Staff Only Day Training
Violet Sparke — February 3, 2025
It was a busy week before the students arrived at school with staff having training sessions focused on reading as part of the English curriculum and in behaviour management.
At Pītau Allenvale, we believe that every student, regardless of their learning challenges, deserves access to high-quality structured literacy instruction. On Friday, we held a staff-only day dedicated to English curriculum development. To better support our learners; teachers, teacher assistants, and therapists participated in training centred around reading, an essential part of our comprehensive literacy approach.
This term we will focus on reading with a curriculum that is designed to inspire enthusiasm and engagement with reading. We were fortunate to receive expert guidance from Speech Language Therapist Helen Bayldon on how to implement reading strategies while integrating both high and low-tech communication systems to enhance students' language and communication skills. This training equips our team with the tools to support every student's literacy journey effectively.
This year, to support this, all staff are participating in an online course focused on comprehensive literacy instruction for students with complex needs. We are working with a literacy framework that includes Shared Reading, Writing, Working with Letters/Words, and Self-Selected Reading, ensuring a well-rounded approach to learning.
This training ensures that we are using the most effective, up-to-date teaching practices to meet the diverse needs of every student. We are excited to continue our journey in providing the best literacy instruction for all learners at Pītau Allenvale.
As well as training for our English curriculum we also had staff training on behaviour management. Last year, we changed from Safe Crisis Management to the Team Teach approach across the whole school to help staff feel more confident and skilled in managing challenging behaviours, while also fostering positive and supportive relationships. Last week, 26 staff members completed training in the Team Teach strategies, including techniques to support students in managing sensory challenges and promoting self-regulation. We are committed to creating a supportive and nurturing environment for all our students, and this training is a significant step towards that goal.
The next Ministry Curriculum Staff Only Day will be held on Friday 30th May 2025 when school will be closed to students.
