ONE DAY SCHOOL "to go beyond the known - New Zealand's leading programme for
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ONE DAY SCHOOL
“to go beyond the known....”
New Zealand’s leading programme for
gifted learners aged 6 to 12
Presented by
The George Parkyn National Centre for Gifted Education
Established 1995FROM OUR FOUNDER.. I like to see children running INTO school! Human beings are designed to be learners. The desire to know, to find out how things work, to make sense of what we see around us and what happens to us, to understand the reasons for things, is embedded deep in our natures. We speak of the joy of discovery, because this is exactly what it is: a joy and a profound satisfaction. Thus children are meant to be fascinated by the exciting, complex, intricate world around them. They are meant to be curious and to ask endless questions. They are supposed to speculate about the whys and wherefores and the what-could-be’s. They should be full of purposeful energy as they explore and experiment. And because everything that can be known is not yet known, they should be creative and inventive and at times unexpected! Learning like this takes place wherever a child is, not just at school, but school should be a place where a child can focus on such learning to his or her heart’s content. A place where adults partner children on this journey of exploration, gently teach the necessary skills and disciplines, exult with children in their discoveries, and themselves continue to search for greater knowledge, skill and understanding. A school that works like this is called a community of learners. In such a school, children do not become sad or angry or indifferent: they are what they are meant to be - busy, purposeful and happy, fulfilling their natural drive to learn. One Day School is a community of learners for gifted children, embracing and understanding their special learning needs. It offers an invigorating environment for children who need to work in more depth and at a higher level and supports them in exploring their talents and abilities. At the same time it cares about them as people and nurtures their confidence and personal development. As you explore this option for your child, I hope you will find that One Day School can give you and your child the satisfaction and encouragement it gives every day to those of us fortunate enough to spend their lives working and learning with these interesting young people.
WHAT IS ONE DAY SCHOOL?
• One Day School is about a sense of adventure -
keeping alive the joy and excitement of learning.
• One Day School is about challenge and satisfaction
- stretching the mind and imagination as far as they
will go.
• One Day School is about acceptance - discovering
that it’s okay to be gifted and finding that there are
others like you.
• One Day School is about partnership - parents,
teachers and One Day School staff working together to
find positive solutions to the needs of gifted children. Examples of themes explored at One Day School...
One Day School is a research-based learning and The nature of time; black holes; career opportunities in
development programme specially designed by leading Ancient Egypt; knot theory; Whale Rider; designing a
New Zealand practitioners to provide for the diverse street; making a bicycle with square wheels that works;
needs of the gifted learner. understanding DNA; building your own country...and so
on!
How does it work?
Children enrolled in One Day School spend one full Why is the One Day School effective?
school day each week at one of our venues, working • One Day School works because it is based on real
with children of about the same age and high ability understanding of the gifted child as a whole person.
level, under the guidance of one of our specially trained • One Day School cares for the child’s emotional and
teaching staff. social development as well as his or her intellectual
development.
• One Day School staff base their approach on the best
of research and experience in this field; many are
themselves parents of gifted children and bring this
extra insight to their work at One Day School.
Who can enrol? At what age?
Children who have exceptional ability in at least one area
of thinking, learning or doing.
Broadly speaking this means a child who has the potential
to perform in at least the top five percent in his or her
area of ability, although he or she may not currently be
What do children do at One Day School?
performing at that level at school.
Learning activities at One Day School are based on the
REACH model, and draw on strategies like Philosophy
Children can start at One Day School when they are
for Children and the Conceptual Curriculum. Lessons are
six, and can continue until the end of Year 8 (Form 2).
built round cross curricular themes. They:
The sooner we can identify and place a child, the more
• involve very advanced high-interest challenges to
we can help that child have a smooth passage through
children’s thinking and imagination
school.
• offer lots of choices across research, experiment,
construction, design, problem-solving, and creative
and artistic production and invention
• encourage the development of independent learning
skills and nurture confidence, self esteem and the
building of friendships
• provide for a range of different individual interests
and areas of ability
They are fun!
OUR MISSION STATEMENT
Our task is to ensure that each gifted individual is met with recognition and
understanding, and supported in developing his or her unique abilities and qualities
to the full.
