Principals Today #108

Issue 108 Term 4 | 2015

LEADERS IN EDUCATION NEWS SINCE 1989

Living dangerously Five risky things children should do

REFLECTIONS OF A RURAL PRINCIPAL

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UP AND Running

Getting kids active in and around schools Hekia Parata discusses the Communities of Learning initiative

Piopio Primary’s Neil Brooks reflects on 44 years spent in education

Angela Roberts on fast track teacher training schemes

Sexuality diversity from the students’ perspective Getting kids to explore numerical relationships

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Issue 108 / Term 4, 2015

Contents 18

IDEAS 9 Living dangerously Principals Today

Issue 108

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Academy House 2 Ivan Jamieson Place Christchurch Airport Christchurch

Five risky things children should do Remove the cotton wool and let the life lessons begin

MANAGING DIRECTOR

10 up and running

GENERAL MANAGER OF OPERATIONS

The battle against obesity

Gary Collins

Kylie Palermo

NATIONAL SALES & DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

SALES & ADVERTISING

Bill Thew Melissa Sinclair Julie Lennon

MEDIA CONSULTANTS

NEWSROOM

Jonathon Taylor EDITOR Laura Hall JOURNALISTS Terri Cluckie Phone: 03 961 5098 Email: editor@academy.net.nz

PRODUCTION

Jarred Shakespeare Carolynne Brown Sarah Betman Olivia O’Callaghan Alyssa Watson Georgia Due

ART DIRECTOR CO-ORDINATOR DESIGNERS

Phone: 0800 555 097 | 03 961 5077 Email: production@academy.net.nz

8 Investing in educational success Hekia Parata discusses how the Communities of Learning initiative delivers a collaborative approach to resolving educational challenges

8 Fast tracking teacher training

13 Reflections of a rural principal

12 lifestyles

ADMINISTRATION

Phone: 03 961 5050 Email: admin@academy.net.nz

Principal Q&A Piopio Primary’s Neil Brooks reflects on 44 years spent in education

16 Discussing sexual diversity Sexuality diversity from the students’ perspective What students have to say about the effectiveness of trial workshops

Angela Roberts talks about the ins and outs of fast track teacher training schemes

Everything from gadgets and gizmos to hat stands and baubles

21 Guiding young lives The call goes out for guidance counsellors in primary schools

TOOLS Healthy space

Encouraging children to explore mathematical relationships

Is your school prepared to handle a reaction?

working space

Learning SPACE

24 ICT Getting you school’s website up to scratch

21 EDUTECH 2016 What next year’s EduTECH conference has in store The New Pedagogies for Deep Learning initiative 22 A LICENCE TO LEARN

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COMPETITION CONDITIONS OF ENTRY This publication is printed on papers supplied by All wood originates from sustainably

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23 FRACTIONS WITH NUMICON

18 HANDLING ALLERGIC REACTIONS

22 EDUCATIONAL SOLUTIONS Disclaimer: This publication is provided on the basis that A-Mark Publishing is not responsible for the results of any actions taken on the basis of information in these articles, nor for any error or omission from these articles and that the firm is not hereby engaged in rendering advice or services.

A-Mark Publishing expressly disclaim all and any liability and responsibility to any person in respect of anything and of the consequences of anything done, or omitted to be done, by any such a person in reliance, whether wholly or partially upon the whole or any part of the contents of this publication.Advertising feature articles are classified as advertising content and as such, information contained in them is subject to the Advertising Standards Authority Codes of Practice.Contents Copyright 2012 by A-Mark Publishing (NZ) Ltd. All rights reserved. No article or advertisement may be reproduced without written permission.

22

Getting kids active in and around schools

Clive Greenwood

Stacey Coy Laura McLeod Lyn Wright Angela Barltrop

12 NEWS

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4 | Term 4, 2015 www.principalstoday.co.nz

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News | Viewpoints

Investing in educational success

By Hekia Parata, Minister of Education

A short time ago I signed a document that gave me particular pleasure. It was the Education Report endorsing the achievement challenges agreed to by the 18 primary schools, one intermediate and two secondary schools that comprise the Blenheim Community of Schools.

The grouping is one of 42 Communities of Learning that have so far been formed and the first to reach agreement on the educational challenges its member schools will work together to address.

secondary school has not dropped out of the sky. She has come from an intermediate or primary school whose teachers know her strengths and weaknesses and know how she learns best.

Others have since reached the same stage in the process and many more will follow, as more and more schools take advantage of the opportunity to work more closely together for the benefit of all their students.

Similarly, her brother attending a different school in the same neighbourhood, is not a boy alone, but part of a family and community that has particular cultural values that have helped to shape him.

In the case of Blenheim, the schools and their communities have agreed to focus on writing, reading, mathematics and lifting NCEA Level 2 achievement rates. Other Communities of Learning will identify their challenges.

We want schools to talk to each other and to work together in a systematic fashion, because research tells us that the quality of teaching and leadership are the two most significant in-school factors in student learning.

This is a bottom-up, not a top-down exercise. This Government trusts parents and communities to decide what is in the best interests of their students. They know their kids better than politicians and officials in Wellington.

However, whatever the location and whatever achievement challenges Communities of Learning target, they will take a common, collaborative, approach to resolving those challenges.

The 1989 Tomorrow’s Schools reforms broke new ground by devolving power from government to parents, but the reforms had an unintended consequence. They incentivised schools to compete against each other for pupils, because in our education system pupils equate to funding and status.

The more students a school has the more money it gets. But, of course, the more students a school has, the less the one down the road has.

The Investing in Educational Success strategy that gave birth to Communities of Learning reverses that process by incentivising schools to work together to raise achievement for all students. Schools are not independent principalities, but parts of a larger whole.

We want schools to engage with parents and communities, because the same research tells us that the out-of-school factors that have the greatest influence on student learning are parental engagement and community expectations.

Investing in Educational Success fosters all these attributes by bringing communities together to identify and address common achievement challenges and by enabling the most effective teachers and principals to share their knowledge and expertise across multiple schools.

Yet schools will retain their own identities and characters, a bit like the brother and sister – different personalities but from the same committed family.

In Blenheim, and a few other parts of the country, students are already benefitting from the leadership shown by their schools and parents.

I look forward to the day when every student attends a school that is part of a larger community of learning dedicated to helping her or him achieve their best.

The 13 year old who turns up on the first day of the school year at 8 | Term 4, 2015 www.principalstoday.co.nz

Fast tracking teacher training

By Angela Roberts, PPTA president

New Zealand recently hosted a conference for Teach For All, a global network which the Herald described as leading ‘a teaching revolution’.

The short version of what they do is just that, short. Train people for six weeks and get them out into schools as ‘teachers’.

Teach for All schemes around the world, compared with teachers who have taken traditional training, is also problematic.

It’s not hard to see why this is controversial when it’s put this bluntly.

In the USA, where the programme first began under the patriotic sounding title ‘Teach for America,’ the main criticism is that these teachers are woefully underprepared for the realities of the classroom, and in particular the classrooms in schools in poor neighbourhoods where they’re specifically recruited to teach.

On the other hand, the few well designed comparative studies of student achievement show that, typically, students of teachers in these schemes achieve similar results to what they would with other teachers, and possibly even better in science and maths.

Again, in the USA, it’s also seen as a cut price way to get bodies in front of classrooms, which undermines the teaching profession and does a disservice to needy students by giving them inferior teachers.

Teach For All’s professed goal is to close the education gap between students from poor and wealthy backgrounds, and the way that they aim to achieve this is by recruiting ‘top graduates’ who wouldn’t usually choose to go into teaching. It’s a noble and important cause that’s worth taking seriously and looking for new ways to address.

When the PPTA was first informed that New Zealand was getting a Teach First programme here, we were sceptical.

We had heard the US criticisms and were aware of its connections with the corporate education reform agenda.

However, we also could see that a programme of field-based teacher education, for subjects where there are shortages of teachers, could have some advantages. Many of our PPTA members went through teacher education under somewhat similar schemes in the 1960s and 1970s, when they were paid as they trained.

Cognisant of the potential benefits and pitfalls, we commissioned independent research on the impact of fast track teacher training schemes. The research, which pulled together over 100 studies from around the world, painted a complex picture – more ‘shades of grey’ than black and white.

Teacher training, like these six week courses, that is “minimal and highly technicist,” combined with the “inherent assumption that anyone who is bright and enthusiastic can teach,” is seen as devaluing teachers. The high turnover of graduates from the various

As a result of this research, PPTA’s position on Teach First has been not to oppose it. We encouraged the Teach First NZ and Auckland University, who deliver the programme here, to ensure that Teach First participants would be teaching for only 12 hours a week, with support from experienced mentors who have release time to work with them. These things happened.

