Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti - Distinctive Elements

Distinctive Elements

• Students can follow their own pathways of learning. The school uses the term "independent, collaborative learning" to distinguish between learning taking place in a class and learning driven or directed by the student outside of a classroom setting. Often called inquiry learning, this means that students can opt to work outside of classes and courses on their own passions and interests. In practice the amount of time given over to this individual, and often independent, style of learning varies according to the interests and maturity of each student. An example of a long-term group ICL is the Audiodreams project—an event management company being run by students during school hours.
• The school year at Unlimited is divided into seven or eight half-term blocks of four to six weeks. Students take courses in subjects for the duration of these half-term blocks, or can enroll for longer periods up to a full academic year.
• Students are vertically grouped in homebases (similar to form classes). The homebases have up to 15 students in them.
• Up until 2011 students were allocated 30 minutes each per week to meet with their Learning Advisor to discuss and progress their learning. In 2011 the school board reassessed the value of this level of individualized support and reallocated staff hours back towards classroom teaching, thus effecting a significant change in the school's model. Students were allocated 15 minutes each per week to meet with their Learning Advisor until 2012, when they reverted back to a longer allocation. Students now meet with their Learning Advisor for 25 minutes per week.
• The school was based directly in the central business district, which was destroyed by the 2010 to 2011 earth quakes in Christchurch and had no grounds. Thus, they made use of community resources, such as the nearby Hagley Park, and the central Christchurch City Library. They are now based at the grounds of Halswell Residential College with a satellite campus hosted at the University of Canterbury. This arrangement is set to continue for an undetermined period of time. The school hopes to return to the central business district within the next few years.

The school is resourced with high-end information and communications technology (ICT), all students have the opportunity to gain qualifications in the New Zealand National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA). There are a range of secondary school subjects on offer including English, Mathematics, Science, Social Sciences, Computing, Drama, Dance, and Physical and Outdoor education. In addition to these subjects, UPT offers a range of courses that are not normally provided at secondary schools. These include DJ performance and music production, Entrepreneurship, Holistic programmes, Philosophy, Psychology and Videogame design.

Courses provided by outside providers are also offered, for example Unlimited offers students the ability to participate in courses taught by Natcoll Design Technology, the Christchurch Polytechnic and The University of Canterbury. They also offer a Cisco networking course with the ability to gain a Cisco Certified Network Associate qualification taught by Aranui High School