Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Kia ora, Hello, Talofa, Mālō e lelei, Bula, Hola, Fakaalofa atu, As Salam Alaykom, こんにちは, Hallo, Hoy, હ લ ો, Hē leu, Mauri, न म त, Ola , Chum reap suor, Kumusta, Nihao, Xin chào

Dear Parents and Caregivers

Fun Run

Congratulations to all of the learners who got sponsors for the Fun Run! When writing this newsletter the current profit for the playground was $3128.50. Congratulations to Harmony Tamou who raised over $500.

The Riccarton Curriculum and Teacher Professional Development

In the first newsletter of the year, we outlined the Riccarton Curriculum and what we want our learners to learn and how we structure learning at Riccarton. Alongside our development of the curriculum, all teachers have been taking part in a two year professional development contract. It is funded by the Ministry of Education and is being run by CORE Education, a local Professional development provider. We are now almost halfway through the project. We have staff meetings, mentor meetings and team meetings, with facilitators from CORE Education, about how we can: make education more authentic and engaging for our learners, collaborate as teachers and support staff to ensure we are catering for the needs and interests of all learners and continually improve teaching.

This professional development continues to be very rewarding and is based on the latest research about what works when wanting to raise the achievement and engagement of learners in the 21st Century. As a result of this professional learning, you will continue to see changes in what we teach and how your children learn.

Riccarton Greater Christchurch Schools' Rebuild Process Update

As stated previously, we are in the process of planning for a moderate redevelopment, as part of the Greater Christchurch School Rebuild scheduled for late 2019. We have completed the consultation stage and are now writing an Education Brief that the Ministry of Education require. This will go to designated architects later this year for the Master Planning Stage. From here, a preferred plan will be developed and costed and then alterations will be made based on budget. It will then move to the construction stage.

Reporting to Parents

Just a further reminder about what to expect for your Linc Ed reports, starting from early next term. Next term, a new goal function will be turned on that is different from the previous one. You will be able to see for your child: goals they have completed, goals they are working on and their next goals to complete. You will see this in Maths, Reading and Writing, from early next term.

All students will get progress and achievement comments in reading, writing and maths twice in the year. These will be published by early Term 2 and 4.

For all students there will be:

Inquiry topic (Science, Social Studies, Technology, Health): An inquiry topic comment published each term.

Te Reo Māori: At least one Te Reo Māori comment each year (commenting on the areas, from all five covered over two years, that will be taught this year).

The Arts (Drama, Dance, Visual Art, Music): A comment on the four major areas over a two year period. In 2018 it will be for Visual Art and Music.

Physical Education: This year there will be comments on Aquatics and Gymnastics.

Languages - Year 7 and 8 Only: 1 comment per year.

Respectful, Responsible, Real Learner (Key Competencies): These will be integrated across comments (where they can be) and each child will have a comment written in term 2.

All of the above will come out to you soon after it has been taught.

So throughout the year you will be receiving regular updates that will give you an overall picture of your child’s learning (which may include photos where appropriate). This goes alongside our learning conferences in term 1 and 3 (more often for some learners) and any other communication that you have with your child's teacher. Our door is always open to discuss your child’s progress - just make a time!

Please note that because of the regular updates throughout the year, there will not be a large report at the end of the year, as most of the learning will have been commented on by then. This is a deliberate strategy, as we want to get this progress and achievement information to come to you early in the year, in real time, as soon after the learning has happened as possible. It also means that we are not writing big reports just before the students go on the long summer break, but  instead, we are giving you and your child real time information that can help their learning.

Last words for the term

Thank you to all of our learners and whānau for making this a great term! Have a fantastic end of term holiday with your children! We will see you back at school on Monday 30th April. 

Ngā mihi

Paul Irving

Principal
Tumuaki