Kia ora, talofa lava, greetings everyone

Today marks seven years since the 22nd February earthquake in Christchurch and I want to pay my respects to all of you who have been affected by this tragic event.  It has certainly changed the face of Christchurch and seven years on, the rebuilding continues.  For some of our families, the memories of this day and the aftermath that followed will still be vivid so on behalf of the staff here at Clearview, I would like to acknowledge you.   Kei konā kei a koutou ngā whakaaro (our thoughts are with you).

Our first whole school assembly is on tomorrow morning and it's a great time to come together and celebrate our successes over the past four weeks.  There is a lot planned for the assembly with a number of awards to hand out, learning to share and we will have a special visit from the Chinese Cultural Association who will share a bit of their culture and language.  This is timely given Chinese New Year has recently been celebrated.  Furthermore,  we have Leroy Edgar who is our new itinerant guitar teacher who will introduce himself and play his guitar.   We look forward to welcoming them to our assembly tomorrow and if you can make it along, please join us.

At our Board of Trustees meeting on Tuesday evening, I presented our 2018 Charter and Annual Plan for their input and approval.  As part of this presentation, we examined the achievement information from 2017 and have identified some targeted areas we would like to focus on for improvement.  We have set three achievement targets for 2018 and established some proactive actions we will be taking to life achievement in these areas.  

With the Labour Government removing National Standards, schools are now in a place to review our current assessment practices and how we report to parents.  We will not be using National Standards to report to parents this year and we have made the conscious decision to take our time to establish an effective reporting format and timeline that works for our families.  National Standards have been legislated for the almost 10 years, so a new form of reporting will require some time to establish and implement.  

It's an excellent time to connect with our parents and get your thoughts and ideas about what kind of information you want to read about in your child's report.  Our Curriculum Team has compiled a brief survey to collect your thoughts and feedback, so we can adjust our reports to meet the needs of our students and families.  An article with more information and a link to the survey is in this newsletter.

Have a super weekend and enjoy the rest of your week.

Naku iti nei, na

Rob Rush

Principal/Tumuaki