I Love Maths

Dear Parents/Caregivers

The subject that I liked best at school was Maths. I know! It is still the subject I like best. My daughter is currently doing NCEA Level 2 and I feel quite excited about trigonometry again. I firmly believe that Maths is not a hard subject that only a few people can do, in fact I believe that everyone should be able to enjoy success in Maths.

Many of you have children have who are going well with their Maths learning. I know that from our National Standards data which shows that 82% of students at or above the standard. Children who find Maths easy need to be extended and challenged. Children at Papakowhai School are grouped according to what they have already achieved in Maths.

If your child seems to need extension beyond what has been planned for their group talk to your child’s teacher or to our DP Shane Robinson about moving them up a level in Mathletics, challenge them with problems to solve around the dinner table or while you are out driving in the car or look at our cool new Maths blog and look at the year levels above the year your child is currently in. Keep communication about Maths open with your child’s teacher. Remember all our teachers have email addresses: firstname@papakowhai.school.nz .

Some of you will have children that find Maths more challenging. It is really important that you talk positively about Maths with your child. Comments like, “Don’t worry I was never any good at Maths”, may spring from good intentions, but research shows that comments like this from mums to their daughters are especially unhelpful. Focus on what your child can do and build on their strengths rather than their weaknesses.

At home focus on building up your child’s Maths knowledge. To find out what that should look like go to our new Maths blog and look at the year level your child is currently in or the one below to look for any gaps in their knowledge. Using Mathletics as a tool to work on basic facts may also prove useful for 5- 10 minutes per day. Keep Maths sessions at home brief and fun, if your child becomes frustrated or upset take a break. On the Maths blog there are lots of fun and simple ideas that you can do with your child to build up their confidence in Maths. Keep talking to your child’s teacher. You are your child’s best advocate and if you feel they are not making expected progress then raise this issue early with your child’s teacher.

I am always pleased to discuss Maths with people. If you would like to discuss your child’s Maths learning with me or our DP Shane Robinson please email us or make a time to visit. Shane has also prepared Reading and Writing blogs if these are areas of focus for your child. You can access all blogs from the school website.

Kind regards

Mark Smith

A strong sense of community

Dear Parents/Caregivers

One of the things that I really like about Papakowhai School is the sense of community that we enjoy together. This is evident in the way that our older pupils look after our younger pupils. There was a real buzz at 10:30 yesterday as children got into whanau groups in preparation for the picnic on Thursday.

It was great to see our new Year 8 leaders stepping up to explain how the day will work and organising children so that everyone has a buddy for the day. This is a very special feature of a full primary school.

The weather is looking great for our picnic tomorrow and I hope that you can join us even if it is just for 30 minutes down at the lagoon.

Classes for 2013 are working well and I have been around rooms looking at children’s work and seeing classes in action. Teachers have spent the last several weeks establishing class norms and ways of working together and these are being well established. I look forward to you being able to meet this year’s teacher at our interviews next week.  Why don’t you also check out our new classrooms while you are here? I will also be in my office both evenings and parents are welcome to pop in and talk with me or make an appointment if you would like to.

Another way that shows that our community is working together for the best of our children is with the wonderful volunteer help we receive. In the past week we have had people put their hand up for netball, Maths support, special needs support, spelling testing, camp helpers and parent helping in classrooms.

We really value this support. If you would like to help but don’t know what the needs are I would love to talk with you.

We are also building community in an online environment because we know that the majority of our parents cannot come to school between 9 and 3pm. All classes have a class blog and we have been appreciating the comments that you have been posting. You may have noticed that there are also 3 new blogs called, Reading, Writing and Maths. These blogs have been posted to give you ideas about how you can support your child at home. Teachers will explain this further at the interviews next week.

