Welcome to the September Kāhui Ako update. The purpose of this newsletter is to inform our community about the work our Principals, Kāhui Ako leaders and Within school teachers have been involved in during this term. Each subsequent newsletter will update you on the activities our Kāhui Ako progressively engages in for the benefit of all our tamariki. Our vision is working together to grow our learners and community

So, what has been happening?

Hauora/ Well being:

The Well being Team has been busy this term analysing student responses from the Well being Student survey across our 10 schools. This has been an in depth progress looking for common trends and patterns. We have been actively supported by Michael Absolum, our expert partner. A report was presented at the end of September to the Principals.

Learning support

Term 3 2019- SENCO actions this term…

This term the Waiuku SENCO group has met to discuss the best use of the SENCO lead role ( Isla Holt ) that was created through the use of a within school teacher allocation.

The key actions that came out of this meeting were:

● Mentoring of new SENCO’s by the SENCO lead

● PLD for learning support staff around specific programs

● Building of a shared resource that all the Kāhui Ako SENCO’s could access.

● Construction of a shared learning support register for the Kāhui Ako SENCO’s.

In response to these actions:

• Professional development has been provided by Waiuku Primary learning support staff to schools that wished to access the support program Toe by Toe. Toe by Toe is an English program aimed at supporting students with Dyslexia.
• A draft learning support document has been created and the Waiuku SENCO group are meeting this term to finalise what it will look like.
• Mentor days have been timetabled for new SENCO’s that have asked for it.
• Isla and Emma had a productive meeting with Ruth Gibbons a lecturer at Massey University who is an expert on Dyslexia. The Kāhui Ako are looking at creating a workshop for interested participants.
• A shared resource is underway and being constructed on team drive that the SENCO group can feed into.

Math In Focus Work

Becky Curd

On Wednesday 21st August we had an In focus Maths PLD about place value from years 0 – 8. We had over 30 teachers in attendance and everyone left with hands on, practical activities that they could use in the class with their students. We have two more maths PLD sessions booked in for early term 4, one on fractions for years 0 – 3 and the second on fractions, decimals and percentages for years 4 – 8.

The year 5 and 6 team asked for some PLD around decimals at level 3. We worked together in a team meeting to unpack the progressions of decimals and looked at the equipment that would support this learning. I have been working alongside several teachers at Waiuku Primary School to support them with maths. This is either teaching alongside them or taking a group or the class. We have been able to focus on areas to develop and look at next steps for the students. We have completed four sessions together and will finish with a planning session at the end of the term.

The year 7/8 teachers all observed two maths lessons at the college. We saw a year 9 and 10 lesson where we were able to talk with the teachers and the students about their work. This has allowed us to have a deeper understanding of where our students are progressing when they leave at the end of year 8. It has also allowed us to reflect on our current maths programme and how we can better prepare our students for maths at the college.

Google Site

We are currently creating a place where our whole community can access our mahi and share resources for the benefit of our community. Tineke Dippenaar and Danielle Johnson are assisting with the site set up. If you feel you can assist, please get in touch with them.

ECE involvement in our Kāhui Ako

We now have ten ECE services as part of our Kāhui Ako. Linda Dyer from Little Ants and Lindy Ashurst from Waiuku Kindergarten have been attending the Kāhui Ako Principals meetings representing our ECE cluster. We held the first ECE/ NE Network Meeting this term, with the majority of our ECE providers and Primary Schools represented. There is a very positive energy in this group. We are looking forward to collaborating more fully together and having a unified transition system in place in the near future.  

A team of ECE and NE teachers met to collaborate on a Kāhui Ako process for transitioning from ECE to Primary School. We discussed what information do we need to share at the transition point from ECE to Primary School. We are beginning to deepen our collaboration by facilitating visits to Early Childhood Centers by our New Entrant teachers. We are exploring ways to reciprocate so that our Early Childhood teachers can visit New Entrant classrooms. We have begun a conversation between all our school’s new entrant teachers about the competencies that children need to make a great start at Primary School.

SEAC Cluster Hui

This term the Waiuku Kāhui Ako met with other Kāhui Ako Clusters from South and East Auckland. It was an opportunity to present our journey so far to the ten other groups, and hear what they have been up to. The purpose was to network, collaborate and to discover new initiatives that have success. It was a valuable experience and we received fantastic feedback with our journey this year.

Kāhui Ako opportunities coming up in Term 4

• Year 0-3 Maths PLD In Focus Meeting: 16 October
• Year 4-8 Maths PLD In Focus Meeting: 23 October
• Within School Teacher day at Otaua School: 24 October
• Little Schools to Big Schools Event: 28 November
• ECE/NE Meeting: 5 December

Nga Mihi Nui,

Todd Malcolm