31 May 2021

Newsletter Articles

Happy Monday! I hope that your week has started well. It was so great to catch up with many of you at our Connections Day on Friday.

Nga Mihi
Chrissy Wakeman
Orini Combined School

A message from Marcus

Kia ora koutou

It was disappointing to hear David Seymour’s criticism of primary education and that he advocates for ‘good teachers’ getting bonuses. It was interesting to note that the classroom film footage that was shown to support his thinking looked like it came from the 1960s. I think the needs of our students are far different from the 1960s and it shows how out of touch Mr Seymour is. Schools work very to build a culture of collaboration and sharing amongst staff. How might that be affected if by some teachers being labeled ‘good’ and others not?

I note in the latest NZPF newsletter Perry is asking for an indication of who would support a Primary Principals Union. I am aware he has put a massive amount of work into developing this concept to this point. I think it is time that Principal wellbeing and work conditions are put at the center of contract negotiations instead of being secondary to everyone else. Perry will be Hamilton on the 8th of June to consult with us around the curriculum refresh. This is an excellent opportunity to be part of the conversation about how this can happen. We may also be able to quiz him about the Union concept. Don’t forget to register on the WPA website.

Thank you everyone for the amazing support of partnership day with Sport Waikato. An amazing programme has been put together designed to challenge our thinking about how we encourage ‘activity’ in our schools and beyond.

Thank you also to everyone who supported our ‘extra’ day with Andy Jones. He presented some interesting thinking around system review and principal wellbeing. His presentation will be sent out shortly. One thing that really resonated for me was a comment Dr Rowe made; ‘prepare your child for the road, not the road for your child’. I think I’ll make that thinking focus of my next school newsletter blurb.

Nga mihi

Marcus

WPA Dates

WPA Otago Study Tour

We have an excellent programme confirmed for this Study Tour – take a look!

Registrations are now open via the WPA website.

Free Netball Skirts

Berkley has 100 Navy Blue LENCO Netball Skirts to give to a school. These are now surplus to requirements at Berkley. They are completely blank and could be used for any school who has year 7 - 9 students.

First in first served. Please make contact with Nathan Leith principal@berkley.school.nz

Learning Lab

The abrupt shift to online learning due to COVID-19 rocked the US education system, unearthing many of the inequities at its foundation. Educator Nora Flanagan says we can reframe this moment as an opportunity to fix what's long been broken for teachers, students and families -- and shares four ways schools can reinvent themselves for a post-pandemic world.

Waikato School’s Challenge

Don’t miss out on this years Mid-Winter Christmas School’s Challenge Trots night!

U1 + 2 Road trip Scholarship Application

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