Kāhui Ako ki Orewa

Rāpare, te 20 o Haratua 2021

He kōrero nā ngā Tumuaki message from our Lead Principals

Kia ora koutou,

We begin a new spot on the newsletter to increase communication within our Kāhui Ako, enable our Boards of Trustees to be kept in the loop regularly as well as all the members of the Orewa Kāhui Ako Community. We, (Cameron and myself) are establishing working in a co-leadership framework and have been able to achieve a number of key elements over the last term. These are:

• The employment of all the four Across School leaders; Mark Ralston, Leanne Evans, Jackie Boyd and Bridget O’Dea.
• Surveyed all the Kāhui Ako teachers to find out what they value and want for the future of Kāhui Ako.
• Using this data and lots of and korero with the Principals, previous Across School leaders and new Across leaders, we have established our 4 key focus goals,Te ao Māori, Hauora, Future Ready and 21st Century Learning. 
• We have reviewed previous protocols and have established new protocols, which include moving each week’s Across School leaders hui and bi weekly Within School leaders hui to different schools.
• The Kāhui Ako Newsletter is well embedded within schools and will be sent out (if you have subscribed) on Friday mornings. The newsletter will contain updates of what we have been up to and useful learning and support tips for all teachers and Principals.

Today I write this from Orewa Beach School. We are holding all our meetings here today. We have had a tour of the school, morning tea with the staff and moved our  4 focus goals ahead. We have loved the welcome, chance to mix and mingle and see the programmes happening at Orewa Beach School. Thank you Katherine Pascoe, Principal of Orewa Beach School.

Looking ahead we are planning the relaunch for the Orewa Kāhui Ako and on Friday 4th June at Orewa College, 2-3:00pm our Guest speaker Kathryn Burkett is speaking around the topic of Hauora. Afterwards, we will have time to connect, socialise and get to know each other.

We are currently writing the achievement challenges for 2021-2023, gathering data to support our goals and working with the Ministry of Education to ensure we are  on the right track. 

We are on an exciting new journey, with challenges and new learning for us all and we look forward to seeing you when we are out and about.

Gillian Bray and Cameron Lockie

Kupu o te Wiki/Word of the Week

This week’s kupu is anō (ah-noor). You have probably heard it before when someone has said the phrase, “Ka Kite anō” (See you later/again). Anō simply means again and can be tagged onto something you already know how to say.

Examples:

Ka kite anō See you again

Car key-teh ah-noor

Hoki mai anō Come back again

Hore-key my ah-noor

Korero mai anō Say it to me again

Core-rde-rdoar my ah-noor

E noho anō Sit down again

Ear-nor-hore ah-noor

E tū anō stand up again

Eh two ah-noor

Rarangi mai anō

Rdar-rdange my ah-noor

Unteach Racism/Patua te Whakatoihara

Whether we like to accept it or not, racism is present in Aotearoa and in our community. It’s not just the big in your face racism, the type that makes us squirm in the movies, but often just the little things, comments, actions and unconscious bias that’s present throughout our community.

The teachers council has joined forces with a wide range of agencies to address racism through the Unteach Racism website. It aims to support educators to be able to address this challenge. The website has a resource page which is full of modules that can be used to challenge and identify racism where it exists.

“Unteach Racism recognises that racism is something that is learned and therefore can be unlearned. It acknowledges the unique position of  expertise teachers have in being able to address this challenge and inspire others to do the same.

It’s not a perfect website or app but there is some gold in there and the modules are well worth going through as individuals or in small groups to stimulate thinking and conversation.

Unteach Racism Website

21st Century Learning/Akohia i te rautau 21

Creativity was one of the skills identified in last weeks newsletter needed for 21st Century Learning. Sir Ken Robinson shares his thoughts on Creativity in schools in this Ed Talk and raises some confronting questions for us as educators.

Click on the link to view this video – Do schools kill creativity? 

What Creativity in the classroom might look like – Link to original Coggle 

Learner Support/Tautoko Akonga – It’s as easy as 1,2,3

Every student can benefit from this quick easy tip.

Keeping instructions simple and listing them on the board helps by:

1. Focusing students on the instructions
2. Students can refer back to the list
3. Accountability, no more “what do I do next?”

This tip suits all styles of learning – aural learners listen to the instruction as it is said, visual learners see the instructions, those that like to see written instructions, those that can’t remember three steps, and ALL students can refer back. 

Keep it simple… compare these two lists:

• The use of colour for each instruction helps students clearly see the different steps
• Colour helps them focus on next step
• Simple List means they are also practising listening skills for more information
• Students more likely to refer back to short instructions
• You can include visual in the list for clarity

Future Ready/Digital Curriculum

With the increase in online learning becoming common across the globe Google has been kind and reminded us of some quick ‘hacks’ to working with G-Suit. Below are some top quick tips to help students with learning and collaboration online. Check out the full blog here.

G Suite is a set of tools that help students and teachers collaborate in real time and give personalized feedback. It’s also paperless and accessible from anywhere. Built into our G Suite tools are many accessibility features:

• Slides: Turn on closed captions in Slides to support students who are deaf, hard-of-hearing or ENL. Simply use  Ctrl + Shift + c in ChromeOS/Windows or ⌘ + Shift + c in Mac.
• Voice typing, editing and formatting: Use the mic and enable the feature to use voice typing in Docs and Slides to write and edit without a keyboard.
• Visual aids: Enable high contrast themes in Gmail and browsing, and use powerful keyboard shortcuts for those who can’t or don’t want to use a mouse.
• Collaboration: G Suite works on all different platforms including Windows, Android, iOS devices and even multiple devices at one time. You can all be on different devices and still collaborate in real time.
• Braille: Use a Braille display to read and edit Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drawings.
• Screen reader & magnifier: Turn on the features in accessibility settings to zoom in or use the screen reader in Docs, Calendar, Sites, Classroom and even in other browsers.

Digital Integration

The HarperCollins Teacher Hub is a great resource for supporting teachers by offering a huge range of resources and books for teaching and learning.  There are a range of books for all levels, interest groups and curriculum areas. Also on the site is a range of resources for all levels – primary to secondary. While there, check out the Teachers Hub Blog – a space where teachers are reflecting on reading in education and the impact books have on our students.

Kāhui Ako Calendar/Maramataka

Thursday/Rāpare 3 June/Pipiri 

3.30pm – All Leaders Meeting @ Orewa College

Friday/Rāmere 4 June/Pipiri 

2.00pm – Orewa Kāhui Ako Relaunch @ Orewa College OAEC

Thursday/Rāpare 17 June/Pipiri  

3.45pm – All Leaders Meeting @ Wainui School

Te 19 Pipiri/June ki te 11 Hōngongoi/July Matariki 

Thursday/Rāpare 1 July/Hōngongoi 

3.45pm – All Leaders Meeting @ Dairy Flat School