Swimming has been a good example of community and school working together. The participation level has been brilliant. Todd Morton and his team from Easy Swim have done a great job with the children and we have seen many Totara children improve from being able to swim less than 40 metres to more than 200! Currently we have our new entrant children swimming for 2 weeks. Working in a concentrated 2 week block seems to be working well for children’s confidence and progress. In the week starting 11^th of March it will be Mrs Trlin, Mrs Dacre and Miss Simpkins classes’ turn in the pool. The week starting the 25^th of March it will be Miss Koorey and Mrs Smith/Mrs Lewis’ class turn.

I hope you are enjoying this golden weather.

Kind regards

Mark Smith

PRINCIPAL

mark@papakowhai.school.nz

Working Together Opportunities

Dear Parents/Caregivers

Working Together Opportunities

Thank you to our amazing Home and School Committee for hosting our family BBQ last night. The weather was perfect and it was really nice to catch up with families. The hamburgers were awesome!

A number of faithful committee members are finishing shortly as their children are leaving at the end of the year. We would love new parents to step up and join the Home and School Committee. Remember their motto is, “Do what you can when you can” so you won’t be forced to do things that are too much or that you don’t want to do. The Home and School Committee run community events in our school like the BBQ, the disco and the quiz night, which have the benefit of raising funds for special projects in our school. There is an AGM on March 18th in the staffroom. You would be very welcome to attend. If you would like to join the committee but cannot attend the meeting please contact the Office. You can also check them out on Facebook.

Another opportunity is netball. Our wonderful co-ordinator Tui stepped down at the end of the year and, by March 5th, we need a new co-ordinator. This role involves attending a meeting at Tawa School on March 5th and liaising with coaches and team managers. If this is something that you could support the school in I would be glad to hear from you.

Being a walking school bus driver is another opportunity. We have started our Aotea to Papakowhai School route already. This walking school bus leaves the Marae carpark, opposite the entrance to the Aotea subdivision. Children are asked to not ride scooters or bikes, but Kindergarten or other siblings are welcome to come with parent supervision. The route is pram friendly although there are approximately three steps down to the school. If you would like to help or you would like your children to go on this bus please contact Lisa Avery (for.lisa@xtra.co.nz  ).

Last year we had an awesome team of volunteers who helped children walk to school along Tweed Road and we are keen to start this again. If you would like to help as a driver or you would like your children to walk in a group to school please contact me. I am very grateful to Lisa for co-ordinating the Aotea route and would love a co-ordinator for Papakowhai walking school buses.

Lastly we are meeting together for parent/teacher interviews on March 4th and 5th. School will finish at 2pm on these days, and interviews will start at 2.10pm. Appointments to see the teachers will be done via a website. It is a simple, accurate system. www.schoolinterviews.co.nz

The log-in code is 5UCNA

·         We would like to know how your child is settling into school this year

·         We would like to know about how your child learns best and what their strengths and weaknesses are

·         We would like to know about your child’s personality and how we can work best with them at school.

Meetings will be scheduled for 15 minutes and will be spread over 2 nights. Parents of children in Miss August’s class will have interviews on March 5th and the afternoon of March 6th.

PUPIL SUPERVISION ON MEETING DAY

We are offering supervision in the Hall from 2pm to 3pm on March 4th and 5th; however we would appreciate you making other arrangements for care for this period if you can.

Any children we haven’t been notified about will be supervised in the Hall until 3pm.

Learning Together

Dear Parents/Caregivers

Our new vision statement is Learning Together. Children and staff have been learning well together over the last week. There is a really positive tone in the school and it is really pleasing to see children already engaged in their learning.

The vision of Learning Together is not just for children and teachers; we want it to be a three-way partnership that includes parents and caregivers. Here are some of the ways that we can learn together this year:

Communication

Attending Parent/Teacher conferences is really important. On Monday March 4^th and Tuesday March 5^th we will have two opportunities for you to meet with your child’s teacher.  An online booking system will be available shortly for you to choose a time that suits you. This is an opportunity for you to share about your child and to discuss expectations for the year.

We want your child to enjoy and engage in learning at Papakowhai School. If there is a problem we want to know about it early on so we can do something about it. You don’t need to wait for set interview times. Please email or talk to your child’s teacher about any questions or concerns you may have. You are also welcome to talk with me or email me anytime.

