Weekly News Update #06
15 March 2019
Rāmere, te 15 o Paenga-whāwhā 2019
Rōpū Taunaki Ako/ Learning Support Focus Group
Monday 11 March, our Learner Support team had their first hui for 2019. It was a really productive, collaborative time together. After each school’s first completion of the Learner Support Register, we spent a good deal of time analysing, discussing, clarifying and refining to make sure we have a common thread of language, understanding and accuracy. Adjustments have been made and we are now able to clearly identify the areas of highest need in our Kāhui Ako. We also set clear protocols for storing and sharing data in order to protect the privacy of our students. We agreed on the next steps for our team including identifying our strengths, weaknesses and challenges, local providers and services, and opportunities for professional development within our Kāhui Ako.
Next week, Leanne will be visiting the Otumoetai Kāhui Ako to see their Learning Support model in action. This will help our team develop next steps to forming our own Learner Support model.
Visit to Whangaparaoa College
Linda had the opportunity to visit our neighbouring school last week to have a look at a new initiative that they are trialling. They have called this class initiative a Pod and it consists of year 11 students who are following a fully integrated programme. What strikes you as you enter the class is the comfortable, relaxed feeling. Students are self directed and each one is working on an individual programme, with some common threads linking them together. They have common due dates and on this visit, they were working on a research standard. The students could choose their own area of research, where some needed some discussions with teachers to channel their ideas.
At the start of the year they spent some time going over the navigation of the NCEA site. In this way, both students and teachers can look for standards, and therefore credits, that best fit their area of interest. They have divided the class into mentor groups, and they have four teachers who check in with their mentor group to monitor progress. They have found that the group is able to co-create the rules for the Pod, as well as the consequences. At this stage they have teachers who can cover the following curriculum areas: English, Health, Science, Technology and Music. When students need specialised skills, they leave to go to those subjects. It was great to be able to see this initiative at work and we look forward to a reciprocal visit in the future.
Rōpū Tuhituhi / Writing Focus Group
A reminder that we will be having our first round of across school moderation based on the Learning Progression Framework on the 28th March, 3.30pm at Orewa College. This meeting is open to all teachers across the community with an interest in writing. Writing samples need to be typed, including all errors, names and year level removed. A brief explanation of the task could be useful. Please send samples to sblackburn@wainui.school.nz by the 20th March. A form will then be shared to all within school leaders to assess and resubmit marks, prior to the moderation meeting.
Rōpū Pāngarau / Maths Focus Group
Orewa Primary has made a start with examining the LPFs for both writing and maths. This is led by their in-school leaders, Bridget O’Dea and Andrew Ellis. They are taking a slot at staff meetings and looking at one progression at a time. The method used at Tuesday’s meeting was to print the progressions out, mix them up, then get staff to put them in the correct order. We would like to acknowledge not only the hard work put in by Andrew and Bridget, but also their willingness to share resources.
Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. And we celebrated pi day at our Kāhui Ako leaders’ meeting. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159. Pi Day is an annual opportunity for maths enthusiasts to recite the infinite digits of Pi, talk to their friends about maths, and to eat pie. It might be a bit late for this year, but here is a link to free maths resources for next year’s pi day: International Pi Day
Rōpū Te Reo Me Tikanga Māori
Top tip for normalising te reo Māori! Set up automatic email signatures in te reo Māori: Convince your fellow kaiako, team or kura to add automatic email signatures to te reo Māori.
Nā From
Nāku, nā Yours faithfully
Nāku iti noa, nā Yours sincerely
Ngā mihi Kind regards or thank you
Ngā mihi nui Kind regards emphasising gratitude
Hei konā mai Goodbye for now
Mā te wā Bye for now, see you later
Noho ora mai Stay well, look after yourself, good bye
How to guide to setting your personal signature on Gmail
Professional Readings/ Pānui ngaio
OK Go Sandbox is an online resource for educators that uses OK Go’s music videos as starting points for integrated guided inquiry challenges allowing students to explore various STEAM concepts. Learn how art and science work together in Upside Down & Inside Out, OK Go’s musical art experiment in microgravity. Students can enter the Art in Space competition by following this link.
Karen Boyes blog
Follow the link to Karen’s blog The power of language ‘The words we use have a subtle and powerful ability to shape thinking, a sense of self and group affinity according to Ron Ritchhart in his book Creating Cultures of Thinking. He outlines seven ways in which language shapes the culture of a classroom and school, and directs attention and action.’
Follow us on our Kāhui Ako website: https://orewakahuiako.com/
NEXT WEEK:
Kāhui Ako ki Orewa 
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