Educational Enrichment

A school of exceptional international students offers a tremendous educational resource for New Zealand.

Regular and structured interaction with the United World College could greatly extend and enrich the experiences and raise the expectations of students in other schools. This is particularly valuable for schools in low population density areas where students are relatively isolated from regular contact with other schools.

A range of programmes could be developed by the UWC students. The following list is based on a preliminary review of existing colleges and initial scoping of schools and organisations in the Southland/Otago region. It can be extended to other involve other parts of New Zealand.

Benefits would extend to:

• Gifted and Talented students across all ages – a significantly under-resourced group in our schools.
• Senior leadership students.
• Disadvantaged students.
• All students through increasing aspirations.
• Children of solo parents.
• Children with drug and alcohol issues.

The work of Stage Two will provide further development of these options.

Assistance Within Schools

Several United World Colleges run service programmes that directly support education within their region’s schools.

For example, Atlantic College’s Community Education Partnership (CEP) provides support for regional primary and secondary schools.

Reading partnership, support in foreign language learning and assistance in personal and social education classes are all part of UWC service contributions to the regional community. Students work on the theme of global citizenship with young people aged three to eighteen.

Such programmes provide a bridge for student interaction and help develop local children’s global perspective.

Weekend Student Retreats

The United World College students could host regular weekend retreats for gifted and talented and other leadership students. Covering a range of topics, these retreats would provide inspiration and enrichment for selected senior students from each of the region’s schools.

Student Forums

Regular forums to focus on local and global issues are a feature of United World colleges. Often incorporating international keynote speakers, these are a source of lively debate and spawn ongoing action campaigns.

Coordinated by the United World College students, they may be based at the UWC campus or spread throughout the region’s schools. The programme can be developed to include forums suitable for junior, middle and senior age groups.

Such forums would extend the vision and horizon of young people in our region.

Higher Thinking

Along with retreats and forums, the United World College could support existing and initiate new higher level thinking programmes in our region.

This might include direct support for existing gifted and talented initiatives such as Wakatipu High School’s Angelo Programme. It could also develop and enhance regional competitions such as ‘Future Problem Solving’ and ‘Odyssey of the Mind’.

Holiday Enrichment Programmes

In large cities such as Auckland, many educational enrichment programmes are available for enthusiastic and enterprising children during school holidays. Lack of affordable access leaves our region’s children disadvantaged.

United World College students could develop and manage such programmes that could be based at its Wakatipu campus or operate from satellite centres throughout the region.

 

School Development

In partnership with Secondary Futures, a New Zealand initiative to develop student centred schools, the United World College could provide a model for a cluster of schools within the region.

There are several international examples, including the recently established UWCIBO College in Bosnia, where United World Colleges have been used to model and ultimately influence the educational process.

Virtual Classroom

Lester Pearson College has won has won international awards for the development of school curricular in the virtual classroom based on environmental themes. We see similar opportunity to use the college’s environmental focus to support local schools deliver curricula.

With the option to integrate with school camps, this would allow extensive virtual material to build on real experience.

Camps and Courses

Several of the United World Colleges run regular adventure and youth development camps. At Atlantic College, for example, week-long camps run continuously and have provided support to over 20,000 disadvantaged youth from throughout the United Kingdom.

Our college in the Wakatipu could support a range of camps for people within this region. These could be relatively simple adventure programmes, or in partnership with Outward Bound and other specialist providers, could target more specific needs.

Options might include:

• School camps, especially the coordinating of programmes for small rural schools.
• Adventure camps for disadvantaged youth.
• Drug and alcohol support.
• Special needs students
• Disadvantaged youth
• Gifted and talented
• Student leadership

 

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