Week 11 NEWSLETTER

from the principal

Our Vision: Together we Nurture, Explore and Create for a Better Future

It really has been an awesome term at DPS…notable for the cool learning in classes, the huge amount of participation in sport, primo EOTC experiences for every child, a successful swim season, Jimbo being back for kapahaka and notable for your amazing children being great each day. While it may sound ‘airy fairy’, it is often said to us by visitors that Douglas Park ‘has a great feel’ to it…and anyone connected to our school will know just what that feeling is. Hard to describe, but a sense of belonging, of fun, of challenge, of being welcome, of laughter, of warmth. We track behaviour incidents in the school inside the teacher part of HERO, and this term has seen yet another reduction in incidents…basically half the amount compared to Term 1 last year (and even that Term was a reduction on previous years).

Yesterday was our Data Swap day…where each teaching team is released for half the day to talk about student achievement + progress (which is a powerful way to finish the term, and set up things for a great term 2). We do this by combining the junior and senior teams (Rimu with Kahikatea, and Kōwhai with Rātā) and I think this day illustrated beautifully two reasons why this term has been so good:

Our data for reading, Writing and Maths are looking great…roughly 80% of our DPS Kids are Kua Mārama or higher (where we would expect them to be or higher) in these three areas, and we still have a term to run until the half year checkpoint. The is awesome news…shows how hard the classes are working, and also shows that students can be academically successful while still getting creative opportunities each day inside our play and maker learning environments
The other reason yesterday's data swap shows our success is because the children were amazing…while it was out of routine, the senior children embraced the challenge of helping the juniors…and the little guys got to work hand in hand with their role models/mentors. Multiple staff members said to me how nice it was today…how great the kids were, how ‘into it’ they were…and just what ‘a great feel’ the school had.

Nice work DPS, tino pai to mahi!

As you enter the holiday break you might want to draw off those ‘homework’ reminders I wrote about earlier in the term. Part of our vision describes working Together…and often we get asked “what can we be doing at home to help my child's learning”? The simple answer is…be involved, and do lots of talking!

Play games outside…kick a ball, play tag, play hide and seek, go for a walk…chat about how far they think they threw the ball, where they hid, what you can see as you go for a walk.
Play board games, card games…not only do these involve numbers a lot of the time, but they involve problem-solving, logic and communication.
Let them create with LEGO, with pen and paper, with their toys, with sticks and leaves outside. Ask them what they have made…how it works, what does it do?
If you take them shopping, say, to the supermarket, get them involved with the money…find the cheapest milk, what is the best special on bread, what is the best deal on cereal?
Involve them in your world as well…explain what you did at work, show them what you might be reading, talk them through the DIY job you are doing at home.
Ask them about what they did that day at school, and dig deeper when they respond with “nothing”. Ask what they were learning in maths, what they found hard in reading, what was their best sentence in writing, what they created in play learning or who they hung out with at lunch.
Have some experiences together…cheap and cheerful ones like going to the Kids Own Playground, the skatepark, walking through QE2 park, going to the library, walking along the riverside trail…they cost you some time, but provide rich things to chat to them about.

Have a great holiday break, and I can’t wait to see everyone back in Term 2…and to see all the amazing learning experiences that Term 2 will bring.

Learning Conversations

Thanks so much for coming along earlier this week to the Learning Conversations, these are such a powerful part of your child’s learning journey at DPS. I wrote about it a couple of weeks ago…the power of sitting with your child, hearing from them what they are working on and what they are proud of, then being joined by the teacher to discuss where they are academically and where to next…so much better than the old ‘parent-teacher’ interviews!

I loved wandering around and seeing all the smiles…happy kids sharing what they have been working on, and happy whānau proud to hear from them.

Out of Zone Enrolments for Terms 3 & 4

The out of zone enrolment process is underway. If you know of anyone who lives out of the school zone who is considering our school…they need to reach out to us before the end of the holidays or they may miss their chance. Flick an email to office@douglaspark.school.nz

Councillors

Kahui Ako Hauora Student Leaders Meeting

On Thursday 4th April Savanah, Isaac, Mahalia and I went to Solway Primary school to join the Hauora Student Leader group. When we arrived we had some morning tea and then we played some ice-breakers with the children from other schools. We had to call out names and keep the balloon in the air.

Eve Williams came to talk to us about GBB. My mum volunteers for them. They do cooking for people that might need some kindness.

The Solway Primary children gave us a tour of their school. We liked their climbing trees. They have four new pou for their house groups that are named after the local rivers.

Mrs Jolliffe got us a banner that says 'Kind is the New Cool’ that was made by the Wops, Wops woman, Elaine Hurndell. We have tied the banner at the front of our school. At the next meeting we will swap our banner for another one.

I’m looking forward to the next meeting, because the first one was fun.

By Mason Towgood

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