Kia ora koutou e ngā mātua, e ngā whānau, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Konichiwa!

Welcome back to term 2

We hope you had a lovely holiday and, a fabulous Easter!

Wasn’t it great to have the opportunity to have a few more days off between Easter and ANZAC day!

A special thanks to Bruce Russell and his team, for coordinating a beautiful ANZAC service at school on 25 April.

I had a varied holiday spending quality time with my beautiful grandson playing on slides and swings and roundy twirly things… and attending a Global Conference with Tracey Riley (Deputy Principal) and other leaders from Christchurch and internationally. It is always so nice to be able to get off the treadmill and connect with loved ones and actually finish a cup of tea!!

Congratulations and Celebrations (our success stories)

Science Week…

We have now been running our Science programme across the school, for over a term and are excited about the informal conversations we are hearing from the children in the playground and during play, as a result of their learning. Below are comments shared with us from our community on the impact this programme is having with their children!

Parent 1: Just a quick email to say how truly FANTASTIC the new science programme with Darren is!

My daughter is in Manuka and absolutely loves it. It has sparked something in her and I can just tell, when she talks about her day with such excitement and has a smile that lights up the entire car, that it's something she never knew she needed, until now.

Thank you so so much for providing such an amazing opportunity our children. Darren's delivery and passion for the subject sure is rubbing of!

Parent 2: I would just like to say how much the children are enjoying science with Mr Smalley as part of their learning this year. It is a real hit with all three of them, (years 6, 4 and 2) especially my 8 year old Lily who loves talking me through the experiments

We are very fortunate to have Darren on the staff with his wealth of expertise, experience and knowledge in the field of Science and Environmental Sustainability to facilitate learning. Our purpose built Science lab has been operational for a few years now, however we are delighted to have the opportunity to make it a real focus for our learners this year.

Here is a bit about Darren you may not know  (photo attached below). I grew up in Leicester (England) and am still an avid fan of Leicester City Football Club. My dad used to breed and show canaries and I was fascinated about how colours were transferred across generations. This sparked a lifelong interest in genetics which culminated in a Ph.D in molecular microbiology while I was living in North Carolina. When I was 22, after a chat with a former beachcomber/ lumberjack/ scientist, I decided that I would change my career after 20 years. So when my daughter was born 4 1/2 years ago (I also have a 10 year old son who attended West Melton School before relocating to Christchurch), I took the opportunity to train as a primary school teacher. I chose Primary School as I felt that too many students were entering high school without sufficient exposure to quality science teaching. I am in my 4th year of teaching at WMS, and this year I have been given the opportunity to spend my mornings teaching science to the whole school. It has been a great experience, and all students get to do science and environmental sustainability for a minimum of 6 hours every term.

My philosophy is to keep things fun and to give the learners a chance to explore and find out answers on their own. When I am not teaching, I spend time with my children, bird watch, mountain bike, keep tropical fish (specifically African cichlids in part because they have really interesting genetics) and try to find ways I can do my small bit to help the environment. 

Enviro Update

Fab5 this term will focus on ways that we can respect the school environment and feel proud of the school grounds. The EcoWarriors are gearing up for a visit from Glentunnel School in Week 6, who are keen to learn about our composting worms. They are also preparing a planting scheme for around the Whare iti which will tie in with our local cultural narrative. Last weekend Mr. Smalley attended the Re-opening of the Willows. The school received a lot of kudos from those who attended with respect to the amazing work the learners have carried out at the Kowhai Sanctuary.

School Environment

This term the school wide focus is on the ‘SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT’

Unfortunately the school is looking rather tired and untidy in its current state.  Hopefully you will see a few changes in the following weeks and months. At the same time, it is an expectation that last term’s focus on manners, meeting and greeting, and saying thank you will continue.

We would appreciate your support in helping to DRIVE the importance of RESPECT for our school and other people’s property when talking to your children, or even walking through the school grounds. Your support could include any of the following suggestions:

• Encouraging and praising those who you catch doing the right thing - adults and children

• Reminding children to RESPECT the environment if you see them doing something they shouldn't

• Picking up any rubbish rather than walking past it

• Greeting staff, learners and others and asking how they are...

We are working hard on keeping the school in the best condition and presentation we can.

If anybody has a spare hour or two, I know John Blondell, our Caretaker would appreciate the opportunity to tick off a few jobs on our list!

We all want our learners, staff and community to feel proud of their local school environment.

The following landscaping projects will be happening over the next few weeks and into the next school holidays

• This weekend, the area surrounding our whare, is being upgraded with the levelling of the area surrounding the hut and laying of sea shells

• Removing the old hebe plants from the planters and replenishing the soil in preparation for new planting next week

• The whare will have a make over in consultation with our learners, whānau and local Rūnanga led by Kathryn Meyers and Carolyn Sutherland.

Communication 

Last year we engaged a Communication Expert to review our existing Communication Strategy. As a result we set up a Coms team to continually evaluate and DRIVE communication, making changes as a result of discussions with staff, community, board and learners. We were pleased with the feedback from Gabrielle discussing our exisitng systems and processes. We continue to refine identified areas as suggested for improved communication

So far this year, we have been working on new systems of Reporting to Parents - goal setting, and in a few weeks student led conferences, along with the purpose of Keep in Touch notices (now fortnightly). We are currently looking at a parent portal which we are hoping will be operational later this year.

We are still hearing a few comments about early notification of events rather than a week before. This is currently an area of focus currently and a work in progress. 

Production

Due to a number of circumstances beyond our control, we have unfortunately decided to postpone this years proposed production.  It has been very challenging trying to find an appropriate venue, however we continue to plan for a school production in 2020.

Paid Union Meetings resulting in Strike action - Wednesday 29 May

Last week teachers attended Paid Union Meetings to discuss the current industrial situation. We thank you for your cooperation as we tried to ensure their was minimal disruption to learning and student welfare as possible.

As you will be aware by now, primary and secondary teachers have voted to strike on Wednesday 29 May. In this newsletter is a letter from the Board of Trustees outlining the organisation for this day.

Obviously we are hoping for a resolution before this day, however we wanted to give you as much notice as possible to organise your day if the strike goes ahead. Once again we thank you for your continued support.

The New Zealand public maintains a high level of support for additional government investment in education. Research findings

• Teachers are bogged down in administration and this is getting in the way of them teaching:

  • 80% nett agree this is the case for primary teachers

  • 78% nett agree this is the case for secondary teachers

• More needs to be done to support students with additional needs:

  • 91% nett agree.

• 89% of the public support more money being spent on education relative to other issues

• 89% agree there is a shortage of teachers

• 83% agree we need a pay rise

• 79% agree we need more time for planning, preparation and assessment

• 91% agree more needs to be done to support students with additional needs

Relationships/Behaviour

Late last year Tracey Riley and I were fortunate to attend an excellent professional development session presented by Kathryn Berkett at the Ministry of Education. I have shared the link - Managing behaviour and the stress response for your information. I thought it may be helpful in understanding our young ones. I hope you enjoy watching them.

They are two animated videos explaining the role of the managing brain, and the affect stress can have on us. Short and easy to watch. The other video was produced by Storypark in association with Engage. It is a 7min summary of how engaging in stress can build resilience in children!