VIDISHA ISHVER: DEPUTY PRINCIPAL

Earlier this year, the school had the opportunity to consider another Deputy Principal to add to our senior leadership structure. Vidisha Ishver, who previously held the Associate Principal position has been awarded the Deputy Principal role. Being the previous AP, Vidisha is well qualified to take this next step in her career. The Board fully endorsed Vidisha’s transfer to Deputy Principal. Congratulations Vidisha.

PARENT - TEACHER CONFERENCES

Parent Teacher Conferences are being held on Tuesday 28th June and Thursday 30th June.

Based on parent feedback, we have changed the way in which we conduct our parent -teacher conferences. You now have the choice to meet with the teacher without having your child present. If you prefer to have your child present, feel free to bring them along.

Children’s Interim Achievement Report will be sent home a day prior to the conference. Based on feedback, the new reports are brief but give you the same valuable information they always have.

At the conference the teacher will discuss your child’s Report including an explanation of where children are placed against the national curriculum levels; they will also show you samples of work where appropriate, and will discuss how best to help at home. You will have the opportunity to ask questions. As children will no longer be formally presenting at the conferences, the conference duration is now 10 minutes. You can book your conference time: School Interviews or go to schoolinterviews.co.nz and enter the event code yhxvc.

Families without internet access can still make appointment times. Belinda in the school office will handle counter or phone bookings on behalf of parents without access to a computer, call on 04 388 6657 for assistance.

HAUORA - WELLBEING - POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR FOR LEARNING

Below are the results of the parent consultation regarding our school values. Thanks for your responses! The Board, staff and children will analyse this further and together we’ll come up with a set of shared values important to all of us. These values will guide the content of our next strategic plan (2023-2025).

Parent Comments

Very excited for these skills to be explicitly taught, modelled and celebrated. Thank you so much for being the school who chooses to be an integral part of helping shape our tamariki wellbeing for now and the future. Social and emotional competency is essential in navigating our world.

One of my children has been displaying a very negative outlook of herself and feels she is not good enough. She needs a lot of positive self talk which we are doing with her

I would like to see less competition and comparison within the curriculum

Obviously all the values listed in the survey are important so I have ranked the ones that I think are most important to pick up in a school setting rather than home. School is a group setting where kids work and compete with their peers, so building confidence and determination to perform well in that setting I think is important as well as the ability to work with others.

I'm really happy to see MNS engage in PB4L!

In reality all of these behaviours are as important as each other so we tried to rank specifically to our case.

No, Miramar North School has done an amazing job teaching my son especially with extra learning he gets with reading recovery. I’m forever grateful and happy thankyou

I feel like these are all important but should be nurtured and encouraged not enforced, I know that sometimes that leadership can be hard at such a young age!

It's very hard to rank these, as they are *all* the behaviours one hopes that one's child will develop and demonstrate throughout their life!

Sorry, but it’s very difficult to rank or prioritise the values listed.

It's good to see these values being promoted. The old values of Competition and Exclusivity have failed miserably

DEB FERRIER-KERR

Deb Ferrier-Kerr has again been asked to participate in the position of Teacher Assessor with the National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA) relating to assessment of the NZ curriculum and delivered through Otago University. In Term 3 2021 Debs was part of a team that delivered the Arts and Technology tasks for this project. All curriculum areas are assessed in a cyclical manner and this year, it is to be Mathematics and Health. Both of these areas align with our strategic goals and we will be fortunate to have extra expertise in these areas.

Debs will visit 20 different schools over the term and work with a wide range of students Years 4 - 8 throughout the lower North Island. She will be working with the latest assessment techniques in these areas and so will get a feel for how our students sit against the national norms. We think this is an awesome opportunity for her and for MNS to add to their kete of knowledge in these curriculum areas.

As the position is for all of Term 3 Melanie Kesry will take over full responsibility of Room 3 during this time. Melanie and Deb work closely together to develop their systems and programme so any transition for the children will be smooth.

Please talk to Debs or me if you have any thoughts or concerns.

AED AT MIRAMAR NORTH SCHOOL

When someone experiences cardiac arrest, their heart suddenly stops beating and unless a heartbeat is restored, they will die.

The chance of survival reduces 10 percent for every minute someone goes without cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and a defibrillating shock. Miramar North School has increased that chance of survival for anyone experiencing cardiac arrest in, or near school by installing a donated automated external defibrillator (AED). Thank you to the Rotary Club of Wellington South for kindly donating the AED to our school.

AEDs, also known as defibrillators, deliver a safe electric shock to restart the heart. CPR can temporarily maintain blood and oxygen circulation until a defibrillating shock is administered. They are designed so that anyone can use them, even without much training. The device itself will talk you through the life-saving process. According to the OHCA Aotearoa New Zealand, National Report 2019/20, New Zealand reported 2212 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests: three percent occurred in children (aged under 15), 97 percent in adults (aged 15 and up), and community members were fundamental in the early defibrillation of 112 adult patients in cardiac arrest. Forty percent survived compared with just 10 percent of those who did not receive community defibrillation prior to help arriving.

Ministry of Health (MoH) guidelines state that under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, “all schools must have staff trained in first aid, which generally includes how to perform CPR and use an AED”. The government body notes: “Possessing AEDs and having CPR-trained staff is highly recommended.”