Situated for the past 125 years at the southern end of the Thames Township, the school draws from a wide cross-selection of a diverse and socio-economic population base.

Student success lies in good leadership, effective teaching programmes and community involvement in the school. Thames South School wants to celebrate and share this success with you all.

Thames South School can demonstrate positive and in some cases exemplary improvement in academic progress especially in recent years.

Evidence of solid improvement across the Junior Syndicate is very evident.

Progress in achievement was attributed to the following;

1. Smaller class sizes which enabled much more effective 1 - 1 teaching.
2. Reading programmes/resources to cater for all learning styles.
3. TARP (Tape Assisted Reading) as part of the daily programme. (Funded by the B.O.T.)
4. Language experience in book form inspiring children to read.
5. Use of photography/personalised reading.
6. H.P.P. - extension in literacy skills through the Pause, Prompt, Praise, Programme.

The grading of resources in Te Reo reading was a major accomplishment completed last year. An initiative instigated by teaching staff with support from the Advisory Service. This enabled a structured approach to learning to read in the immersion units, resulting in improved outcomes for the students.

Progress and achievement was also measured more accurately last year with the establishment of clear benchmarks in reading and mathematics. This was supported by the large amount of research and development carried out by key staff, who worked with the N.E.M.P. project team and a staff focus on Learning Style Analysis.

Year 7 and 8 students participated in the Otago University Maths Department, Maths Problem Solving Programme, with excellent results. A Y7 student scored in the top 1% of his age group nationally, and a Y8 student in the top 3%. Both students were invited to take part in the national finals and were a credit to their school, parents and teachers.

Teams also competed in the Katikati Maths competition with our Y7 team placed second and our Y8 placed third. An excellent result considering the large amount of teams entered from schools in the Bay of Plenty/Hauraki regions.

A number of our pupils competed in the Australian Mathematics Competition .

30 Y/7&8 pupils worked on the Mathsmate Homework programme, which covered content at the high end of level 4.

The raising of expectations across the school from students coupled with modeling supportive classroom practice, ensured all pupils lifted their achievement levels.

We have teachers trained in Future Problem Solving and recently two teams of students met weekly to complete problematic scenarios following a highly sophisticated structure. Work was sent away to external markers with some very pleasing results. The Board funded Kinesthetic tools.

The Thames South School staff was involved in a contract with the Waikato University School Of Education in implementing the new Social Studies Curriculum Statement. As a result of this focus, the students had many quality learning experiences;

1. Audio-conferences with other schools and communities
2. Thames History Unit: visits to local resources such as the Stamping Battery
3. Mussel Farming, snapper fishing.
4. Visits to Waitomo Caves, the America Cup Village, Marine and Education Centre.

Live performances school-wide were timetabled and over the last two years have included the following;

1. Maori Medicine Specialist
2. Maths Magician
3. Smokefree Fire Show
4. Nga Mea Moea
5. African Drummer
6. Crippled Children’s Show
7. Youth bands
8. Aborigine Specialists etc

The support of the Board's equity policy ensured all pupils were able to attend these learning experiences and develop a deeper understanding of our diverse world.

The creation of a Year 7 to 8 class in the Bi-lingual Unit this year was a special achievement for Thames South School and has contributed to meeting the special needs of our tamariki. Whanau Rerepupua now covers four classes covering Year 1 to Year 8.

Often over looked by some schools, at Thames South, a self-review took place last year that resulted in musical instruments being assigned to each class with an over all improvement in student interest and ability.

The school participated in the local Music Festival, has a choir and an awesome Kapa Haka group that has won overall first place at the Hauraki Competitions for the last two years beating secondary and adult groups. This year, for the first time ever, they became the Waikato champions, no mean feat when you take into consideration all the Kura Kaupapa Schools in that area they had to compete against. As a result they have won the right to represent the wider Waikato at the National Championships in October. An impressive array of trophies and certificates graces our newly renovated library.

Over 300 participants took part in the B.P. Technology Challenge coordinated and organised by Thames South School. We entered five teams with high success rates and a lot of fun.

Use of the local Kauaeranga Camp including; hiking, abseiling, kayaking, rock wall climbing, rope work and tubing were activities set to challenge and test our students.

Life Education Trust was supported by the school in raising the awareness of their good work in schools. Ali Bateman, a staff member represented the school on the Trust's committee.

Our students won the Smokefree Speech Competitions and one flew to Christchurch to represent our area. We ran a very successful Healthy Eating programme, which helped the school improve the diets of its pupils at school and home.

