Kia Ora Tatou, Greetings to all
Dear Parents
We have less than two weeks to go of a very busy, exciting and rewarding year of learning. Recently, the senior staff presented our 2009 Achievement report to the BOT and overall we as a school have achieved outstanding results in Maths, Reading and Writing. The school’s achievement results have been norm-referenced against other schools throughout New Zealand.
From asTTle and PAT results in Mathematics, Reading and Writing, we score at higher levels of attainment compared to other New Zealand schools and we are also scoring at higher levels of attainment compared to those of like (same decile) schools.
I would very much like to express my thanks to all the teachers who have worked tirelessly with your children to achieve these results. Also to the BOT, who provide the necessary resourcing to support the learning programmes and to you the parent community for taking such an active role in your child’s education.
Farewelling old staff and welcoming the new staff
Jocelyn Goodman will be retiring from teaching at the end of the year although she will work with us in a relieving capacity next year. Thank you Jocelyn for your outstanding contribution to education. You have always been passionate, creative and a highly effective teacher. We are pleased that you will still be with us next year, but in a different role.
Pauline Munro is leaving us to take up a position out of teaching. Pauline has always been a highly dedicated teacher who has provided exciting, challenging and highly creative programmes for students and who always has been keenly interested in all her children’s learning. We wish you well Pauline with your new career change.
Holly Denchfield is leaving us to take up further academic study. Thank you Holly for your dedication and creative and interesting approaches that empower children to learn and support students to take risks with their learning. We wish you all the best with your academic study.
Ana Klanshchakova will be leaving us at the end of the year. Ana has worked tirelessly to provide rich and exciting experiences for the children. We wish you well Ana with your future teaching.
Julia Laidlaw, one of our Teacher Aides is also leaving us. Julia has worked with the students in the Middle School and has used her art talent to enhance our environment. Best wishes for your next project Julia. The children and the staff will miss your warmth and hard work.
Assistant Principal
I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Innes Jephson to the position of Assistant Principal. Innes is a highly valued member of the teaching staff and we are very fortunate to have him now as part of the senior leadership team in the school.
We warmly welcome three new teachers to our teaching staff. They are:
Kathy Ngan who will be teaching in the Year 2 area of the school.
Dillon Rungan who will be teaching in the Year 3 area of the school.
Selena Kung who will be teaching in the Year 5 area of the school.
2010 Learning Programmes
Teachers this term have been planning for the 2010 learning year.
Our overall learning theme is… Am I making possible connections in the world? For each term we will have a different focus as follows:
Term 1 We are historians
Term 2 We are scientists
Term 3 We are geographers
Term 4 We are performers
Bell-time Changes for 2010
We trialed this term different bell-times and found this beneficial to student learning. Next year we are planning to have all our core subjects (Writing, Reading, Mathematics) and the topic programme taught before lunchtime. As a result we will be changing the bell times. We will also be introducing for all the school a brain snack where children are asked to bring a piece of fruit along to eat. This timetabling is based on educational research in the field that maximizes quality learning times for students. You will notice that there will be a longer morning-tea break time and a shorter lunchtime. When lunch times are longer, it has been noted in research that the last 10 minutes of lunchtime is when greater incidents of bullying happen, often due to children becoming tired. We therefore have opted for a shorter lunchtime and also a longer morning session when children are more focused.
The new bell times are as follows….
8:55am First Session Starts
10:00am Brain Break (Fruit in class)
10:55am Morning Tea
11:20am Second Session Starts
1:00pm Lunch
1:50pm Third Session starts
2:55pm School Finishes
Professional Development for Staff
Gail Colby, who is our lead teacher in Writing next year, will attend along with six of our new staff a workshop with Gaye Byers our writing consultant during the Christmas break in the Bay of Islands. This attendance by new staff will support them to implement our writing programme at the school.
Gaye Byers visited our school last week to observe teachers’ writing programmes. She especially commented on the outstanding writing that the children were producing.
Our Final Learning Celebration - The Garden Party
We very much hope you can attend our Garden Party on Thursday 10 December 2009. This is a time to celebrate with the children their wonderful year of focused learning. Our choirs and instrumental groups will be performing (you will be receiving a separate invitation).
DONATIONS AND ACTIVITY FEE 2010
Next year our school donation amount and the activity fee will remain the same as 2009.
Donation - $350 for one child
$700 for two children
$850 flat donation for families with 3 children or more
Activity fee - $50 per child
There will be a $10 early payment discount for donations received by Friday 30 April 2010.
2010 TEACHING STAFF
Principal Jane Cavanagh-Eyre
Deputy Principal Kay Wight
Deputy Principal Therese Bakker
Deputy Principal Shelley Quinlivan
Assistant Principal Shawn Creamer
Assistant Principal Innes Jephson
Year 6 Team Leader Innes Jephson R9
Taryn Monks R10
Amy Kelly R4
Gabby Robinson R3
Year 5 Team Leader Shawn Creamer R1
Jennie Adlam R6
Trish Dennis R5
Selina Kung R2
Year 4 Team Leader Andy Faulder R8
Annie Mills R16
Sandy Sitters R7
Year 3 Team Leader Lisa Poynter R13
Dillon Rungan R18
Gail Colby R17
Paula Looker R12
Lucy Preston R11
Year 2 Team Leader Helen Kilgour R27
Kathy Ngan R28
Kate Cope R26
Carly Bishop R25
Year 1 Team Leader Rachel O’Shea R23
Andrea Tinnion-Morgan R20
Zara Jackson R19
Heather D’souza R24
Music Specialist Lorraine de Marigny
Music Tutor Jo King
Library Denise Morris
Maths Specialist Geoff Woolford
Teacher Release Jocelyn Goodman
Rosemary Mowbray
Warmest regards
Jane Cavanagh-Eyre
Principal