Kāhui Ako ki Orewa

Rāmere, te 16 o Paengawhāwhā 2021

Kupu o te Wiki – Places in the kura

There are a number of places in all of our kura that are worth knowing in te reo Māori so we’ve made a short list below:

Wharepaku Fah-rdeh-pahku – (Small room) toilet

Tari Tah-rde – Office

Hōro hor-rdor – Hall

Papa tākaro hor-rdor – Sports Field

Akomanga ako-manga – Classroom

Knowing these place names means you can incorporate te reo without having to learn complex sentences.

e.g. Who needs to go to the Wharepaku?

Can you go to the tari and get the notices please.

Literacy and Numeracy Benchmark Reporting Function for PaCT

Literacy and numeracy have become more important than ever for all our students, but particularly our students in years 9 and 10. This is because the NCEA Change Package includes a change to create new literacy and numeracy | te reo matatini me pāngarau standards. These standards will be externally assessed.

As a mandatory component of NCEA, the standards are high-stakes.

Underpinning the standards is also the concept of readiness – students need to be ready to engage in the assessment, both cognitively and emotionally. Teachers and leaders need to make judgements on this. Although the co-requisite standards will look at curriculum levels 4 and 5, only year 9 and 10 students are eligible to sit the assessments. We feel so pleased to have started the discussion and analysis of the LPF as far back as 2018 in our Kāhui ako meetings, and this has continued into an understanding of the PaCT tool. College teachers have learnt from primary school teachers, and primary from their college counterparts . Real ako in action. We have extended this PaCT core group at the college to include representation from most curriculum areas. We will continue to grow our understanding of the CPTs (Curriculum Progress Tools) and share this with our wider Kāhui ako community.

The Curriculum Progress Tools are ideally placed to support this change. This point has clearly been made by the ministry, and as forerunners in the use of both LPFs and PaCT, we feel that the Orewa Kāhui ako is well placed for this mandatory component being introduced over the next two years. Teachers’ understanding of what progress and learning looks like and PaCT’s ability to support consistent OTJs against clear progressions, based on teacher knowledge of student ability, using a range of evidence, has been strengthened through our discussions around the CPTs

If you’d like more information regarding the changes to the literacy and numeracy requirements, details are below.

NZCER has researched and advised on the following placements of PaCT Scale Scores that align to the benchmark for readiness of the Lit-Num Co-requisite need. They are:

Reading: Scale descriptors in the range 750–850 on the Progress and Consistency Tool (PaCT)

Writing: Scale descriptors in the range 800-900 on the Progress and Consistency Tool (PaCT) scale;

Mathematics: Scale descriptors in the range 750-850 on the Progress and Consistency Tool (PaCT) scale.

Placement of Benchmark for Readiness:

• The NCEA benchmark for the Co-Requisite is to be shown on all Student, Class and School Progress and Achievement Reports, and Kāhui Ako reports. The range of each framework to be shown as a shaded area on all reports (School, Class, Student – Progress and Achievement)

Filter Function:

• A filtering function to allow schools to create a list of those students who meet the benchmark and are ready to sit Lit-Num Co-requisite
• A filter function that allows students who have met the co-requisite benchmark to be filtered out after they have passed the Co-Req (within Years 9-13).
• Extending the ability of PaCT to include students to Year 13.
• There are some wider implications for us to consider in ensuring this is a coherent and useful development so that schools can use the tools to support their students.

Visual Literacy – What’s going on in the picture?

The basic definition of visual literacy is the ability to read, write and create visual images. It is a concept that relates to art and design but it also has much wider applications. Visual literacy is about language, communication and interaction. Visual media is a linguistic tool with which we communicate, exchange ideas and navigate our complex world. Follow the link here to a fabulous resource from the New York Times for older students where they can access a weekly picture, devoid of captions, and discuss interactively the meaning of what they see, followed by a ‘reveal’ later in the week.

Critical Media Project (CMP) is a free media literacy web resource for educators and students (ages 8-21) that enhances young people’s critical thinking and empathy, and builds on their capacities to advocate for change around questions of identity. Follow the link here to this excellent resource to use in your media studies. 

Holiday Hauora

The start of winter can be a time for rest, but can also give us the blues as the sunshine hours/intensity is reduced. The Mental Health Foundation, mauri tū mauri ora, gives advice on how to rejuvenate during the holidays.

1. Connect, me whakawhanaunga

Make some time in your day to:

• connect with nature; stretch your legs outside or bring the outside in. Go barefoot and feel the grass or sand between your toes, go for a swim in the sun
• find a photo of the natural world and make it your screen saver, or adopt a potted plant.
• reach out to people you know now – Skype them, call or Facebook them, or meet face to face.
• take some time to read the local newspaper or newsletter to see what’s going on in your area
• get creative or get in the garden
• give the gift of time by offering to help with someone’s garden,
• give a smile to a stranger or a compliment to someone,
• have a clear out – donate some old toys, books or clothes
• take notice of your surroundings or other people, me aro tonu

2. Learn more about what your body is telling you.

• If you’re feeling overwhelmed and exhausted pause, breath in, breath out.
• go somewhere you’ve always been meaning to visit in your local area.
• try some mindfulness
• go on a bush walk,
• take a trip to the zoo or botanical gardens

3. Be active, me kori tonu

Most of all make time for YOU!

Anzac Day Commemorations

Anzac Day is observed on 25 April. It commemorates New Zealanders killed in war and honours returned and serving servicemen and women.

The date marks the anniversary of the landing of Australian and New Zealand soldiers – the Anzacs – on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915. The aim was to capture the Dardanelles and open a sea route to the Bosphorus and the Black Sea. At the end of the campaign, Gallipoli was still held by its Ottoman Turkish defenders.

Thousands lost their lives during the Gallipoli campaign: 87,000 Ottoman Turks, 44,000 men from France and the British Empire, including 8500 Australians. To this day, Australia also marks the events of 25 April. Among the dead were 2779 New Zealanders, about one in six of those who served on Gallipoli.

They may have ended in military defeat, but for many New Zealanders then and since, the Gallipoli landings signalled that New Zealand was becoming a distinct nation, even as it fought on the other side of the world in the name of the British Empire.

Anzac Day was first observed in 1916. The day has gone through many changes since. The ceremonies that are held at war memorials up and down New Zealand, and in places overseas where New Zealanders gather, are modelled on a military funeral and remain rich in tradition and ritual.  As we head off on holiday, let us remember those that fought, and died, for our nation.

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Thank you!

A massive, heartfelt thank you must be said to Linda and Sandy who have been Orewa Kāhui Ako Across School Leaders for four years. You were both foundation members of our Kāhui Ako and worked hard to make sure we were built on a solid foundation. Your expertise, collaboration, insight, focus, energy, hard work and camaraderie have been invaluable and enjoyable. Mark and Leanne will especially miss you both at our leadership meetings. While pursuing other challenges, including studying part time, both Linda and Sandy will continue to serve the Kāhui ako as in school leaders with a clear focus on progressions.

Ka nui te mihi ki a kōrua i ā kōrua awhinatanga, ā kōrua arahitanga me ā kōrua manakitanga i ngā tau e whā. I whakakatakata kōrua i a mātou i ngā wātoa.