Our hope is that each gifted child will grow in wisdom, insight and compassion in the
use of his or her talents in the wider world.How do I know if my child is gifted? • seems to have an astonishing amount of
Every child applying for One Day School goes through information on topics that would interest him or
a gentle but comprehensive assessment process to ensure her
that this is the right option for them. Our enrolment pack • is impatient with others who do not think as
gives you full information on how to go about this. As a quickly
starting point, the following information may help you: • thinks outside the square
• likes to share what he/she knows or is interested
It is important to remember that not all gifted children in and takes it for granted others will be interested
perform well at school. Sometimes we recognise too
giftedness through performance, but sometimes we can • invents games, stories or projects in his/her own
only recognise it through behaviour. It is reasonable to time
consider the possibility of giftedness in any one of the
following situations (more than one may apply) Finally, remember that sometimes giftedness is in just one
area, sometimes in most/many things.
1. The child shows sustained exceptional ability and
understanding in some field or fields of learning. How will my child benefit from One Day
School?
2. The child’s performance at school is erratic but at All One Day School children benefit from:
times shows flashes of remarkable insight or skill • being accepted and understood by peers
which surprise you. The child tells parents about • having genuine intellectual and creative challenge
feeling frustrated or bored or finding work too • doing work matched to the child’s level of ability and
easy or too repetitious. The child is either overly interest
meticulous or does not seem to care at all about the • having time to explore topics in greater depth and
standard of his/her work. The child seems to have from many different perspectives
difficulty making friends and often prefers working • having an opportunity to study related and
alone or is a “natural leader”. The child appears complementary subject areas together - not restricted
passive and compliant at school but parents report to a narrow one-subject focus
a very different child at home or the child is a • support in developing self esteem and relationship
daydreamer or fiddler but still seems to know what skills through meeting and working with other children
is going on or the child is rebellious, inattentive and who have similar attitudes and responses
difficult to manage. • having an opportunity to explore individual interests
• encouragement to develop a high level of motivation
and perseverance
• being in smaller class sizes for maximum individual
attention
Are children with their own age group?
Yes. We have three groups:
Juniors - Years 2 and 3 (6 and 7 year olds)
Middles - Years 4 and 5 (8 and 9 year olds)
Seniors - Years 6 to 8 (10 to 12 year olds)
How many children in a class?
Junior classes (that is, our 6 and 7 year olds) are limited
3. The child strongly demonstrates several of the to 12 children. Older classes have a maximum of 15
following characteristics: children. These limits are strictly observed.
• is able to concentrate for long periods when
interested How does it fit in with regular school?
• notices detail One Day School is designed to work in partnership
• has unusual or unexpected responses with schools. Many schools actually initiate referrals
• has a witty sense of humour or a strong sense of themselves. Classroom teachers as well as parents receive
the ridiculous a weekly information sheet, a newsletter at least once
• asks unexpected questions each semester, and an end-of-semester report.
• has an exceptional memory
• picks things up very quickly
• is passionate about issues of fairness and justice
• needs to see a reason or a purpose for doing
things (From the feedback sheet from a Junior student):
• reached developmental milestones very quickly Do you want to return to One Day School?
• is very sensitiveHow can a child miss one day of school HOW DO WE ENROL?
and still succeed? CONTACT US (SEE ADDRESSES
Gifted children learn more quickly. Researchers have OVERLEAF) AND ASK FOR AN
found that gifted children only need one to three
repetitions to grasp new material where others need
ENROLMENT PACK!
7 to 11 repetitions. This makes it possible for them to
take time for programmes like One Day School. In fact
gifted children made to work at everyone else’s pace
may become bored, frustrated and very unhappy at
school. DID YOU KNOW?
• Parents are generally very good at
recognising giftedness in children.
• Some highly gifted children also have
learnings disabilities like dyslexia, and
struggle to produce at school.
• Gifted children are found in every culture
and come from low income homes as well as
Are they marked “absent” on the from affluent homes.
school roll?
No. On Ministry advice, children at One Day School • There are just as many gifted girls as there
should be marked “present” on the school roll that are gifted boys but gifted boys are identified
day.
at least twice as often as gifted girls.
Do children get reports at One Day
School? • Gifted girls are more likely to hide their
Yes, at the end of each semester (mid year and end abilities and try to “fit in” at school.
of year). You will also receive weekly homesheets and
a semester newsletter. The classroom teacher gets this
information too.
Can homeschooled children enrol at
One Day School?
Yes.
