Principal Bryce Coleman assists student Isaac London, 7 with his writing skills
Chinese, Japanese, Dutch and Te Reo Maori can be heard at Paremata School thanks to principal Bryce Coleman.
The north Porirua school has a role of around 380-390 students from years 1-8 and Spanish, Samoan and French languages can also be offered depending on teacher availability.
Bryce teaches the Chinese Mandarin language to years seven and eight as part of their language studies programme.
He introduced the Mandarin language to Te Aro School several years ago after there was a high influx of non-English speaking Chinese children.
He started teaching at Paremata School five years ago, after a six-and-a-half year stint as Te Aro School principal, which he really enjoyed.
Paremata School principal Bryce Coleman
“It was time for a new career challenge, and it’s twice the size here,” he says.
He is proud of the students.
“We have a number of students who do ICAS tests through the University of New South Wales, and we’ve had students achieving distinction and high distinction, and that’s in science, English, writing and spelling.”
Bryce has also taught in Glasgow and London in the United Kingdom.
“The environment’s different, but the curriculums are actually very similar.
“Most schools in the U.K. don’t have a field attached to the school and they’ve got concrete playgrounds.
“And you’re dictated to by the weather a lot.”
Despite the environmental differences, he says the way the UK lays out its terms is better though.
“What I really like about teaching in the UK was they would have three terms, and they would have a mid-term break in the middle of every term.
“I felt that the children didn’t get so sick, because children weren’t getting tired and rundown.”
He has also been teaching principal at Kaikoura Suburban School, which he says was hard work because they were under-resourced with only a few teachers for a fluctuating role of 40 to 70 students.