Focii for Professional Development 2025
Goals:
To consolidate and improve student achievement in Writing, focusing on language acquisition, development, sustaining and transfer.
To raise student achievement outcomes in Reading through the development of formative practice and systematic learning design. Specific focus on getting our staff through BSLA training.
To raise student achievement outcomes in Maths through focused Mathematics PLD and the development of formative practice and systematic learning design. Specific focus on training with the new Maths Curriculum and Numicon and Prime Maths.
To continue to inquire into and develop the Manaiakalani Learn, Create, Share pedagogy across the school, support the Cybersmart curriculum and develop Digital Fluency for new staff
To improve Wellbeing of learners, whanau and staff with the development of an in-school strategy linked to an area wide strategy
To inculcate all aspects of the NZ Curriculum Refresh as they emerge. To stay up to date and to manage teacher stress
To continue to develop Teaching as Inquiry for Pt England staff as well as the Kahui Ako staff and to have these connected and coherent.
To continue to investigate and develop culturally responsive practises and pedagogy across the curriculum and across all of school life.
This Professional Development is being overseen by the school management team.
Initial conferences of all staff will be carried out by the end of week 6, term 1.
All observations, conferences and Teacher Inquiry will have the focus of developing one of the key goals above, with a priority focus on raising achievement in Reading, Writing and Maths. We have asked our staff to give priority consideration to an inquiry which looks into raising achievement in Mathematics or Structured Literacy.
Inquiries will be linked to the goals expressed in the Teacher Action Plan/Inquiry Designs which each staff member will have completed by the end of week 7.
Individual Teacher Inquiry & Action Plans will also link through into Attestation goals. Staff Performance Management and Appraisal will be linked to performance against the goals expressed on both Job Description and in the Individual Teacher Inquiry/Action Plan.
Team Leaders will be responsible for seeing that Vosaic observations are made and that conferences around the AI transcript occur via team meetings. Management Members will be responsible for observations and conferences with their Team Leaders and of their Team Leaders. This will happen in selected classrooms only for the purposes of verifying and strengthening the process throughout the school. The SMT will be responsible for coaching Team Leaders and Management Members and carrying out selected observations and conferences with them in order to strengthen and verify the process.
Kerry Mitchell, the SMT Appraiser will regularly check in with this process and give feedback to the SMT. The SMT will feed back to the Board.
Professional Development Mathematics Structure
SMT will set the scene via Staff Meetings and then spend regular scheduled time in classrooms supporting teachers. SMT will also provide capability building input at Teacher Only Days
SMT will engage external developers at appropriate intervals to provide updated content and pedagogical knowledge
Professional Development Writing Structure
The Manaiakalani Research & Developemt Team will supply direct input twice a term to all Kahui Ako staff.
The Manaiakalani R & D Team will support the SMT via staff and team meetings by supplying rich content based examples. The SMT will analyse and synthesise learnings from the Manaiakalani R & D Team and Ed Potential and will focus the staff on formative practice and responsive learning design. Walk-throughs from T2 will support this development.
Professional Development Reading Structure
The school will engage with Structured Literacy via BSLA and staff will engage in training on an appropriate schedule set by SLT. Commentary and reporting will come from the Manaiakalani R & D Team and the RPI will be discussed at Kahui Ako Level as well as at whole school and team by team level.
The SMT will apply formative practice and responsive learning design capability at a whole staff, team and individual level. Vosiac observational videos and discussion will support this
Professional Development Manaiakalani Learn, Create, Share Structure
All staff new to Manaiakalani will attend 2 days orientation in January 2025
All staff new to Manaiakalani will receive in class mentoring during their 1st year. This will typically take the form of the Manaiakalani Mentor modelling the delivery of the Cybersmart curriculum in those classes.
Manaiakalani makes termly after-school toolkits available, the weekly 9 week Digital Fluency Intensive course for nominated staff, a termly focused staff meeting, professional learning groups and on-call assistance at any time.
The Reading Practice Intensive will be attended by 4 key staff + DP as mentor.
Professional Development Wellbeing Structure
The Mitey Programme from the John Kirwan Foundation will be fully implemented at Pt England.
Pt England School will focus on the same 3 items as the area strategy; -Healthy, Kai, Healthy Activity, Healthy Weight. The actual unit of work will go live in the 2nd semester of 2023
Pt England School will also re-run, using our own design and build, the Student Wellbeing Survey, in T3, in order to gather more meaningful information. We will use this data to inform our development design.
We will also re-run the Staff Wellbeing Survey in T3 or 4 , once we have tested the rebuild of the student survey.
Professional Development Teaching as Inquiry Structure
All staff will be guided toward a valuable inquiry focus that must be of value for them in their teaching practice and must also be addressing one of the school's priority development areas.
Staff meet with the A.P. supervising the inquiries to talk through the inquiry focus and and challenges. Inquiries must link evidence to practice in meaningful ways and must meet the criteria promoted by the NZC, Woolf Fisher Research Centre and be coherent with the requirements we are placing on Kahui Ako Staff.
Inquires will be evidence based and should be firmed up by week 6 or 7 of T1
Inquiry focused staff meetings will be held twice termly, one near the beginning of the term to set/discuss the direction and one near the end of the term to present findings and hypotheses to peers and colleagues.
Teacher Inquiries will be blogged publicly and need at least twice termly updates, though monthly is to be preferred.
Professional Development Culturally Responsive Pedagogy & Practise Structure
This area is 'sustaining and developing' area in 2025, rather than a major focus.
These issues will be referred to regularly at staff and team meetings.
We will remind ourselves during T1, of what Tapasā is asking of us.
We will remind ourselves (via staff meeting) during T2, of what Ka Hikitia is asking of us.
We will ensure that 'The Pt England Way' theme in T1, provides multiple opportunities for our learners to connect with their culture, their whakapapa, their origin and their place.
We will recieve PLD from mana whenua represented by Drina Paratene and Les Hoerara
We will work on and continue to promote a blended cultural approach that works for our learners. We will pursue culturally appropriate pedagogy via Manaiakalani Learn, Create Share and the responsive learning design and practice we apply to Maths, Reading and Writing.