Thank you for everyone who supported Book Week

There was a buzz around school which reached a climax on Friday with the character parade. There was also author visits, Clifford the Big Red Dog and parents buying books for their children from the book fair. Reading and Writing is central to learning when all tamariki start at our kura. This carries into all year levels as we prepare to have our children shine when they enter Intermediate.

Thursday and Friday I was in Christchurch, where I thoroughly enjoyed learning to be a facilitator for the Better Start Literacy Approach (BSLA). It is delivered by the University of Canterbury. The implementation of this programme in NZ primary schools is funded by the Ministry of Education. The University has been researching and studying the best way to teach and learn how to read for over a decade. They provide all the resources needed to implement the programme and the collection of data about the effectiveness of the implementation of this approach is already huge, but is also ongoing. The data is astounding. Presently this teaching approach is currently in over 833 NZ primary schools. BSLA has been at our school for nearly 2 years now and is for the first years at school. I heard the latest research and updates of the programme

The statistics are astounding as to the difference this programme makes compared to the previous way of teaching reading. The previous way of teaching had us thinking ‘what can we do to support children with dyslexia or other reading difficulties?’. Now we are doing an approach that helps ALL children to read.

The junior team cannot wait to show you this programme, what they do and why. The date for this is Monday 11th September at 6pm, and I encourage all parents of children in Years 1 - 2 to attend. For those who need it, we will look after school-aged children in the library, during the session. For me, going to this course was like being given glasses to see what our amazing junior teachers do in their classrooms every day with literacy. By attending our information session, I hope that this will do that for you and give insight into the way we teach reading.

In the meantime, I recommend watching/listening to Professor Laura Justice from the Ohio State University give her keynote presentation at the 2017 Literacy Symposium at the University of Canterbury. It is about Fostering Reading at Home and includes research and practical things parents can do to significantly increase reading ability at home. LINK

On another note, I want to express my heartfelt thanks to the parents who are supporting the school Mud Run and all the sponsorship that has been coming through from families. Sarah Ostergaard and Rebecca Newman are doing a stirling job as they lead us up to the fun community event on the 10th September. I encourage everyone to sign up this week when the entries open Thursday for Stanley Bay families. The Mud Run is a huge community event with limited ticket sales. Purchase early to ensure you join in the fun. It’s THE event of the year. All staff are going. You will want to be there. Put the date in your calendar. With having 1000 participants, we are hoping that all families will be there on the day, in some way, as we raise money for a flying fox and an extension of the playground.

Kind regards,

Emma Tolmie

Tumuaki/Principal of Stanley Bay School.