School busing out of zone...

 An interesting phenomenon is still occurring since I was a high school teacher back in the 1990s and that's early morning school buses bussing students out of South Auckland areas to mainly inner city grammar schools, or high schools across the bridge (Mangere Bridge) or to some Catholic high schools.

This is particularly evident for girls as I now also drop my elder child off to bus to her school and there are bus loads of girls awaiting their buses to various destinations. The perception is that there is a better chance of a child succeeding outside of South Auckland schools and parents/caregivers are willing to sacrifice or to commit extra dollars for bus fares, early morning/evening drop off and pick ups with higher school fees/donations and more expensive uniforms etc.

In being a parent in this same category and having been schooled in my formative years (although many years ago) in Mangere, South Auckland, I definitely think that school culture has a lot to do with it as well as teacher expectations and teacher expertise.

In growing up, I had a mix of teachers: those with high expectations and those with low and then there were those who had expertise in their areas of teaching and those who didn't. When I became a teacher, I saw first hand the difference that I could make in having high expectations of my students but also in my becoming an 'expert' in my subject area.

I'll never forget how I was given a senior Year 13 English class to teach, in my 3rd year of teaching (I was only 28 at the time) and was told by the Head teacher not to expect too much from these students as hardly any students made it through the end of year exams. I made it my business to know all the areas of the exam, to teach texts that were relevant, study writing styles and to teach with passion and a shared understanding offering weekend classes and extra writing.

When I returned from a much needed sojourn overseas with my family, I was congratulated in a team meeting by the very person who'd said that I wasn't to expect much from those students. Needless to say that around half the class passed the exams with a couple acing their exams which was unprecedented at the time. Those who didn't pass, knew I gave it my best shot and it changed their lives and mine forever. I was only allowed to teach that class for an extra year with similar results.

And that's why I make the same decision to make those sacrifices and commitment to give my child the best shot that I can to be schooled where the expectations on the first day are that every child will achieve (as the principal spoke at yesterday's assembly) and that is their business...