Manaiakalani Information evening 29th October

We held an information evening for parents regarding the purchase of chrome books for students who will be in year four in 2020. We had 7 families out of 17 attend this evening. We were supported by Donna Yates and Lee Whitelaw from Manaiakalani. There was alot of discussion about our decision to do this and I think all questions were answered. The emphasis for this was on the fact that the chrome book is a tool and we are all still focused on 'Good teaching and learning'

Manaiakalani Wananga

I attended the Manaiakalani Wananga in Auckland last week. This was a great opportunity to talk with other Principals and Lead teachers and collaborate.  The link to the presentation is below. Also in this link is the presentations from the innovative teachers for this year.
I also visited Panmure Bridge School and talked with the Principal Richard Johnston about their journey as part of Manaiakalani. This was also an opportunity to discuss some of the initiatives they currently have in their school.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nUh6H9Bc9pVBGxb10DhtVSlfulMG81BWWCG6I9jNbp0/edit

Maths Teaching 04.09.19

On Wednesday last week I went into Puriri Room to support Petrina by modelling a Maths lesson. We had worked together the previous week to plan a lesson and think abut how we could use flexible groupings to enhance students learning. This made me remember how much I really enjoy teaching Maths! The students were amazing and it was great to see the childrens enjoyment when they were able to show their learning. This is something I want to continue, modelling more lessons and also co- teaching, not just in maths but in all curriculum areas and all classes. I will try to make times every week when I am available to any teachers who would like this support.

Fantastic Friday 23.08.19

On Friday last week I was fortunate enough to be involved in some of the students activities for enviro day. I went with Kauri students up to the dam in the hill above our school to see the ducks and lay rat traps to control any pests that may be staeling our eggs!
We came back down the hill and I worked with a group of students to make scrambled eggs, using some of our amazing duck eggs. We shared these scrambled eggs with students in Puriri and Kowhai Rooms.
The children in Kauri room were having a Teddy Bears Picnic, so I got to join in, as I had brought my Teddy Bear along to school (Very old and doesn't have much fur left)
After lunch I was in Rimu class until we went out with the whole school for cross country practise, very muddy, but lots of fun!
Days like this are fantastic. We are so lucky to have our school in such an amazing place where we get to enjoy all these experiences.

Reporting survey 21.08.19

At the start of term we sent home a survey to get feedback on our current reporting format. There have been 52% of these surveys returned. Many parents/caregivers have taken the time to give feedback which is valuable for us to take 'on board' I will work on collating the results of these surveys and add this to a future post.

Curriculum Update 20.08.19

Today I had the opportunity to work with Sue Holmes from Cognition Education again. From this meeting we have established a 'where to next' for our Local Curriculum. I will start looking at our Graduate Profile and asking our students in years 7/8 what they feel is important before this is shared with staff and the community for their views. I will talk to Joan (our Kapa Haka tutor) and others to find out some of the 'stories' relating to the history of our local community. I will work on an overarching curriculum statement relating to how we are using learning opportunities in all areas. I will also begin working on what our school vision - Inspire, Create, Grow, Together looks like in the areas of - What we understand, What teachers will do and what students will do.

Reading Observations 19.08.19

It was great to get in to all classes today to observe a reading lesson. There is some amazing work happening in our school. Our students are very lucky to have teachers who put the time and effort into programmes which cater for all students. The follow up discussions with Rob Arrowsmith relating to these observations were also very powerful. All teachers will be given feedback on their lessons and ideas for a future focus.

Production

What an amazing Production this year 'Kia Kaha Kiwi' the script for this including a song sung by the whole school was written by Kara Fleming. The main characters spent time working with Petrina Hodgson to develop voice projection and acting skills. The hard work by both of these teachers was evident in the final Production. All teachers had put a great deal of effort into their class items and our wonderful support staff had made sure that all costumes were amazing! Thank You to everyone.
We had approximately 120 Grandparents and special friends at the morning session and then approximately 300 at the evening performance. This is a true reflection of the wonderful supportive community we have!
We all know that Productions can be quite stressful, but when we see results like this it makes it all worthwhile!!

Curriculum

I am continuing to work with Sue Holmes to design a local curriculum for Oruaiti School. We met again on 27th June. We looked at the checklist of where we are currently at   https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jZ1e_Vbjor6nkY2MnFoDWMz1Z6MyYxOyfIZjAedZirE/edit

We alo looked at how the curriculum could be developed as a school site. I will start working on this using the site template that Meg created for our term overviews. Some of what we currently have in our curriculum will be able to be used. I ave started re reading Elwyn Richardsons book  'In the Early World' This is helping me to think about the history of Oruaiti School and what makes us special. There is a great deal of what Elwyn was doing that we would like to continue. I am meeting with Sue again on 6th August. The notes from our last meeting and next steps are attached.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1I12xf1NBmZwMowEBlEKEDvTg1C0efQey9d2LS4eEu68/edit

Local Curriculum Design

Each school in New Zealand is required to develop their own school-based curriculum that is aligned to the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC). The Education Review Office (ERO) expects that the school-based curriculum should be relevant, broad, comprehensive, and engaging in nature for the learners of the school. It is also expected that the development of the school-based curriculum is undertaken through extensive consultation with all stakeholders including: Board of Trustees (BoT), staff, parents, local marae, community resources, and students.

