16 November 2015

Newsletter Articles

Principals supporting Principals… Principals supporting Principles!

Kia Ora

This week’s email update…..

Please note the close off date for having something included in the Monday Mailing is 3:00 PM on the preceding Thursday.

Kind regards

Pat

WPA Dates

	November	20	Friday	WPA Principals Dinner 2015
2016	April	9	Saturday	Road Trip – Singapore April 9 -15 2016
	May	31	Tuesday	NZPF – APPA Conference – Auckland May 31 – June 3 2016
	November	18		WPA Dinner
CatchUp Days 2016
	March	17	Thursday	Catchup Day – Neil O’Reilly. Flexible Learning Spaces.
	July	6	Wednesday	Catchup Day - Kath Murdoch. Inquiry Learning.
	September	7	Wednesday	Catchup Day - Nigel Latta
	November	3	TBA	Catchup Day Staffing and budgeting for following year.

Other Dates

July

6-8

NZEI Rural & Teaching Principals Conference, Tauranga

WPA Principals Dinner

The WPA Principals dinner is on the evening of Friday November 20.

Venue:	Waikato Stadium	Gate 5, Seddon Road, Whitiora, Hamilton
Time:	6:30 PM	Drinks at bar – complimentary (drink enough and they will tell you how nice you look!!). After 7:30 PM, you buy your own drinks at the bar.
	7:15 PM	Dinner served - with complimentary wine on the tables
	8:30 PM	Band starts playing

Principals are free. It is $60 for partners.

Last day for booking is 15th November - no bookings taken after that date as numbers will have been confirmed.

Rant

Gotta love this Government.

I note the Steven Joyce is being very heavy handed in relation to collecting 1.8 million dollars owed by teachers after being overpaid during the Novopay debacle - http://nzh.tw/11544467. Certainly – get the money back. But do it without the public, teacher-bashing approach.

Minister Joyce could spend his time much more effectively by focussing on getting the bugs out of Novopay. Having had the opportunity to work on End of Year Novopay procedures earlier this week, there are obviously still many bugs in the programme. It is still costing schools many hours in phone calls and wasted time.

Re-prioritise, Mr Joyce.

And a cynical aside… the Government makes all of these teacher bashing ‘announcements’ at times that are advantageous to them. Why are they casting aspirations on teachers… just as feedback is being sought on proposed Education Act amendments; and as collective agreements are being negotiated? It is not a coincidence.

Retiring Principals

If you know of a Principal who is retiring, please email our WPA President John Coulam with their name and retirement date.

Māori Cultural Responsiveness

The WPA is looking for school leaders who are confident to welcome and thank visitors in te reo, lead karakia and waiata, and advise the executive on matters of tikanga. If this is you – or if you know of someone who would be competent and comfortable in this role, please contact the WPA chairperson John Coulam at principal@marian.school.nz.

sKids – FoodStorm

sKids have introduced for next year a cooking programme called the FoodStorm. Please refer to the attached document.

Chris Bartels
Director
sKids - Safe Kids in Daily Supervision Ltd
www.facebook.co.nz/skidsnewzealand
www.skids.co.nz
Tel: (09) 576-6602
Fax: (09) 576-9902
Mob: 021-974-221

Leadership Opportunity

At present I’m working with Otorohanga Primary and their principal has Study Leave for 2016. I wondered if you could email all Waikato schools concerning this vacancy. It may be an opportunity for someone on a bigger school staff to have the experience of leading a school for that time and mentor staff. The children are great and the school is well resourced.

Anyone interested could either contact myself or Otorohanga Primary, Phone 07 8737334. Many thanks.

Judy Dixon
ju.dixon@xtra.co.nz
Mobile: 0272747302

Education Act – You need to act!!

Have a look at the attached document, keep an eye on the media, and attend any meetings run the Ministry of Education or NZSTA (who are the Government’s mouthpiece to Boards of Trustees).

And then respond… to the Government, to your community (very important), and to the WPA.

There are issues that should be causing you concern.

Schoolzine – Special offer!!

Please support out Business Partners!

Schoolzine is offering all WPA members a 3 month money back guarantee. Have a look at the attachment for details.

Te Reo Resources

Please support our advertisers!

Looking for quality resources in te reo that are easy and fun to use?

Award winning Te Reo Singalong books can help you to go beyond commands, greetings, colours and numbers.

Teachers all over New Zealand already enjoy the first 10 books in the series.

The next book, Te Wairua o Waitangi, will be ready in January.

Go to www.tereosingalong.co.nz to pre-order your copies of this excellent resource for your Waitangi week focus.

The website is also a great place to look at, listen to and purchase any of the books in the series.

For more information, email sharon@tereosingalong.co.nz.

Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari – Social Event

The team at Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari is excited to announce we are hosting a Summer evening event to be held on the 27th of November at the Visitor Centre located on the south side of Maungatautari.

This social affair will start at 8PM with refreshments, nibbles and live music, after which we will embark on a night time walk into the ancient forest of Maungatautari. This is where you will see the birds of our sanctuary settling in for their evening and hear kiwi calling to each other as darkness falls. The walk will be followed by supper and a charity auction offering a variety of goods for unique Christmas gift ideas or a treat for yourself!

Tickets are priced at $65.00 all inclusive; a very generous offer considering a night tour alone costs $55.00 an adult. Please join us for a magical summer evening and support one of New Zealand's largest conservation projects!

For more information about Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari please visit our webpage

We look forward to seeing you there!!

Hmmm… Testing

Health & Happiness: Teacher Burnout

Many internal and external factors can lead to teacher burnout -- some that teachers themselves can control and some that they can't. Here are five big factors that play a part in teacher burnout, along with tips on how to prevent these factors from burning you out.

