New beginnings, 3 Way Conferences, Positive Behaviour for Learning - School Wide, Parent Information Sessions & Maths Week, Teacher Only Day, Community Outreach, Oranga Tamariki

Tēnā koutou ngā whānau,

Welcome back and welcome to Term 3. Here’s to a wonderful ten weeks ahead, we have a great deal of exciting learning and celebrations planned across the term. We look forward to continuing to grow the home-school-community partnership as we move through a range of events.

Our first week has been one of calm, reconnection, routine and review. We welcomed 10 New Entrant students into Team Awa on Monday for their first day of school. These students, their whanau, students across the school who have started and new staff since March 2020 were welcomed today at our mihi whakatau.

The current hall has been a hive of activity, regularly used by our students learning gymnastics and practising Kapahaka. In the afternoon we have a wide range of community groups with bookings. Our space will also be used on September 19, 2020 as a polling booth for the general election.

Thank you to members of the Māori community who joined us for whānau hui on Tuesday evening. Our korero was open and rich with sharing of ideas about aspirations for our tamariki.

On Wednesday afternoon Mrs Inglis and I had the pleasure of taking 12 Year 5/6 students to represent Isleworth School in the North West Zone Cross Country at Jellie Park. The students were role models as they waited patiently, warmed up and ran the course. While the personal joy is in taking part many were looking for a placing to represent Isleworth at the Central Cross Country during the term. We believe we have at least two students who have made it through. Mrs Inglis will publish the results in due course.Thank you to the parents who supported us with transport and provided encouragement on the day. Thanks Jess for the stunning photos.

3 Way Conferences - Tuesday 4 August 3.15 - 7.45pm & Wednesday 5 August 3.15 - 6pm

A paper notice has been sent home and a digital copy placed on the website about these 3 Way Conferences. Bookings are available at www.schoolinterviews.co.nz using the code hz2aa. School will still finish at 3pm on both of these days, students need to be picked up from school at the normal time and not remain in the playground unsupervised for later booking times.

As requested in our survey the focus will be on celebrating student success to date, sharing learning in Reading, Writing & Mathematics and setting goals for the remainder of the school year. Each student and their whanau will have 15 minutes alongside the whānau teacher.

Before you come to your conference take time to consider the following prompts:

• What did you observe about your child’s engagement in learning during lockdown?

• What did you observe about your child’s work habits?

• Thinking about the learning that was completed at home - what did you enjoy? What did you find challenging? Why do you think this?

• What goals would you like to see your child achieve in the final terms of 2020?

• What do you see as most important for your child’s learning in the final terms of 2020?

Please note we have requested whanau whose student transitioned to Waipuna this term make a booking for Wednesday so, where possible, both teachers can meet with you. Moana 3 currently only has one day of bookings and alternative arrangements will be emailed to those concerned.

Positive Behaviour for Learning - School Wide (PB4L-SW)

At these conferences we will be seeking community input into our school-wide expectations/values. Recent studies by the Ministry of Education as part of our Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) journey indicated that only 30% of our students know and recognise the current school values. As a staff we have begun discussions and would like your thoughts to co-construct our pathway forward in a positive, inclusive and learning focused environment.

Teacher Only Day - Monday 17 August - Week 3

A reminder that Monday 17 August is Teacher Only Day at Isleworth School. Our staff will be working alongside Massey University mentors as part of our Developing Mathematical Inquiry Communities (DMIC) Professional Development. Having the opportunity to work together for a whole day uninterrupted is a rare occurrence. We are grateful that our community allows us to do this as part of our collective agreement and appreciate the challenge of arranging childcare for this day. CASPA will be operating on this date.

DMIC (Developing Mathematical Inquiry Communities) Parent Information Sessions & Maths Week

PreCOVID we were planning parent information sessions on our delivery of Mathematics and this was a hot topic at whanau hui. We feel there is a real need to clearly demonstrate how this method of teaching maths works and the underlying concepts involved across the school. What better time to share this learning than in Maths Week 10 - 14 August 2020.

We invite you to join us on Thursday 13 August to view DMIC in the classroom and/or listen to a brief explanation and engage in learning activities yourself. Watch for Raywyn’s HAIL communication regarding this session.

Community Outreach

Sean Clifford, PTA Chair, Robbie Hawkins, teacher aide, and myself met with Matthew Chan from Garden Fresh Greengrocers Bishopdale recently. We are looking at ways to support local and provide seasonal fruit & vegetable packages to families for a reasonable price. Watch the PTA HAIL articles for more information, in the meantime support Matthew and his team by buying local.

Oranga Tamariki

We have had a number of parents recently upset at Oranga Tamariki visiting their students during the school day. Under legislation, the Children’s Act & Oranga Tamariki Act, the school is considered a safe and neutral space for professionals from Oranga Tamariki to speak with students. A member of staff, the person with the best relationship, will sit in on any visit to support the student. Informing the whānau of this visit is the responsibility of Oranga Tamariki. All visits are non-judgmental and have the child at the centre to enable the right support to be provided for individuals and whānau moving forward. We have school policies on Student Safety & Welfare, Sharing of Information, Child Protection, Abuse Recognition & Reporting available.

Here’s to a wonderful weekend of sport, snow and hopefully sun.

Ngā mihi nui

Suzanne Newton