Principal’s Pen
Kia ora, Talofa, Mālō e lelei, Bula, Kia orāna, Fakalofa lahi atu, Nǐ hǎo, Hola, Namaste, Assalam u alaikum, Guten tag, Annyeong haseyo, Min-ga-la-ba, Bonjour, Kamusta, Goeie dag and Hello!
Welcome to Hampden Street School, Nelson. We are an urban school in the heart of beautiful Nelson city. We draw from a diverse community and pride ourselves on our close connection with the Nelson South Community. The school leads the way in our region for innovation and future focused practice. We have a highly skilled staff whose culturally responsive approach to teaching learning means that every student feels they have a sense of identity and belonging in our kura.
As a 21st century kura we have modern innovative classroom spaces, technology readily accessible to all students and teaching and learning programmes that put students at the centre and allow self-led agency to learn. With the completion of our Junior block, all classrooms at Hampden Street will be at the Ministry of Education’s Innovative Learning Environment standard. We are the only school in the region to achieve this.
Fun programmes such as STEM, Genius Hour, Whole School Discovery and Passions ensure high student engagement, plus an opportunity for students to follow their interests and passions and work collaboratively with like-minded peers in a collaborative way.
The school has wonderful facilities with a large hall and two beautiful heated pools. We even have a scooter/ bike track around our playground.
The Hampden Street School Community is one of the keys to our success. We receive tremendous support from our community. We have a skilled and proactive board of Trustees that work very hard with the leadership team to ensure our school is a place of equity and excellence. We have an active Fundraising team, who organizes several very popular fundraising events every year that bring in substantial funding. The funds raised from our HSSFC always goes back to our tamariki. As many schools struggle to establish a PTA, the HSSFC seems to go from strength to strength. Hampden Street whānau are always willing to put their hands up to help on trips and camps, parent help in classes and share their own skills and passion with our tamariki.
We see the environment and the outdoors as very important and we have a wonderful school camp programme that extends from Year 3 to 6. The Year 3-4 students do a two day camp in the Wakefield/Brightwater area in one of the established camp facilities, whereas our seniors go a little further afield and do a two year programme alternating in the Abel Tasman and the Marlborough Sounds. These amazing four day camps not only share these special parts of our region with the children but also are wonderful class bonding experiences.
Hampden Street has always had plenty to offer when it comes to sports. Over the years we have excelled in swimming, cross country, athletics, rugby, football, volleyball and basketball. We offer a wide variety of out of school sports and we have regular visits from the various sporting codes within our region, providing students a chance to hone their skills.
The arts and culture are an important feature of our school. Our Kapa Haka group, Te Kakano was established 14 years ago and is very popular with our students. They perform regularly at school functions and in the wider community. We also hold mihi whakatau welcome ceremonies twice termly to welcome our five year olds who are starting school. Our annual Matariki Celebrations brings our community together. Another wonderful event is our bi-annual whole school production. Staff and students always work very hard to produce a show that highlights the arts in our school. Hampden Street’s Got Talent has been going for 12 years and gives our students a chance to share their talents. The rock band, the choir and our weekly itinerant music programme are further features of our extensive arts programme.
Most Hampden Street School students move on to Nelson Intermediate with around 20 -30% attending the boys and girls prep schools. Hampden Street works closely with these kura to ensure a smooth transition for our tamariki to the next step in their education.
Hampden Street School is a proud member of the Nelson Kāhui Ako (Community of Learners). This is a cluster of our Nelson city schools. It provides us a chance to collaborate, share practice and create a strong educational pathway for our tamariki in our region.
I am very proud to be principal of such a dynamic and innovative school and work with a team of dedicated passionate teachers and support staff.
Ngā mihi,
Don McLean
Principal