In New Zealand, the teacher education programme continues for the first two years of their teaching, so they are learning and teaching at the same time. And it has emerged since that the Teach First NZ programme is far from a ‘cut price’ model. The government has put over $6.5 million into the three-cohort pilot of the programme, which has put fewer than 60 students through. This is many times more expensive than traditional teacher education.

The court case the PPTA has against Teach First NZ, the University of Auckland and the Ministry of Education, is on a particular narrow but important issue. The State Sector Act and the Secondary Teachers’ Collective Agreement are very clear about how appointments to teaching positions must happen, to make sure it’s a fair process. The way in which participants on the programme are appointed to schools breaches this.

There are a number of options for how the Ministry of Education, along with Teach First and Auckland University, could resolve this, and we hope that they do.

In the meantime, we look forward to seeing the final results of the evaluation of the New Zealand programme, and are hopeful that even a fraction of the enthusiastic claims of its promoters, like those at the recent conference, will be borne out.

News | Learning

Living dangerously Five risky things children should do If you were lucky enough to grow up in the 20th century it’s likely you had a taste of the quintessential New Zealand childhood, filled with playing outside from dawn till dusk, bare feet, climbing trees and riding bikes.

Growing up you probably took a number of risks while at play and you may have even had your fair share of bruises and scraped knees, but it is these experiences you learnt from.

Sometimes you have to fall out of a tree to learn how to climb one. The trouble is these days we aren’t even letting children near trees. We live in a politically correct society hell-bent on wrapping children in cotton wool and mollycoddling them. Instead of life experiences we give them mountains of smooth, soft, nontoxic toys with large warning signs that read ‘Children should be supervised at all times’.

As we cut off more and more opportunities for children to interact with the world around them they lose the ability to assess and deal with risks. By mitigating these risks we are actually doing them a greater disservice than good.

Wouldn’t it be better if we equipped children with tools and knowledge of the world around them, so when they do come into contact with a sharp edge they know how to handle it correctly?

Children should been given the opportunity to take risks, experiment, create and get up close and personal with the world. Sure they might get a bump or a bruise, but they’ll also learn a lot and have fun. Here are some risky things every child should be given the opportunity to experience.

1. PLAY WITH FIRE From birthday candles to camp fires children are frequently around fire, so it is a good idea to make sure they know how to use it responsibly. Playing with fire in a safe environment is an essential experience children need.

It teaches them about the basic principals of intake, combustion and exhaust - the three things you need for a controlled fire. They’ll learn how to behave around it safely and how to take control of the powerful element.

2. OWN A POCKET KNIFE You can use it to peel fruit, open packages and for fishing, camping, first aid and much more.

The pocket knife is a key tool with a million uses and children should be given the opportunity to discover these uses for themselves.

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Having and knowing how to use a knife gives children the power to transform materials in useful ways.

Yes, it is a blade, so it is important to lay down some simple ground rules such as cut away from your body, keep the blade sharp, and never force it.

3. THROW A SPEAR Throwing a spear was an essential survival skill for our ancestors. But today that skill has been lost. While we no longer need to know how to throw a spear in order to eat or protect ourselves, the skill still holds some valuable lessons which are worth learning.

Throwing a spear develops predictive ability and structural problem solving. Throwing is a combination of analytical and physical skills which makes it a great way to train the body and the mind for whole body-training. Our brains are programmed for throwing things, but if we don’t use the muscle, we lose it.

4. DECONSTRUCT APPLIANCES Children can take appliances for granted; they often see them as shiny boxes which respond to a push or a click. Next time you are about to throw out an appliance: don’t.

Instead take it apart with your children. Deconstructing appliances gives them a better comprehension of their complex nature and gives them a glimpse into how they work.

Even if they don’t know what the parts are, just having the chance to think about the uses is a good way to encourage their constructive thinking and give them a better appreciation.

5. HAND OVER THE WHEEL For many young teens the first time they take the wheel is when they are of age to learn to drive.

But we should be giving them the opportunity to experience what it feels like to drive much earlier.

Driving a car is an empowering act and teaches them the correct attitude and skills even before they take their first drive on our streets. So find an empty car park or paddock and hand over the wheel.

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www.principalstoday.co.nz Term 4, 2015 | 9

News | Cover Story

Up and running

By Terri Cluckie

It’s no secret that physical activity plays an important role in our lives. Even our mental and emotional wellbeing is hugely impacted by it, so why are we falling behind?

According to Statistics New Zealand, New Zealand is the third most obese country in the world with a rate of 28.4 percent, coming in under Mexico (32.4 percent) and the United States (36.5 percent).

If we look closer at obesity rates, we find that one in 10 children aged between 2–14 years are obese (according to the Annual Update of Key Results 2013/14: New Zealand Health Survey). These results show an increase in child obesity from eight percent in 2006/07 to 10 percent in 2013/14.

Various reports and studies highlight the importance of physical education in a child’s life, not just due to the physical benefits such as the reduced risks of certain diseases, diabetes and other such health concerns, but to the emotional and mental health benefits.

So what are we doing to ensure children are getting the right exercise they need to live a healthy life?

As part of their Childhood Obesity Plan, the Ministry of Education will be introducing 22 new initiatives aimed at preventing and managing obesity in children and young people up to 18 years of age. One of those initiatives, Teachers’ Professional Learning and Development, aims to build the

knowledge and skills of teachers and education leaders.

Expected to begin in 2016, the initiative will support and challenge teachers to accelerate students’ achievements as set out by the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) in Health and Physical Education.

Other government initiatives include ones like Sport in Education (SiE) which was created by Sports New Zealand in 2012. The programme enrolled eight schools around the country to participate in the three year project which provides them with teaching and assessment resources in maths, English, PE and other subject areas using sport as a context to engage students. The aim is “to develop, trial and evaluate approaches to improve academic and social outcomes”.

Although the project is still underway, results already seem positive, with Sport New Zealand reporting that in 2013, the average student attendance in a surveyed Year 11 class that was participating in the SiE project was up with a rate of 84 percent, compared to 78.4 percent in the Year 11 cohort class that was not taking part. In the same report it also stated that behaviour in students had improved as well as engagement in other subjects such as English.

In August this year, Papakura High School, one of the participating schools, even picked up the Outstanding Physical Education Award from Physical Education New Zealand.

While initiatives like these have their benefits, they are not the only way to increase physical activity in students.

Geraldine High School’s outdoor

10 | Term 4, 2015 www.principalstoday.co.nz

“

With the mounting pressure for schools to perform academically, it would be easy to understand why some might put other academic classes before physical education in the hope that it will gain them the results they need to retain funding.

”

education programme made headlines in early September when Secretary for Education, Peter Hughes, paid a visit to the school and praised the benefits of such opportunities for students.

The course includes kayaking, river safety rescue, rafting, rock climbing, tramping, skiing, mountain craft, and is one of only a few schools in the country to have a high ropes course.

The school’s head of outdoor education, Drew Brown, was presented with the prestigious Tall Totara excellence award at the New Zealand Outdoor Instructors Association for his contributions to the school and the industry.

The course was established in the 1990s and while they are geographically fortunate to have

the activities on their doorstep, and therefore have an advantage over other schools, Geraldine High is highlighting the benefits of outdoor adventure for students while providing them with life skills outside the classroom.

However, while some schools are leading the way in displaying the benefits of physical education, others may have their concerns over focussing so much attention on one specific area.

With the mounting pressure for schools to perform academically, it would be easy to understand why some might put other academic classes before physical education in the hope that it will gain them the results they need to retain funding.

But what price are we really paying by sacrificing physical activities and exercise when obesity rates are rising?

Following the latest National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA) on Health and Physical Education, which found that only 50 percent of Year 8 students were achieving Level 4 of NZC standards, the types of initiatives spoken of here seem to be coming at a much needed time. Not only do they focus on getting kids active, but they also aim to provide teachers with the resources to provide the best physical education they can to their classes.

You can read more on the report

by NMSSA in the next article where we have guest speakers from the university advisory group, Physical Education New Zealand, sharing their comments and recommendations on the results of the study.

News | Cover Story

Is the system failing our kids?

Physical Education New Zealand, a university advisory group, discusses the National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA) report on Health and Physical Education.

The University Advisory group consists of representatives from all universities involved in pre-service initial teacher education in health and physical education.

The National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA) report on Health and Physical Education at Year 4 and Year 8 has recently been released.

