Term 1 – Week 11

16 April 2021

Kia ora Koutou

Contents

• Teacher professional development
• Property update
• Sabbatical Term 2

Teacher professional development

Our strategic plan this year has writing as a key area to develop.  A number of Whangarei Schools have either being involved last year, or have plans for this year to work with ‘Write that Essay’, which is a school wide writing programme.  This programme comes highly recommended from schools within and outside of Whangarei.

On Wednesday each teacher and myself spent half the day working with a facilitator on our first workshop with another school within our COL (Community of Learning).  Personally, I was impressed with the potential, as were the rest of the team.  The title ‘Write that Essay’ is just the title, not the focus.  What we hope to gain from this professional development is a school wide approach and shared language for teachers teaching all aspects of writing, not just essays.  The title gives the wrong impression.

As a teacher I had a passion for teaching writing.  I worked hard to fill my kite of teacher knowledge about how best to teach writing.  My knowledge and skills were built up over years and are specific to me as a teacher. The students in just my class benefitted.  Each teacher develops strengths based on their passions and access to professional development opportunities during their career.  Funding for teacher professional development has unfortunately steadily declined, so we jump at opportunities to align our practice and improve outcomes for students.

We looked at five types of sentences and techniques for teaching them.  Our next session is an onsite coaching session, where we observe each other’s teaching of a new technique and receive coaching from a facilitator.

During next term you should begin to see some writing examples on seesaw, of what the students are working on.  I look forward to positive writing outcomes for students.

Property update

This week our canopy projects were completed outside R1,2 and R6 & 7.  Children will benefit from the shade, shelter and increased play and work areas for years to come.

Room 3 & 4 toilets are in the final design stage to provide more pans for the boys and a special needs modification.  This project will be funded outside of school property funding, which allows us to spend more on modernization.  More additional funding has been approved to add another senior toilet between R5 & 6.  Again, this allows our property money to be spent on building improvements, not toilets.

Now that our property plans have been approved our project managers are working through the procurement processes to turn the plans into action.

The plans in brief…

• Autex in all rooms – that’s the fluffy pinboard coloured stuff on the walls of Room 1 & 2.
• Room 3 & 4 corridor blocked off and a redesigned into breakout rooms for student learning and meetings. Better use of space in all of the back rooms of this block. If the budget allows – Room 3 & 4 may have a big sliding door to open up the two rooms for assemblies, activities and learning that requires larger spaces.
• We are exploring roof fans, like on the top of gyms, to draw out the heat during summer on some rooms. We already have fantastic winter heating in place.
• Lighting in some rooms to be upgraded
• New carpet in R3,4,5, and if the budget allows R6 & 7.
• A few louver windows in R5,6 & 7 if the budget allows – pending design and function

The whole process takes time.  The main thing now is the funding is approved and has set the wheels in motion.  Getting builders and materials may be a factor on completion dates.  We will update you when dates are finalised.

Sabbatical Term 2

Room 4 parents have already been informed that Hayley Alchin is taking a sabbatical next term.

What this means for the child in her class, is that their classroom teacher will change for term two only. We have employed Rachel Dicken’s  to take over the classroom for this time. Rachel will carry on the same programme that Hayley runs to keep continuity for the children. Rachel is a current parent of the school, has taught at Otaika Valley over the years and been involved in lots of our teacher professional development and successfully filled in for teachers’ sabbaticals for us before. She comes highly recommended by our staff and myself.

Hayley had her sabbatical postponed due to covid19 last year. We are really excited for her to have this opportunity to look into her area on interest, ‘well-being’. Schools can really benefit from teachers and principals travelling to other schools/areas to discuss their topics of interest.

You may see her looking relaxed at a café in town, shopping, surfing (not sure on that one) or out and about somewhere.  Her time is her own to study, read, visit schools and write up her sabbatical report.  A component of the sabbatical is to relax and refresh.  We wish her well for her time and look forward to the knowledge she will bring back to our staff, school and community.

Pause and be thankful

My last reflection is to pause and be thankful that we have had a whole term of school at school, exceptionally well run fun camps with parents attending and getting to know other children, parents and the teachers better.  A very settled term of learning and behaviour.  Nice weather, no tsunami but some good lessons for the wider community, schools, and businesses.

Enjoy your time with your children and we will see you next term.

 

Regards

Terry