Why blogging?

http://timkastelle.org/blog/2014/03/you-should-start-a-blog-right-now/

A New Year!

Here we are at the start of another school year! Time to set new goals, establish new relationships and refresh connections with children and families we already know. It's an exciting time in a school with the whole year ahead of us to help our children progress in their learning and to help them realise their potential. I look forward to working with you all and with our staff to make this happen for our children. Have a fantastic year everyone!

Faster, free broadband network on its way!

Fantastic news this week to be named by the Minister of Education as one of the first 20 schools in NZ to be connected to Network 4 Learning's managed internet network. This is the new government- funded managed network, which will include uncapped data, content filtering and network security services. We should be all up and go with the faster broadband connection before the end of this year which is really exciting. This is really timely and helpful as we move forward with our focus  on using mobile digital technologies more effectively in all classrooms to enhance children's learning.  It should also open up new learning opportunities and ways of collaboration for our children and for our teachers. 

More than just a show!

I really enjoyed the "Rewind" Electives show at the end term for many reasons. Firstly it reinforced to me that a wide experience rich curriculum is really important if children are to grow into well rounded people. We will continue to resist external influences that would push us towards a narrow curriculum. Some of the other positives from the show for me were:

* Every child in the show had their moment on stage and the joy in their faces!

* The chance to perform in a real theatre on a big stage

* The variety of talent in every age group, singers, dancers, artists, theatre, kapa haka

* The opportunity to be part of a bigger team with all ages

* It helped children develop teamwork, respect for others,  hard work and discipline, cooperation, resilience.

* A chance to celebrate the arts as a community and just have fun!

I could go on but really it was just a fantastic night and so rewarding on all fronts. A final mention for the teachers and supporters who worked hard to give our children this opportunity. Thank you.

The Story behind our Development in Teaching Te Reo

These interviews published on the Ministry of Education's T.K.I . website explain the background behind our journey in developing our teaching of Te Reo over the last two years. Thought these would also be of interest to our wider community.

Nadine Malcolm -Lead Teacher
http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-stories/Media-gallery/Treaty-of-Waitangi/Te-reo-Maori-and-language-acquisition


Tracey Hopkins - Classroom Teacher
http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-stories/Media-gallery/Treaty-of-Waitangi/Growing-te-reo-Maori-capabilities


David Mossop - Principal
http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-stories/Media-gallery/Treaty-of-Waitangi/Leading-te-reo-Maori-development

National Standards data publication delayed.

There has been a delay in the publishing of school by school data on the Ministry of Education's website until the end of July. A significant number of school annual reports have not been received or processed yet and potentially a large amount of data will need to be removed from these reports in order to protect student privacy. Clearly the final published data will be incomplete and even less reliable and valid for use to make between-school comparisons. Which begs the question of why it is even published in this way in the first instance?

Thankfully with the assessment tools and processes we use, teachers know far more about your child’s achievement than National Standards can tell you. That is why we prefer to hold learning conferences where you can discuss with your child's teacher specific assessment results and what their next steps for learning are going to be to help them make further progress. Please make sure you book a time online by Thursday 4 July.

iPad Programme - Exciting News!

Following the successful introduction of iPads into classrooms, the Board of Trustees at their May meeting has moved to ensure that our children have greater access to these exciting technologies. They approved an iPad programme that over two years moves our technology emphasis away from desktop computers to ipads which are less expensive, more mobile, more flexible and give us the ability to give more children 1:1 access. I applaud the foresight of the Board as this will make sure we keep moving forward as an innovative school making the best use of new technologies to help our children develop as successful learners. This means we will now purchase further iPads in 2013 which will be gradually phased in over the rest of the year.