As a way of keeping the community informed with the various aspects of school life, I will provide a summary of the topics raised during weekly assembly time. Once we get a new school website I will post the material and topics covered so that you can see first hand the whole school messages that are covered as well get a sense of what we are trying to achieve in this time to build our school culture. Please read the assembly article to get an idea of what has been covered so far.

In this newsletter you will get to meet the new staff that have joined us this year. We are in a very fortunate position to be fully staffed and I am really excited by the quality of our new staff and the range of skills and experience they bring to our kura.

We are focusing on developing a really strong learning culture. As a base, at Year 9 and 10 in almost all classes there will be Must Do, a Should Do and a Could Do activities for students to complete. The Must Do’s are essential learning for the lesson. For some students these might be completed easily. For others, this might be the main focus for them to complete each lesson and take them a bit longer. The Should Do’s are for most students to try and achieve, as the label describes, this is work that students should be aiming to complete. Some of the Could Do activities may be specific homework or extension work for a few students.

The aim is to differentiate the learning so we cater for a wide range of student abilities while still developing that sense of aspiration and joy in achieving more than what the students might think they are capable of. As I walk around the classrooms, this is one of the things I will discuss with students.

Neil Harray

Principal | Tumuaki

Te Aroha College