Message from our Principal- Tony Austin ( Dip.Tch, B.ed, M.ed)

Kia ora koutou. Nau mai haere mai ki tenei kura, welcome to Kilbirnie school.

Our school opened in 1884, the first school in the eastern suburbs of Wellington. We are very proud of our history and very excited about the current and future work of our school. In 2015 we worked with the school community, staff and students to review the vision that drives our work. We based this review on our understanding of how students learn and our thinking about the competencies and skills we believe our students need to be successful now and in the future. These are presented in the Graduate Profile we developed. The modern world continues to change socially, economically and technologically.  Today’s young people are growing in a world with huge complexity and uncertainty. Consequently, a modern school needs to work differently if it is to prepare students to succeed.

We believe that if our students develop the dispositions expressed in our graduate profile, they will be well equipped to flourish as students and citizens. Our challenge as a school is to interpret our vision, values and graduate profile in classroom and school programmes. We think this starts with nurturing students’ curiosity and love of learning. Engagement in tasks, progress, achievement and innovation are natural extensions of this once students are engaged and motivated. We believe there is a clear synergy between student choice, independence and motivation to engage and learn.  Simply, learning and school must be interesting, personalized for needs and interests and it must be fun!

Our Graduate Profile.

When students leave Kilbirnie School at the end of year 6, they will be:

• Confident, resilient and willing to take risks
• Respectful of others and aware of tikanga Māori.
• Independent self-managers, who set goals, self-assess and reflect. 
• Literate, numerate and keen participants in physical activity.
• Skilled users of technologies and discerning consumers of information.
• Curious and engaged participants, contributors and leaders. 
• Creative, innovative and critical thinkers who communicate effectively. 
• Aware of the environment and eager to protect it.