Philosophy
In 1984, Mountainview High School was built using the Macleans College whānau model which essentially involves a central common room surrounded by classrooms. This model was investigated as an alternative by the Ministry of Education in response to a need for students to have a place to meet and a sense of belonging and identity.
Students
At the beginning of Year 9, students are allocated into a whānau – Hiwi, Moana or Whenua. It is here that they become part of an extended family of both staff and students. They will remain in this whānau for their time at our school. Preference is given to students who have family links existing within a whānau. We endeavour at Year 9 and 10 for students to be taught by teachers who also belong to that whānau for their core classes. This assists with building strong, respectful relationships between students and staff and develops a further sense of community.
Organisation
The school is based around three central whānau blocks. Each whānau is allocated a leader who leads the whānau and is responsible for the care of the students in it, their conduct and attendance. Each whānau leader is supported by an assistant who collaborates with the leader to complete a range of jobs. The Whānau Leader’s job includes running fortnightly assemblies, promoting whānau spirit and organising the friendly activities that provide the inter-whanau competition. Each year the whānau compete for the Preen Shield which has a history going back to 1942 when the school was Timaru Technical College. The teachers in the whānau, mentor students in their role as a group teacher. A group consists of approximately 20 students and contain students of all Year levels. This fosters student leadership and promotes on going peer support. The group teacher acts as the first point of contact for a parent and if the matter is of further concern, please feel free to contact the whānau leader.
