School News - Term 2 - 2018

Discovery School

It all started with a worm farm…

Essential Reading for Principals • Department Heads • Teachers • Professionals

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What’s In This Issue

| INSIDE

Talk of the town: treemendous change Term 2, 2018

Issue 41

It all started with Essential Reading

news

education

a worm farm …

for Principals

SCOREBOAR

• Departmen t Heads •

DS & DIG

Teachers • Profession als

ITAL SIGN

Full colour LED, simple indoor sports to use. ∙ outdoor roadside sports ∙ inform or entran ce boards ation boards ∙ graphics, text or slidesh SCOREBOA ows

ENTRY LEVEL

06 Ministry News 08 News In Brief

Kia ora and welcome, from the whole School News team.

Discovery Sc hool

RDS FROM

AGE

$2,495.00

+ GST

enquiries@pr oto.co (03) 365 3366 .nz

administration

12

Principal Speaks: The nature of planned change…

42 Library Upgrades: What to consider when refurbishing a school library

16

Special Report: Evolving with the times: teaching sexuality post-2018

18

Antibullying: Bully talk: how can we turn these statistics around?

46 Year Books: The book your students will read for decades to come

23 Case Study – St Albans Primary School: Linewize by Family Zone helps create successful digital citizens

profiles 24 Discovery School: It all started with a worm farm…

what's hot 26 What's Hot: The latest trending education industy products

teacher's desk 29 Professional Development: An investment for the future – lifelong learning in our contemporary world 30 Industry Events Calendar 32 Upskilling: Upskilling to lead students into a digital future

teaching resources 34 3D Printers: Bring learning to life…

36 Maths Programmes: There’s no maths problem quite like student engagement...

38 Maths Programmes: Increase student learning potential by changing their mindset about failure...

39 Case Study – Fielding High School: Feilding High School makes engineering fun 40 Book Reviews

48 School Balls, Formals and Graduations: An event to remember…

50 Digital Signage: Sign your school up for more effective communication

L.E.O.T.C. 52 Exploring Auckland: Why school field trips are more important than ever…

56 School Camps: Planning a school camp without the stress 58 Out Of School Care: Caring more about ‘out of school hours’ care

food & beverage 60 Healthy Canteen Choices: The ultimate guide to a healthy canteen

health & safety 62 Allergies: Managing food allergies and anaphylaxis in New Zealand schools

sports & recreation 63 NZ Teachers’ Games: The NZ Teachers' Games is back – bigger and better!

I am the magazine’s new editor and I’m also the new friendly face behind schoolnews. co.nz for those of you who are subscribed to our newsletter or visit our website.

As this mag hits your desks, we’ve already started work on our Term 3 issue and would love to feature more of your voices, ideas and stories. Please contact me directly if you, your students, school or one of your colleagues has done something special this term! You can also find us on Facebook where we like to share funny posts, memes, stories and videos.

What would you like to see in School News? As the new editor, I’d like to take this opportunity for change so if you have any requests – let us know!

But let’s get back to this issue… Term 2: doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun?

Our key features cover topics ranging from bullying and waste management, to teacher upskilling, out of school hours care, and even refurbishing a school library.

The outdoors is a big Term 2 theme for us and we have included several articles that talk about expanding students’ concept of their physical environment. In our school camps feature, we talk about ‘planning tips and tricks’ and speak with a groups coordinator from Christchurch Top 10.

We also explore Auckland as a top travel destination for school groups, focussing on interesting places to visit and different activities for students to experience.

64 School Waste Management: Waste not want not, management matters 68 Playground Safety: Safety is fundamental

$42 for 12 Months $72 for 24 Months Phone (03) 365 5575 subscriptions@schoolnews.co.nz www.schoolnews.co.nz KEY CONTACTS: ADVERTISING Dee Dawson - (03) 365 5575 d.dawson@schoolnews.co.nz EDITORIAL Rosie Clarke - (03) 365 5575 editorial@schoolnews.co.nz PRODUCTION Richard McGill - (03) 365 5575 r.mcgill@schoolnews.co.nz CONTRIBUTORS: Mandy Clarke, Kat Donaghey, Gavin Clark, Penny Jorgensen, Sarah White and Janine Trembath VIEWS AND OPINIONS: Views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher or Multimedia Publishing Limited. Every eff ort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information in accom management guide, however the information contained in accom management guide is intended to act as a guide only. The publisher, authors and

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schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

Discovery School recently completed its three-year journey to become an Enviroschool. Principal Carmen Jennings and environment science leader Natalie Packer talk to us about their school’s treemendous efforts, how they embarked on their Enviroschool journey, and the impact it has all had on students.

