Newsletter Firday 30th May 2025

Ngaere School

School Newsletter

Living & Learning with RESPECT

30/05/2025

Kia ora koutou e te whānau,

There’s not a lot from me this round so I just thought I’d share a quick curriculum update outlining what we think parents need to know as we head into the midway point in the year.

As you are aware, there have been some sweeping changes in the political landscape of late and school’s are working hard to try and navigate the pace of change while still ensuring that providing a top rate, well-rounded education that is child-centered, is at the heart of our decision making.

Below I’ve outlined some key points for your consideration. Teachers are working on mid-year reporting as we speak so parents and whānau will receive an update on how their kids are progressing in the near future. Watch this space.

As mentioned previously, I’d love to put a hightlight reel together on our winter sporting adventures. If parents/coaches are in a positition to flick thorough any photos to support this, that’d be greatly appreciated.

For now…enjoy the long weekend and let’s hope the sunshine at least gives us a wave.

Ngā manaakitanga

Shane Burgess – Tumuaki/Principal

principal@ngaere.school.nz

022 451 5809

Curriculum Update

At present we are working our way through the updates to the revised reading, writing and mathematics curriculum. This will take 12 – 18 months to fully unpack and understand the changes and implications. We are awaiting further guidance and information from the Ministry to support this process. The Year 7 – 8 writing curriculum has only just been made available and is still in draft, so for mid year reporting we will continue reporting against the existing curriculum.

So….what do we know?

We have a revised curriculum for reading, writing and mathematics, and we know that the expectations inside these documents are higher than the previous 2007 curriculum. This is not a bad thing, but it is a difference we have to grapple with.
We know that the Minister last year stated numeracy and literacy data to be very low across the country. We know at our school that our teaching practice works. At the end of last year (working at the old curriculum expectations) we had 81% of our children at or above in Reading, 70% in Mathematics and 68% in writing (our current school wide focus).
We suspect however, that despite our results last year, we may find our achievement data could drop against the new, higher expectations in the new curriculum. It’s not like you can say ‘now the kids have to do better’ and they start doing better. So it may take time to lift achievement up to where it needs to be now.

So….what are we doing?

Children are still learning as they were last year, but the difference is we are drawing from the revised curriculum in our planning. Our focus over the past term has been on the writing curriculum because our school wide data shows that this is where our focus needs to be.
Our teaching practice is still great, still evidence- based and still at the innovative end of the scale. What we do works.
Some of our testing is still appropriate to use, and we are using these tools. Some of the testing we used to do is no longer appropriate and we are in a state of change.
We are still sharing learning stories with you via HERO, still sharing what learning is looking like for your child.
Teachers are engaging with the new curriculum, doing their own learning about the new expectations and what these look like for learners.

So….what can we do next?

Our Kahui Ako, principals and other school leaders are working together to discuss these issues, and are planning a way forward together.
We can expect our achievement data to drop. This doesn’t mean children are going backwards in their learning, rather it is just a reflection of the raised expectations in the revised curriculum.
We can still inform you of what your child has been learning and how they are progressing with it.
We can still share learning via HERO of what your child is doing in class, what they are making, what they are participating in.

The school is very fortunate to have an AED on site now for the community to use in an emergency. A huge thank you to ANZCO Foods and the Eltham Lions who helped with funding this asset.

It is situated wall of Room 4, under the covered deck area between the office and Rooms 4 & 5. It is available to the community 24/7 and has been registered with the St John and added to the system for 111 call handlers.

PET DAY TROPHIES

Could we please have all Pet Day Trophies returned to school as soon as possible please. We understand that this is a little earlier than usual but we would like to have them all back to ascertain if they need updating. Thank you.

CANS, CANS, CANS!

We want your aluminium cans!

If you have any aluminium cans that you would like to donate to the school there will be a yellow bin beside the office in the hallway especially for your aluminium cans. Once we collect enough cans we will crush and sell them to the metal yard.

Please remember to make sure they are completely empty before donating. Thank you.

We were very fortunate to receive a few copies of the book “A one good Kiwi Story – Ardie Savea” which were kindly donated by Tutake Youth Inc Stratford. These books were distributed throughout the Junior School and a copy put into the library for everyone to read.

Thank you Tutaki Youth