Week 4 NEWSLETTER

Oxford University Press are one of the 4 providers, and they have released samples of what their student workbooks cover…you can have a look at the Year 6 book here. If you scroll to pg 115 you’ll see a series of activities related to Position and Orientation, in particular around Grid References and Giving Directions. The workbook gets children to find grid references for shapes in a grid, locate grid coordinates, draw a shape with grid coordinates, then give directions on a map based on compass directions and grid references. Standard stuff, nothing wrong with that. The new system would only want Year 6’s to do this work as the government will provide workbooks based on a child's year level, rather than their level of ability. 

The contrast I’d like to make occurred in Miss Mac’s maths class this week as she taught these exact skills, but in a real life, problem solving, memorable way. 

• She got the school drone out and flew that up to get a picture of the school. The children had some turns flying it. Miss Mac then crashed the drone…which of course became a big highlight. 

• The class then used some old drone photos of the school, and used the iPad App ‘Numbers’ to overlay a grid to the photo. 

• They then took this new grid covered photo into the app ‘Sketches School’ and added their own ‘landmarks’ inside the grid. They did this using some new digital Pencils the students are trialling.

• And once completed they will be writing directional instructions, and giving these to some Kōwhai students to follow…like a treasure hunt. 

These are Year 4, 5 and 6 children completing this work…all of them were highly engaged, all of them motivated and keen to complete the work…and all of them got the exact same skill teaching that the workbook would do. The difference in approach is between the students being given the information and then practising the skills, compared to engaging in an experience and developing the skills via creating and collaborating. But we can ask one question afterwards…which approach is more memorable?

I guess the point I’m making here is that our maths program at DPS is very rich, and we get good results. The win of how we tackle this learning is that our DPS Kids enjoy maths, and are willing to give hard learning a go. We want children to leave us with some good foundational knowledge, but we also want them to leave with a love for the learning area and a powerful set of skills around problem solving, communication and collaboration…and I don’t believe a student workbook can deliver these as strongly.

We are getting a Bike Track!

Some awesome news…we are getting a bike track, and work begins next week! This has been a long time coming… in 2019 we worked with a landscape architect to develop a Master Plan for the school, part of which included a bike track. Since then we have waited until all the other building work was completed, and now the first outdoor project is this track.

Designed to be multipurpose…a scooter track around the outside, a pump track on the inside, some skill features as part of it…and located in such a way that it connects our Kummer Cres entrance to the concrete path to the pool. No more wet feet in winter for the kids who come to school via that gate!

We are working with Empire of Dirt on the track, and weather permitting, it should be completed over the next month meaning that hopefully we can use it in the last week of the school year! How exciting.

I’d like to say a huge thank you to the Board of Trustees for supporting this project…Adam, Anita C, Anita P, Nadine, Simon and Helen have approved the funds and the project, and have been instrumental in delivering this. Thanks! The kids are going to love it! 

Athletics Day!

What an awesome event on Monday…the weather turned out, the crowds turned out and the kids' enthusiasm turned out as well! It was primo seeing all the whānau there to support and encourage the children, I’d say it was our largest turnout yet. We also had some amazing parent volunteers running events, and marshalling the groups of children…massive thanks, your efforts made the event run so well. I loved seeing the children give it a go, and challenge themselves…for some just being there and doing it was a win, and for others they really went all out to try to qualify for the interschool event. Either way…nice work kids! 

Hayley organised the event and did an awesome job…lots of positive feedback from everyone, and two people (a relieving teacher and a new staff member) both mentioned this was the best athletics day they’ve been a part of, across multiple schools they’ve been involved with. Good stuff! 

Year 6 Rafting!

4 years ago I met with some Principals and we had a discussion about what our schools were doing for Education Outside the Classroom (EOTC). Part of the discussion was around how to build a system for our school trips that build on each other, and ensure children get to experience a wide range of activities. One of the activities mentioned was rafting. Back then it seemed like a real stretch…a bit of a dream…but yesterday our first group of Year 6’s went rafting on the Ruamahanga River, travelling down past the confluence with the Waingawa! Water confidence skills built in along the way, these guys had an awesome day out. Shaun Harkness has done wonders over the last few years…building up our skills, and also our relationships with key people. The rafting this week was a massive win for him, and for us as a school. We have a vision to make sure our EOTC system ensures our children get experiences in our Maunga (Mountains), to our Awa (Rivers) and out to our Moana (sea) The system built so far sees the Year 4’s off to Castlepoint this week, and Kōwhai off to Beach Ed in a fortnight. Add into this the trips to Mt Holdsworth, Rangitumau, Hidden Lakes, Mt Bruce and our biannual camp…our DPS Kids get an awesome deal across their time at DPS. 

Hockey Wairarapa are raising funds to help with the cost of the new turf. It is a great initiative to support if you can and will help make sure hockey stays strong in the Wairarapa!