It has been an interesting and exciting start to the year both in and out of school. The government has been making changes to the education system, then, changing them back again. So we are still in the dark as to what our education system will look like by the end of the year. However, at school we don’t worry about those high and mighty things, we just concentrate on getting the best for our children. To do this we have been focusing on some teacher professional development in the areas of numeracy and literacy . Our whole school goal has been ‘How do we effectively ensure that numeracy and literacy skills are being applied by students on our Inquiry Learning topic studies.’ This entails the teachers reflecting on their teaching and learning and setting individual goals for their classrooms. We believe this will enhance the student’s abilities in literacy and numeracy across the curriculum by ensuring that they are making the links between what we learn and how we use it.
The teachers also participated in the Swim New Zealand learn to swim course. All teachers spent time with the instructors both in and out of the water over term one. So now we have a strong learn to swim programme throughout the school.
The teachers have also changed the way we do our appraisals. This is now more focused on a Teacher Reflective Practice that covers the Teacher Dimensions set by the profession and also looks at our teaching and learning of Maths, Reading and Writing and how we can improve our practice.
The Virtual Learning Network Primary is really humming along now with approx. 50 schools and 300 children involved in the languages and curriculum online studies. As you know Matapu school is the lead school for this nationwide cluster and we have around twenty children involved in these online learning opportunities. Thank you to Rachel who is the e-principal coordinating all of this. For more info on the VLN Primary go to: http://www.vln.school.nz/groups/profile/935/vln-primary
Our targets this year were to raise the achievement of our year three children in reading. Mid-year testing shows we are making steady progress with this goal. Our focus from now until the end of year is to hone in on the group that are below the required standard to bring their levels up. This will be through moderating and sharing knowledge with in the class and school, focus time with teacher aides, and to look at other outside agencies for professional development and assistance in this area. I am confident by the end of the year we will have made the progress required.
This year we have developed the Matapu Achievement Progression Books (MAP Books). These MAP books are used by the teachers and children from years 1-8 in maths, reading, writing and the key Competencies. They are in stages and reflect what the student needs to know to achieve that standard. They have been taken from the National Standards, Literacy Progressions and the Numeracy kit. Students use the book to reflect on their own academic learning goals and where to next. This gives the student responsibility for their own learning and enables them to see what they have to achieve to be successful at their level. The teachers are at present making adjustments and changes to the books so we have them exactly right for next year. By the end of the year we will have the books finalised and ready for printing and full use in 2013.
The school curriculum that was developed in 2008-2010 is really proving to be successful. The children are learning how to learn and becoming independent learners through our integrated curriculum using inquiry learning process. Our topic studies this year so far have been Water Safety in the first term and Native flora and fauna in term 2. These have seen many visitors to the school to teach the children about their area of expertise. We have had the federated farmers in to talk to the children about water safety on the farm, people from Puke Ariki museum and Govett-Brewster art gallery people to talk and share their knowledge about flora and fauna, Ray Stoddart came to do his art with the children that you can see being proudly displayed around the school, swim safe talked with the children and held swim times for water safety. It has been a very exciting time for the children with lots of activities and trips to help them gain skills and knowledge.
Thank you to the SPA and BOT for all their efforts in making Matapu School a fun and exciting place to be and learn. The parents and community for getting in behind the school and showing our kids we all value education.
To all staff, keep up the good work and never give up. Thank you all for making my job so easy with your dedication to excellence and strong focus on helping our students achieve their full potential. Finally to the students, well done guys!! Let’s make the next two terms even better that the last. Keep up the hard work and life will be easy.
