Rāmere, te 6 o te Hepetema 2024
Orewarewa whenua, puāwai māhuri
On the fertile ground of Orewa, the sapling blooms
Have something to share? Get in contact with one of our Across School Leaders – we would love to hear from you!
[email protected] Te Ao Māori
[email protected] Hauora
[email protected] Future Ready
[email protected] 21st Century Learning
[email protected] Structured Literacy
Leaders Hui Marae
On Thursday 22 August, Māori leads and tumuaki from across the Kāhui Ako ki Orewa were hosted by Kereama Nathan at Te Herenga Waka o Orewa Marae for our annual leaders hui.
We had two main kaupapa, one was a workshop led by Awatea Nathan, the HoD Māori at Whanagaparāoa College who presented their journey towards reclaiming Māori place names at the college. We then considered how we might go on a similar journey. The mahi they have done has been openly shared with our hapori. If you have an interest in local history, check out this doc…
Whangaparāoa College Building Names – December 2023.pdf
The second half of our hui was to assess our progress against our Rautaki Reo/Language strategy. We celebrated progress and set new goals for the coming year. If you are interested, have a kōrero with your Māori lead or principal and they will no doubt share your kura’s version.
Discounted Tickets for Tamariki to Attend Haka Record
Be a part of history on Sunday 29 September by joining over 10000 people to perform a haka at Eden Park.To sweeten the deal, a number of high profile NZ performers will take to the stage to entertain the crowd.
Aktive have partnered with Raukatauri Music Therapy Trust to support the HAKA – Stand as a Nation event (breaking the record for world’s largest Haka) on at 4pm Sunday, 29 September at Eden Park. It is an exciting opportunity for us, and we wanted to extend the invitation to all your students and their whānau.
Please feel free to copy and paste the attached information and send out in your school’s newsletter or via your school’s social media channels – please tag Aktive if you can.
NB: This is a subsidised rate of $5 for your students only – code in attachment.
I have also attached a document with frequently asked questions, however, please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Please note – these tickets are intended for Tamariki and rangatahi participating in the HAKA event, not spectators. ‘
For more information visit www.hakarecord.co.nz
Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori 2024
Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori is fast approaching so now’s the time to plan for Week 9 so that our kura can celebrate Te Reo Māori with the rest of Aotearoa.
Debbie Waller from Orewa Beach School has created a Choice Board using a google doc that is full of great ideas.
Te Wiki o te reo Māori Choice Board 2024
Cery’s Holleron has created a choice board slideshow that could also be added to your kete.
2024 Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori choiceboard/activities
Embroidme are printing a run of Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori hoodies/pōraka and t-shirts/tī-hāte.
Mā te kimi ka kite, Mā te kite ka mōhio, Mā te mōhio ka mārama
Seek and discover. Discover and know. Know and become enlightened.
Writer’s Toolbox – A Core Part of Orewa College’s Writing Kete!
– Nicola Ward Able, Orewa College.
As we know, the Government is focused on structured literacy initially for Years 0 to 3. These years are, understandably, vital for setting up strong bases for literacy knowledge and confidence. However, our thinking at Orewa College was, “Where does that leave us as a middle school and college?” As such, last year we, at Orewa College, investigated utilising ‘Writer’s Toolbox’ as an online tool for our students. We chose to input it into the tool kete for our Year 7 through 11 classes. Our Years 12 and 13 are able to apply their knowledge independently, hence they do not have Writer’s Toolbox throughout those years.
When looking for a suitable tool, we looked at a variety of options, choosing Writer’s Toolbox as it’s not your ‘typical’ online tool. With Writer’s Toolbox, teachers are still the most important resource, requiring overt input from both students and teachers. A core benefit of Writer’s Toolbox is how it develops writing skills progressively, altering the level of requirements and challenges according to the strengths of our students, while also giving immediate feedback around multiple core writing concepts. This tool also adds variety with which to achieve the daily Government-mandated target of one hour of writing per day, and we are also using Writer’s Toolbox to assist our students with their corequisite writing exam in Year 10.
In 2023, we applied for Ministry-funded Professional Learning Development (PLD), and were fortunate enough to receive this to utilise for deepening the knowledge of our teachers with Writer’s Toolbox. This PLD has been invaluable. One of the main benefits has been having teachers from Years 7 and 8 collaborating, connecting and developing knowledge side by side with their 9 and 10 colleagues. We’re continually looking to build this fluid connection between our year levels, and Writer’s Toolbox is one of the opportunities to do so.
In this ever-challenging age of AI, we feel confident utilising Writer’s Toolbox as part of our writing teaching kete in a targeted and beneficial way. However, we are always conscious that the priority always lies with the teachers knowing the capabilities of their students, as AI can help and hinder the progression and development of success.
Although it is still early days, we have seen a steady improvement across a variety of writing capabilities of our students, and are continually developing the knowledge of our teachers, which will continue to have a positive flow-on influence on the progress of our students.
