Week 4 NEWSLETTER

For the next little while the documentary ‘Most Likely to Succeed’ is free to watch online. As a teaching staff we watched it at the beginning of last term, and it contains a number of messages that align with what we do here, and contains ideas about where to next for education. The film is American, and it is largely about a secondary school...but the messages are clear as to why education needs to adapt, what skills are important for the future, and ways of teaching that allow these skills to flourish. Many of these ideas could fit into ‘where to next’ for DPS, ideas for the Board to consider going forward. Particularly relevant given these sorts of statistics, and that many employers now no longer expect a tertiary qualification to get a foot in the door. So if an academic qualification is no longer the be all, what else could be focussed on and developed? It is well worth your time to watch (disclaimer: has a swear word in the first few minutes). The trailer is below if you want a taste of the film.

Social Media, Digital Footprint and Online Bullying

While we don’t really have an issue at DPS with the above, occasionally something will happen and it presents a timely chance to remind us all about these things. Technology is everywhere, unavoidable. Modern social lives exist digitally now, as well as ‘old school’ face to face interactions. The danger is when someone acts in a way online that they wouldn’t in a face to face situation. Kids who have access to technology often have access to Apps/Social Media that they shouldn’t...virtually every platform has a 13 year old age restriction, or parent consent, or parent supervision requirement. However...a simple click, and they are in. The apps have these restrictions as they can access some pretty inappropriate content, have access to people in an unrestricted way, and allow conversations to happen online away from parent eyes. A side issue is that many of these interactions are permanent...they leave a digital footprint. Perhaps not an issue now, but employers are certainly using social media to get a view on potential employees...are our kids learning to present the best of themselves, as a person, online?

At school the learners have no access to these things (facebook, snapchat, instagram etc), but we are aware that at home some do. While this isn’t school business, if issues arise outside of school that come into our gates we will address these. My message here is more about raising awareness...do you know what social media platforms your child is active on, the terms and conditions of these (some allow extensive access to kids contacts, images, conversations...) how they are acting, and what content they are interacting with? This NZ site has excellent advice and is worth looking at.

Paper Plus

Great turnout last night at Paper Plus. So awesome that they do this for schools, and so great to see books in the hands of kids. Despite the attraction of a screen, kids love books...whether it is reading them, looking at pictures, or being read to...kids love books.