Takaka Primary School has a settled start
New Takaka Primary School teacher Lynda Wootton being mummified by students during a first aid course.
Schools are back into the swing of another studious and fun year. Takaka Primary School principal Neil Batten is pleased with the term’s harmonious beginning.
“The children are already quite settled and it is a nice steady work term. At last week’s swimming sports our children did exceptionally well and they are off soon to school camps at Totaranui.”
The roll is up by seven children and there have been some staff changes. The position held by Derek Hickin, who has moved to Richmond, has been advertised, and new teacher Lynda Wootton has started teaching years five and six, taking over from Garth Bray.
One of Lynda’s first challenges as Takaka Primary’s new teacher was to be bandaged up during a first aid course.
“They wrapped me up as a mummy until I could not move any more and the blood was draining from me. They loved it, but then they went straight for my neck.”
Lynda brings to her position a long list of other talents and qualifications. Born and bred in Christchurch, she moved to Wellington as a teenager to train as a ballerina with the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Later she got a psychology degree at Victoria University before going to teachers’ college. She spent her last three-and-a-half years at a school in East London with “some interesting cherubs.”
“They were very different from the children in New Zealand. In London, I had a lot of Muslim children who were not allowed to do much outside, and here it is totally different. The children here have a lot of general knowledge of things like the beach or the farm, and they are so lovely. They also talk to you differently and they come to school with no shoes on. In my old school we were not even allowed to wear jandals, and it is nice to just kick off your shoes at the door.”
The emphasis on teaching in England was different too, Lynda said, with a lot of teaching to standardised testing as opposed to the enquiry-based teaching in New Zealand and interweaving of broad topics through other curriculum areas.
“At the moment I’m getting a routine established as the children don’t know me, and I have brought a new method with me to teach English and the children have cottoned on really quickly. It’s a simple model to establish vocabulary, connective words, the organisation of sentences so they flow, and punctuation.”
Lynda says she appreciates the Bay’s outdoor recreation opportunities and its easygoing lifestyle.
“Takaka is a bit like how New Zealand should all be like. On my way to work people look at me and say good morning. It is definitely good to be home, although I miss the travelling a bit.”
Ina Holst
