Woodstock Charter and Annual Plan

As part of our annual review at the end of 2021 we analyse our achievement data, attendance, and look at other feedback to evaluate what has gone well and areas we need to focus on in 2022.

What has gone well at Woodstock in 2021

• Good Reading achievement overall, with 80% of our year 6s and 76% of our year 2s reading 'at' or 'above' national expectations.
• Some pleasing Maths achievement with 73% of our year 6s and 74% of our year 1 students 'at' or 'above' expectations in Mathematics.
• A school-wide focus on positive behaviour for learning, using a restorative approach and a consistent behaviour plan. We have zero tolerance for bullying or physically harming others. 
• Maintained and celebrated our diversity and our inclusive, caring school culture. 
• Our students are happy and love to come to Woodstock School.
• Value and promote Te Ao Māori and te reo Māori. 
• A range of extra-curricular sporting and cultural activities to engage in.
• Re-visioned and established our four core school values. 
• Have amazing, committed, and caring staff.

Plans and Annual Goals for 2022

This year we are excited to be focusing on improving Mathematics and Writing outcomes. COVID-19 disruption has had some impact on our student learning progress and achievement. We are looking forward to making a difference this year through improved student attendance and excellent teacher practice. We also know that our school-wide focus on our values will help our students to be learning-focused when they are at school.

Some of our staff will be involved in Structured Literacy Professional Learning and Development this year. Structured Literacy is an evidence-based approach to teaching literacy based on the science of reading. This approach involves explicit, targeted teaching and repetition to ensure all students are set on a path for literacy success.

All of our teachers are engaging in DMIC Maths Professional Learning and Development this year. You may have heard your child talking about their Maths learning at home. DMIC stands for Developing Mathematical Inquiry Communities. It is an evidence-based, New Zealand developed approach to teaching Maths which engages children in Maths in a culturally responsive way to lift student achievement in Maths.

DMIC Maths is 'low floor, high ceiling' teaching practice. It's been exciting to see the learners engaged in their groups, solving Maths problems, sharing their solutions and feeling a sense of achievement. 

A few other areas we are working on:

Reporting: our goal this year is to report to parents in a way that clearly shows where your child is in his or her learning, and in plain language. Our other goal is to ensure we are working as a home-school partnership. We will have three reports this year.

• Data Report - shared with you at our Week 9 at Parent-Teacher Interviews. This report will be a summary report of all testing we have done so far this year. Your child's teacher will go through the testing results, explain strengths and needs, and enable you to set learning goals together. This will be shared at our Parent-Teacher Interviews in end Term 1, Week 9.
• Mid-Year Report (end Term 2)- will clearly show your child's progress by mid-year. This will be discussed at Parent-Teacher Interviews early Term 3.
• End-of-Year Report (end Term 4)- will clearly show your child's progress after a year's worth of learning at school. 

Improved Attendance

There is a positive correlation between school attendance and learning progress. Although COVID-19 has created a disruption for some of our learners this year, we look forward to having all of our learners at school for most of this year. We will be following up on poor attendance because we know that being at being at school is important for learning and for feeling connected. 
On that note, we encourage all of our learners to arrive at school on time for learning. You know what it's like when you walk into a meeting after it's started...it's hard for the child walking in late and they miss important learning time. Did you know that being late 5 minutes per day accumulates to 3 days' lost learning time over a year? A pattern of lateness can add up to significant missed time. School starts each day at 8:45 am. Please support your child to be on time.  

As I mentioned in my last newsletter, our beautiful old oak tree is being cut down. If you are interested in buying some of this wood please contact me at principal@woodstock.school.nz

Finally, I hope you are all well. We currently have around 25% of our students home, isolating. We continue to be so impressed with how they are engaging in their Hybrid Learning (online). This is wonderful to see because it means when they return to school they will have barely missed a thing!

We look forward to when we have everyone back. 

Ngā mihi aroha,

Paula Wine, Tumuaki/Principal, Woodstock Primary School