Week 8 NEWSLETTER

From the Principal

What’s Important?

John Campbell delivers a stunning video (Profanity warning! Some coarse language towards the end...) explaining the strikes, the education crisis...but way more importantly, what is important to teach and why.

I urge you to watch it, to think on it, to chat with your partner or friends about it...not the strike stuff, but about the learning. This year via the newsletter I’ve tried to paint a picture of change, about WHY we do our learning like we do and where we think education might head. The video captures all of these very well and entertainingly.

A good example of this is Oliver and his clock. I was wandering through Kahikatea last week and saw Oliver beavering away with a cardboard clock he had created. As I watched he finished cutting out 2 cogs, and had mounted them inside his grandfather clock. What caught my attention was that these cogs were hand cut, and they meshed together! He had a pendulum arm that swung and I asked about motorising it...after a quick hunt with me we found a servo motor and he was off with his mates. That night he spoke to his parents and the following morning his dad watched him install a motor for his clock hands. His friends also added a resistor to make the pendulum work better and added another motor for the cogs. An impressive piece of learning...showing all four of our beliefs...Agency, Creativity, Collaboration and Critical Thinking.

Sharing our Story

Following on from that, Makoura College invited me to speak to their staff at a meeting a couple of weeks ago. Paul Green (Principal) had visited DPS, to view our learning in action. Why? He wanted to know what primary school learning looked like, what we deemed to be important and the skills that we are trying to foster in the children. It was my first time back inside a secondary school in close to 20 years and to say I was nervous would be an understatement! It was exams that week, so seeing a hall arranged with desks and chairs in rows certainly gave me flashbacks and not good ones (I wrote last week about the place of exams in a modern education).

I spoke to the staff, of our journey, the collaborative teaching we do, the award winning learning spaces and about what we think the Purpose of Education is...to create a better community by creating better people. I discussed our Core Beliefs, about the deep learning relationships we try to develop, the innovative teaching practice in the school and the DPS Kid...the heart of what we do. Also spoke about the challenges, the failings we have had and what we have learnt from them. Their staff engaged each other awesomely when I provoked them to do so and their thinkng about learning lines up really well with what we are reaching for here at DPS.

Makoura is an innovative college with a great success record (winning the Prime Ministers Educational Excellence Award just a few years ago) who in 2019 are introducing project-based learning on Fridays. This is similar in idea to our play culture, to maker time, to the click, make, build programmes we run. I look forward to hearing how they get on and to taking some of our students to view their termly ‘exhibitions’ of learning. Exciting stuff!

Teacher Vote on the Ministry’s Offer

Primary Principals and Teachers have overwhelmingly voted to reject the latest offer from the Ministry around pay and conditions. I’ve written about this plenty, but the offer didn’t go nearly far enough to address the issues education faces. Workload and support are two major problems and the offer did nothing to address these (in fact, it removed a previous offer of classroom release time). Further industrial action seems likely in the new year, including the possibility of Primary and Secondary teacher Unions working together to campaign the government.

This comic (linked here) ‘illustrates’ quite well the current crisis and why the teachers unions are fighting so hard for an improved offer.

Sports Coaches

Just to follow that up...massive thanks to all the staff sport coaches this term! At DPS we are lucky to have a staff who take sport, who provide these opportunities for the children. It shows the above and beyond attitude my awesome staff have. At Clareville until 7pm on Wednesday, race from school to be at touch on a Thursday, at the softball diamond until 7.30pm on a Friday, and at school ready to coach T-Ball and Mod Softball 8.45am on a Saturday. While weather has disrupted the seasons, it is still a lot of time we give to the kids outside of the “9.00 - 3.00pm” job we supposedly work.

Cheers Parents!

I want to say a massive thanks to these parents (Dan Mason, Davina MacLeod, Angela Rough, Catherine Cockeram, Tracey Garrett) for coming into school and doing playground duty for over an hour yesterday...in the wind and rain! We asked them in as the Leaders Team cooked a lunch for the school staff which we wanted all the staff to be able to enjoy. Only possible because of these awesome people giving up their own time (on a miserable day) to come in. Very much appreciated!

Classes and Teachers for 2019

Notices will come home on Monday with the ‘class’ placements for next year. Class is in inverted commas as we don’t really have classes anymore and children are taught by a variety of adults. On your notice you will see your child's homeclass teacher and what teaching team they are in. The homeclass teacher is your point of contact...for learning, issues, behaviour, positive feedback...anything relating to your child comes to their homeclass teacher first. The teaching team will also be listed as your child will most likely be taught by all of them at some stage for some part of their learning. This is due to the power of collaborative teaching and the flexible learning spaces we now teach in.

We have some staffing changes for next year. Rosie Davies is shifting to the Kowhai team next year. Rosie started her career in Kowhai so brings her great teaching practice back to the team. Mieke Couling finishes with us having completed a successful few terms in Kōwhai and gaining her full registration. Salome Le Roux also leaves Kōwhai to welcome another addition to her family in the new year (congratulations!). Two of our awesome part time staff also finish, Kate McKay and Cath Cameron who both worked in the Rimu team. Martha Brienza comes back from her maternity leave to the Kōwhai team.

We welcome Megan Fraser to the school. Megan is a successful teacher currently teaching in Waipahihi School in Taupo. She will join the Kahikatea team.

The teaching teams for 2019 are:

Board of Trustees - Change of Election Format Meeting

Next year is the triennial election for Parent Representatives for the Board of trustees. The current Board are discussing shifting to ‘staggered’ elections. This system will see elections happening every 18 months for part of the Board, rather than every 3 years for the whole Board. Parent Representatives will still have a 3 year term. The Board will discuss this at the first BoT meeting of 2019 and this part of the meeting is open for you (the school community) to come and join in the decision making. Come have your say (and experience a Board meeting!)

Kids korero

what's happening at DPS?

Community Events

PIFA HOLIDAY PROGRAMME MASTERTON:

17th-19th December 2018 | 9am - 12pm

Trust House Memorial Park Turf,

Dixon Street

8 - 11yo & 12 - 14yo

​$45 per day or $120 for 3 days

Register now at www.paulifill.com