A nationwide representative sample of 2,000 students at each level were evaluated in 2013 with the intention of beginning to understand the achievement and progress of Year 4 and Year 8 students in this learning area.

The NMSSA assessed achievement by “using a measure of critical thinking in health and physical education, and descriptive reporting of students’ understanding of well-being, and the demonstration of a range of movement skills and strategic action skills within the context of games and movement sequences”.

In many areas the results were as expected and there was evidence of health and physical education being generally appreciated by teachers and students, and being valued by both teachers and principals.

The report identified that 95 percent of students at Year 4 were achieving at Level 2 of the NZC. By Year 8, however, this had dropped substantially with only 50 percent of students achieving at Level 4 of the curriculum.

The report commented that “To achieve at Level 4 of the curriculum, students need to have been exposed to specific health and physical education teaching”.

The obvious conclusion from this fall off in achievement is that, for whatever reason, this is not occurring for many students.

In movement skills, students developed considerably between Years 4 and 8, although longstanding gender and decile differences remained present.

One positive outcome of the report was that over two thirds of teachers reported having received professional development and support in health and physical education within the last two years.

In terms of meeting the expectations for learning in relation to critical thinking in health and physical education, as set out in the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC), the results were disappointing.

While the teachers were generally happy with the professional development and support they were receiving, it is worrying that the most frequently cited source of that support was external providers.

There has been some concern expressed about the quality of teaching and learning that occurs with many outside providers. These concerns include pedagogical limitations and that in many cases external providers have little knowledge or expertise of the NZC or education in its broader sense.

There is therefore some sense of disquiet that these external providers may be leading the professional development and support for teachers.

Teachers were asked about strategies they used to meet the differentiated needs of their students. While a number of strategies were described the most common strategy (about 80 percent) was “whole class activities”.

While what was meant by this was unclear, it would appear on the surface that whole class activities would not be the preferred option for addressing the differentiated content and pedagogical needs of students.

This is an area that we feel needs to be looked at more closely.

“

We consider that it is important for principals, and those in senior leadership roles, to take a strong lead in ensuring that the teaching and learning that occurs in physical education in schools more closely represents the intent of the NZC.

”

We consider that it is important for principals, and those in senior leadership roles, to take a strong lead in ensuring that the teaching and learning that occurs in physical education in schools more closely represents the intent of the NZC. The finding that half of the students were not meeting the expected outcomes at Level 4 should be a red flag for schools.

We are concerned that in many cases students may be receiving a narrow programme that involves a series of often unrelated physical activities, which are not part of a systematic programme designed to meet the requirements of the learning area as identified in the NZC. We would ask that principals enquire into the teaching and learning that is occurring within their schools in the physical education space, to ensure that students are experiencing a quality physical education programme as an integral and crucial part of their wider educational experiences.

Article provided courtesy of Physical Education New Zealand.

Visit: www.penz.org.nz

www.principalstoday.co.nz Term 4, 2015 | 11

News | Lifestyles

Lifestyles

1.

By Terri Cluckie

1. TAKING IT ALL IN A new breed of camera is here! Equipped with 36 individual cameras, the Panono captures 360 degree high definition panoramas with both a horizontal and vertical field of view. Simply throw the Panono into the air and the cameras will automatically trigger at their highest point giving you the perfect panoramic shot. You can also hold the camera in your hand and use it manually, or remotely via the Panono app. It can store up to approximately 400 Panono shots and has a WiFi and USB connection. An international patent for the Panono Camera is pending, but you can preorder now!

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5. ROCK THIS Rocking chairs remind me of two things: a mother holding her baby in her arms and a scene from the horror film The Woman in Black. Bad vibes aside, this particular furniture piece is a modern take on the classic rocking chair. Its colour has that “look at me” statement all the while enabling you to reinforce an existing colour scheme, and beckon you to take a seat. Now, switch on The Conjuring and watch with comfort and style.

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5.

News | Principal Q&A

Reflections of a rural principal

By Laura Baker

A career in education spanning five decades is now coming to an end for the principal of Piopio Primary, Neil Brooks. After 20 years as the head of the small rural primary school in the central North Island Neil is retiring at the end of the year.

The 64 year old says apart from a two year break to head overseas, he has been involved in the education system since he was five, “which is a bit of a scary thought”.

unheard of even just five or six years ago. I don’t think that is the schools role at all, that is the parents role, but for various reasons schools have taken on those responsibilities.

He talks to Principals Today about what he has learnt during the last 44 years in teaching and shares some advice for fellow educators.

Schools are expected to add these extra things in putting more responsibility on them instead of making the parents accountable.

What inspired you to become a teacher?

I’d always enjoyed working with kids and I thought it was something I could do to make a difference in the world.

What makes Piopio Primary unique in comparison to other primary schools in the region?

The high rural density and the fact that we’ve got a play centre, primary school and college all on one campus. Also we were the first school in the country to get a bus service which approximately 70 percent of our children use to travel to and from school.

Do schools play a different role in students lives compared to what they did 20 years ago?

Yes, I think they definitely do. I think schools are taking over more of the parent’s role. This is not happening at our school, but at other schools in the local area and probably across the country, schools are providing breakfast and lunch for kids.

We also have a school in the area that has provided tooth brushes and tooth brushing lessons for kids; that was

“

I’d always enjoyed working with kids and I thought it was something I could do to make a difference in the world.

”

Have you seen students’ attitude towards education change during your career?

My impression is kids have always been happy to come to school; they see it as a place that is fun to be at. There attitude hasn’t really changed at all in the 20 years I’ve been here. There has however, been a change in attitude from parents, government and from the Ministry of Education.

What would you change if you were the Minister of Education?

I’d change a few things. Firstly I’d make some of the parents more accountable

so schools don’t have to carry out this feeding exercise, to me it’s rubbish in this day and age. We live in an affluent society not a third world country. I don’t believe there is any reason why kids should come to school hungry, if they are it’s a parent’s responsibility and they should be held accountable to feed them, cloth them and get them to school.

The second change is I’d listen to the teaching profession more. They have a lot of great ideas that aren’t currently being heard. For example when National Standards was introduced, teacher unions called for a trial of the system to pick up any bugs, but they weren’t listened to. There was no trial and as a result we now have a flawed National Standards system implemented in our schools.

What is the biggest challenge facing teachers today?

Teachers are the people at the chalk face, if you pardon the pun. They know what’s best for their kids and they know what is best as far as the curriculum. I believe they should be given more consultation, more freedom and more trust by the ministry. But at the moment they are treated like idiots and everything is an uphill battle.

“

God gave you two ears and one mouth, listen twice as much as you speak. I’ve learnt to listen and it has been one of the most important things I’ve learnt.

”

school. They are just neat kids, polite, well mannered and many of them are in the top level of achievement. Seeing those kids leave us at the end of their time here ready for high school gives me a real sense of pride and achievement.

What is your best piece of advice for fellow educators?

When you make a mistake, admit it. When kids make a mistake we accept that as apart of learning, but as educators we are a bit slow to accept our own mistakes. I think they should be seen as apart of learning. If you make a mistake admit it, get on with it and try not to do it again.

What has been the highlight of your career?

What has been the biggest lesson you’ve learnt during your tenure?

The highlight I think has been seeing our kids, many of which have been with us since they were five years old, finish primary school and move onto high

God gave you two ears and one mouth, listen twice as much as you speak. I’ve learnt to listen and it has been one of the most important things I’ve learnt.

• • • • •

www.principalstoday.co.nz Term 4, 2015 | 13

Prime Minister’s Education Excellence Awards

Acknowledging educational excellence Entering the Prime Minister’s Education Excellence Awards is a great way to celebrate and share the journey of your school or ECE service.

It’s also a way to recognise the pivotal roles your staff, students, families, whānau, and the wider community play in supporting education at your school or ECE service.

We talked to Greg Mackle, Principal of Gisborne Boys’ High School, whose school won the 2015 Supreme Award, and Henk Popping, Principal of Otumoetai Intermediate, whose school won the 2014 Supreme Award.

They discussed the journeys they’d taken and why they decided to enter the Awards. They also discussed what being recognised meant for their whole school communities, and about whether or not others should follow their lead.

WHAT WAS YOUR JOURNEY? Greg Mackle: We’re a decile 3 school, and 65 percent of our boys are Māori boys. And I know – and so do all of us here at Gisborne Boys’ High School, including our whanau and our community – that we can achieve things.

So the reason we entered the Awards is, I wanted our boys to realise that what they’ve achieved – and what can be achieved – is important. And that it can be translated to other areas of the school, and to other schools in New Zealand.

