Week 1 - Term 3 - 2025

 Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua 

‘I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past’

Week 1 14 Hūrae - 18 Hūrae Mon 14 - Day starts with Ako at 8.30am P1: 9 - 9.55am P2: 9.55 - 10.50am P3 - 5 as per normal 10DVC to Hagley Park - Wed 16 and Fri 18 DRA201 Performance - Thurs 17 STA201 Assessment p 2 - 4	Week 2 21 Hūrae - 25 Hūrae International Week (all week) Dance New Zealand - Mon 21 Music L1 Performance - Tues 22 Swimming - New Zealand Champs Thurs 24 & Fri 25 LEF's Due - Thurs 24 TOU201 Field Trip to Mt Hutt - Fri 25 Last day for alterations to 2026 Curriculum Handbook  - Fri 25
Assembly -  Mon - Nil Wed - Welcome Back	Assembly -  Mon - Year 12 - PAC Year 13 - Gym Wed - International
Meeting  Mon: Junior HoD Tues: Department Thurs: Wellness Portrait drawing in E111 (for those interested)	Meeting  Mon: TWH Tues: Staff (Te Tiriti and Literacy) Thurs: Nil

Information for Staff:

1. Welcome back to term 3. Welcome back to Sue BKS after her Term 2 refreshment leave. Thank you to all of the Technology staff who had classes moved around and stepped up while she was away.

We will have a new part-time Art teacher in place.

A very big thank you to all of you who applied for the 'Culture of Learning' Positions. We look forward to the next steps and how we can continue to improve outcomes for all of our wonderful ākonga.

2. This term we will be sending out our newly formatted LEF reports. This will now have attendance graphically shown with an overall attendance rate.

Additionally, the recognitions that staff are adding when LEF's are being completed will also be displayed on the report sent home. This allows parents to get a summary of the recognitions. This is still in addition to the email that is sent home, but families now have a record of these.

A couple of reminders - 

• please do not give out more than one recognition to a student in any one cycle
• Please do give out recognitions and don't get into the trap of just awarding 3's - there are staff who have not yet awarded any! We have had questions after the parent teacher interviews, where comments were really positive as to why a 'recognition' has not been given and they would love to engage in the positive feedback sooner rather than just at the end of term 2.
• We are looking at a system of what an overall 'total' of positive recognitions might mean for the end of the year - more information to come around this.

3. You may have seen the recent email from the Teaching Council re the move from 6 to 8 Teaching standards from 2026. These will be part of our Professional Growth Cycle from 2026.

If you are yet to have a look, the standards and the relevant focus areas can be seen HERE.

If you look at 6.4 on the table, you will see how the new template developed above alongside the live reporting helps with the communication to parents/whānau around progress, strengths and areas for development.

Week 8 - Term 2 - 2025

 He rā whatiwhati kō 

A day of hard work

Week 8 16 Pipiri  - 20 Pipiri Māori and Pasifika students Otago presentation - Tues 17 Matariki Event - Tues 17 Manu Korero regionals - Wed 18 - Thurs 19 Women in Defence Forces @ Lunchtime - Wed 18 DARE Otago Day - Wed 18 Year 11 Drama Performance - Wed 18 & Thurs 19 Jane Austen Essay - Thurs 19 LEF's Due - Thurs 19 Matariki - Friday 20	Week 9 23 Pipiri  - 27 Pipiri TOU Field Trip to airport - Mon 23 French Yr 11 - 13 Immersion day at UC - Mon 23 Year 9 production Showcase - Mon 6pm Senior Parent Teacher interviews - Tues 24 Spoken Word in PAC - Tues 24 Year 12 Māori Students UC experience - Tues 24 PHY301 FT to UC - Wed 25 Dance Showcase - Wed 25 Australian Music Exchange - Thurs 26 Junior Speech Competition  - Thurs 26 p4 Senior Parent Teacher Interviews - Fri 27 Last Day Term 2 - Friday 27
Assembly -  Mon - Year 9 Values awards (Gym) Year 11 (PAC) Wed - Rangatiratanga & Matariki	Assembly -  Mon - Year 10 Gym Year 13 PAC Wed - Whanaungatanga - sports awards
Meeting  Mon: L& T Tues: Staff Thurs: PCT's	Meeting  Mon: Junior HoD Tues: Nil - Parent Teacher Senior Thurs: Nil

Information for Staff

1. Thank you to everyone who has allowed your colleagues into your junior classes as the Literacy team has looked to identify great practice that is occurring across our Kura. We will look to share the summary reflection with you next term.

Thought this was a great reminder to look at the resource that was created by CGHS Staff a couple of years ago, where different strategies were shared: See Google Slides HERE.

