Celebrations

“Celebrating success and progress at TCS”

At Tahatai we celebrate success and progress in all areas of school life to build our students’ self-esteem and confidence, and to promote the high standards of behaviour and attitudes we believe our community is capable of achieving. We celebrate our school values being put into action and we celebrate learning from our mistakes. 

Here at Tahatai Coast School we regularly celebrate success and achievement to build self-esteem and to promote examples of desirable behaviours and attitudes. Success can be viewed as someone demonstrating any one of the following:

Success at Tahatai Coast School

Success is celebrated in a variety of ways:

• Instant recognition - verbally
• Celebration assemblies
• Whānau assemblies
• Values certificates - Presented in each class at the end of each day or in Whānau Assemblies. These awards acknowledge those who have been respectful, responsible, demonstrated perseverance, acted with integrity or who have strived for excellence.
• Travel safe certificates
• Special acknowledgements and awards from involvement in cultural, academic or sporting events. 

Teachers can also send students to share work with the Principal and often receive a special “Principal’s acknowledgement” for their efforts. 

The school’s fortnightly newsletter, website and Facebook pages are regularly used to celebrate and promote examples of student success.

Learning and Behaviour Acknowledgements and Certificates

Our positive culture is supported through the school’s core values and the TCS We Live & We Learn behaviours (key competencies). At Tahatai we recognise students when these values and learning behaviours are being attempted, modelled or encouraged to others, to foster and promote these important life skills and attributes. 

Throughout the day teachers actively look to recognise students who are trying to be the very best that they can be. This is often done verbally, but teachers will also acknowledge this through our school’s values certificates, happy grams or We Live & We Learn certificates.
Examples of behaviours that could be recognised include:

Our Core Values:

1. Respect/Whakaute
   • Caring for and including others.
   • Knowing that their actions and words affect others.
   • Considering their environment and treating it with care.
   • Appreciating differences and learning from others.
   • Respecting the rights of others.
2. Responsibility/Haepapa
   • Trying their best.
   • Being accountable for their actions and choices.
   • Caring and being responsible for their school and local community environment.
   • Expanding the awareness of global environmental issues.
   • Being reliable and conscientious.
3. Integrity/Tika
   • Being honest and reliable.
   • Showing commitment.
   • Making the right choice.
   • Being true to themselves and to others.
4. Perseverance/Te Manawanui
   • When things got hard they stayed positive, kept going or tried a new way to solve a problem.
   • Saw the bigger picture was to keep things in perspective.
   • Took action, and made something positive happen.
   • Accepted challenge and took a risk.
   • Persisted, showing determination to achieve a goal
5. Personal Excellence/Te Hiranga Whaiaro
   • Did their best to a level of which they were really  proud.
   • Sets high standards and took action to reach them.
   • Was aspirational.
   • Strived to achieve a goal/s.
   • Encouraged and modelled high expectations.

Our ‘We Live & We Learn’ Behaviours:

1. We Support
   • Shows compassion and empathy
   • Demonstrates emotional intelligence in their interactions with others
   • Is culturally intelligent
   • Shows understanding of living in a global society and respecting others
   • Collaborates; listens to others and contributes to the group
2. We Communicate
   • Has the confidence and self-worth to communicate their ideas with other people
   • Is an active listener
   • Successfully communicates their ideas
3. We Think
   • Is a critical thinker who asks relevant questions
   • Knows that learning is lifelong
   • Finds, uses, and critiques information to problem-solve and make informed decisions
   • Reflects on their learning and uses this to identify next steps
4. We Self-manage
   • Is a confident learner, who takes responsibility for their own learning
   • Is resilient in their learning
   • Shows how they learn from their successes and mistakes
5. We Belong
   • Shows they were proud of their identity and demonstrates self-belief in their ability to interact in the community and wider world
   • Is a global citizen sharing their unique talents
   • Forms and maintains positive relationships with others
6. We Create
   • Is curious about the world and asks great questions
   • Is creative in the way that they think about problems, and seeking purposeful & innovative solutions
   • Can express themself in a variety of ways
   • Can create a positive digital footprint.

Celebration Assemblies

These are held at the end of each term to celebrate the achievements of our students.
 

End of Year Assembly 

An end-of-year assembly is held in Term 4 and acknowledges student achievements throughout the year through formal speeches, certificates and awards. The final assembly is a formal celebration and involves the whole school. 

End of Year Graduation Dinner and Dance 

An end-of-year graduation dinner and dance is held for our Year 6 students to celebrate and acknowledge their many achievements, efforts and contributions while attending TCS. This is a formal dinner and is something new for our school. Parents are also invited to listen to the speeches before being able to attend their own special function held in the staffroom.