Henk Popping: Our journey is all around improving the capacity of teachers, not focusing on curriculum, but focusing on teacher practice. The whole focus is on improving learning, and we made a conscious decision that the only way we were going to do that was by having the best teachers in front of the students.

WHAT PROMPTED YOU TO ENTER THE PRIME MINISTER’S EDUCATION EXCELLENCE AWARDS? Henk Popping: I spotted the advertisement for the Awards on the back of the Gazette, and I spoke to my senior management and said, ‘These awards have just been announced and nobody really knows what to expect, so I think our school should actually share our story and see how we get on’.

Greg Mackle: A brochure arrived on my desk promoting the Awards and I said, ‘Why don’t we enter this?’

What we wanted to do was make sure that our teachers, our boys and our community, actually got recognition for the fantastic people they are and what they’ve done.

“

Too often we hear negative stuff about schools. And I say here’s a chance to tell some good stories, to tell the good things that are happening in New Zealand education. And there are masses of them.

There are schools working really hard all around the place to be the best possible schools they can.

- GREG MACKLE

”

Henk Popping: One of the things we knew was happening in the following year was that we were due for another ERO visit. So we actually had two reasons for doing the entry: to get clarity for ourselves around how far we’d come as a school, and to present that not only to the Prime Minister’s Education Excellence Awards judges, but also to the Education Review Office when they came to the school.

WHAT WAS INVOLVED IN PUTTING YOUR ENTRY TOGETHER? Henk Popping: When the entries opened, we went to the website and downloaded the form to fill in. It looked a bit daunting to start with. From there, we really just tried to explain our journey over the seven years we’ve been working with teacher development.

I wrote a good chunk of it, and so did my deputy principal and various staff.

But we also had a lot of documentation already in place for various other reasons, so we were able to draw on what we’d already done and put it into the entry form. And most schools will have that – they’ll have some information or some data that they could weave into their entry form.

Greg Mackle: After a hectic week of putting it all together and making sure we based our submission on evidence

14 | Term 4, 2015 www.principalstoday.co.nz

Henk Popping, Principal Otumoetai Intermediate, winner 2014 Supreme Award

and data, we managed to get it away on the morning that the deadline closed. We’d been collecting that data for a long, long time to make sure we that we were heading in the right direction, so that was all there Henk Popping: We actually entered all four categories, but we became finalists in three. And so those three pieces of work all came together as part of a journey. The problem we had was, it wasn’t just a simple thing to explain – it was a number of initiatives that were all intertwined, working towards the one goal. Trying to explain that part of it that was the biggest challenge, just getting clarity around our own thinking and how we could share that information.

WHAT EFFECT DID WINNING AT THE PRIME MINISTER’S EDUCATION EXCELLENCE AWARDS HAVE ON YOUR SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY? Greg Mackle: It was really good to get an external organisation and some very well qualified judges to come to our school and look at what we’re doing and affirm that we’re doing something worthwhile.

Obviously it made the front page of the Gisborne Herald, and I talked to all the boys about what we’d done – and when the trophies arrived, we had a full welcome onto the school of the taonga.

Henk Popping: After the awards had been presented, we let the students know they were very much part of it. Every student in our school received a certificate, basically stating the school’s appreciation of their contribution to the award, and we also gave them to the teachers, board members, PTA – everyone who was part of that community received acknowledgement.

The teachers for example, we said ‘Hopefully this will help you with your CVs as you move through education’.

And with the students, ‘We hope

Greg Mackle, Principal Gisborne Boys’ High School, winner 2015 Supreme Award

“

Our journey is all around improving the capacity of teachers, not focusing on curriculum, but focusing on teacher practice.

The whole focus is on improving learning, and we made a conscious decision that the only way we were going to do that was by having the best teachers in front of the students.

- HENK POPPING

”

that you remember the year that you won the Prime Minister’s Award – you should be proud of that’.

WOULD YOU RECOMMEND TO OTHER SCHOOLS THAT THEY ENTER THE AWARDS?

Henk Popping: Absolutely – if a school is really proud of an initiative that they’re doing, no matter how small it is, it’s worth sharing it – there’s a chance they’ll do well in the awards, but the benefit to them is actually the sitting down and getting clarity on their own thinking when they’re putting the award entries together.

Greg Mackle: Too often we hear negative stuff about schools. And I say here’s a chance to tell some good stories, to tell the good things that are happening in New Zealand education. And there are masses of them. There are schools working really hard all around the place to be the best possible schools they can.

“Our journey was to engage our young men in opportunities to achieve. We challenged each of them to step forward and show us their amazing talents, skills and courage.”

Greg Mackle, Principal Gisborne Boys’ High School, Winner 2015 Supreme Award (Takiri Ko Te Ata)

Every Matariki, the Prime Minister’s Education Excellence Awards give you an opportunity to share the journey of your school or ECE service, and to be recognised for what you’ve achieved.

Taking part can lift your sense of achievement, bring whānau together, and even transform communities.

Share your journey and your team could stand among those recognised at the 2016 Awards.

Enter now at pmawards.education.govt.nz.

Working Space | Swimming Pools

Testing the waters Schools are required by law to test their swimming pool water to ensure they are safe to swim in.

Swimming Pools are treated to keep the microorganism population down to levels which are considered safe for bathers and the quality of the water depends on the efficiency of the water treatment.

To gauge this, a testing programme has been set up with accepted guidelines as per the New Zealand Standard for Pool Water Quality NZS 5826:2010.

Four different tests are carried out and below is an explanation of each Standard Plate Count This test looks for the total number of general bacteria, which present in the water. If there are high counts of bacteria it may be indicative of a problem, and “where there is smoke, there may well be fire”.

Faecal Coliform Count This is an indicator test which looks at the presence of bacteria of faecal origin. If faecal coliforms are present, it indicates that there is a possibility that other bacteria associated with the gut, such as Salmonella or Campylobacter, may also be present. These bacteria can cause sickness.

Staphylococcus aureus Count This bacteria can cause skin irritations especially in wounds, cuts or abrasions. It can also cause sickness if swallowed or ingested. It can be found in infected wounds or in the nasal cavity when you have a cold.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa Count This bacteria is associated with eye and ear infections when dunking the head in swimming pools.

Spa and swimming pool guidelines • NZ5826:2010 Standard Guidelines • Standard Plate Count: (less than) <200 bacteria per ml water • Faecal Coliform Count: (less than) <1 bacteria per 100mls water • Staphylococcus aureus Count: (less than) <100 bacteria per 100mls water • Pseudomonas aeruginosa Count: (less than) <10 bacteria per 100mls water.

Water testing is one of Hill Laboratories’ specialist areas and Hill Labs have a specific test kit for swimming pool water available.

To arrange a swimming pool water test or call 07 858 2000 in the North Island or 03 377 7176 in the South Island or visit www.hill-laboratories.com

News | Issues

Sexuality diversity from the students’ perspective

By Terri Cluckie

The Ministry of Education and RainbowYOUTH (RY) recently commissioned a study conducted by university lecturers, Mathjis FG Lucassen and James Burford, about the effectiveness of a sexuality diversity (gay, lesbian, bisexual, takatapui or queer) workshop hosted by RY in high schools across Auckland.

The study focused on 10 workshops in which a total of 229 students took part.

The students were from Years 9 and 10 and ranged between 12-15 years of age.

Each student was asked to complete a questionnaire both before and after the 60 minute workshop in the hopes that it would reveal how effective the class had been and if the students had found it useful or not.

Questions that were asked both before and after the workshop included “I understand what it might be like (or what it is like) to be sexuality diverse” and, “I value students who are sexuality-diverse students at my school”. Students were asked to answer these questions using a continuum scale between ‘not at all’ and ‘very much so’.

The study found that 95.9 percent of participants thought that the workshops should be offered in other schools, and that 90.9 percent of participants would recommend the workshop to other young people. 83.3 percent agreed that they had learned a lot by attending the workshop. After the workshop, 55.7 percent said they now “understand what it might be like (or what it is like) to be sexuality diverse”, compared to just 25.8 percent before the workshop.

The questionnaire also included an open-ended question section containing five questions such as ‘How will you interact with sexuality diverse students differently, as a result of this workshop?’ Responses to this question included ‘I will treat them equally (after coming out)’, and ‘I’ll make them feel normal’. Negative responses to the question included ‘laughing’, ‘walking away’ and ‘being mad’, while

16 | Term 4, 2015 www.principalstoday.co.nz

indifferent/ unsure responses included ‘I don’t know’ and ‘I wouldn’t care’.

Bob McCroskie, national director for Family First New Zealand, believes the study on the workshop contains an ‘inadequate’ and ‘biased’ sample size/ selection. “The research is long on bias and short on hard data,” Bob says. “This study is light years away from any kind of representative sample.”

