VLN Primary Pānui August 2022

Nau mai, haere mai ki te Kura Tuatahi - Akonga Aka Mariko

Kia ora koutou katoa, Kia orāna, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Nĭ hăo 你好, Annyoung haseyo 안녕하세요, Namaste, Assalām alaikum, Hola, Bonjour, Hallo!

There is no slow button for VLN Primary. Our mid year registrations saw a huge 50% growth in participation with a total of 1214 learners in 78 classes from 85 schools. Wow! No wonder it has felt like a busy term. Lucie, Jen and Jan have been hard at work ensuring our learners, their schools and eteachers are well supported. We are really grateful for the funding support we have received from the Ministry of Education for Mātauranga Māori and enabling equity for small rural schools to participate in our programmes.

Our learners were surveyed at the end of last term and we share some of their feedback with you. With the understanding that we all have a part to play to ensure our ākonga are well supported, Lucie shares her to 10 tips for supporting online learners. 

Several new eteachers started this term: Rosemary (Chinese), Carol (Te reo Māori), Katherine (DT, Web Design & Visual Arts) and Carrie (Year 9/10 Gifted Learners). 

We are very pleased to welcome Tewaiehu Savage to our senior leadership team. Tewaiehu's Mātauranga Māori expertise will support the VLN kaupapa and help kura and kaiako needing support for te reo Māori me ōna tikanga and support for our Māori ākonga.

We are one step closer to merging with our secondary VLN  colleagues with the decision made on our new name. Thanks to all those who consulted with us, including our students. Find out what our new name will be and the special meaning behind it in our merger update.

Te Wiki o te reo Māori is coming up soon. Our ākonga and kaiako are preparing a Zoom session for te wā tuku reo - Māori Language Moment. We would love you to join us. Check out the te reo Māori resources we have to share and find out how to participate.

Rachel is looking forward to connecting with Principals at the upcoming NZPF conference. If you want to know more about the VLN or you are in one of our schools and want to say Kia ora face to face, please come and introduce yourself to Rachel or Rick. We'd love to meet you 

Ngā mihinui

Rachel, Lucie, Jen and the team