What does it cost?
The Centre has scaled fees related to parents’ income
to help as many parents as possible. These fees range
from $30.00 to $60.00 per week.
Some schools are willing to part subsidise this cost.
The Centre also actively seeks scholarship funding and
currently has just over ten percent of its students on
full scholarships. It supports applications by individual
parents to service clubs and other agencies for funding
assistance.
The Centre is a non-profit Charitable Trust. All our fees
are cost recovery only. We will do everything we can
to make One Day School affordable for you. Although
fees are due in full at the beginning of each semester,
please do not hesitate to talk about alternative payment
arrangements.
There is also an initial assessment fee of
$225.00, due on the day of assessment. This does
not have to be paid all at once if this is difficult for
you.WHAT IS THE GEORGE PARKYN DO YOU HAVE A DAUGHTER?
CENTRE?
Gifted girls are extremely good at
The George Parkyn Centre was established in 1995 learning to hide their abilities and
to provide professional support services for gifted
“fit in” at school. All too often that
children and all those living and working with them.
means they don’t get recognised
It is the only education centre in New Zealand to focus and all that wonderful ability never
solely on gifted children and their special needs. blossoms. Don’t let this happen
to your little girl! If you haven’t
It works with universities, colleges of education, thought about this for her before,
teacher’s centres, individual schools, early childhood please take another look.....
educators, professional associations, specialist
professionals, parent groups and individual parents
throughout New Zealand in order to achieve its WHO WAS GEORGE PARKYN?
mission.
Professor George Parkyn (1910 - 1993) was one
What does it do? of New Zealand’s most eminent scholars, with a
The Centre: prestigious career both in New Zealand and overseas.
- provides information and guidance for parents He was interested in gifted education through out his
and parent groups life and wrote a visionary series of papers setting out
- supports research work in this field a new concept of giftedness, later edited by Phoebe
- provides high quality professional development Meikle and our director Rosemary Cathcart. The
for teachers and other education professionals Centre is named after him in tribute to his work and
- runs the One Day School and COOL, an online in recognition of his qualities of integrity, compassion
version for children who cannot reach a One and wisdom, the model for all our gifted children.
Day School venue
- promotes community understanding of the needs
of gifted children
- lobbies government for better provision for gifted
children and has played a significant role in
achieving change in this area
- presents conferences, workshops, holiday
programmes and other activities
Who runs it?
• The Centre is guided by North and South Island
Education Advisory Boards drawn from every level
of education from university to early childhood.
• As a Charitable Trust, its policy and financial
affairs are managed by a Trust Board whose
WHERE IS ONE DAY SCHOOL?
members (mostly parents) have experience in
business, marketing, the arts and community
affairs. One Day School has venues in may parts of New
Zealand in both the North and South Islands. Current
• Its staff are highly qualified professionals, many of venues and local contact details follow, but you can
them with the special extra insight that comes from also contact us at these addresses:
being themselves the parents of gifted children.
Collectively they constitute a unique resource NORTH ISLAND: at Owairaka School, 113
of expertise and experience to help all those Richardson Rd, Mt Albert, Auckland.
interested in the welfare of the gifted child. PO Box 10- 010 Dominion Rd, Auckland.
Ph: 09 845 4176.
Fax: 09 845 4179.
Email: head.office@georgeparkyncentre.org
SOUTH ISLAND: at Pine Hill School, Hislop St,
Dunedin.
PO Box 477, Dunedin.
Ph: 03 473 8051.
Fax: 03 473 8061.
Email: dunedin@georgeparkyncentre.orgONE DAY SCHOOL VENUES AND CONTACT DETAILS
(FOR ALL AUCKLAND VENUES, PLEASE CONTACT THE MAIN ADMIN OFFICE AT OWAIRAKA SCHOOL
- see previous page for details)
Central Auckland: Owairaka School.
West Auckland: Sunnyvale School.
East Auckland: Riverhills School.
Eastern Bays: Newmarket School.
North Shore: (a) Bayswater School.
(b) Target Rd School.
Mangere Bridge: Mangere Bridge School.
South Auckland: Clendon Park School.
Pukekohe: Puni School.
North Auckland: Matakana School.
Tauranga: Gate Pa School. Taupo: Tauhara Primary
Coordinator: Julie Frewin. Coordinator: Deborah Chan
Ph: 07 577 6009. Fax 07 577 6014. Ph/Fax: 07 378 1656.