“The study looks at the impact on students immediately after a one hour session. [There is] no study of the longterm effects,” continues Bob. However, the report does state that one of the study’s limitations is that it can only examine “the immediate self-reported impact of the workshop” therefore their conclusions are “based on student-rated shifts in attitudes and knowledge, which may only have been short-term in nature”.

When contacted about the study, RY stated they often receive positive feedback after their sessions and that the uptake of the workshops is on the increase. “On average, we deliver our education workshops to four different schools a month in Auckland. This number is growing, as are demands from schools outside of Auckland.

This has prompted us to create a teaching resource which teachers can use to teach their class about gender and sexuality called Inside Out,” says a spokesperson for RY. “More often than not, teachers and school administration are really keen to have [RY] in. They understand the valuable teachings for their students, and they also understand that our workshops, pedagogy and resources align with the New Zealand Health Curriculum.

“What trips them up and creates nervousness is the potential backlash from parents, especially in our more religious or rural schools. We’ve had kids sit out on classes at the request of parents. The schools are just careful not to upset parents – which is totally understandable.

“We at [RY] just reiterate that students are entitled to unbiased and open material – which is what we at RY try our very best to do. We are not there to tell students how to think, what to believe or how to identify.

We are there to communicate that to show respect for all diversity is the best way to make sure that everyone has a safe and supportive environment in which to learn.”

THE VITAL LINK BETWEEN VISION AND LEARNING Educating parents and teachers about the link between vision and associated reading, tracking, concentration and processing difficulties at school is gaining traction.

This understanding is critical in the step in identifying the children at school that need to have their eyes tested.

We are all too quick to assume that if a child can see well that their visual system is working normally. This ‘myth’ is the biggest barrier in having parents take the first step in having their child assessed. assessment A thorough Optometric can unlock visual instabilities that can cause reading and learning difficulties at school.

This is not to say that the learning difficulties are 100 percent due to the visual instability.

In the experience of the optometrists at Anstice & Associates, having tested thousands of children with reading and writing difficulties (mild to severe), vision has played a large part if not almost completely to blame.

The children with dyslexia, dyspraxia, and specific learning disorders often also have a visual component that adds to their learning and concentration difficulties.

Left uncorrected this ultimately decreases their ability to learn at school and to reach their full potential.

At Anstice & Associates Optometrists principals (www.schoolvision.org.uk) are practiced, using specific techniques to uncover the hidden visual instabilities that can reduce a child’s learning ability at school from the age of 5 and throughout their adult life. methodologies and The Anstice techniques used to assess how a child sees ‘at near’ comes from research in the UK assessing the connection between visual instabilities when looking close and reading/writing ability in children. In 1996, Geraint Griffiths founded the Association of Schoolvision Practitioners in the UK. Being the only practitioners in NZ, Anstice & Associates Optometrists’ eye examinations go beyond general optometric

testing to uncover visual instabilities that can be stabilised using specialist prescription lenses.

Having had 40 years of experience and speciality with children’s vision testing, Anstice & Associates Optometrists have tried many techniques over the years to improve vision stability in children. Though vision therapy and exercises have a place, in the initial phases of binocular vision stabilisation for near school work, too much eye exercise can also cause added visual strain and over-work of eye muscles.

The underlying trigger for the instability must be identified first and diagnosed correctly before initiating treatment or therapy. principals allows us to Anstice identify the root eye-muscular cause in order to specifically target this area for improvement.

The specialised spectacle correction is worn mainly for classroom work, and for close work at home.

The specialist prescription trains the visual system how to focus and co-ordinate accurately – improving tracking ability when reading, reading fluency, hand-writing skills, and depth perception. The prescribed specialist spectacle correction builds muscles memory with diligent wear over time.

The need for correction ultimately reduces as the visual system ‘learns’ to become more stable, even when not wearing correction for times outside of class i.e. with ball handling skills for sports. Left unchecked, the visual system over-works in order to compensate in incorrect ways, leading to fatigue, sore eyes, headaches and vision fluctuations.

However, for best outcome, initiation of treatment during school years results in best outcome for eye muscle stability.

Despite intelligence, a child cannot read and write well if their mechanical alignment and focusing system of their eyes are unstable, unbeknownst to the child, parent or teacher.

A thorough visual assessment or an Anstice assessment is the only way to uncover these visual instabilities.

A simple awareness of symptoms is all that is required by teachers and parents in order to take the first step to have the child’s vision assessed. Symptoms include reading tracking difficulties (misreading words, losing place when reading etc), slow or stagnant reading, eye rubbing when reading, moving close when reading or squinting when concentrating, reading comprehension difficulties, slow to copy from the white board, intermittent blur at near or far, untidy hand-writing, and late afternoon fatigue to name a few.

Dharshie Hughes and Jeremy Fox, directors of Anstice & Associates Optometrists, are passionate in helping children reach their full potential academically.

“Seeing these children progress rapidly at school once the mechanical visual barriers have been eliminated is exciting and rewarding.

Their self-confidence soars along with this.

It can take as little as putting on a pair of specs in class to achieve results.”

This can result in reluctance to read, behavioural issues in class and a general dislike of school. Over-work of eye muscles without proper correction leads to eye muscles forming ‘bad habits’ and a stressed visual system over time.

Often we come across many adults with near vision instabilities and a history of reading/ writing difficulties. Correction can be initiated at any age and is necessary to improve concentration and comfort with near work and computer use.

Visit www.facebook.com/ansticeoptometrists to read success stories as Anstice & Associates families share their You can call (03) 343 3909 or visit our website www.anstice.co.nz to arrange an Anstice Optometrists - Dharshie Hughes, Jeremy Fox and Iris Xu.

journey.

assessment with one of our

10 Clyde Road, Ilam, Christchurch 8041 | T. 03 343 3909 | F. 03 343 2723 | E. eyecare@anstice.co.nz

Healthy Space | Allergies

Handling allergic reactions Article provided by Penny Jorgensen, allergy advisor for Allergy New Zealand Inc

Food allergy has significantly increased in prevalence in recent times, with some studies indicating a doubling in numbers in the last decade alone.

It is estimated one in 10 New Zealand children under the age of two will have a food allergy. Although many children eventually out grow their food allergies, it is likely up to eight percent of school-age children will be affected, reducing to around five percent in adolescence.

The main concern in respect to food allergy is the risk of anaphylaxis. This is where an allergic reaction, which can happen in minutes, causes swelling which affects the airways and/or the cardio-vascular system, and is potentially life threatening. Other aspects which make it challenging to manage include that:

• There is no cure or treatment (although immunotherapy or desensitisation is possible in the future), so complete avoidance of the food concerned is the key to managing food allergy • The foods concerned are primary items in the every-day diet of New Zealanders, i.e. cow’s milk (dairy), eggs, peanuts, tree-nuts, fish, shellfish, soy and wheat – and therefore very difficult to avoid • Intra-muscular injection of adrenaline is the only treatment for anaphylaxis outside a hospital setting.

Adrenaline auto-injectors e.g. EpiPen, are designed to give a pre-measured one-dose injection and are easy to use. However, they are not subsidised in New Zealand (although funded in Australia and many other countries), and may be unaffordable for some families.

Schools should have policies and procedures in place with three key objectives:

• Staff are able to respond appropriately if a student has an anaphylactic (life-threatening) reaction • Risk is minimised through strategies enabling the student to avoid exposure to the food(s) concerned • Students with food allergies are able to participate in all school activities as their peers.

First aid training, required for a certain number of staff under health and safety legislation, includes the signs and symptoms of anaphylaxis and the emergency response.

In many areas, Public Health Nurses can also arrange anaphylaxis training sessions for school staff, usually at the beginning of the school year.

EpiPens are currently the only adrenaline auto-injector available in New Zealand and are not subsidised

by PHARMAC. For at least some students, they are unaffordable, and for this reason

Severe allergic reactions can be life-threatening Food induced anaphylaxis has doubled in the last 10 years.

This rise in food allergy has a significant impact on schools.1

Help keep your students protected with EpiClub®.

EpiClub® can support your staff to be prepared for an allergic emergency by providing a variety of educational material and a FREE EpiPen Training Device.

Go to epiclub.co.nz now to request an EpiPen® Resource Kit for your school 1. ASCIA AIDA Report 2013. EpiPen® is used for the emergency treatment of anaphylaxis (acute severe allergic reactions) due to insect stings or bites, foods, medications or other allergens. EpiPen® and EpiPen Jr® are Restricted Medicines. Always read the label carefully and use strictly as directed. Your doctor or pharmacist’s advice is required. EpiPen® is a registered trademark of Mylan Inc. Mylan NZ Ltd., Auckland. DA1554ET-21

18 | Term 4, 2015 www.principalstoday.co.nz

more and more schools are moving to include EpiPens in their first aid kits.

