Over the past few years, Ormiston Primary has seen a need to re-think their assessment systems. This is partially in response to lower attendance rates post-pandemic and partially because they recognise that traditional assessments rarely reflect the skills that hybrid learning fosters and requires. Principal Heath McNeil describes the school’s “four C’s”: curious, connected, capable, and collaborative. Assessments like ASTTLe and PAT, he says, focus on measuring “capable,” while hybrid learning both calls for and helps develop the ability to be curious, connected and collaborative. Therefore, Omiston has reduced the number of traditional assessments that ākonga sit throughout the year. Instead they have introduced learner-led conversations where ākonga sit down with their kaiako and whānau together and talk about what they enjoy in their learning, what their challenges have been, and what their next steps are. This promotes learner agency through reflection and self-reporting, and also helps to create a stronger connection between whānau and the school. Perhaps most significantly, ākonga who attend less consistently can jump back into their regular programme when they do attend, rather than being welcomed back to school with a catch-up ASTTLe test. Having a conversation about their learning with their kaiako and whānau upon their return is a much more productive and less intimidating way to re-enter face-to-face learning than writing an assessment that the rest of the class has already done. McNeil sees Ormiston Primary continuing to have fewer traditional assessments and more reflective learning conversations as they move into the future. 

Ormiston Primary has structured their learning environment in a way that facilitates hybrid learning. Instead of traditional classes, ākonga are joined together in “habitat” groups of 75-100, each with a shared learning area and 3-4 supervising kaiako. This allows kaiako to share planning and delivery based on their own strengths and interests, which has eased their workload and led to improved kaimahi wellbeing. It also means that there is a lot of flexibility for ākonga to work in groups – at any given time, a habitat space might have some groups of ākonga working online, some working on a kaiako-supervised activity, and some working online or offline independently. Since there are so many ākonga in the room, they can collaborate with each other in diverse combinations. If there are plenty of ākonga at home on a particular day, one kaiako from the habitat can lead a synchronous activity online while the others supervise whatever is happening in the room.