Our Classrooms
Open plan Classrooms
At Stanmore Bay School we have a range of single-celled and open planned classrooms. Our open-planned classrooms have the same teacher-student ratio as our single-celled classrooms. We have three open planned classrooms (more than one classroom in an open space), however only one of these spaces is used for daily learning and teaching. This is for our New Entrant (just turned 5 years old) tamariki, who are brand new to school.
● New Entrants (Year 0 or 1): Rooms 7, 8 and 9.
These classrooms may cross-group (mix students from both/all classroom space) occasionally throughout the timetable, where the need is required or where the learning can be maximised. There are opportunities for greater collaboration in these open-plan classrooms than in a single-celled space, given the larger number of students and teachers.
Please see the School Map for all classrooms.
Year 5 & 6 Whānau Class
Stanmore Bay School has a “Whānau Class” for some of our Year 5 and Year 6 learners from 2026.
This class represents the initial strategic step toward establishing a bilingual class. Based on whānau feedback in 2025, this approach allows students to build the necessary te reo competency before transitioning to bilingual instruction.
Class Overview and Educational Focus
The Whānau class is designed to support Māori students who are passionate about the Māori language (te reo Māori) and culture (tikanga Māori), and dedicated to keeping it alive and thriving in Aotearoa. Whangaparāoa College is offering the Year 8Wā in 2026 and our own class will run in a similar way to theirs. It will be a natural progression for our students to move to a Year 7 class at the college from 2027.
The class will be taught by Robyn Bennett (Ngāti Maru me Ngāti Tamaterā ki Hauraki, Ngāpuhi me Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa) and will operate under the Kāhu Whānau (Year 5 and 6) umbrella. The class offers an immersive environment focussed on:
Revitalising and strengthening te reo Māori proficiency through speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
Deepening understanding of tikanga Māori, including local iwi narratives, protocols, and values.
Fostering a strong sense of identity, belonging, and connection to our shared cultural heritage.
Engaging with mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) across various subjects.
Who should consider this class?
The class welcomes students in Years 5 and 6 who are dedicated to embracing the taonga (treasure) of our national language and committing to the kaupapa (philosophy) of the Whānau class. Prior knowledge of te reo Māori is not a requirement for entry.
We share the enrollment information for the following school year with new and interested whānau in the second half of the school year (from Term 3).
If we do not have enough students to fill the class size of 20-24 students, we will invite non-Māori students from whānau who will embrace the kaupapa.
