Ngaio School offers the ROCKET Challenge as its optional home learning programme. Linked to the school ROCKET values, this programme has been designed to recognise the learning children already do outside of school, and to encourage them to extend themselves in these areas. It is designed especially to:

  • challenge children to try new things
  • to encourage them to contribute to family, school and community
  • to enable children to discover, develop and showcase their talents.

 

The ROCKET Challenge is linked to the research about engaging learners by having “challenges and choices”. Each of the six ROCKET values is a category full of exciting challenge options e.g. one of the open-minded challenges is to “design and make an object to improve the way we live”.

The Challenge focuses on learning through the process – the doing, making, finding out, as well as the finished product. We want children to be trying their own personal best, and achieving at a level that is challenging for them.

The number of challenges increases with each year level and some challenges get more complex. Children choose which tasks they complete.

ROCKET certificates are awarded at the end of each year.  The completion of four challenges earns a bronze certificate, six challenges earns silver and eight or more challenges earns a gold certificate.

There is a “design your own” challenge in each category to suit those children who have innovative ideas and/or whose contributions are not recognised in the other challenge to recognise the learning that children already do outside of school, and to encourage them to extend themselves in these areas.

At the beginning of Years 3-6 children are given an optional ROCKET Challenge booklet.

For more details, click on the links below to view the ROCKET Challenge booklets.

Year 3 & 4 ROCKET Challenge Booklet
Year 5 & 6 ROCKET Challenge Booklet