22 May 2017

Newsletter Articles

Principals supporting Principals… Principals supporting Principles!

Kia Ora

Please find this week’s Monday Mailing below.

You can access all previous Monday Mailings by clicking here or going to http://www.wpa.ac.nz/1/newsletter_sets/1-monday-mailing/years/2017 in your web browser.

Kind regards
Pat

Help! EOTC

A request from a school: I was wondering if you have something current surrounding EOTC policies or if you could ask our members. We are currently reviewing ours and we would like to check on other school's thinking.

Responses to principal@deanwell.school.nz please, and I will forward them on.

WPA Dates

Catch Up Day - Thursday June 8 2017

Catherine Savage, John Leonard - Kaha Education

The online store is open and ready to take bookings, please note the price increase to reflect the use of Claudelands Event Centre, now $75 +GST, we wish to continue to offer quality PLD at rates that are affordable for our group.

Asbestos Management Plan – Attached

All schools are meant to have an Asbestos Management Plan, according to the Ministry of Education. And they are always right.

Our draft plan is attached. It is based on the Ministry of Education website below. All the attachments are available through the Ministry site.

Kudos to the Ministry of Education

Yes, you read that right.

1. The asbestos management website is very good, and saves schools a lot of work.
2. We had a visit at Deanwell from our School Property Advisor last week – the first visit for many years. Noeleen Ross was knowledgeable, supportive, and helpful. Great stuff.

NZEI Teaching and Rural Conference Scholarships

The NZEI Waikato Principals Council are pleased to announce the following Principals have been drawn as the recipients of the $600 scholarship to cover conference registration.

Michaela Phillips from Tokirima School and
Mark Harrop from Ngutunui School

Regards,
Scott Wilson
Principal Puahue School
www.puahue.school.nz
07 872 1838
021 2149336

Eastern BOP Principals

A huge thank you from the Eastern BOP Principals. We had a great response to our request to visit schools. We were aiming for four schools, we have snuck in five schools and we had about 12 offers.

It is fantastic to see such a willingness to share. We would love to visit you all, but this is not possible. However, I have noted all of the schools who have offered and it is likely that we will take up this offer at some stage in the future.

You are all welcome to come and enjoy the sunshine, fishing and hospitality in the Eastern Bay at some stage. We look forward to a great time in the Waikato.

Regards
Simon Akroyd
Principal
Apanui School
Whakatane

Reminder: Pay Your WPA Subs…

Please pay your WPA subscription as soon as possible by clicking here. This is even more important if you wish to take advantage of the subsidies provided on the WPA Road Trip, NZPF Conference, etc.

CORE Breakfast

The next CORE Breakfast is on 25 May (this week) with Mary Anne Mills and Carolyn English presenting a seminar and workshop presentation on Designing Future Focused Curriculum.

This CORE breakfast seminar will:

• help you define what your school means by providing a future focused curriculum
• outline the key considerations while designing school curriculum and how it could be interpreted at the classroom level to build on the strengths of particular students

The workshop will invite you to take an active approach as we explore ideas about curriculum design and how it translates into:

• classroom practice
• student learning experiences
• progression of future focused capabilities

Workshop participants should bring their school vision and strategic goals. Register here

Jo Wilson | Senior Consultant | Expert Partner | Accredited Facilitator
CORE Education Ltd, Hamilton
M: 021 278 0768 | W: 07 949 9513 | E: jo.wilson@core-ed.ac.nz
W: http://www.core-ed.org | FB: http://www.facebook.com/coreeducation

Term 2 Bilingual Resources Available Now!

Teachers and children have been enjoying the Term 1 bilingual resources from Arahia Books. The Term 2 resources are now ready.

This term’s stories are based on the Hauora (Health) kaupapa, and we think your teachers and students will love the engaging storylines.

Ngā Taputapu Tākaro (Sports Equipment) is about two boys who go to the school sports shed to collect some equipment. It features easy sentence structures explaining the names of the sports gear and the actions used.

There’s a twist at the end when the boys find a scary surprise in the shed.

Ngā kākahu o Ana (Anna’s Clothes) follows Ana through her busy week, introducing the names of the week, physical activities and the clothes she needs for each day. By the end of the week, Ana has a very messy room and a big washing pile.

To see more about these new resources, including some pages from each book, you can visit our website below.

You can purchase full resource packs or a combination of the individual items. Details are on the website. We look forward to hearing from you.

Waikato LangSem

We would like to invite you to this year’s Waikato LangSem on Friday, 2nd June. This is a professional learning and development day for primary and secondary teachers of French, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and te reo Māori, years 1-13. We will offer workshops to emergent language learners of all languages (curriculum levels 1 and 2).

The online registration form is for all teachers of Learning Languages and te reo Māori at your school. Please pass it on to any language teachers in your school.

In addition, Principals are warmly invited to attend the plenary session at the start of the day, free of charge. We would greatly value having you attend the start of this important professional learning and development event. Our keynote speaker this year is Marcus Akuhata-Brown. He is a gifted communicator and qualified teacher - he's an emerging leader and inspiring international speaker with a powerful message.

Speakers and workshop facilitators are nationally and internationally recognised second language learning specialists, many of them National Advisers, as well as facilitators from Poipoia te Reo, which supports the teaching and learning of te reo Māori in English medium schools.

We welcome your interest and on-going support of Learning Languages and te reo Māori in New Zealand.

Yours faithfully
Britta Frogley (LangSem Convenor) & Anke Richmond (LangSem Manager)
Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any queries: ankerichmond@rjhs.school.nz

Relievers Wanted

Are you vibrant and flexible, easy going and adaptable, have a heart of gold and a backbone of steel, will you be supportive of our tamariki and their uniqueness? Yes? Then you maybe who we are looking for. If you are keen to be part of our day to day reliever pool please contact Lois at HJHS on 8492819 or email your CV to loism@hjhs.school.nz.

Rant – Online Charter Schools

Have a look at this brief article about online learning in online Charter schools in the US -

Charter schools in NZ have not be shown to be effective, although judgements are challenging given the lack of accountability.

Online learning without regular contact with other students and teachers also causes me great concern. I can see potential in independent online learning when it is incorporated into a programme of social interaction, and there is adequate and competent adult (parent) support. It may be effective for children who have become independent in their learning, as long as they have regular contact with people.

So how long before our Government comes up with the idea of online Charter schools? No buildings!! What a saving.

Watch this space….

Hmmm…

Hauora… Health & Happiness

A short read – but worth it – click here.

A Thought…

From Geoff Booth at Puketaha School…

A Laugh

All I Need To Know About Life I Learned From Trees

~ It's important to have roots.
~ In today's complex world, it pays to branch out.
~ Don't pine away over old flames.
~ If you really believe in something, don't be afraid to go out on a limb.
~ Be flexible so you don't break when a harsh wind blows.
~ Sometimes you have to shed your old bark in order to grow.
~ If you want to maintain accurate records, keep a log.
~ Grow where you're planted.
~ It's perfectly okay to be a late bloomer.
~ Avoid people who would like to cut you down.
~ Get all spruced up when you have a hot date.
~ If the party gets boring or dangerous, just leaf.
~ You can't hide your true colors as you approach the autumn of your life.
~ It's more important to be honest than poplar.

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