Wednesday, 4 September
At Belmont Intermediate we are proud of our ongoing commitment to educational excellence and strive to respond to our learners’ needs in this ever-changing world. We take pride in the programmes and opportunities we offer our students and work collectively to create a vibrant, engaging and strengths-based learning environment.
Part of the core responsibility of any educational institution is to meet the needs of all its learners. We want to ensure a fair and equitable education for all our students and build a culture that not only sees the value of diversity but embraces it as a cornerstone of success. To ensure equality for all learners, we must avoid the potential of creating any learning barriers based on ability, gender, ethnicity, and/or culture.
As a school, we have decided to phase out our Extension classes which are selected based on academic ability. Our current Year 7 Extension cohort will be transitioned through to Year 8 Extension, but no new Year 7 Extension class will be offered in 2025. By the end of 2025, there will no longer be any stand-alone extension classes at BIS. This decision is supported by research and the New Zealand Centre for Gifted Education.
Cluster groupings in literacy, numeracy and overall academics will continue in both Years 7 and 8. While we are phasing out our Extension classes, we want to reassure you that extension opportunities will continue to be offered in the arts, science, languages, technology, and sports from 2025. These opportunities will be available to all students, regardless of their academic ability in literacy and numeracy.
Our collective belief is that education should be equitable and hold the highest aspirations for all our students; we want our adolescents to see a world of possibilities, not limitations. At BIS, our intent is to provide a quality-based and balanced education programme that includes identification, differentiation, quality learning opportunities, peer interaction, social and emotional skills, and staff development. Our programme accelerates student learning as well as allowing students to go deeper and wider, to think differently, to ask big conceptual questions, to research independently, and to follow their passions.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact the Principal, Nick Hill at nhill@belmontint.school.nz
