RJHS Newsletter - Term 1, Issue 2

KORERO FROM FRASER

Welcome to the start of our module learning for 2021, everyone. Both staff and students are excited to get into our regular timetable structure and routines.

This year has also seen the introduction of a structured numeracy programme for learners at all levels of achievement. This programme will take place three mornings each week at the start of the day in Hapū groupings. All students have been assessed for their current level of achievement in numeracy and placed in a group within their Hapū based on this level. We have a smaller number of students who will require further extension or additional support that may be grouped with students outside of their Hapū to ensure we meet their needs as well.

The programme itself is teacher led and structured in a way where new learning is modelled each week and supported with practice activities and end of week marking and assessment. The students will have the same teacher for their numeracy sessions for each of their three thirty minute blocks and this time at the start of the morning is going to be a short, sharp, focussed learning time to start the day.

Over the year we are aiming to further support the development of this programme with additional resources and tutorials. We will be regularly gathering numeracy achievement and progress information for all learners and at some stage we will share this with you all. An important part of the programme is each student understanding what gaps they have in their numeracy learning and having the opportunity in a supported environment to ‘fill’ their gaps.

Our introduction of this programme has come about through our review of our curriculum structure at the end of last year and was for three key reasons:

1. We felt like we could use the time between 9-9.30am each day far more effectively to have an impact on learning progress. This programme offers an additional 90 minutes of focussed learning.

2. Mathematics was identified as an area that we felt could benefit from additional, structured learning time to compliment learning in modules. Our maths achievement data showed progress but we felt we could do more and achieve better.

3. The nationwide NCEA review identified numeracy as an area that needed to be strengthened within the senior high school qualification years. New numeracy standards for NCEA are currently being trialled in schools around NZ. From 2023 schools will implement these new standards and importantly students can achieve numeracy standards from Year 9. While we do not know how this will look right now we believe by developing this programme we are ultimately going to set our students up for success in numeracy learning and qualification.

We are excited about this programme and look forward to celebrating its success.