21 March 2016

Newsletter Articles

Principals supporting Principals… Principals supporting Principles!

Kia Ora

Please find this week’s Monday Mailing below.

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Rant – Decile Funding

I have long argued that the one single thing any Government must do to tackle the ‘growing tale of underachievement’ in NZ is to address poverty. The Government seems to be putting a toe in the water… see the attached article. The idea has some merit; there will be fish hooks as well.

Of course, this Government will see this as a way of saving money - so any possible merits will be diluted.

Retiring Principals

Do you know of any Principals retiring in terms 1 or 2? Please email their names to principal@deanwell.school.nz .

Waikato APs and DPs - Events 2016

We have a number of great opportunities lined up this year. Read the attached PDF and sign up on this link.

Leadership Positions – What’s Going On?

I am hearing that other schools may also be getting small numbers of applicants when advertising for senior positions.

Last year we advertised for a Senior Leader with 3 Units and had a pool of 3. 1 was unsuitable, 1 was internal, and 1 gained a job elsewhere. We re advertised and gained 2 more applicants of which one was internal and the other also won a job.

Are other schools finding it hard to get a reasonable number of applicants for Senior Positions? We have an AP appointment going at present and we are experiencing a similar problem. We are unsure whether it is worth re advertising if we may still not achieve a larger pool?

Are teachers becoming unwilling to take on more responsibilities?

Any comments to aid our understanding of the present market would be appreciated.

Kind regards
Waveney Parker
Principal

Tamahere Model Country School
37 Devine Road
R.D.3.
Hamilton 3283
Ph: 07 856 9238

Nurturing Our Future - Growing Together

Kia atawhai aa mua - Kia tipu ngatahi

School Clusters Successfully Engaging With Their Local Iwi

Simon Green, Principal of North Loburn School in North Canterbury, is seeking information as part of his sabbatical study.

His topic of study is around the Ka Hikitia Maori Education Strategy. Specifically, he is looking at a cluster wide approach to this strategy by seeing examples of groups of schools engaging with their local iwi. It could be shared PLD on a marae, shared goals from an iwi for the schools in their area, or any other form of engagement.

If there are any schools in the Waikato area that have engaged successfully with their local iwi he would like to make contact with you and look at the work you have done.

Simon Green
principal@northloburn.school.nz

Thanks for your support.

Kind regards
Simon

WaiMac

IMPORTANT PLD FOR PRINCIPALS AND SENIOR STAFF

An Invite and a Challenging Question for all our Waikato Principals:

What is the purpose of education for Māori?

1. What do I believe is the purpose of education for Māori?
2. How will I go about learning, discovering and catering for this in my school?
3. What do I need to do to transform my school’s pedagogy, practice and culture to enable Māori to realise their potential, first as Māori, then as successful contibutors to both our worlds and then globally?

What do you know about MAC, the Maori Achievement Collaborative pilot scheme which has been operating in various parts of Aotearoa/NZ for the last two years, including the Waikato?

You are invited to join us at Peachgrove Intermediate on Thursday, 7th April from 3.30pm to hear about MAC, its journey to date and to address the above question:

What is the purpose of Education for Maori?

We will break for nibbles for tea at 6pm and in our second session we will address the issue of Dual Medium Units in our Mainstream Schools.

Nau Mai Haere Mai, You are warmly invited to attend both or either of these sessions to be led by our Waikato, WaiMac team and Hoana Pearson QSM, president of Te Akatea and national coordinator- Te Pītau Mātauranga, Māori Achievement Collaboratives(MACS)

Please bring a koha to cover the afternoon tea and light nibbles.

Email Mike Lander, waimacmike@gmail.com or contact Helen Te Kiri at Peachgrove, htekiri@peachgrove.school.nz to confirm numbers.

Furniture For Sale

Te Uku School has several student desks which are surplus to requirement. They are SEBEL desks, 5 years old, suitable for Years 5 and 6 students. Make an offer if you are interested. Thanks.

Rachel Allan ( rachela@teuku.school.nz ).

Waikato Family Futures

From Mike Malcolm at Leamington School

Emma and her team are outstanding. We regularly consult with Emma now (privately) to better understand what may be happening for some children. Has been a revelation to many teachers who have interpreted behaviour as bad behaviour, but now see that many children carry disabilities that do not tell their own stories. This whole area of early trauma is really interesting. We recently hosted a PD afternoon for all Cambridge teachers on this and the feedback was extremely positive. Any teacher who is dealing with children where the normal behaviour management strategies do not work would find this information career transforming.

Ice Skating

From James Eldridge at Firth Primary School…

We have a new Dutch family here in Matamata whose business is hosting Ice Skating. They have moved down form Auckland and now bring their operation to the Waikato.

The best part of the operation is once set up in your school hall, classes can enjoy daytime session at a reduced rate and they then offer sessions to the public in the evenings. The school receives 20% of all the takings.

Daryl at Matamata Intermediate has booked them for late term 2.

I include their info:

Schools can host the Ice Skate Tour for 3-5 days. We can set up outside however makes things bit more complicated in terms of weather and overnight security. All we need is 8-12 helpers to set it up (2 hours) and pack it down (1,5 hour). We open the ice rink after school and charge our normal entry fees of $7 for kids, $13 for adults and $35 for a family. 20% of these fees will be donated to your school after the event.

Our state of the art, artificial ice rink has 97% same gliding capacity as natural ice and is a bit easier for kids and beginners as it's not as slippery. The ice rink is 10m x 16m which includes an inflatable boarding. We will need to have access to at least 2 power points (normal wall plugs) for our inflatable boarding, sound system, bubble machines etc. In terms of promotion, we will give you posters and flyers to promote in the local community and we also recommend to add on extra fundraise activities like bbq, face painting etc.

Most schools also ask us to provide lessons during school hours. Classes go on the ice rink for an hour and we teach them the basics of balance, coordination and ice skating. Cost for this is $5.60 per student. Most schools charge this for $7 to parents but have also seen schools using their (kiwi) sport budget for this. You don't have to do these lessons but do recommend if you have the chance. We've had lots of positive feedback about these sessions and it gives the kids a lot of confidence.

Kind regards,
Robin de Goeij
MOB 021 390 510
P/FAX 07 888 7200

I think some other Waikato schools may also be interested if they have a large enough hall.

Kind regards
James Eldridge
Principal.

Hmmm… Time!

Hauora… Health & Happiness

How often do you ‘phone a friend’ – a neighbouring Principal? We all need to chat to someone we trust occasionally… contact a near by Principal each week.

A Thought – Strength

A Laugh

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