With the information (based on July 1 student numbers and predictions) being received from the Ministry of Education arrives the time to begin the planning process for the next year. Every child in zone comes with three elements of funding. They are: dollars; staffing; & classroom space. Out of zone children come with two of three elements - dollars & staffing. Hence maintaining our student roll for the actual footprint (classroom space) we have is a balancing act. By not taking in large numbers of out of zone families we maintain acceptable class sizes that fit into the space we have. The flip side of this is that you can't always have your cake and eat it too. By maintaining our school roll around 500 students the predicted number of students we will have for the next year ends up lowering operational and staffing funding. At the same time the government is again not even adjusting public school operational funding for inflation.

With staff returning from leave and teaching positions confirmed the leadership team then spent considerable time looking at the teaching and learning environment our school is developing and the strengths and development needs of our staff.

This development is are centred around our four key initiatives that drive the professional learning and development of our school:

• Initiative 1 - developing collaborative teaching practice to enhance teaching and learning
• Initiative 2 - developing a connected and enriching curriculum so learning happens in context not in subject silos
• Initiative 3 - developing authentic use of digital tools within the learning process - the right tool for the right job!
• Initiative 4 - Teacher Practice / Professional Practice - further develop the culture and ability to critique our practice within and across our teaching teams
  
  

 These key initiatives all give context, and bring to life, the overall strategic aims of the school which are:
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• Aim 1 - Developing an enriching curriculum - using Science, Technology, Social Sciences, Health & PE, The Arts;
• Aim 2 - Give context to foundation curriculum - English and Maths brought to life with enriching context;
• Aim 3 - Enhancing our Environmental and Cultural connections across our school and community
• Aim 4 - Develop our Learning Environments to match our practice

With all that whole school development in mind the leadership team (senior leadership and team leaders) looked across our team and planned out what structure could take our school to the next level and share and grow the innovation that is apparent across our teaching teams. We wanted a structure that was professionally rewarding to our teaching staff, while at the same time being personally challenging. 

The team leaders themselves proposed their own challenge of where to teach and lead. With this 'leading by example' we confirmed the following structure for 2017. This was presented to staff at the end of last term.

New Entrant Teaching Team
Team Leader: Beth Wills teaching with: Jane Lowe, Fiona Griffin

Junior School Teaching Team (Year 1&2)
Team Leader: Jeff Diack
Teaching Teams and partnerships for this level are:
Jeff Diack & Susan Palmer (2); Deb Garrett, Jodie Appleton & Kylie Parkes (3)

Middle School Teaching Team Year 3&4
Team Leader: Amanda Wilson
Teaching Teams and partnerships for this level are: 
Amanda Wilson & Lisa Birchenough (2); Kim Stevens & Jeni Shekell (2); Hilary Sutton & Ian McCabe (2)

Senior School Teaching Team Year 5&6
Team Leader: Sarah Sherriff
Teaching Teams and partnerships for this level are: 
Sarah Sherriff & Holly Morrell (2); Jen Maloney & Kylie Barbour (2); Pam Kerr & Chanelle Wootton (2)

Obviously the overall class level year structure (eg Y3&4 etc) listed above may adjust as numbers, names and needs of children are sorted for final class lists. This is a process that takes some considerable time over the next several weeks. However, whatever the final iteration of that is, the main overall theme is that teachers are changing levels as we look to strategically grow and challenge our team as a whole.

As this short, yet intensely busy, term comes to a close and you are faced with your children invading your time and space with the impending term break it is timely to reflect on the opportunity this gives you to compliment what school is for your child.

​Children spend more time out of school than in it. As parents, and as families, we have a major influence on our child's achievement in school. When schools, parents, and families work together in the right ways, there are all kinds of benefits for everyone involved. Yet, this benefit looks different for every child and every family. Some of the considerations for you to ponder over the term break around this are detailed below.

All children are unique. They may be similar to some of their relatives, but, in most respects they are most like themselves, with their own temperaments, interests, talents and dispositions. We can help our children by treating them as individuals and by not assuming that they should follow the same paths or be judged against the same criteria in school. 

Our children are always sending signals about who they are and it is critical for us as parents and teachers to be vigilant and to pay attention. Treating them as the individual they are helps them not struggle in school.

One of the perils of standardised education is the idea that one size fits all and life is linear. The truth is that our education system is not standardised. The New Zealand Curriculum Framework is that - a framework! It gives equal weight to developing values and key competencies for life within the context provided within eight learning areas. This broad and contextually relevant learning expectation means that we cannot and should not assume that the sort of education we may have had will inevitably be right for them. We may assume that some subjects will necessarily be more useful than others for finding a career. As the world continues to change, that may simply not be true. The best you can do is help your children develop in their different ways the general competencies needed for life and to identify the personal talents and interests that engage them most. They will create and live their own lives, as we have all done. Care as we must and try as we will, we cannot do that for them.