2. Matariki: There is lot's on to celebrate next week, both at school and beyond. Remember to come along to the gym on Tuesday for our celebration with our neighboring schools.

Week 7 - Term 2 - 2025

 Ka mahi ngā kanohi tīkonga a Matariki

The ever-alert and protruding eyes of Matariki

This proverb is said of a person who is awake and alert at night.

Week 7 9 Pipiri  - 13 Pipiri International FT to Willowbank and Gondola - Tues 10 and Wed 11 New Course Proposals for 2026 to BLS - Wed 11 Non-Uniform Day - Thurs 12 Literacy Walk-Throughs - Thurs 12 - Fri 13 Year 12 Formal - Sat 14	Week 8 16 Pipiri  - 20 Pipiri Māori and Pasifika students Otago presentation - Tues 17 Matariki Event - Tues 17 Manu Korero regionals - Wed 18 - Thurs 19 Women in Defence Forces @ Lunchtime - Wed 18 DARE Otago Day - Wd 18 Jane Austen Essay - Thurs 19 LEF's Due - Thurs 19 Matariki - Friday 20
Assembly -  Mon - Year 12 Wed - Manaakitanga	Assembly -  Mon - Year 9 Values awards (Gym) Year 11 (PAC) Wed - Rangatiratanga & Matariki
Meeting  Mon: TWH Tues: Learning Area Thurs: Nil	Meeting  Mon: L& T Tues: Staff Thurs: PCT's

Information for Staff

1. Here is a free Google Course introducing AI to Educators.
https://grow.google/ai-for-educators/

Generative AI for Educators
"As a teacher, we know your time is valuable and student needs are broad. With Generative AI for Educators, you’ll learn how to use generative AI tools to help you save time on everyday tasks, personalize instruction, enhance lessons and activities in creative ways, and more."

2. As mentioned in briefing this morning we will start learning a new Karakia for briefing, you may already be familiar with it - if you want a head start:

Week 6 - Term 2 - 2025

 He mango wai koia kia kore e whitikia

It is a big river indeed that cannot be crossed

Make light of difficulties and they will disappear

Week 6 2 Pipiri  - 6  Pipiri Samoan Language Week King's Birthday - Mon 2 Teacher Only Day - Tues 3 PLG meetings p1 Tues 3 PHY201 Trip to UC - Tues 3 and Thurs 5 Cantrices Big Sing - Thurs 5 - Fri 6 Senior French FT - Thurs 5 LEF's and EC's due - Thurs 5 Rockquest Finals - Sat 7	Week 7 9 Pipiri  - 13 Pipiri International FT to Willowbank and Gondola - Tues 10 and Wed 11 New Course Proposals for 2026 to BLS - Wed 11 Non-Uniform Day - Thurs 12 Literacy Walk-Throughs - Thurs 12 - Fri 13 Year 12 Formal - Sat 14
Assembly -  Mon - Nil Wed - Aroha - Pride Week	Assembly -  Mon - Year 12 Wed - Manaakitanga
Meeting  Mon: Nil Tues: TOD - PLG from 8.30 - 9.30 Thurs: PCT	Meeting  Mon: TWH Tues: Learning Area Thurs: Nil

Information for Staff

1. Reminder that Estimated Credits are due next Thursday. Please err on the side of caution, as this set will help identify students who are at risk.

The Literacy Walk through to be completed in Week 7, will focus on Junior classes - more information to come. 

2. According to research only 15% of Gen Z are building AI literacy in schools, with the majority relying on social media. AI literacy must be grounded in trusted information, a focus on ethics, and a commitment to social good. Integrating AI literacy is a shared responsibility across the education ecosystem - an interesting graphic below.

Week 5 - Term 1 - 2025

 Theme for Samoa Language Week

 Ia malu lou sā. Folau i lagimā 

A well-grounded self is a successful self

Week 5 26 Haratua -  30 Haratua BIO301 FT to Wainui - different classes throughout the week RNZ Ballet workshops - Wed 28 Cross Country - Canterbury - Thurs 29 Numeracy CAA - Thurs 29 PHY201 p4 - 5 practical - Thurs 29 DRA201 and 301 FT to Court Theatre Life Education p1 year 9 - Fri 30 Life Education p2 year 10 - Fri 30	Week 6 2 Pipiri  - 6  Pipiri Samoan Language Week King's Birthday - Mon 2 Teacher Only Day - Tues 3 PLG meetings p1 Tues 3 PHY201 Trip to UC - Tues 3 and Thurs 5 Cantrices Big Sing - Thurs 5 - Fri 6 Senior French FT - Thurs 5 LEF's and EC's due - Thurs 5 Rockquest Finals - Sat 7
Assembly -  Mon - Year 9 ((PAC) Wed - House Assemblies	Assembly -  Mon - Nil Wed - Aroha - Pride Week
Meeting  Mon: Nil Tues: Staff Meeting (EAP and Wellbeing) Thurs: Nil	Meeting  Mon: Nil Tues: TOD - PLG from 8.30 - 9.30 Thurs: PCT

Information for Staff

1. Teacher Only Day is on Tuesday 3 June. There will be no briefing in the morning but you will join your late start group from 8.30 - 9.30am. The person leading the group will be in touch prior with more details.