We have an open door policy so you are welcome to pop into your child’s class and look at their work anytime.

Please sign up for our weekly newsletter emails by contact me at mark@papakowhai.school.nz . We also have our website and class blogs which are already up and running. Go to our website www.papakowhai.school.nz and click on the Our Learning tab. We would really love you to leave comments.

Often as children get older they tell you less and less about school. This is perfectly normal. I have a 14 year old son who tells me nothing about school. I have found that rather than asking, “How was school?” it is better to say, “Tell me about what happened at school today.” This often elicits more information.

Attendance

Being at school on time and regularly attending school contributes significantly to children’s achievement levels. Making sure that children get to bed on time (especially on Sunday nights), limiting the amount of term time sleepovers and term time holidays are also positive contributions you can make to your child’s learning this year. Children who regularly arrive late to school miss important interactions with their peers and key instructions at the start of the day.

Please ensure that your child is at school by 8:50 at the latest. If your child is not attending school it is very important that you phone the Office before 9:00 and leave your child’s name, their teacher’s name and the reason for their absence.

Homework

When children read regularly and practise appropriate number knowledge skills, it makes a difference to their learning. You should assume that there is homework every week unless you receive a newsletter telling you otherwise.  Homework will contain a reading log to be signed by parents/caregivers. There may also be an optional reading response. There will also be a Maths component for Rimu, Totara and Kauri syndicates.  This will be Mathletics but could also include downloading workbooks from the Mathletics site, practising basic facts or parents setting their own Maths tasks. In Rata, Mathletics is desirable but not compulsory. There will also be a spelling component for Rimu, Totara and Kauri.

It is expected that teachers will monitor homework on a weekly basis. A record will be kept of who has or hasn’t completed their homework. It is expected that teachers will set activities in Mathletics at all levels and monitor what children have done on a weekly basis. If for some reason this is not happening please contact your child’s teacher or myself.

If your child doesn’t complete their homework a letter will be sent home. The child is to return it to their teacher signed by their parent/caregiver. We will incentivise completion of homework by giving whanau points for students who have done their homework. This will contribute to a bigger focus on whanau group pride. Whanau leaders will collect the points each week and points will be posted on the website.

Involvement

Getting involved with class trips, being a parent helper in the classroom, driving a Walking School Bus, contributing to the Home and School Committee, or standing for the upcoming Board of Trustee elections in April are all ways that you can be involved in the school community. Getting involved is a great way to get a feel for what is going on at school. If you feel disconnected from what your child is doing at school, find a way to get involved. If you are unsure how to be a parent helper or who to talk to about the Home and school Committee or School Board I would be happy to refer you on.

Road Safety

Dear Parents/Caregivers

It was with much sadness that I read of a small child being run over outside Cannons Creek School on Friday. It felt all the  more poignant having just taken all of our beautiful 350 children around the corner from that very spot last term for the Production.

I am really concerned about the behaviour of some of our parents and caregivers at our school gate. I cannot bear to imagine what it would be like for our children and parents to witness the death of a pupil at Papakowhai School. I really need your help.

Road safety was the number one issue that people in our recent consultation wanted the Board of Trustees to focus on. This is not just a School Board, or council or staff issue, this is an issue we can all help with.

There will be a staff member on patrol Mondays  – Fridays, 8:30 - 9am and 3:00 - 3:15. You will see them wearing a high visibility vest.

This is what I need your help with:

• DRIVE SLOWLY
• Be patient with other drivers, staff members and council workers
• Encourage walking to school
• Be a Walking School Bus driver ( See over for details)
• If you are dropping off children aged 7 years and older - avoid Spey Place altogether
• If you do come into Spey Place respect the Council’s orange lines and no stopping areas
• Turn in the turning circle of Spey Place rather than backing into driveways
• Respect that the staff carpark is for staff vehicles and deliveries only between 8:30am and 3:15pm.
• Walk your child across the road rather than calling to them while seated in your vehicle
• Encourage your children to walk around the cul-de-sac rather than crossing Spey Place
• If your children are crossing Tweed Road encourage them to do so at the bus stop by the dairy
• Make use of all entry points to the school (Cromarty Place and Yarrow Place)
• Try coming to school a little earlier, rather than being in the 8:50am rush
• Try picking up older children at 3:10 rather than sitting and waiting in vehicles from 2:30pm.

