Relationships – Whanauangatanga, Resilience – Manawaroa, Respect – Manaakitanga, Responsibility – Tiaki
Kia Ora, Nǐ hǎo, Hallo, Greetings,
A special welcome to our new students and their families that have recently joined us: Mathew Bailey, Zayden Daniell, Quintus Daniell and Waldo Botes.
It’s hard to believe we are almost at the halfway point of the term. Water seems to have been the focus for the last few weeks, and in this weather why not! Living in a community surrounded by the sea, water enjoyment, swimming and water safety are of paramount importance. Our year fives have been learning surf life saving skills, year six have had a go at sailing, all classes received a water safety lesson from the Ministry of Education and we have been lucky to have received another grant from Auckland Maritime Foundation to have swimming lessons for all from Farm Cove Swim school.
Thank you to all parents who came down to ‘Meet the Teacher’ sessions – more than three quarters of parents attended, which is fantastic. We hope you enjoyed meeting your child’s teacher and learning more about how the classroom routines work, upcoming learning programmes and classroom expectations. We have an open door policy so if you have a question or you would like to see your child’s work, please feel welcome to make a time with the teacher or pop in after school to be shown some work by your child. If you would like to give some feedback around the Meet the Teacher evening, please k.slater-brown@bbps.school.nz.
Annual School Student Goals for 2019
The annual school goals are decided by looking at the previous year’s results, current research into most effective practice and national government priorities. To see a breakdown of last year’s results and analysis, follow this link .
Although our results are high across the board, we do have gender discrepancies in writing and mathematics. In 2018 we narrowed the gap between boys and girls writing from 15% to 7%, we will continue to focus on engaging boys in writing to see if we can further close this gap.
In mathematics we have the reverse with boys achieving 7% above girls. In addition we are looking at self efficacy and enjoyment of maths. We also have students who can solve algorithms, but need a curriculum that also focuses on applying maths to problem solve in real world situations. Working in a such a manner in maths also ties in our digital technology curriculum.
Our third goal is optimising achievement and well being of Māori, Pasika and special needs achievement across the school.
We have secured funding to have our year six teachers work on the ALL project (accelerating learning in literacy). Moira Rowlands is undertaking study this year, and will be working as an MST teacher (maths specialist teacher). Again this project is funded through the ministry, and will add huge value to our students and staff knowledge to inform maths teaching.
Finally we have been accepted onto the TALL programme (team approach to language learners), which two teachers and three teacher aides will be attending (led by Diana Spencer).
The ministry of education do love acronyms! As a school, we are lucky to be well supported to keep growing and improving to strive for the best outcomes possible for all students.
NZEI Paid Union Meetings
Paid Union Meetings – Week of 18 March As you may be aware from the media, teachers and principals are entering a third round of negotiations with the Government. The key issues of the Kua Tae Te Wā/It’s Time campaign are high workloads, lack of support for students with additional learning and behavioural needs, and undervaluing of the profession. NZEI (Teachers Union) have tried to address these issues through previous rounds of negotiations, although some progress has been made, it has been insufficient to address the deep-seated and fundamental issues facing the profession. This has led to a crisis in recruitment and retention of teachers and principals. NZEI are holding a series of Paid Union Meetings for all teachers covered by the Primary Teachers Collective Agreement and all principals covered by the Primary Principals Collective Agreement during the week of 18 March. Our staff are attending a number of different meetings over the week to allow us to remain open and cover classes.
Board of Trustees News
The Board of Trustees elections will be held next term. A nomination form and a notice calling for nominations will be posted to all eligible voters closer to the time. For further information about what is involved in being a trustee, please call in to the office to arrange meeting up with a current board member, or watch this explanation video from NZSTA. You are also welcome to attend the next board meeting on the 19th of March starting at 7pm, in the staffroom.
School News
Mairangi Bay
On the 19 and 20 March year five visited the Mairangi Bay Surf Lifesaving Club to take part in Beach Ed, a programme that is provided by Lifesaving NZ to teach students how to stay safe in the water and sun. The programme is taken by qualified lifesavers who during summer weekends patrol our beaches. We were fortunate to have 3 lifesavers who provided a day of action. In the morning we learnt about rips and how to be sunsmart. They also provided us with a tour and talk about their equipment. The afternoon programme consisted of time on the beach learning to use the rescue tubes and boogie boarding in the water.
A huge thank you to all the parents who helped during the day as the day relied on your participation. The students had a marvellous day and were fully engaged in their learning.
Enviro
Our enviro is being led by Shari Knox in room eight, supported by Jacinta Howie and Kris Jochimsen. Our first green day is planned for Friday the 29th March. Please diary the date if you are free, and keen to help.
Sports News
Currey Cup
Congratulations to Hannah Boyes who is this year’s winner of the Currey Cup. Hannah came first out of 6 Year 6 finalists to win this. All finalists had to swim a distance of 75 metres or 3 lengths.
Senior School Swimming Sports
Kind regards
Kelly Slater-Brown
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