Learning at Avondale College

Our focus at Avondale is on academic success for all our students. Our aim is to provide the education best suited to the needs of our students and the community that we serve.

We offer a top quality education to all our students covering all the essential learning areas. Students are encouraged to achieve personal excellence by both studying subjects in depth and by broadening their knowledge, interest and skills in a wide range of subjects. Our  timetable is structured so that students can study at different levels in the same year.

Enrichment Programme

Advancement through enrichment courses and the Gifted and Talented Programme enables capable Year 9 and 10 students to be extended and well prepared for NCEA Excellence Endorsement or CIE A*/A grades in Year 11.

Learning Support Programme

The purpose of the Learning Support Programme is to provide secondary education for students who have particular needs which cannot be totally met in mainstream classes. The programme provides students with a semi-homeroom situation which allows for individual and small-group teaching. The emphasis is on personal development and successful transition to employment and independent living. The student's time in the Learning Support Programme includes classroom, specialist and lifeskills programmes.

Homework

Homework has an important place in secondary education - it consolidates the work of the classroom and assists in developing the habit of independent work. Parents can help by ensuring that conditions in the home are suitable for such work and by checking on its regularity and completion. Students have diaries in which they should record the homework which has been set each night. Parents should check on these from time to time. No precise guide can be given to the amount of homework to be expected every night. The following is a guide to what can reasonably be expected at each form level:

• Year 9 at least one hour per night
• Year 10 at least one and a half hours per night
• Year 11 at least two hours per night
• Year 12 at least two and a half hours per night.

Students are welcome to make use of the Homework Centre which operates for one hour after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the Library.