Week 8 NEWSLETTER

from the principal

Our Vision: Together we Nurture, Explore and Create for a Better Future

I’ve been writing about our vision word ‘Explore’ over the last few weeks, and showcasing the incredible variety of learning experiences the children get here at DPS regularly. What always blows me away around the school is not only do the children get excellent teaching, they are ALWAYS being asked to ‘create’ things to show what they have learnt. The act of creation is very important in learning…and can be the difference between learning and actually retaining what you have learnt.

I saw some great work by our Rimu authors being displayed in the class this week…they have been learning about Alliteration (interestingly…this is something that under the old NZ Writing Curriculum that we didn’t introduce until around Year 3, and in the new document right from 6 months at school, they are expected to identify alliteration, and be using it by Year 2). The children have learnt the skill, been able to orally say their alliterative sentences (most of which are super cute)...but…what I love…is that they have created an image to bring their alliteration to life! The act of creation can really solidify learning…and you’ll see in the images below, Dexter will always be able to remember his dancing dinosaur at the disco…so that piece of learning around alliteration will stick.
I was looking for something in the Maker Hub and saw two lots of learning displayed there…from a Whānau class, and from the Core Belief team. In both cases that had been doing some learning around traditional Māori tales/traditions, and had used technology to create some art to show what they had learnt. The skill of the children is certainly getting better in terms of using the iPads as drawing devices, and you’ll see that in the images below.

Having children ‘create’ as part of their learning is undeniably impactful…and there is plenty of research to support that (Papert’s work, and Resnick’s are two). Creating during the learning process:

Boosts retention
Deepens understanding
Encourages critical thinking
Promotes engagement and motivation
Is supported by multiple disciplines, from cognitive science to education theory.

And…it is fun. Those dancing dinosaurs, those kaitiaki, those eels…those pieces of learning are fun (Hard Fun as we like to describe learning here)...and things that you enjoy you will return to again and again.

Reporting + Student Assessment

Next week a Teacher Comment will be added into HERO…following our usual format of our DPS curriculum framework. The comment will reference things like our PRIDE values, our Core Beliefs, work ethic, social skills and is a general overview of your child as a young human here at school. Normally we would also have a sentence asking you to look at the graphs and dials in HERO and have a kōrero with your child about their progress. However…we are still not in a position to report against the new curriculum. Radio New Zealand contacted me about it this week, and you can see my response (and from other schools around the country) in this article. In the article the journalist references the 4 descriptors that schools are being encouraged to use to describe achievement (Needs Support, Progressing Towards, Proficient and Exceeding), and schools have been scrabbling to try and get systems in place to use this language…but, almost unbelievably…already there are changes to this system, with a 5th descriptor likely to be added according to the Ministry (Consolidating). Such a mess if I am being honest about it..but taking our time is paying off. Our efforts have been invested into the new curriculum, and getting to grips with the demands of that. When the time is right (and when the MOE have actually settled on their language) our attention will turn to reporting, but for now you can be assured that the children are being taught and progressing against the new curriculum.

Pūkaha

The next two senior classes had their Pūkaha experience this week…and once again, a fabulous time was had! We still have two classes to go (next term), but I’d like to take the chance to thank the BoT for supporting this experience, and keeping the costs down…we asked for a $15 donation, but the reality is the cost was more like 5 times that, so thanks to the BoT for being so generous and allowing our kids to experience this!

Mānawatia a Matariki

I hope you have an enjoyable time with whānau over the long Matariki weekend. Te Papa has some wonderful ideas for how you might incorporate Matariki traditions into your weekend. Over the last few years in the Sinton household we have used the day to remember those that have passed, and to take time together as a family to celebrate the good, and set some goals for the year to come. Have a great weekend no matter how you celebrate it, and we will see you all next week for the last week of Term2! Mānawatia a Matariki.