Kia ora koutou katoa

Naumai, haere mai ki te Kura Tuatahi - Akonga Aka Mariko. Welcome to the VLN Primary School

Our goal is to:

Connect Schools for Enhanced Learning Outcomes

It has been a very eventful month in education with the appointment of Minister Nikki Kaye as the new Minister of Education and the passing of legislation that will pave the way for many changes in education. Of particular importance to us is Communities of Online Learning. This potentially has huge implications for the VLN Primary in providing the recognition and resources it needs to be able to sustain and develop online learning for NZ learners. We have been very active in our advocacy of online learning across the political and community spectrum and intend to be active in the consultation process leading in to the development of CoOLs guidelines.  We encourage you all to engage with this consultation process as well.

This month I had the privilege of joining our Rural & Remote Project kids and their Principals on camp in Wellington. This is our 3rd biennial  camp and we now have met several sets of siblings through the years. We had an amazing time, you can see some of our activities here. Look out for our students article in next month's newsletter.

In this newsletter:

Our eteachers get the professional recognition they deserve from the Education Council, and can now be attested for renewal of their registration through our VLN Primary appraisal system.

We welcome our newest team member Matetu Herewini who will be working alongside Koka Jules as a kaiako of te reo Māori. Thanks to Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi who have been very supportive of us in working with Matetu.

Check out our Korean programmes with Sunny Yang. The best time is NOW to get your children involved in learning Korean, as this year while we are part of the ALLiS project there are no tuition costs. 

For a cultural infusion in your school we encourage you to host a visiting teacher through AFS Educational Advantage. This opportunity is coming up very soon, so get in quick and consider sharing this opportunity with your local school cluster.

Thanks to all those who have contributed their viewpoints in our strategic planning consultation. There is still a couple of days to provide formal feedback (though of course you can tell us what you think anytime).

Finally we want to draw your attention to the World Rescue Game developed by UNESCO and designed to develop global citizenship skills, and knowledge of peace & sustainability issues.

Kia pai tō ra

Ngā mihi nui

Rachel