Week 1 - Term 1 - 2020

I am somebody. I was somebody

when I came. I'll be a better

somebody when I leave.

-Rita F. Pierson

Week 1  27 Hanuere - 31 Hanuere TOD - Restorative Practice - Marg Thorsborne - Mon 27 (all day) Please be in the staffroom by 8.30 for a welcome back briefing and new staff introductions. Staff Briefing each morning this week at 8.30 See Below for further start Dates for students in for enrollment. Year 9 Parent Meeting - Thursday 5.30pm Rowing - SI Club Champs - Sat 1 - Sun 2 Volleyball - NZ beach champs -	Week 2 3 Pēpuere - 7 Pēpuere Powhiri - Mon 3 @ 9am Timetabled classes begin - P3 Mon 3 Peer support p1 - Wed 4 Waitangi Day - Thurs 6
Assembly  Nil	Assembly -  Monday - Powhiri Wednesday - Year 9 Camp Assembly Friday - Welcome back, Prefect introductions and Space School.
Meeting  Department Meeting - Tues 28 (2.30pm) Staff meeting - Thurs 30 (2.30pm)	Meeting  Staff Meeting

Information for Staff

1. Welcome back to 2020, hope you have all managed to have a restful break.

A few important times over the next week are:

Monday 27 - TOD - please meet in the staffroom at 8.30. This is a full day of Professional Learning. New staff introductions.

Tuesday 28 - 8.30 Staff briefing.
Year 9s begin their orientation week
Department meetings will be from 2.30 - 4pm

Wednesday 29 - 8.30 Staff briefing
Year 13 will be in.

Thursday 30 - 8.30 Staff briefing
Year 11 and 12 are in at different times
2.30 - 3.30 - Staff meeting
Year 9 Parent Meeting @ 5.30. This has been bought forward from what has been done in the previous years. All Year 9 Ako teachers to attend and meet with the parents in their Ako class. This will be followed by the social get together with parents. Other staff are welcome to attend.

Friday 31 - 8.30 Staff briefing
Year 10s will be joining the year 9s for the full day.

You will be sent out a full breakdown of what each day will look for staff in time for Monday morning.

2. The following email came through at the end of last year re the NCEA review. I have copied it here for you to read if it did not come your way.

"As you will be aware, the NCEA Review engagement across Aotearoa New Zealand in 2018 culminated in seven changes being identified to strengthen the qualification and outcomes for young people.  The Cabinet agreed in-principle with the changes and the Minister announced the NCEA Change Package in May 2019.  The seven changes are :

1.     Make NCEA more accessible

2.     Mana Ōrite mo te matauranga Māori

3.     Strengthen literacy and numeracy requirements

4.     Have fewer, larger standards

5.     Simplify NCEA’s structure

6.     Show clearer pathways to further education and employment

7.  Keep NCEA Level 1 as an optional level

The Minister currently intends to seek Cabinet’s approval early 2020 to make these in-principle decisions final. In the interim, the Ministry wants to take the opportunity to test how we might approach the Review of Achievement Standards (RAS) in advance of this final decision. 

The RAS is a key mechanism to enable the shifts and outcomes for a number of the changes from across the NCEA Review change package, including parts of Change 1 Make NCEA more accessible, Change 2 Mana ōrite mō te mātauranga Māori, Change 4 Have fewer, larger standards and Change 7 Keep Level 1 as an optional level.

Pending Cabinet’s decisions, the RAS programme of work is scheduled to commence in April 2020 with full implementation planned over a 5 year period.  The review will rebuild the 1,100+ achievement standards within each subject, along with the resources that support them. This supports the vision of making Level 1 a broader qualification with opportunities for more specialisation at Levels 2 and 3, which was agreed in-principle by Cabinet in May 2019.

The Ministry wishes to proactively communicate with and engage the sector by inviting feedback through a questionnaire for each RAS Pilot product.  These new learning and assessment products, along with supporting resources are available via our Education Conversation website. 

We have attached a suggested email which has the link to the products and questionnaires embedded, and we ask that you forward this email to your staff at your earliest opportunity. 

The link went ‘live’ at 4.00pm 10 December and feedback will close 5.00pm, 1 March 2020.  There is also a RAS Pilots FAQ link here which you can access that may support you with any queries from your members.

If you require any further information or clarification, please don’t hesitate to contact us at ras.review@education.govt.nz"

3. As we head back to school,  have a quick read of the article on How Artificial Intelligence will impact teachers - Good to know that Teacher's are not going anywhere in the foreseeable future