20 April 2020

Newsletter Articles

Principals supporting Principals… Principals supporting Principles!

Kia Ora

Please find this week’s Monday Mailing below.

Well a lot has happened since last Wednesday. It now looks like schools are going to open for those students who want to attend. Even though this raises a lot of issues it may assist many of our students to have some normality in their lives, and this has to be a good thing. We have to understand though that the education being delivered under alert level 3 is not going to be what was delivered early in term 1.

As I said last week, tolerance, patience and laughter needs to be a big part of our days in the weeks to come.

Kia kaha

Remember this is your newsletter. Again if you would like to share a reading, opinion or an event feel free to contact me.

Kind regards
Tony Mangan
Glenview School

WPA Dates

From our President:

Kia Ora kotou

I hope everyone has had a positive start to term 2 and your online learning programmes are being well received.

The announcement of the ‘rules’ for Level 3 seems to have created more confusion and stress for school leaders. There is currently a lack of clarity regarding criteria for opening, student attendance, cleaning expectations and most importantly the health and wellbeing of staff and students. On Friday a group of Principals met with Paula Rawiri (Director of Education for CNI) to ask questions and voice our concerns. Paula didn’t have the answers but she will take our questions to Wellington to try and get some answers for us. Another meeting is planned for early next week to respond and try and give us some direction in light of the Prime Ministers announcement. Expect another email during the week with the outcome of this conversation.

Monday’s announcement by our Prime Minister will be important. In any event schools will have time to make sense of what has been said and what the expectations on us are. I have found real value in talking with colleagues and sharing ideas that has informed my thinking and as always, I encourage you to ‘phone a friend’ and share ideas. A common theme that has come through is surveying the community to see how many are likely to come to school under Level 3 conditions. I would like to suggest you start your surveys by making this statement taken directly from COVID-19 website:

‘Schools will be open for children to go to learn if their parents need to return to work, or the children cannot learn at a distance. Children who are able to, should remain home and learn via distance.’

The lower the number we have at school, the easier it will be to get things started again. One thing I think we can be sure of, Level 3 coming out of lock down will look very different to Level 3 heading into lock down.

Good luck for the second week of term 2. Hopefully our Prime Ministry will present a decision on Monday that is good for all New Zealanders and gives us some clear direction going forward.

Marcus Freke
WPA President

Covid -19 response tip Podcast

Hong Kong Principal Neill O’Reilly shares his COVID-19 response tips with Waikato Principals Hamish Fenemor and Tony Grey. Neill was formerly Principal of Waitakiri Primary School in Christchurch, and developed this school as a result of the merger of 2 schools. Whilst a different context, Neill’s learnings post Chch have also been applied to our current situation, and he shares many “golden nuggets” regarding remote learning, communication, supporting staff wellbeing and leadership in general. While the video was initially done to support a few colleagues, we feel the messages could support the wider group.

This is the link;

Cheers
Hamish

NZPF / APPA Trans Tasman Conference 2020

Sponsors’ note from Sitech

Kind regards/Ngā mihi nui,
kia ora, kia ora te iwi

All of our staff at Sitech especially sales consultants are taking the utmost care to protect ourselves and your school students and staff before and after we visit

Warren Leet
Education Technology Consultant - Waikato and Bay of Plenty

Sitech Systems (NZ) Ltd
Ph: 07 846 0060
M: 021 405 284
E: warren@sitech.co.nz

Upcoming staff PD

Rototuna Primary School is hosting Nathan Wallis for a day of PLD for their teaching team on Tuesday 13 October 2020.

We have 40 spaces available for other teachers in our area who wish to attend.

Here’s your chance to get all the latest brain development research from a valid source, in a series of talks that are made to make sense. Nathan's focus for the day will be talking about The Developing Brain: The Big Picture, including:

1. Understand Your Brain – The First 1000 Days
2. Engage Your Brain - 2-7-Years
3. Change Your Brain! Change Your Life!

We will be hosting Nathan at the St Andrew's Golf Course, 64 St Andrew's Terrace, St Andrews, Hamilton.

Morning Tea and Lunch is included in the ticket price of $175 (including GST).

The 40 available spaces will go to the first in, first paid!

Once payment is received, you will receive a confirmation email with your ticket number/s.

Please use the link below to register for tickets

Remember our sponsors, support those that support us

Schoolzine

Schoolzine is proud to be a digital partner and supporter of Waikato Principals' Association.

Schoolzine has been an industry leader in digital school communications for 14 years. They are dedicated to customer service, product development and understanding the school landscape that keeps them at the top of the industry. Schoolzine’s Parent Engagement Platform consists of 3 packages, an eNewsletter, Mobile App and Website offering. Purchased separately or together, they guarantee each package will make engaging with parents easy and even enjoyable for a school of any size. Schoolzine addresses the need for media-rich, interactive content that engages parents.