It is recommended schools extend policies and procedures to include these ‘general use’ pens; guidelines in relation to these and provided by the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) are also available on Allergy New Zealand’s website.

Free resources and links, including Allergy New Zealand’s guidelines for schools, and online anaphylaxis training for school staff, can be found on www.allergy.org.nz, or you can call 0800 34 0800 for further information.

Learning Space | Events

News | Issues

EduTECH 2016 Conference

Following a hugely successful 2015 conference, EduTECH will return to the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre on May 30 and 31, 2016, bringing together the entire learning lifecycle under one roof for yet another year.

Consisting of one large scale exhibition with eight parallel conferences, and eight post-event masterclasses (held on June 1), more than 8,000 professionals are expected to attend the largest education technology event in AsiaPacific and the Southern Hemisphere.

Schools, tertiary education, workplace learning, libraries and Vocational Education and Training (VET) will all be in attendance to improve the quality of teaching and learning in Australasia and Asia-Pacific.

Why you should attend? EduTECH brings you unparalleled networking with educators from across the region, as well as exclusive access to some of Australasia and the world’s most well regarded education and technology experts.

This year 230 speakers are scheduled to deliver world class talks on their field of expertise.

Among them include Jane McGonigal, world renowned game designer and innovator who has been named one of

the “Top Ten Innovators to Watch” by Business Week, and “10 Most Powerful Women to Watch” by Forbes.

As well as delivering a keynote speech, she will also be hosting a workshop where you can share your experiences with games in education and meet the game designer herself.

Guiding young lives The call goes out for guidance counsellors in primary schools

By Laura Baker

As well as expert speakers, 250 exhibitors will be in attendance including focused breakout sessions, masterclasses and dedicated leadership seminars for hands-on engaged learning, all so you can completely tailor make your own experience during the three day event.

Kiwi primary school children are missing out on fundamental support, which could prevent some cases being referred to Child, Youth and Family (CYF), according to the New Zealand Association of Counsellors.

EduTECH’s choice of optional and practical masterclasses are led by world renowned keynote speakers.

It says there is a growing need for school guidance counsellors in primary and intermediate schools across the country. Assigning school guidance counsellors to primary and intermediate schools could provide early intervention and decrease the number of cases in the hands of CYF.

By adding a post-congress masterclass to your registration, you get the chance to spend an entire day learning from one of the world’s leading education thinkers.

Masterclasses are more interactive, practical and intimate, so they offer a more in-depth learning experience.

Numbers are strictly limited and have sold out in previous years, so make sure you book early to guarantee your spot.

Registration is already open for you to book your place with a range of package options.

If you register before December 1, 2015 you will even receive an early bird discount on the ticket options so get in quick to make sure you don’t miss out.

www.edutech.net.au

The association’s spokesperson, Sarah Maindonald, says research from the Education Review Office (ERO) shows clearly that children turn to school guidance counsellors as a first line of support in cases involving family violence, drug and alcohol issues, and mental health problems.

“Counsellors are often the fence at the top of the cliff. We provide the support that can prevent the need for the ambulance at the bottom.”

She says counsellors in secondary schools are accessible to children who need to discuss issues about their personal lives, and the same service should be made available in primary schools too.

“We are usually more trusted than other adults, as the ERO research shows. If primary schools had access to counsellors, we could expect the same situation to develop there.

Young students and families would have someone to talk to and receive support from, and that may stop them entering the CYF system.”

Sarah says ensuring good and frequent access to counsellors is important for young people, who need to build trust before talking about “the real issues”.

“Often we find students in secondary schools will come to us to discuss something relatively minor and it’s

“

We are usually more trusted than other adults, as the ERO research shows. If primary schools had access to counsellors, we could expect the same situation to develop there. Young students and families would have someone to talk to and receive support from, and that may stop them entering the CYF system.

”

only after a few sessions that they feel able to discuss the major issues that are affecting them.

“So by introducing counsellors at a primary and intermediate level, you are providing these young students with regular access to someone in whom they can establish trust and from whom they can get much-needed support if they have problems at home.

“This would also enable earlier intervention because the counsellor would be alerted to a problem and be able to work with and support families to resolve issues or, if necessary, pass on information to the relevant authorities.”

www.principalstoday.co.nz Term 4, 2015 | 21

Learning Space | Resources

A licence to learn Taking up annual copyright licences ensure teaching staff can access the print, music and audio visual content they need to plan creative lessons and help students learn.

Operating without these licences can be risky. Teachers need to make sure they have permission to use content that is under copyright in their classrooms. Licences enable access, far beyond what is permitted by the Copyright Act. Taupaki School in Henderson, Auckland is a copyright conscious school. Each year it takes up all three copyright licences: a CLNZ licence for print, a OneMusic licence for music and a Screenrights licence for television and radio content.

Principal Stephen Lethbridge says it’s an obvious decision for his school. “We can access far more material – across a broad spectrum of media – and use it knowing we’re doing things legally.

The licences give our teachers more freedom to be creative and we can also encourage our students to respect creativity, knowing that we’re doing the same.

“We want our students to think about their own creative ownership too. We aim to embed intellectual property education into our everyday teaching practice and having the correct licences is an important part of that.”

Year 7 and 8 teacher JJ Purton Jones agrees. “The licences help us to be more creative as teachers and to work with students on projects with mixed media elements. There are also some simple things, that classroom teachers might not often think about, that I wouldn’t be able to do if I were teaching at an unlicensed school.”

The school’s CLNZ print licence means that when JJ runs class poetry clinics, she can provide copies of a poem in its entirety to students to help them understand types of poems and inspire them to write their own work. Without a licence she would only be able to provide students with copies of up to half of a poem.

And when the school wants to perform or play music during assemblies their OneMusic licence means they can do this, without the drama of seeking permission.

“I also use the TVNZ archives and eTV a lot with my class – often for inspiration at the start of an inquiry topic.”

Because the school is licensed with

Screenrights, JJ can save programmes onto her school device to share with her class.

Copyright Licensing New Zealand, OneMusic and Screenrights are continuing to collaborate to make school licensing – and teachers’ lives – even easier. This is the third year the three agencies have worked together to offer pick and mix licensing solutions to help schools understand which

licences best match their school’s usage of copyright material.

You can access this information at www.getlicensed.co.nz What happens to schools’ licensing fees? Licensing helps the owners of creative content earn a living from their work. The income received from licence fees is paid to the owners of the creative works that licensed schools use in their classrooms.

Sustainable educational solutions CORE Education is supporting and leading the design of the New Zealand portion of a global collaboration called New Pedagogies for Deep Learning, a three year initiative that aims to enhance learning within schools, by mobilising partnerships, innovation and technology.

Seven Christchurch schools in the south-west area have formed as

one of the Ministry of Education’s clusters, and are participating alongside schools as part of a wider, global collaboration of 11 countries, including Victoria, Australia.

Each school contributes $1,500 t owards the initiative, which covers costs relating to the support received globally. CORE supplements the other $1,500 and provides facilitation throughout the duration of the initiative.

The official New Zealand launch last March saw Michael Fullan a worldwide authority on educational reform, visiting to work with the cluster of schools, sharing programme details and he spoke to Christchurch secondary and primary

22 | Term 4, 2015 www.principalstoday.co.nz

school principals’ about building a collaborative culture.

Derek Wenmoth, director and the NZ initiative’s lead facilitator, says “The belief that providing structured and planned education systems help to build and support creative, happy and healthy individuals who will contribute later in life to the common good.

“This initiative is the first of its kind in New Zealand and having seven Christchurch schools embark into collaborative deep learning is exciting for the future of all New Zealand schools.”

At the end of the three years, each school aims to have put in place technologies that support

and accelerate learning, including having methods and tools to gather and analyse data for continuous improvement, and a fully engaged student, teacher, parents and wholecommunity population.

The seven schools in this Christchurch cluster are, Christchurch South Intermediate School, Somerfield Primary School, Cashmere Primary School, Thorrington Primary School, West Spreydon Primary School, Sacred Heart (Addington) Primary School, and Addington Primary School.

For further information about CORE Education, visit www.core-ed.org

Learning Space | Resources

Fractions with Numicon Being able to do mathematics involves being able to pick out key relationships in a situation and then manipulating those relationships to predict outcomes in which we are interested.

