Last week I attended an extremely well organised, exciting and active Snow Camp with our Years 7 and 8. This camp occurs every two years and takes a lot of planning. A huge thank you to all our parents that attended, Mrs Davidson and Mrs Brown. In particular thank you to Mrs Simnor who led Snow Camp and ensured planning, safety, fun, challenges and our entire camp experience was optimised. Fundraising began very early so we could ensure as many students as possible could attend. Thank you to Mr Kelvin Matthews our bus driver. A very successful camp which will be remembered by students (and parents) for many years to come.

At a time when health and safety becomes more and more detailed with legislation, police vets, risk assessments, processes and procedures, I am very proud to be in a school where we continue to offer robust and exciting EOTC (Education Outside The Classroom) opportunities. I am thankful we have a team of teachers and a BOT who work hard to ensure these opportunities continue. Endless hours are given up to plan, follow up with applications, visit sites, discuss safety and risk possibilities so your child can have such opportunities. Although we do have hiccups on the way, we believe EOTC is an important part of primary school education.

Tirohanga began Chinese Lessons via skype last week. This is a three pilot programme. It is an opportunity for students to be introduced to another language.

Finally this week and next , I am observing teaching and students in Mathematics with Mrs Jones. It is another chance to look formally at how our teachers teach and how our students learn. We use this information alongside our school wide data to get an accurate picture of performance and where to next. This information is then reported to our Board of Trustees who ask the right questions about teaching and student outcomes. You as parents are able to find out how your child is doing and how they align to the expected levels for their age and year group. Please do not feel you have to wait until CCC for this information.

If you would like to know more about how your child doing as a learner or how they are going with assessments for the term, please feel free to make an appointment with the teacher to discuss. Your child’s learning is a collective responsibility where we are all partners. Enjoy the week everyone, even if it is raining,