2019 was the second year of Te Kāhui Ako o Kaipara - The Kaipara Community of Learning or “COL”. The Kaipara COL consists of Gumboots Early Learning Centre, The Cottage Kindergarten, Waimauku School, Woodhill School, Kaukapakapa School, Waioneke School, Helensville School, Parakai School, Waitoki School and Kaipara College. The Kaipara COL is part of a wider governmental initiative designed to encourage greater collaboration and sharing of knowledge between Early Childhood Centres, Primary Schools, Secondary Schools and Tertiary providers within a geographic area. For students, the experience at school is an educational journey which starts when a child enters Early Childhood Education and can continue through until Tertiary studies. To improve the students’ transition throughout this journey, there is a need for schools and teachers to gain a greater understanding of what is being taught (and how) at each curriculum level, and to share the wealth of knowledge of effective teaching that staff across the COL possess.
The focus of 2019 for our Kāhui Ako is to develop and deepen the connections and collaboration between the schools and Early Childhood Centres in our community that we began to foster in 2018. The year was launched by the first Kāhui Ako o Kaipara Teacher Only Day in January. The day had two objectives: 1. to develop a community-wide shared understanding of Relationship Based Learning; and 2. to provide an opportunity for our teachers to develop professional connections with each other and to facilitate the sharing of best practice. Twenty-eight teachers from across our community bravely volunteered to lead a twenty minute workshop to share an aspect of effective teaching practice. The day was a resounding success, with staff embracing the opportunity to learn from each other.
Following the Teacher Only Day, the focus of the COL shifted to supporting the Within School Lead Teachers (“WSLs”) with leading change in their schools or across the wider community. This year fifteen WSLs teachers were appointed from the different educational centres within our COL. The focus of their inquiries varied from such diverse areas as effectively teaching place-value, effective teaching of literacy, play-based learning, social maths, meaningfully engaging whanau in student learning, identifying and supporting students with anxiety, alternative methods of assessment and reporting, student-led inquiry, and transitioning students from Year 8 into Year 9 and from College into the wider world. Six staff from the College were appointed as WSLs at various times during the year: Jo Mears, Paige Bayliss, Allanah Hodge, Bri Te Paa, Bronwyn Neville and Bri Aziz. Their inquiries support ongoing student achievement and wellbeing.
Term 2 began with the first Kāhui Ako Deputy Principal/Assistant Principal Meeting, focused on improving the quality and use of Assessment to drive improvement in student learning and practice. In Week 3 a Writing Hui was attended by twenty-eight Year 0-4 Teachers, looking at lifting student writing through the development of positive writing behaviours. This year also saw the launch of Kāhui Ako-wide Professional Development on Relationship Based Learning, led by Cognition Education. Relationship Based Learning focuses on accelerating student progress through: the training of Impact Coaches who will conduct observations and lead coaching conversations with their colleagues around best practice, team, school and community wide professional development centred on 'RBL Effective Teaching Profile' and working with management to improve the tracking, monitoring and system-wide support for students. Twenty staff from across our COL were supported in developing the skills to be ‘Impact Coaches’ who observe and guide other teachers through coaching conversations.
2019 also saw the co-construction of a Year 8-9 Transition Plan to support our students with transitioning from Year 8 into Kaipara College. The meeting was held in Term 2 with all the Year 8 Lead Teachers, various Principals and Deputy Principals and the Kaipara College Deans attending to review and improve the transitioning process. As a result of these conversations, the following plan was developed and implemented and its success will be measured in 2020 through feedback from students and staff.
Personally, I still find it energising and inspiring every time I work with staff from the various educational centres within our community and to see first-hand the passion and commitment which all our educators have to educating, empowering and supporting our students. I look forward to seeing the connections and level of meaningful collaboration between our schools/centres within our community continue to grow in 2020.