1) Maintain Your "Other" Life

It's OK if teaching is your life as long as you have a life outside of your classroom. I see this a lot in new teachers, especially if they are in their early 20s and just starting out. You want to be the best teacher you can. You've been dreaming of this moment for years. Now you're here and determined to launch headfirst into an instantly successful career. You're figuring out lesson planning, grading, managing student behavior, and classroom procedures. You're up until midnight and up at 6:00 AM.

Your weekends are spent grading and planning. This is an easy road to burnout. Go for a short weekend trip, get lunch with an old friend, go to the gym during the week, or go for a bike ride. (Exercise relieves stress!) Spend some time when you are not thinking about the classroom, and stay connected to your support group of friends and family.

2) Be a Stakeholder When Changes Are Made

Too much change stretches teachers thin and leads to burnout. Include teachers in conversations about changes, and make changes transparent. I have seen the downside of change in the schools I've worked in over the years. It seems like the administration changes the discipline policy and procedures every week. The school started the year with a new reading program only to find out that they'll be using a different one next year. Lunch procedures are revised and changed with no explanation in what seems like a haphazard way throughout the year. Teachers are moved from grade to grade or subject to subject despite their experience with specific grade levels or subject areas.

After enough of these hasty, frequent changes, teachers begin to feel as though they've lost all control over their day-to-day experiences and responsibilities. This leads to unwillingness to go out on a limb, try new things or put in too much effort -- why bother when everything could change on a whim? This takes the passion out of teaching and turns it into a guessing game of what will come next.

If a change needs to be made, be transparent about why this change is happening and, whenever possible, include the affected teachers in the process and avoid sudden changes that appear to come out of nowhere. Always think about how a change will affect teachers and staff and plan accordingly.

3) Find Lessons and Opportunities in Everything

One of the easiest ways to burn out as a teacher is to get stuck in the same routine and practices year after year. Keep it fresh by reading new research on teaching, and by learning, talking, and collaborating with peers inside and outside of your school building. Attend conferences and other structured learning activities. Take on a leadership role in your school through which you can learn new skills or build new connections. Share what you're doing in your classroom with peers, solicit feedback, and revise your lessons. Oh, and read. A lot. Always keep learning. Always keep it fresh.

4) Nurture Peer Connections

Give teachers opportunities to connect with each other about their teaching. When they don't have time or opportunities to connect, share, and plan together during the day, they start feeling isolated. Isolation can easily lead to burnout if you feel like you're all alone, figuring things out by yourself, and having few connections within the building. Feeling part of a team, knowing what others are doing in their classrooms, and seeing how your work fits into the bigger picture is motivating, inspiring, and increases feelings of self-worth. Give teachers across grade levels or subject areas the time they need to share student work, units they're teaching, and ideas they're working on. Give them opportunities to watch each other teach in a non-threatening, collegial way.

5) Keep It Light

Incorporate humour and laughter into your classroom. Putting on a serious face every day, day after day, is hard. There's an old adage that says teachers shouldn't smile until winter break or they'll never be able to manage their class. Sure, it's important to be clear about expectations, and sometimes you need to put your foot down. But who wants to sit in a classroom where no one smiles and everything is super-serious all the time? It's OK to have a good time in the classroom and enjoy yourself. Your students will appreciate your class more, and you will win them over if you seem like you're having a good time! Teachers have bad days just like anyone, and sometimes we need humour to brighten our day. Letting some humour and laughter into your classroom and making it a pleasant place to be will help counteract feelings of burnout.

A Thought – Choices

And a Laugh

Please support our WPA Business Partners

BUSINESS PARTNER	CONTACT	EMAIL	TEL NO.
Gold
ASB	Phillipa Bennyworth	Phillipa.Bennyworth@asb.co.nz	021 243 3316
Furnware	Richard Jenkins	richardj@furnware.co.nz	021 544 575
Konica Minolta	Jemima Brindle	Jemima.Brindle@konicaminolta.co.nz	021 760 478
Autex	Jeremy Robertshaw	jrobertshaw@autex.co.nz	021 669 313
Silver
Kukri	Mark McConnell	mark@kukri.co.nz	021 781 122
Sitech	Phil Mellar	phil@sitech.co.nz	0800 100 607
Footsteps	Stephen Evans	stephen@footsteps.com.au	0800 66 66 88
TTS	Wade Charman	wade.charman@tts.co.nz	07 839 7129
CORE Education Ltd.	Jo Wilson	jo.wilson@core-ed.org	021 2780768
Institute of Professional Learning	Jan Martin	jmartin@waikato.ac.nz	027 286 1114
Bronze
Photolife	Bob Bradley	bobb@photolife.co.nz	021 929 584
Total Education	Neil Ferguson	neil@totaleducation.co.nz	06 843 1300
Reharvest	Reubin Maindonald	reuben@reharvest.co.nz	09 299 3999
Programmed	Kevin Bird	Kevin.Bird@programmed.co.nz;	07 849 7100
Accounting	Peter Granville	peter@pmgranville.co.nz	07 856 1400
Skids	Chris Bartels	chris@skids.co.nz	09 576 6602
Musac	Geoff Flett	Geoff.Flett@musac.co.nz	021 973 143
Playco	Thomas Patterson	Thomas@playco.co.nz	021 287 5638
Class Cover	Peter Carpenter	peter.carpenter@classcover.com.au	0800 600 102
Schoolzine	Dion Guthrie	dion.guthrie@schoolzine.com.au	07 5414 2362
Crest Clean	Nivitesh Kumar	nivitesh@crestclean.co.nz	027 555 2144