Last week I worked with Sue Holmes from Cognition on the initial planning for the design of a curriculum for Oruaiti School. The initial steps for this will be looking at the History of Oruaiti School, talking with local Kaumatua and also looking into the history from when Elwyn Richardson was principal from his book 'In the Early World' I will also talk with other Local Principal's who have been through this process. My aim is to create a school site that shares our curriculum. Surveys will be created and shared for community input.

Learning Progression Framework 23.05.19

Today Kara and I worked with Jenna Crowley and Sue Holmes from Cognition looking at the learning progression framework and how we can use this to help with student assessment.
In this first session we were loking at Mathematics and how the aspects of the learning progression framework align with the curriculum levels and also numeracy stages. We will also look further into possibly recording the information from this using the PACT tool. We will share our learning with the whole staff at a staff meeting later in the term which Jenna will also help to facilitate.

Reading Together 22.05.19

This week Kara and I started the Reading together programme to help parents to develop skills to help when reading with their children. This is a programme which runs over 4 weeks and involves sessions where parents will be working alongside their children, we had 8 parents attend this first session, which went really well. The resource book that we use in this called 'Brock' gives parents a really good insight into what it is really like for their children to learn to read.

Lesson Study 21.05.19

Today we did our first observation for lesson study. Kara, Jorja and I had one traget student each who we observed as part of a lesson facilitated by Petrina. This lesson had been planed in detail previously with all resources provided.
We had recorded how we thought each of the students would respond during the different parts of the lesson.
We recorded all responses made by the students and then discussed if they matched what we had thought.
We discussed the observation with Rhona, all responses were recorded and Rhona will collate the information and send it back. It will be linked to this post.

Lesson Study 07.05.19

Yesterday some of us met with Rhona Leonard to discuss a lesson study cycle to be taught this term. We will plan lessons collaboratively which will be taught in one class with observers looking at three target students. This is to examine how particular students learn and what they bring to the learning experience. The observers do not observe the teaching, they observe the learning for the targeted students. Students are interviewed after each lesson to discuss the learning which has taken place. Teachers then discuss their findings from the lesson, the information is then used to plan subsequent lessons. There will be three lessons in this cycle.

Rhona shared the following questions for us to reflect on:

1. What role does reflection and collaborative practice play in your current practice, before actually starting LS?

As a staff we currently plan collaboratively for each term. Our involvement in coaching means that we all have a 'professional buddy' who we are encouraged to meet with on a regular basis to discuss our target students in particular, reflect on what we are currently doing for them and talk about what we might do differently. Reflection is a huge part of all planning and should inform any future teaching and learning. As a staff we will always 'debrief' after any schoolwide events, reflecting on what went well and what we could do differnetly in the future.




2.      Thinking about effective teaching and learning, what do you consider to be examples of this in your current practice, before starting LS?

As Principal it is my role to lead this within the school. To observe current practice and give feed back and feed forward. The collaborative nature of our current staff show examples of effective teaching and learning. We are currently collecting student voice around the ways our students learn to help us continue to provide effective teaching and learning.

Teaching as Inquiry TOD 26/4

This morning we broke down and summarised the Spiral of Inquiry with Susan.

As a staff we had rich discussion on what each stage of Inquiry means and how we can incorporate
this into our practice.

We then established a direction for our collaborative inquiry that worked underneath the
Ka Hui Ako overarching question:

How can I use rich tasks and flexible groupings to promote critical thinking?

Oruaiti School focus:

How can learners use a range of ways to demonstrate their learning?

Why?

We have noticed a school wide gap in students not being confident to articulate the direction
of their learning.

Seven principles of learning.

We identified Learners at the centre as our areas of focus.

These reflective questions are what we are focusing on:

We understand that there can be a range of ways that learners can demonstrate their learning.
We are interested in discovering which ways learners can currently articulate their learning goals,
needs and next steps and how we can support them to do this better.

Week 1 Scanning:

We will collect student voice.

We plan to teach lessons and ask students to demonstrate what they have learnt

(we will try 5 different methods e.g: discuss verbally, write, draw, song/poem/rap,
blog reflection, drama, p.e)
We will record data and be prepared to share our findings at our staff meeting in Week 3,
this will also be recorded on our blogs.
What was the most successful method?

Where do I think focusing my attention would be most useful?