2014 syndicate info for parents

Awapuni School – where children love to learn and learn to love

Te Kura o Awapuni - Te waahi whai matauranga, me te aroha

• Welcome & introductions

• Please sign guest book

• Syndicate information

• BYOD pilot

• Visit your child’s classroom and talk informally to their teacher

Kellie MackeyRoom 1

Cheryl TorrieSyndicate Leader

Anna WallisRoom 2

Gaelyn MannRoom 3

Anna BeattieRoom 4

Our partnership with you

Awapuni School views our partnership as a three-way triangle

Open communication is vital

communicate by email…see your child’s teacher

We are SENIORS

Sensible

Enthusiastic

Never give up

Independent

Organised

Role models

Successful

Essential Learning

Areas

English

Maths

Science

Health& PE

Social Sciences

The Arts

New ZealandCurriculum

Technology

KeyCompetencies

• building a learning environment in our classrooms that fosters emotional safety

• Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L)

• Cooperative learning & small group skills

• Student independence and self-control

• Students responsibility for their own learning

• Thinking about thinking

• Everyone is a learner - students and teachers

School Rules

Social skill teaching

Labeling and acknowledgingpro-social behaviour

When faced with inappropriate behaviour the students are taught the strategy of using their WITS….

The emphasis in this strategy is to say an “I” statement first and assert that they do not like the behaviour being presented to them.

W = walk awayI = ignore itT = tell someoneS = say an “I” statement.

4 classes each with Year 4, 5 or 6 students,

Syndicate combines for many activities...

Singing and assembly once a week with each

class hosting and taking a leading role

Daily exercise 5 days a week + Games on

Thursdays

Kapa Haka – searching for new tutor/s

Your children will have the following in their programme…

daily lessons in numeracy and literacy access to digital technologies with their own

email address Integrated curriculum that is rich and

connects to the real world with an inquiry base where appropriate

library access at school once a week for targeted teaching of information/library skills

regular visits to the HB Williams Memorial Library

involvement in community activities wherever possible

• We teach Mathematics & Statistics

• Problem solving is a big component

• Mental strategies are developed

• Maths is timetabled every day

• Students at this level need to know their basic facts

• Teachers involved in professional learning

• We teach reading strategies that aim at developing reading comprehension into the high levels of inference

• Many of our Senior Syndicate students are readers and are now reading to learn

• We have a small number of students that will

need support as they are still learning to read

• No matter what their reading level, students need to be reading texts of their own choice every night to become lifelong readers who use texts for leisure and pleasure and to gain information

• Awapuni School has identified many factors in writing that need emphasising from annual whole school reviews of writing

• Writing is timetabled daily.

• Spelling is an important part of writing

• students are in a formal spelling programme

• Spelling is targeted in homelearning

• 21st Century Learning

• Learn/create/share/assess cycle

• Creation of digital objects using Web 2.0 tools

• Sharing via social media – blogs

• Connecting learning to family/whanau as it happens

• Digital literacy is a foundation skill

• Cyber safety

• Integration of reading and writing

*Integration of reading and writing

• Google Apps for Education

• Collaboration

• Feedback and feedforward

• Personalising learning

• Distributed practise enabled

• Mathletics, Studyladder, Spelling City

It’s not about the tools…

it’s about the skills

Assessment is aimed at improving learning and teaching…

• criteria based assessments • assessments are mostly recorded in student’s

Portfolio For Assessment as teacher/self/peer assessments

• PFA will come home at the end of Term 1• assessments aligned with the National

Standards. • PFA are used to drive Student-Led Conferences

(SLC) in Term 4• SLC should inform you of progress and

achievements over the year• Meetings are held for whole school closer to SLC

to give the whole picture

Lets not have a battleground!

 Homelearning has three sections

Reading

Spelling

Maths

 Most of this homelearning can be done independently.

You just need to check that it has been completed, sign to say so, test spelling words each night

or join in to make games out of the spelling and maths grid.

The best thing you can spend on your children is TIME!

24 – 28 February

Sleepover one night in the Hall

Aimed to build cohesion in class, forge relationships, build resilience through challenge

Teachers and students gel as a unit

Olympic Pools for deep water challenge (swim & survive)

Kayaking in Olympic Pools

Snorkeling at Te Tapuwae o Rongokako Marine Reserve

Cooperative activities

• Parent help

• Head lice

• Newsletters & email

• Swimming

• Social media, blogs, websites, Facebook

Everything we do is aimed at raising student achievement and making Awapuni School a place where children love to

learn and learn to love

• Bring your own device

• Personal devices move between home and school – anytime, anywhere learning

• Equity – the biggest issue in education

• Start with Y6 classes then expand

• BYOB – bring your own browser

• Robust, learning device needed that is internet capable and can support the learn/create/share/assess cycle

• Policy to be developed by BoT

• Agreements need to be developed

• Issues, including equity need to be addressed

• Advice on purchases to be sought

• Expression of interest for the pilot then select on participants. Criteria will be on numbers, type of device

Please ask any questions you have of us…

Your child’s teacher will now be in their classroom – please visit

them now and say hello!