doing it. The size of the school is definitely a contributing factor.”
Principal Joel Webby says that at the end of the day its kids wanting to go to school and enjoying being there and if they do that they’ll learn as well.
