Dear Parents/Caregivers

Term one seems to have flown by, before we know it Easter will be upon us. The busyness of the term and the teaching and learning that has taken place has instilled in your son the idea and belief that with effort, perseverance and commitment, growth happens.

The mentoring interviews that took place this term were opportunities for your son to articulate what he is doing (learning), where he wants to head (achieve) and maybe, what he would like to do or learn in the future.

We know, and much has been written about this, that acquiring knowledge is only part of the story to leading a fulfilling life. Our experience of life tells us that knowledge, while extremely important to acquire that mature adults need to acquire these key competencies. It’s not enough for our students to just keep learning more information at the expense of learning how to use that information and work with others.

As well as learning about a variety of subjects, our students need to know how to learn, how to think for themselves, think alongside others, and be motivated to keep on learning throughout their lives - so that they can do well in their world.

The New Zealand Curriculum identifies five key competencies:

· Thinking

· Relating to others

· Using language, symbols, and texts

· Managing self

· Participating and contributing

See this link below for further information:

http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Key-competencies/

Education is changing.  For many of us, where our children learn, what they learn and how they learn is very different from what we experienced at school.

As our world keeps changing we need our your son to be confident, creative, connected and an actively involved life-long learner.  We need an education system that supports the development of values, knowledge and competencies and sets them up to do well in the world.

Digital technologies are an important part of your child's world. Your child uses them to connect with each other, to learn new skills and pursue their interests further than has ever been possible.

They also offer new opportunities for teachers and leaders, and new ways for you, your whānau, iwi and community to contribute to your child's learning.

Digital technologies can enable:

• learning to happen anywhere and any at any time, not just in the classroom
• your child to connect and collaborate with other students and teachers outside their school and even across the world
• your child to understand challenging concepts in virtual worlds that would not otherwise be possible
• easy access to the huge range of resources available on the internet to support learning (websites, apps and more)
• you, your family, whānau and community to become more involved and contribute to your child's education, for example through school Facebook pages and student blogs, and
• your child to follow personal interests and talents and access experts not available to them locally.

Until next time

Paul Donnelly

Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert

 Deputy Principal of Identity and Innovation