Already planning for the year ahead at Marshland School - Te Rito Harakeke and celebrating new staff appointments

Kia ora e te whānau 

I want to thank you for your honest and valued contribution to the Board strategic planning consultation. The Board and I met during the school holidays to analyse data and identify draft strategic goals. It was interesting to see a high degree of consistent feedback from our Year 5-8 tamariki, parents, whānau and staff. We look forward to sharing our strategic plan with you in the coming weeks, as we feel you will clearly see your contribution to this process reflected. 

In addition to school planning and review, we have been working through teacher appointments. This is due to a couple of highly valued staff leaving our school in 2022 for exciting things and continued roll growth. You may recall the staffing update at the beginning of October. I informed you that Mason Shaw was heading off to work at St Andrew's College at the end of the year. However, you may not be aware that Jean Pearce is also leaving us at this time. 

Jean has contributed thirty-five years to the teaching profession, and eighteen of these have been at our school as a successful teacher and team leader. She has worked with three different principals, being challenged by two major earthquakes, a terrorist attack, and a pandemic. Despite this, Jean has remained motivated and committed to continual change and improvement to enhance student learning. She has taught several different levels, moved into more teaching spaces she cares to remember but has loved teaching collaboratively alongside her wonderful Tui team teachers in our new school. Despite this, Jean has decided to focus on her six grandchildren, who are all three years of age or under. We can honestly say she has made a significant difference to student and staff lives and will be missed by all. Our school will not be the same without her wonderful sense of humour, incredible support and echos of laughter. 

While these teachers are impossible to replace, we have been busy working through teacher appointments and are thrilled to tell a little about the four new teachers joining us at the beginning of 2022.  These teachers are:

Luke Millar

• Luke has a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Geography and completed his Graduate Diploma in 2019. He has spent the last two years teaching at the Intermediate level and is moving back to Christchurch from Nelson at the end of this term. Despite great success teaching at the Intermediate level, Luke is excited about working at our full Primary School (Year 1-8), where he can teach other year levels to broaden his teaching experience and capability. He enjoys diving, surfing, camping and weightlifting at the gym. Luke has a great sense of energy and a strong desire to develop his professional expertise to benefit student learning.

Nora Harrison

• Nora was appointed to Somerville Intermediate in Auckland straight out of university. In fact, she did her last placement there several years ago, and they were desperate to snap her up as a permanent staff member. She has an excellent sense of humour and enjoys athletics, painting, drawing and dancing. Nora is passionate about culturally responsive practice and Te Reo Māori me ona Tikanga. She believes her interests, understanding and knowledge in this area started as a minority New Zealand European in a very culturally diverse secondary school in Auckland - Tangaroa College. So she jumped at the chance to teach at our school.

Hanneke van den Ende

• Hanneke has a Bachelor of Architecture with First Class Honours and a Graduate Diploma in Teaching. She spent 11 years of her life as a residential and commercial architect in Wellington, Christchurch and Melbourne before deciding to start a career in Education. When designing school building projects and conducting site visits, she realised that she wanted to be in the classroom with students more than designing them. Her parents have held Head of Science roles at large secondary schools in Christchurch, so Hanneke has a sound understanding of the commitment required. She is an experienced teacher, who has taught from New Entrants to Year 4 at an innovative school also experiencing significant growth. She is excited to join our positive team.

Bryony Charleston-Asttle

• Bryony has a Bachelor of Criminal Justice and a Graduate Diploma of Teaching. She has spent the last 3 years working as a Probation Officer, Court Officer and Youth Champion, including working within the Integrated Safety Response team. From this experience, she has a strong understanding of various social, neurodevelopmental and learning diversities. She is a reflective and committed Provisionally Registered Teacher who is prepared to go the extra mile for her students. She was a student teacher at our school in the Tui team this year and is thrilled to start her teaching career with us. 

We are looking forward to our parents, whānau and tamariki meeting these new teachers, as we believe they are a wonderful fit for our school. 

I enjoyed interacting with students to get a feeling for their thoughts on next year at Marshland School - Te Rito Harakeke. While doing this, I couldn't resist taking some photos of students engaged in their learning which I shared below. It was interesting to hear that some of our Tui tamariki (Hugo, Kendall, Lyla, Mac, Oli, Ethan and Emily) were excited about moving to the Korimako team next year. The biggest theme was getting to use a device. Kendall can't wait for this because her older sister often brags to her about having one. Still, she is also looking forward to the increased responsibility due to being an older student. Hugo is looking forward to reading new books and getting used to the different ways the Korimako hug works. I loved hearing that Oli and Mac are excited about engaging in the speech competitions, which is something not all tamariki will be looking forward to. 

When talking to Year 6 Korimako students (Will, Erina, Maiyde and Joseph) about moving to Toroa, they all said they are excited about the art, maths, literacy and sport opportunities at this level of the school. Interestingly, I was in the Toroa learning space today, and this is exactly what some of the Year 7-8 students were doing. Maiyde expressed how much she is looking forward to increasing independence, being a role model and having the younger students look up to her. I expect these students to make great senior leaders and role models, so I look forward to this too! 

Our Year 8 tamariki have mixed feelings of excitement and trepidation for the year ahead at Secondary School. Billy has indicated to his teachers that he is looking forward to learning Japanese. Riley is keen to try all of the new and different opportunities offered, and Cameron is interested in the Design and Visual Communication (DVC) subjects offered. We are keen to follow their Secondary School learning pathway with much interest and know these students will succeed in whatever they do.  

Despite planning and thinking about 2022, we are still very much focused on the remaining weeks and exciting learning opportunities yet to occur in 2021. We only hope that there are no changes to COVID-19 alert levels so we can continue to enjoy learning at school, including staff professional learning.

I hope you stay safe and have a wonderful weekend. 

Ngā mihi 

Leigh