Numicon constantly encourages children to explore the relationships in situations, to see patterns and regularities, and to use these to make predictions. It’s being active, exploring and discussing these relationships that makes maths so vibrant!

What is it about fractions with Numicon that makes it so real for children that concepts are confidently learned and problems easily solved?

Language is a key focus in the Numicon approach. The vocabulary is purposefully taught and used in

lessons and activities. For example, in Numicon 1, halves and quarters are explored with the words - half, quarter, parts, whole, equal parts, fold, circle, square, halves, quarters, half and half again, double, diagonal, side, vertical, horizontal.

These words have an impact when the students cut their sandwiches in half, exploring how many ways they can cut the sandwich in half.

Halves and quarters can be found in any of these ways:

The word ‘quarter’ seems to be a hurdle for some children, so introduce them as ‘fourths’ and then introduce the word quarter once they discover the link with the words ‘half’ meaning ‘one of the two equal parts’, ‘third’ being ‘one of the three equal parts’ and ‘fourth/quarter’ being ‘one of the four equal parts’. Tell stories about the relationships of members of a family of four people.

Two equal groups, two halves.

There was a family of four - the Watsons who had dinner together.

Dad went out to a meeting. There were three of the one family left at home, ¾. When dad left the house he was still a Watson, ¼. When dad came home, there were 4/4, one family!

Children love to explore relationships within groups, discovering that the names of the groups and how many in the group are a relationship too!

Folding and cutting skills are an indication not only of the child’s mechanical abilities, but also give us an insight into what they know about cutting ‘in half’ or folding ‘in half’.

When they place the halves over each other they discover that they must be exactly equal in size, otherwise they cannot be halves.

When they fold their circles, do they know where the centre is?

One, one half, one third, one fourth, one fifth, one sixth, one seventh, one eighth…

So if I have 2/5 of the pizza and you have 2/5 of the pizza, how much is left over?

Links to using the words with discrete objects are also important at the early stage. It is one object that is being divided, but also one group is being divided.

Numicon shapes and patterns are excellent illustrations of mathematical concepts.

5 is half of 10

Cuisenaire rods and the use of a pan balance also illustrate these relationships well.

Numicon introduces children to a structure that has great value through all the years when solving problems.

Help children to find the relationship of the information in problems using a number trio. Halves are clearly seen in this structure.

www.principalstoday.co.nz Term 4, 2015 | 23

Working Space | ICT

Websites that work Obviously, being able to access instant information has made the Internet a bit of a hit. But with continually evolving software and higher spec hardware to run it, keeping up with the pace of change can seem a little daunting. But it doesn’t need to be if you get the right people to advise and help.

Step away form the keyboard

Let’s say it’s been a few years since your website was given a facelift, then SchoolWeb may be the answer you’ve been looking for. The SchoolWeb Website Content Management System (CMS) is an easy and cost effective way for schools of all sizes to implement a website.

The system allows schools to log in to a password protected system and maintain their website. Unlike other competing systems, SchoolWeb allows full control over creating and amending webpages, and it’s almost as straightforward as using Microsoft Word! You do not need any knowledge of HTML, web programming, or how to upload your site using complicated FTP software. You can update the site from wherever you have a web-browser and an Internet connection.

AVG Technologies research has revealed a privacy time bomb as teenagers’ lives are diarized online.

To begin with, your website is designed by a professional graphic designer, who goes to great lengths to ensure that the graphical design reflects the unique culture of the school. Then free training is provided to get you started and there are no expensive yearly licensing fees.

The online security company for 182 million active users, recent Digital Diaries research has found that almost a third of teens (27 percent in New Zealand and 28 percent globally), say they regret posting something online.

The research also found that 39 percent of kiwis (32 percent globally) have had to ask someone to remove content posted online about them, because they didn’t like it or it was too personal.

Now of course you’ll want to update, improve and adapt your site as time goes on, so all the editing is done through the CMS system that’s easy enough for even the most technophobic classroom teachers and admin staff to use.

As well as a general website media, SchoolWeb features ways for staff to collaborate, parents to participate, children to communicate and the whole community to share in the activities of schools in a safe way moderated by the schools.

Newsletters, calendars, homework downloads, classroom projects with visitor and parent comments, forums, rosters, resource bookings, calendars, blogs and surveys are among the many abilities of the SchoolWeb system. The schools are in control and anything is possible.

The research, which questioned almost 4,000 teenagers aged 11-16 years old on the topic of online privacy, painted an overall picture of a struggle for control.

to remove content they have shared online, compared to 14 percent of global teens.

“Everyone assumes that just because today’s teenagers grew up with laptops and smartphones, they somehow have an innate understanding of how to keep themselves safe online,” says AVG Technologies security advisor Michael McKinnon.

“The reality is that we have all – teenagers included – embraced technology without much question and the result has been the steady erosion of our online privacy.

“In a way, parents are just as guilty of this as their teens. I’ve talked previously about the concept of ‘sharenting’, where parents share content about their children online, creating a digital footprint for them that they have no control over.

“Parents, I believe, must take some of the responsibility for the social impact of new technologies – both by setting a standard for trust and consideration through their own online behaviour, and by guiding theirs.”

Another focus is the growing trend towards integrating content from external websites. Schoolweb allows content from Youtube, Teachertube, Slideshare, Twitter, Blogger, Google Apps and numerous other style sites to be easily embedded into the system.

Although 74 percent of kiwis (70 percent globally) have changed their settings on Facebook to make it more difficult for people to find them and 66 percent say they understand what online privacy means, just 35 percent say they ‘properly know’ all of their Facebook friends.

Schools can obtain more information from either www.schoolweb.co.nz or by calling 0800 48 48 43

Even at this age, there are signs that teenagers have differing ideas of how much is too much when it comes to sharing online:

• Only three percent of kiwi teens said they had a lock on their bedroom door, compared to 12 percent of their global peers

• Just over a fifth of kiwi teenagers would talk to a friend about deeply personal things online

• By contrast, the majority (86 percent NZ and 78 percent globally) had put a password on their digital device

• Twenty percent of New Zealand teens have talked to a friend or family member whom they felt shared too much, compared to 28 percent of global teens

• Kiwi parents are notably less aware of their children’s online habits, with just 30 percent knowing some or all of their children’s passwords well below the global average of 70 percent

I T ’ S T I M E T O S TA N D O U T

Need a new website?

Want to update it yourself?

Current site looking out-dated?

You need SchoolWeb, the leading website content management system designed specifically for schools’ needs.

Unlimited number of pages Pre-formatted page layouts Newsletters & online surveys Detailed statistics about visitors East to use - just copy and paste text from Word Upload photos, documents, videos & podcasts Staff and students can have their own sections Controlled access to different areas Search engine optimised (for best Google rankings)

www. s c h o o l w e b .co.nz ph: 0 8 0 0 4 V I V I D Ask for our free DVD to see how it could work for your school

24 | Term 4, 2015 www.principalstoday.co.nz

• Of those who asked for online content about them to be removed, 29 percent of kiwi respondents had to ask their mum • Globally, almost one in 10 felt they shared too much about themselves online • Just seven percent of New Zealanders have been asked by someone else

Also identified by the research was the struggle teens’ face retaining control of their online profile:

• A third of kiwi teens were aware of a family member looking at their device without permission. A further 15 percent said that someone had found private information on their device they hadn’t wanted anyone to see and, in nearly half of New Zealand cases (46 percent even shared it with someone else.

Working Space | Furniture

All about flexible learning At Woods, we believe that education is of the utmost importance – not just for the children of today but for our world tomorrow.

This belief has driven our team, for over half a century, to study how children learn – from a behavioural, ergonomic and cognitive perspective – and to develop furniture that is flexible, adaptable and stimulating.

Our product range positively enhances the educational environment, ensuring our children are reaching their full learning potential.

Though it may not be known by many, Woods have been supplying products to the New Zealand market through a sales agency since 1996. And while we have had much success with our ever-popular PantoFlex chair, Hokki stool and DuraPos chair, we felt it was time to make our entire product range available to New Zealand customers.

Therefore, we’re extremely excited to introduce our full range of products which inspire education and allow students to perform better in a flexible and stimulating setting.

There is an added benefit here – value for money; by buying direct from the manufacturer, on-selling costs are a thing of the past.

At Woods, not only are we committed to providing inspired and flexible learningenvironments, we are also passionate about providing a better world for future generations.

At our factory we have adopted processes of utilising solar power, harvesting rainwater, waste minimisation, resource conservation, recycling and sustainable manufacturing decisions and processes.

WE’RE FOR FLEXIBLE LEARNING.