Digital Citizens

Dear Parents/Caregivers

Yesterday we had a great staff meeting presented by four of our teachers who went to the ULEARN conference in Auckland over the holidays. The theme of our meeting was digital citizenship. You may be someone with all the gadgets who is very much operating as a digital citizen already or you may be someone who can’t be bothered with all “the toys” and looks on nervously at the digital landscape. Like it or loathe it, whether it is right or wrong, our children are digital citizens already and we need to find ways that engage them and also keep them safe.

Yesterday we looked at expanding our digital capability by looking at apps for ipad that are useful and meaningful in the classroom. We also talked about how digital learning is not an “extra” that you do at the end of a topic but something that is embedded right through the teaching and learning process.

We talked about not getting in the way of what the children can already do and as teachers we can’t withhold digital opportunities just because we are a little nervous or slow to work out how to do something. We need to be empowering children to teach us and others while still increasing our digital literacy so that we know what questions to ask.

There was also a focus on cyber safety. Most of the danger on the internet comes from what children post themselves. Children need protocols for what is and isn’t appropriate to “like” or comment on when they are on the internet. We talked together again about Facebook only being legal for children aged 13 years and over. We will look at ways for including cyber safety to be included in our upcoming Keeping Ourselves unit but we also agreed that cyber safety is something that needs to be talked about in a planned and ongoing way.

Stephen Heppell says teaching digitally is like teaching skateboarding. You don’t have to be able to all the tricks yourself but you do need to provide a safe environment to do it in, know what questions to ask and have played a bit on the skateboard yourself so you know what to look for and talk about.

I’m always interested in your feedback.

Community

Dear Parents/Caregivers

One of the things that I really enjoy about working at Papakowhai School is the neat level of parent support. This was clearly evident in the last week of the production with parents contributing hugely to the success of the show. I really value the help that we received with props, costuming, choreography, transport and refreshments. It was great to see the Papakowhai community working so well together.

If you don’t feel connected to the school community and would like to be, there are several opportunities opening up for 2013.

The Home and School Committee is a great place to start. The cool thing about this group is you just “do what you can when you can”. This group is about community building with the added bonus of raising funds at the same time. They run events that bring people together, like the quiz night in a couple of weeks, or the school BBQ’s. Meeting times will be published in the newsletter or you can contact Tanya Macdonald on 027-2222-986, or tanyamac@xtra.co.nz if you would like join up. They really need new members, as many of the parents currently involved have children that will be leaving Papakowhai School shortly for college.

The Board of Trustees is another opportunity. There are BOT elections in April and we will need new members. You are welcome to come to our next meeting on November 12^th if you would like to see what is involved or you could contact me or Steve Messenger, our chairperson, (steve@printstop.com ) for more information. The BOT plays a key role in legislative requirements, school achievement and curriculum, school property, finances, policy and future planning, health and safety, and of course ensuring that your children are receiving the highest level of care and education.

Sports and the Arts is another area that you can become involved in 2013. We are lucky to have wonderful parents who coach netball and basketball. We are looking for a new netball co-ordinator for 2013 and we are always pleased to hear from people who would like to be coaches or managers of teams. We are able to offer more sports with parent support. We also have great parents who help with dance groups and choir, and if you have a passion for the Arts I would be keen to hear from you. Please email mark@papakowhai.school.nz .

We also benefit hugely from parents and grandparents who are parent helpers in our school. If this is something you would like to try please contact Shane Robinson our Deputy Principal who can match you with the class or activity you would like to help with. Email shane@papakowhai.school.nz .

Thank you for your continued support for our school.