Email: julie.frewin@georgeparkyncentre.org Email: deborah.chan@georgeparkyncentre.org
Hawkes Bay: Port Ahuriri School. Palmerston North: Terrace End School.
Coordinator: Kahren Daley. Coordinator: Lyn Gregg.
Ph: 06 843 5257. Fax: 06 843 5256. Ph: 06 357 4862.
Email: kahren.daley@georgeparkyncentre.org Email: lyn.gregg@georgeparkyncentre.org
Wellington: Tairangi School (Porirua) Christchurch: Christchurch East School.
Cardinal McKeefry School (Wilton) Coordinator: Terri Hendry
Coordinator: Shirley Lawn Ph: 03 389 6543
Ph: 04 232 3523 Email: terri.hendry@georgeparkyncentre.org
Email: shirley.lawn@georgeparkyncentre.org
Dunedin: Pine Hill School.
Timaru: Oceanview Heights School. Coordinator: Andrea Vaughan
Coordinator: Madeleine Newell. Ph: 03 473 8051. Fax: 03 473 8061.
Ph: 03 689 1410. Email: andrea.vaughan@georgeparkyncentre.org
Email: madeleine.newell@georgeparkyncentre.org
CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE ON www.georgeparkyncentre.orgBOARD MEMBERS
As a Charitable Trust, the George Parkyn Centre is governed by a Trust Board which looks after its finance,
employs staff and sets policy. Trust Board members bring experience at local, national and international levels
in fields such as business, the arts, education, marketing and community organisations, as well as ensuring
management of the Centre includes the parent perspective. The Centre receives advice and guidance from its
two Education Advisory Boards (North and South), whose members are drawn from every level of education
from early childhood to university, ensuring the Centre is kept comprehensively informed of developments
relevant to its work.
CURRENT TRUST BOARD MEMBERS: Bob Kornfeld (Acting Chair), Tracy Iles-leith, Nigel Murray Brown, Marilyn
Stafford.
EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARDS: Michael O’Reilly (Chair) (Principal Balmoral School), Lynn Berresford
(Registered Psychologist), Jan Bills (Deputy Principal Mangere Bridge School), Sue Breen (Director, Small
Poppies), Julia Langford (RTLB), Dr Michael Townsend (Assoc. Professor Education, University of Auckland), Greg
Carroll (Principal Pine Hill School), Professor Derek Holton (Mathematics, University of Otago), Kathi McLean
(Central Otago REAP), Errol Moore (Head of Music Department, Dunedin College of Education), Jan Probert
(former Advisor, Gifted and Talented, Dunedin College of Education), Jenny Ryan (parent rep), Jacqui Seque
(parent rep), Alison Tay (parent rep) Elizabeth Wilson (Principal, Columba College), Pam Wilson (Southland
Kindergarten Association)
WHY ARE WE HERE?
The class was doing a project on dragons. Deciding to balance the artwork and stories with some
maths skills, I began with an arithmetic problem.
“Now,” I explained carefully “the town reservoir holds 33,750 litres of water. The dragon drinks 5,625
litres of water a day. If he starts drinking on Monday, on what day will he empty the reservoir?”
Thomas at the back put up his hand.
“Please miss, ”he said, “what if it rains?’
One Day School is about helping the Thomases of this world to survive school,
preserve their creativity, and grow even further in wisdom - and about how to enjoy
being their teacher or parent.
SPONSORS AND DONORS
The Centre gratefully acknowledges the support
and help of numerous individuals. They include:
• Ministry of Education • Community Organisation Grants Scheme
• Todd Foundation (COGs)
• Westpac Institutional Bank • New Zealand Community Trust
• The Rotary Club of Auckland • Mangere Bridge Sports and Cultural Society
• The Lion Foundation • Waitakere City Council
• Goldwater Estate • South Auckland Charitable Trust
• The Lottery Board • New Zealand Council for Gifted Education
• Sir John Logan Campbell Residuary Estate • Auckland City - Western Bays Community
• JR McKenzie Trust Board
• The New Zealand Federation of University • Kiwanis
Women - Auckland Branch • all of our host schools
• Stoke Consultancy Limited
• Auckland Theatre Company and numerous individual parents who have
contributed to scholarship funding and to the
purchase of resources and equipment.You can also read