It is this consideration that sets us apart and this is the contribution we are making to the world of tomorrow.

Additionally, we proudly manufacture our products to the highest quality standards, of AS/NZS 4610, ensuring our products meet the demands of classrooms today and well into the future. We back this promise with a 10 year warranty on the entire Woods range.

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We believe that furniture can improve the learning environment.

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We create furniture that inspires and enables students to reach their full learning potential, and contributes to a better future for them and our planet.

”

Catering to students at all levels far and wide Woods supplies furniture to preschools, kindergartens, primary schools, high schools and tertiary institutions throughout Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East.

Setting the standard Woods Student Chairs conform to the highest Standards: AS/NZS 4610.2, AS/ NZS 4610.3, ISO 5970 and EN 1729.

Flexible learning solutions

Security lockers

Project and team work, social learning and collaborative behaviour need the high flexibility that Woods designs offer. With a large range of products tested and approved by AFRDI, Woods can confidently guarantee their furniture for 10 years.

Flexible

The Woods Educational Furniture Security Locker range and storage solutions are available in numerous configurations, to suit any school environment from corridors to sporting facilities.

Student desks Woods Educational Furniture manufactures a range of tables and desks including classroom tables, computer desks, workstations, staff desks, meeting tables, multi-purpose benches and adjustable tub desks.

Flexible furniture such as desks and Storage Porters™ on castors allow for the interior space of the room to be changed around to suit various activities.

Adaptable

To find out more about our innovative range of educational furniture contact

Adaptable furniture such as Iris Tables™, Byte Tables and Triquetra Pods™ can be used for collaborative learning styles and also as individual desks.

Aron Fuller on 0275 344 282 or email aron@woodsfurniturenz.co.nz

Stimulating Stimulating learning environments are made easy with Woods colours and imaginative shapes that have been designed by experts to improve the pedagogy. Woods colours, product designs and expertise in creating successful learning environments bring education to life.

Environmentally friendly Woods is committed to a more sustainable world for future generations. Now perhaps more than ever before in human history, we need to be acutely aware of our ‘footprint’ on the earth. So we are playing our part in reducing the impact of the industry on the environment and all the company’s products are developed with this key criteria in mind.

Product range Seating solutions The Woods Educational Furniture range offers seating for your school including seating for classrooms, science, art, music, computer seminars and conferences. www.principalstoday.co.nz Term 4, 2015 | 25

Working Space | Property

The benefits of the burgess system Matting and surfacing products made to your specifications The reasons for using and benefits of a Burgess Wetpour system are varied. This great playground surface enables your matting to be installed as a continuous installation, flowing around equipment and poles, leaving no gaps, rolling over mounds and following contoured surfaces.

Some of the key features for using this system are: • Continuous installation, flowing around equipment and poles, leaving no gaps, rolling over mounds and following contoured surfaces • Fabulous coloured options and you can join these with a pattern or design of your choice and you have your own unique playground • 100 percent recycled rubber.

Wetpour is installed onsite in a similar way to pouring concrete. The resulting surface is dry and ready to play on the following day. One sqm shockpads are laid over a compacted base and then 15mm of rubber is laid on top (In line with safety standards).

The thickness of the rubber applied is dependant on the required fall heights and substates.

Impact Pads for areas where a softer landing is needed, scuff pads, DIY modular long run and tiles, deck and ramp matting are also BMS specialties.

The benefits of these products include: • Make it non slip and safe • Avoid tile joins • Wetpour requires minimal maintenance – forget the days of topping up bark • Will last for many years as it’s very durable • Base preparation prior to the matting installation is of the utmost importance and can add years to your playground surface.

Landscapes for learning The successful collaboration between landscape architect Jill Rice of Get Outside Ltd and the staff of the BLENNZ Homai Campus has resulted in a new outdoor environment that delivers a wide variety of learning experiences for the blind and low vision students of the early childhood centre and school.

Burgess Matting offers a free, no obligation measure and quote. A sales representative can meet with you to discuss the matting systems which are suitable for your requirements.

Unique patterns and designs can easily be incorporated into this flexible system. It is the most economic of systems for larger installations and can be contoured and moulded over existing mounds etc.

Invest in BMS Wetpour Playground Matting and provide your children with a safe and enjoyable environment and give yourself the benefit of reduced maintenance.

We have a choice of seven standard colours: Marigold (Auburn), Tan, Sage, Light Grey, Black, Forest Green and Terracotta Red.

Burgess Matting T 0800 80 85 70 E admin@burgessmatting.co.nz www.burgessmatting.co.nz Jill, who is well known as a specialist designer of children’s outdoor educational environments, listened carefully to the brief, which was to offer spaces in which these children could move freely, so building their awareness of space, self-confidence, physical fitness and wellbeing.

The main purpose was not to simply provide a rich sensory environment in which the children would feel safe and secure, but rather to prepare them for full participation in life.

BURGESS MATTING AND SURFACING LTD

NZ owned since 1951

0800 808 570

E: sales@burgessmatting.co.nz W: www.burgessmatting.co.nz

Providing Recycled Rubber Safety Solutions Custom Made to your Specifications • Playground Wetpour Safety Surfacing • Playground Rubber rolls for self installation • Non-slip deck matting • Custom made doorway threshold ramps • Impact pads for under swings and slides • Cricket practice matting

26 | Term 4, 2015 www.principalstoday.co.nz

The design has provided an extensive network of pathways and spaces that offer these children the same kinds of experiences that every other child can enjoy, such as play with equipment, bike paths and vegetable gardens, but in a supported environment, with clear non-visual cues to facilitate their navigation of space.

The school say the design exceeds their expectations and students have been exploring every little bit of the vast outdoor area since its opening in May of this year.

For more information visit www.getoutside.co.nz

Working Space | Property

Modular outdoor covers Safe and cost-effective cover

SIZZLING SUMMER HEAT OVERHEATED CLASSROOMS? OUR SIMPLE SOLUTION: INSTALL A SCHOOL UNIPORT COVER With high demand on principals to allocate the limited funding you receive, you want to know your money is well spent.

Add to this the importance of protecting staff, teachers and students from nature’s best and worst, be it winter weather or summer sun, then the simplicity and cost effectiveness of Uniport coverings makes them a wonderful solution for any school requiring some extra cover.

A UNIPORT ALLOWS YOU TO… • Create Stunning Outdoor Spaces - Uniport covers are ideal for creating multi-functional outdoor areas • Avoid Sunburn - The Uniport polycarbonate roof helps protect people and property by cutting out 99% of harmful UV rays • Enjoy Cool Shade Uniport covers cut 75% of heat rays so you can avoid uncomfortable heat while still letting lots of light in

The innovative design of Uniport covers make them maintenance-free and built to last.

• Make An Outdoor Classroom - Ideal for students to enjoy working in a safe outdoor area

The Uniport has been installed in schools around the world for the last 30 years, and the truly stunning aspect about the Uniport is the cantilevered roof, which allows you unlimited freedom to move around, because the posts are on just one side.

• Unlimited Manoeuvrability With posts on one side only, the fully cantilevered design looks great and gives you the freedom to move, without creating a dark space

Having a Uniport installed outside a classroom gives added advantage for teachers, as they can send pupils outside when it’s raining, and in the summer it provides all the shade you need over hot classroom windows during those summer months.

The solid polycarbonate is impact resistant with the likes of students’ balls, etc. They are also engineered so steel netting is not required under the polycarbonate.

Uniport structures are incredibly strong, being aircraft-grade aluminium – the best you can buy.

Uniports can be extended as your school roll expands or funding is made available. A Uniport can be installed outside of school hours.

• New Zealand’s Most Affordable High Quality Covering Systems The Uniport is surprisingly more affordable than equivalent market alternatives • Protect Everyone Keep your school dry and safeguard everyone from sizzling summer heat • No Safety Worries - The Uniport polycarbonate is 250 times stronger than glass, giving you total peace of mind of safety.

Modern Forms, Functional Design

Invest in Quality Roof Protection for your school Why not use your outdoor area all year round?

Designed like an aeroplane wing the Uniport is...

Unique, Functional, Safe.

• Ideal for modern learning environments.

• Less posts, means less hazards for students and staff.

• No connections to your school buildings means no leaks.

• Protection while enjoying the natural light, helps learning.

• Nation wide installers and service.

For more information please call 0800 864 767, visit www.uniport.co.nz, or email Mark at: hewett@xtra.co.nz

Ask us about our school partnership programme, help us help you!

GET COVERED NOW!

M. 027 627 2127 | P. 0800 864 767 | www.uniport.co.nz www.principalstoday.co.nz Term 4, 2015 | 27