A school wide focus on whole brain learning also encouraged staff and students to explore new learning techniques during last year. This focus saw an improvement in overall student attitudes to thinking outside the square and taking more risks with their individual approaches to learning.

Thames South has some innovative ways of fundraising to gain that extra finance to do the things needed  in today’s education and was able to instigate and complete several projects that helped improve the learning and teaching at this School of Excellence.

Activities run by the school and its' community to raise funds included:

1. Mini galas at lunchtimes.
2. Use of Community Taskforce Workers (14 employed each year)
3. Bulb promotion for beautification of school grounds.
4. A very successful Gala Day.
5. Regular muffin Sales, sausage sizzles, Hangi Sales, and raffles.
6. Buy a tile for the library.
7. Community Car Washes
8. School canteen
9. Basic Fact-a-thon
10. Business House Golf Tournament
11. S.T.A. seminars
12. B.O.T. Training Sessions

Projects that benefited from the fundraising included:

1. Remodeling the school library
2. Shade area built over outdoor assembly area.
3. Beautification of school grounds.
4. Computer up-grades.
5. Thames South T-Shirts and Hats

Acquisitions using our community agencies included:

1. An adventure playground sponsored by the Goldfields Shopping Mall.
2. Study desks from a local bank.

Parents and caregivers were also given creative ways to pay their school fees. This included offering work-hours in exchange for fees and discounts for early payments.

With such a transient community, the efforts made by the Board, staff, pupils and community in raising funds, is a shinning example of how well Thames South is supported.

Thames South School is a community based school whereby many community groups and neighbouring schools utilise our school buildings and resources.

The school hires out its marquees, tents, barbecue, tables and chairs to various organisations for weddings, birthdays and other special occasions.

The Thames Lions Club and La Leche League host their annual conventions and training seminars at the school. The Thames Embroiderers Group and our local Marching Team also utilise the school after hours.

An after-school choir group holds practices at the school once a week and training for touch rugby and indoor basketball also takes place.

Thames South School staff also participate in the Thames Bowling Club and Golf Business House Competitions annually.

Thames South School is proud of its open door policy inviting parents and members of the public community to participate in both daily classroom and school activities.

Te Reo Maori classes for parents and staff are held at the school on a weekly basis.

We maintain a close relationship with the local Kohanga Reo of the Hauraki area as well as the neighbouring early childhood centres with regular interactions happening i.e Wednesday singing with the local kindergarten, supporting Kohanga Reo whanau with powhiri and hui.

We have "open mornings" and "open days" as well as new parent training sessions and general public viewing of our classrooms, sit in on selected lessons and opportunities to chat with teachers and children.

Organising and hosting the B.P Technology in Schools Challenge and the Thames Interschool swimming sports are events we traditionally look after.

Various community and parent hui are held at the school on a regular basis.

Thames South School takes pride in it’s committed team of professionals who have a high level of involvement in both educational and community matters.

A special focus for teacher involvement was the promotion of whole learning teaching techniques in our classrooms. This focus continued to develop as detailed in our five year implementation plan for whole learning which began in 1996. As part of this focus the entire staff made a commitment to attending a Teacher Only Day in the January holidays. This resulted in significant changes to our classroom environments which while always exciting and inviting, then become more purposefully planned to accommodate learning styles and needs. To further increase their knowledge in this area six teachers elected to attend a two-day course in the Easter Break.

In response to a marked shortage of teachers who are able to deliver the curriculum partially or fully in Te Reo, The Board of Trustees the principal and the teaching staff have ensured that the use of Te Reo Maori in classrooms has been a strong focus for teacher involvement and is a distinguishing feature of our school.

Two senior teachers from our Whanau units spent three terms completing a graduate bilingual course and four others a six month intensive. The school also plays an active role in recruiting and supporting teacher trainees in a local Maori teacher training programmes. In 1999 three teachers completed the Te Kakano Rua Course offered by Waikato University, and one of them is currently employed in a Whanau class at the school. During the latter part of last year the principal worked very closely with Wanganui PolyTech, and was successful in setting up the Te Rangakura Teacher Training Course in Thames. Fourteen of our Maori parents and Teacher Aides are presently enrolled in this course.

Three teachers undertook university studies towards completion of their degrees last year and this was the case for three other teachers the year before. Staff members have taken a leading role in the transformation of our School Library into a multi media information centre, one of them attending a seminar by a leading expert in this field.

Thames South School made a significant commitment to teacher training with four Multi Media Programme students who have been based here for three years completing their degrees and becoming provisionally registered in 2000. Two of these teachers have taken up teaching positions in the school this year. Furthermore six classroom teachers assisted teacher trainees as associate teachers during the year.