Week 3 NEWSLETTER

Ch-ch-changes

As you’ll be aware, the education sector is undergoing massive change at the moment. 3 new curriculums in the past 2 years, new assessments, new expectations for teaching and often confusing/contradictory messages from those in power about education. 

One change that all schools are grappling with at the moment is Reporting…changes have been made around the expectations of reporting to whānau which means all schools are figuring out how to do this in a way that makes sense. At this stage we are aiming to report against the new curriculum at the end of this term. One of the immediate changes you will notice is around the language. We now have 5 words to use when describing student achievement to you…students are Emerging, Developing, Consolidating, Proficient or Exceeding. Midway through the year Consolidating/Proficient/Exceeding would mean you are doing well academically, and at the end of the year that changes to just be Proficient/Exceeding. The information from the Ministry around assigning these labels is pretty vague…so the struggle schools are having (including us) is figuring out a consistent way to apply one of the 5 labels. 

Alongside these changes, the new English and Maths curricula are harder than what we had previously, particularly Maths. What used to be in Year 7 and 8 maths expectations, is now down in Year 5 and 6…what we used to expect from our Year 6’s, we now expect from our Year 3 or 4 students. In other words…the bar for achievement has been lifted significantly, and I can illustrate that for you. 

Our school is strong at Maths. 

We are known for it.

Our children achieve very good results…the Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT) are one of the Minister's options for schools to use for testing, and we have used them for many years. Below is an image of our PAT Maths results from Term 4 last year. As you can see, our Year 4-6 achievement is high…higher than the national norms, the national results…in other words, our children perform better than their peers nationwide. This is something to be proud of. 

However…this week the New Zealand Council for Education Research (NZCER), who are the developers of PAT tests, released a conversion table…taking their test scores, and matching them to the new maths curriculum. We had high results…so an assumption could be made that we will be fine against the new maths curriculum, but as you can see below…this isn’t the case. Despite our high achievement in the test, despite our DPS Kids outperforming their peers nationwide…the results against the new curriculum are not great reading! This is not due to some slip in our performance…it just highlights how hard the new curriculum is. High achieving young mathematicians now need to jump an even higher bar. 

The results below are based on our Term 4 PAT results, converted to the new reporting words. Being proficient or exceeding at the end of the year is the expectation…but to stress it again, despite our high achievement in the tests…these are our results.

Year 4: 46% Proficient or Exceeding

Year 5: 51% Proficient or Exceeding

Year 6: 54% Proficient or Exceeding

I’m sharing this now as it relates to reporting…we can expect to see our reporting levels look lower than in the past, but as I’ve shown…this is not a drop in ability, rather it is the fact that achieving well is so much harder now. 

I’ll keep talking about this across the term, and later in the term (before reporting) we are considering hosting a Whānau Evening to explain all the changes and challenges in a face to face setting. 

Bike Track Fun

It has been a great stretch of weather over the last fortnight, and as always our bike track has been very popular. It has been an awesome addition to the school grounds…and being the only asphalt school bike track in town, I’m grateful to the Board of Trustees for supporting this project. I love watching the children on it…their confidence, the errors, picking themselves up for another go, enjoying success. 

Some Dates for your Calendar

Friday 22nd May - School Cross Country

Monday June 1st - Kings Birthday, no school

Tuesday June 2nd - Townwide Teacher Only Day, no school

Orders for Lucky Book Club need to be in by Friday 15 May 2026

Stationery - Payment Reminder

We are very fortunate that our Board of Trustees subsidises stationery each year, helping to keep costs as low as possible for families. We kindly ask that all learners pay the $15.00 stationery contribution as soon as possible. 

Payment can be made online to ASB 12-3290-0064275-00. Please include your child's name as the reference. Alternatively, payments can be made at the office via EFTPOS, or cash can be sent to the office in a clearly named envelope.

We appreciate your prompt payment, as this helps reduce follow-up. If you are experiencing any difficulties, please contact the office - we are happy to help.

Sports Fees - Reminder 

If your child is participating in a sports team for Douglas Park School, please ensure the relevant sports fees are paid as soon as possible. 

Payments can be made at the DPS office (cash or EFTPOS) or via online banking:

DPS Account: 12-3290-0064275-00

Reference: Child’s first name, last initial, and the sport they are playing

If you have recently moved house, had a change of phone number, or any other contact details of your child/children have changed, could you please let us know at the school office by calling in to see us, phoning us on (06) 370-0189, or sending an email to office@douglaspark.school.nz 

All school teams and draws will be posted on Hero.