If you are not in a PLG group, please see BLS for details.

The rest of the day is in your departments. HoLA's have been asked to send through a quick outline for the day and should get this to you prior.

2. Tool for the week: Keenious

Keenious uses its AI recommendation engine to analyse your document, understand its content, and compare it to millions of scientific publications to provide you with the most relevant research articles and topics. So, while you can copy and paste your text into the web version of Kenious, the best feature is that it can be installed into Word or Google Docs that can review your writing and suggest relevant articles. You can install the relevant application or use it as a standalone by pasting your research into the tool.

3. Want a bit of fun with your classes? Try https://quickdraw.withgoogle.com/ - Quick Draw Quick, Draw! provides real-time feedback as you draw. Students can see how good the neural network is at recognising their drawings. It also makes its data set publicly available, meaning that other researchers can use the data to train their own neural networks.

It is like Pictionary - but this is what AI does, and looks at how LLM's are trained. It is taking data and learning through the algorithm to detect what the image is.

Week 4 - Term 1 - 2025

 Mā mua ka kite a muri, mā muri ka ora a mua 

Those who lead give sight to those who follow, those who follow give life to those who lead 

This whakatauki also speaks to the importance of working together. It acknowledges and values the importance of both the leader and the followers for both are essential and co-dependent.

Week 4 19 Haratua - 23 Haratua TOU301 FT to Queenstown/Wanaka Mon 19 - Wed 21 Aiga FT - Wayfinding for Life - Mon 19 Open Day - Tues 20 NCEA Evening - Tues 20 Reading CAA (selected students) - Wed 21 LEF's Due - Thurs 22 Pūhoro wānanga - Fri 23 Rockfest Heats - Fri 23 Writing CAA (selected students) - Fri 23	Week 5 26 Haratua -  30 Haratua BIO301 FT to Wainui - different classes throughout the week RNZ Ballet workshops - Wed 28 Cross Country - Canterbury - Thurs 29 Numeracy CAA - Thurs 29 PHY201 p4 - 5 practical - Thurs 29 DRA201 and 301 FT to Court Theatre Life Education p1 year 9 - Fri 30 Life Education p2 year 10 - Fri 30
Assembly -  Mon - Year 11 (PAC) Wed - Aroha - Youth Week	Assembly -  Mon - Year 9 ((PAC) Wed - House Assemblies
Meeting  Mon: Junior HOD Tues: Learning Area Thurs: PCT's	Meeting  Mon: Nil Tues: Staff Meeting (EAP and Wellbeing) Thurs: Nil

Information for Staff

1. Thank you for all of you who had the ERO team join your classes for a 'snapshot' of learning. We had a follow up discussion that summarises what was observed against the 'Teacher Observation Framework' (TOF). The discussion was incredibly positive and there are aspects of the snapshot that were seen to be at the excelling end!

We did have a discussion around when entering a classroom - how do you know that you are in a classroom in New Zealand and not Australia for example. So it might be time to have a look at the rooms that you are predominantly teaching in with that lens. A good discussion for everyone - and perhaps could extend to our common spaces.

2. If you are looking for a tool to help develop differentiation in a lesson, you may be interested in trying out 'Diffit' - hhttps://web.diffit.me/

It allows you to produce scaffolded learning tasks and worksheets from a number of teacher-friendly templates.

When you login, create a teacher profile. Then start creating.

Enter a topic, theme, question, book title or chapter, article or YouTube link, text or PDF, or vocabulary list, and select the grade level and language, and Diffit will generate structured resources and learning aids of your choice. Diffit is a US site, so you cannot align with NZ standards using their presets, but you can enter content from your existing resourcing to ensure the artifacts remain tailored to your curriculum.

I have created an example, using resources and a video on Thermoregulation, a Year 13 topic as part of Homeostasis.

You are then offered a number of worksheet options that can be used to help students collate, apply knowledge, predict, infer, collaborate etc.

A very easy tool to use, links to existing resources you may have and videos that you might show in class.