Year 9 and 10 Digital Technology – Ōrewa College
Josh Pinho
HBC Youth Hauora Network Showcase Evening
All members of the community are welcome to attend
Wellness Activities for Students – How to Support the Mental Wellbeing of High Schoolers
By Bridgette Mabuto
The graph below shows the results of an American study of high school students in 2021 during the Covid pandemic. Although these are not New Zealand statistics, research shows the trend of anxiety, depression and behaviour issues of young people have been similar across the developed world.
Although the number of students coping with these issues may have reduced since returning to school, these trends still remain for a high number of our young people today.
CDC USA, 2021
The author goes on to say, “Thankfully, the same study found a solution: School connectedness. Or, more specifically, those students who reported feeling connected to adults or other students at school, were less likely to feel sad or anxious”.
We have a responsibility to normalise language and conversations around mental health with our students. We can support young people by providing opportunities to develop hauora – mental wellness. We can be available to connect young people with people who can support them at school, or encourage them to seek support from their whanau or community.
Here are some activities designed for high school students:
- Slides with Friends: Take the Temperature Check
You can sign up for a free account and use slides to get students feedback on how they are doing/feeling. Temperature Check
- Journaling
Students having allocated time to journal can help young people to categories, segment or organise their thoughts and feelings. This often helps when young people feel overwhelmed, when asked, “what’s wrong?” and the reply is, “Everything!”
Encourage students to journal:
- What/who they are grateful for
- Boxes – sort all the busy stuff in their heads into written lists in boxes: must do, should do, would like to do
- Ways they enjoy relaxing – and schedule when!
- Tracking how they are feeling with emojis, or an emotion line, to find patterns (which days, time of day, subjects etc to see what is most stressful, most enjoyable).
3. Art Therapy / Creativity
A great way to change ‘where your head’s at’ is to change the wave you are on, get out of the fast lane, get off the train, escape the pressure, in other words take a break from stress, demands, instructions, requirements, drama, challenges or issues.
Getting creative or arty, can help young people and adults to process their emotions in a way that is therapeutic or relaxing. It can also help young people and adults “get off that train” that keeps on and on – a time to switch off!
- Freedom drawing – take a blank page and enjoy doodling, making shapes and patterns, free to create, monochrome or colourful.
- Adult colouring books/pages
- Collage – use old magazines, create colour, pictures, patterns, shapes.
https://slideswith.com/preview/14217
https://slideswith.com/blog/wellness-activities-for-students
I was fortunate enough to attend the Cultivating the Literacy Landscape Symposium hosted by Learning Matters on Thursday the 22nd of August. It was informative, inspiring, and challenging.
Read the Blog to find out more
We heard from three amazing presenters who really got us thinking and extended our knowledge.
Dr Carolyn Strom delivered an interesting presentation about the ‘Reading Brain’ and dispelled some misconceptions about how we learn to read. The way she presents this information makes it very easy to understand for a layperson as she interprets neuroscientist speak to something a lot more user-friendly. If you’re interested in finding out more and listening to Dr. Carolyn Strom click on the link below.
Dr Carolyn Strom on how the brain learns to read
Dr Carolyn Strom on misconceptions about learning to read
Next, we heard from Sarah Asome, the principal of Bentleigh West Primary School in Melbourne who has transformed the literacy results in her school by embedding the science of learning and explicit teaching techniques. This was confronting for some of us as we saw students sitting in rows with visual and auditory distractions removed from the learning areas. However, the student engagement and results spoke for themselves.
Watch the vimeo below and you’ll see that the students do get a well-rounded education at Bentleigh West!
The last speaker for the day was Dr. Anita Archer who leads the field in student engagement. At 77 years old she was so engaging and inspiring and modelled her strategies as she talked to us keeping us all very engaged right till the end.
Dr Archer promotes ‘low prep, high yield’ strategies for teachers that maximise learning for students. She advocates for explicit teaching, high levels of student participation and effective retrieval and practise methods.
Click on the link below for a great poster with some good ideas for teachers.
Dr. Anita Archer’s ‘Archerisms’ Poster
Kāhui Ako Hui Dates – Term 3 2024
Thursday 29th August – ASL @ Dairy Flat School – WSL @ Orewa College 3.30pm
Thursday 12th September – ASL @ Orewa Beach School – WSL @ Orewa College 3.30pm
Kāhui Ako Hui Dates – Term 4 2024
Thursday 24th October – ASL @ Nukumea – WSL @ Orewa College 3.30pm
Thursday 7th November – ASL @ Ahutoetoe – WSL @ Orewa College 3.30pm
Thursday 21st November – ASL @ Orewa College – WSL @ Orewa College 3.30pm
Thursday 5th December – ASL @ Orewa College – WSL @ Orewa College 3.30pm