- inspired from the chapter 'Bring It All Back Home' Chapter 9, 'Creative Schools' by Sir Ken Robinson

Our Cross Country on Tuesday was an outstanding day. It was a real example of a parent and school community coming together for a competitive event that encouraged enthusiastic participation from all those involved! From Matua Mel running all day long in his tutu, Ms Griffin's awesome organising with the support of the whole staff, to Jude Messenger's (with helpers) sterling effort on the microphone,  it all came together to make one of our first whole school events a great success.

Days like this are how we build community, and bring community together. The atmosphere this event had was something to celebrate - along with the great coffee from 'Steaming Bean' and the sausage sizzle organised by Manu Kotui (Rooms 17&18).

We look forward to connecting with you in the next school sporting event in Term 4 which will be the school swimming sports at AC Baths.

Over the last two weeks our teachers have had a range of opportunities for you to come in and catch up about your child's learning process, progress and achievement - as evidenced through Seesaw. This journaling of your child's learning journey, the discussion that supports this with you, and the teaching and learning structure that are school is developing, are all reflective of what the purpose of primary education is all about in the 21st Century world that our children are growing up in.
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Learning cannot, and should not, look like it did when we were at school. Learning in small, isolated groups, within isolated curriculum areas does not promote the curiosity, creativity and problem solving thinking ability that our children need to be successful - not just for today but for the changing world they are growing up in.

Our preschoolers come from a 'modern learning environment' - most early childhood settings have never known any other way. Everyday they will have had significant periods of uninterrupted time with other children and with teachers. This time will have allowed opportunities to develop short and long-term, personal and group projects and inquiries that will have emerged in response to both spontaneous and planned experiences. building on children’s known modes of learning, and on what children find interesting, will go some of the way to supporting continuity for children and engagement. Below are two articles that example some of the thinking and research that supports the need for learning environments across the school setting to change.

The underlying concept of play based and discovery based learning are not just something we are delivering in the junior end of our school. The challenge for all our teaching teams is to develop what those concepts look like across the different ages and stages of learning. This is not just because its a fad but because the national curriculum framework sets the scene and the expectation for this.

Education last century was a factory. Children went in one end to be made into employees of various sorts on a conveyor belt to the other end. Henry Ford would have recognised it. It worked as well as his assembly lines. The 20th century has gone. Now cars are customised, stuffed with electronics. The image below examples the progression through the four knowledge waves that have occurred in the last 100 years of so! We are now firmly past the transition phase from the third to the fourth! 

Over this week and next week our teachers have a range of times available for you to come and talk about what is happening with your child's learning journey and how we connect you with their progress and achievement (across the curriculum) through the use of their Seesaw Learning Journal. While these are two designated weeks for this to happen this dialogue with you is an ongoing process and something that we take seriously. Seesaw is one example of how we are attempting to give you a real look into the learning that happens everyday for your child.

You may have noticed that (besides the use of Seesaw) that how our school talks about learning, and the structure of how we support that with our teachers, has changed somewhat from how we used to do it. This can seem confusing for parents as a lot of what we hear about school in the media, and politically, is centred around the key words of reading, writing, maths and national standards. Well, the national curriculum framework is actually a whole lot more than that. There is no set curriculum for a school to follow. Every school in the country has to take the national framework and define what that looks like at the school and classroom level, reflective of our local community and culture. National Standards are not a checklist de facto curriculum in themselves and there is no national test that any school child has to take in New Zealand while at primary school. Below is an excerpt from the national framework that indicates what learning in Years 1 - 6 must consider:

Learning in Years 1–6 (from the NZ Curriculum p. 41)
The transition from early childhood education to school is supported when the school:

• fosters a child’s relationships with teachers and other children and affirms their identity
• builds on the learning experiences that the child brings with them
• considers the child’s whole experience of school
• is welcoming of family and whānau.

This new stage in children’s learning builds upon and makes connections with early childhood learning and experiences. Teaching and learning programmes are developed through a wide range of experiences across all learning areas, with a focus on literacy and numeracy along with the development of values and key competencies.

The National Curriculum Framework then has a whole section that outlines the requirements for the Board of Trustees around the development of a school curriculum. Again, nothing is given as a prescription, except that each board of trustees must ensure that the school (through the principal and the staff) must provide all students with "effectively taught programmes of learning... in all learning areas... in response to the identified interests and learning needs of their students." This must also:

• be underpinned and consistent with the principles of the national curriculum (p. 9)
• encourage, model and explore the values of the national curriculum (p. 10)
• support all students to develop the key competencies (p. 12-13)

Reference: NZ National Curriculum Framework - pdf linked here

Online bookings open for Mid Year Seesaw based learning conferences TODAY.  The mid year Learning Conferences run over the next two weeks - from Monday 8 August to Friday 19 August. Follow the link below to book your session on a day and time that suits you.

Thank you to all our parents who came to the two sessions that gave the context behind the Seesaw reporting development. Below is one of the images from the presentation that I gave that gives a good summary of how the Seesaw journal tool fits with our developing collaborative teaching and learning practice that gives an appropriate level of responsibility and ownership to the learner for their learning.