Term 3 Week 9 – significant dates

Kia ora koutau

 

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori

I hope you have enjoyed Te Wiki o te Reo Māori

The staff have been really enjoyed an increased focus both this week and during our recent work with Lisa Watson from the Ministry of Education Te Reo professional development contract.  Some of you may have listened to my tōku pepeha on seesaw, which I have been carrying around in my pocket to keep practising the new parts Lisa helped me with.  Today I stood up at an Education Review Office meeting and introduced myself confidently.  I still need to refer to my written peheha with the new parts ‘I tupu ake au kei Maromāku’ that I used to come from Maromaku and ‘Ko au te tumuaki o te kura o Otaika Valley’, that I am the principal of Otaika Valley School.

The children are becoming quite confident and proud of their own peheha.  Tino pai!

 

Important 2020 & 2021  Teacher Only Days (TOD) decided

Last night the Board of Trustees approved the draft strategic plan initiatives for the school to start refining for 2021.  The leadership team has reviewed a wide range of factors that have impacted on the school this year, most significantly Covid-19 and recommended a continuation of some existing goals and a few new areas to respond to the identified needs of this extraordinary year.  The Board of Trustees has approved the following dates for teacher only days for this year and next for teachers to continue planning and preparing for initiatives.  At this stage we have identified draft priorities to work through on these days, which may change as we plan the finer detail.

 

We are aware that teacher only days require parents to take time off work, or find childcare.  With this in mind the following teacher only days have been set.

TOD 3 – 30^th November – Cultural Responsive Pedagogy (COL focus) Turangawaewae – OVS history/stories

•  required this year to support making connections with community, seeking knowledge and supporting increased teacher historical knowledge of our local area – prior to 2021 to support planning

TOD 4 – 5^th Feb 2021 – Reporting Review with staff – reporting to parents

•  First day of school 2021 is Wednesday 3rd of February.  Friday 5th TOD – no children at school.  Monday 8th February Mondayised Waitangi Day – this gives families the option of planning a long weekend.

TOD 5 – 4^th June

• This coincides with Queens B – day 7^th June –this gives families the option of planning a long weekend.

We hope this helps you plan ahead with your families, while we plan for the professional learning ahead.

 

Kind regards

Terry

 

Background on Teacher Only Days…

Accord Teacher Only Days for primary settings 

Arising from the recent employment agreement negotiations for the Primary Teachers’ Collective Agreement, the Primary Principals’ Collective Agreement, the Area School Teachers’ Collective Agreement and the Area School Principals’ Collective Agreement it was agreed that any one principal or teacher is entitled to a maximum of 8 teacher only days.

These days are to provide teachers and principals with additional time to: 

• Refresh and deepen their knowledge and practice around the local curriculum (within the context of the removal of national standards)
• Strengthen their understanding of the use of assessment tools for learning and teaching
• Respond to the recommendations of the education work programme in the Curriculum, Progress and Achievement (CPA) Report
• Familiarise themselves with curriculum work changes that will become available over the term of the collective agreements.

The teacher only days, both in terms of actual days and use must be set in consultation with the Board of Trustees. 

• Because schools will be closed for instruction, it is important that parents and whānau are given at least a term’s notice of the dates.

The eight days are to be used during the term of the current collective agreements. COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT 1 JULY 2019 – 30 JUNE 2022.