Thank you for being part of our School News family, and happy reading! Noho ora mai.

Key - For easy perusal Supplier information or content Suppliers share their views in one-off, topical pieces General editorial. Case studies and features may cite or quote suppliers, please be aware that we have a strict ‘no commercial content’ guideline for all magazine editorial, so this is not part of any commercial advertorial but may be included as relevant opinion. Happy reading!

editors expressly disclaim all liability for the results of action taken or not taken on the basis of information contained herein. We recommend professional advice is sought before making important business decisions.

SUBSCRIPTION ENQUIRIES:

In Principal Speaks, we hear from the Waikato’s Hautapu School principal Gavin Clark as he discusses ‘the nature of planned change’. He explains that educators need to strive for teacher achievement as well as student achievement, and offers some fascinating suggestions and insights for how schools can do this. Hautapu School is also working towards a Gold Award as an Enviroschool, which provides a beautiful similarity between it and our featured profile for this issue, Discovery School.

Commercial supplier profile or supplier case study

property

ISSN 1178-9964

Rosie Clarke, School News editor, editorial@school-news.com.au

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NEWS |

Ministry News

Better education information for Māori

COOLS gets frozen out of legislation “We celebrate that another unwelcome policy will be removed from legislation,” said Whetu Cormick, president of the New Zealand Principals' Federation (NZPF).

“Communities of On-Line Learners (COOLS) were proposed by the previous government, and eventually enshrined in legislation,' he said.

“The federation was not supportive of the initiative, mainly because it said it opened the door to private providers of online schooling in New Zealand, and undermined quality public education.”

The government will be making improvements to information for iwi and hapū on the achievement of their tamariki, according to associate education minister Kelvin Davis.

The Ministry of Education released their annual Iwi Profiles, which provide information on participation rates of early childhood, attainment of NCEA Level 2 and 3 and tertiary study in rohe around the country.

“The data in the Iwi Profiles provides a high-level overview of achievement and I know some iwi find it useful for their education planning,” Mr Davis said.

“But the profiles are largely based on showing how the previous government’s Better Public Service Targets are being met. Useful information for Māori shouldn’t just be about that and we can deliver

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schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

something more meaningful.”

“I want to produce something which shows what achievement looks like from a Māori perspective, not what the Crown sees as Māori success. I’m keen to work with iwi and hapū to understand what they want us to report on, which could include a greater focus on the child’s experience.

“Iwi might also want to know about whether tamariki are engaged and enjoy their learning, the strength of te reo among Māori students in the rohe, and how education is contributing to their children’s success as Māori.”

“Support from iwi, hapū and whānau is crucial if we are to raise the achievement of our tamariki and rangatahi. Having more appropriate information for them is part of that kaupapa.”

The government plans to talk to iwi and hāpu and make improvements to the Iwi Profiles from next year.

The intention of the legislation was to provide more online learning options, increase opportunities for accessing more academic subjects, provide competition for Te Kura's (Correspondence School) online provision and enable private providers to deliver some or all of a student's education.

COOLS, like charter schools, would not be required to teach to any particular curricula and could use non-registered teachers.

"One of our major concerns about COOLS was that young people learn best when they have a professional qualified teacher and are surrounded by peers who are interacting with them," said Cormick.

"Our young people need a holistic approach to their learning and COOLS could never achieve that," he said.

Education minister Chris Hipkins said: “One of the key things we are looking to do is get rid of the deeply unpopular provision to provide for the establishment of communities of online learning – the so-called COOL.” Under a 2017 amendment to the Education Act 1989, which is not due to come into effect until December 31, 2019, any school, tertiary institution, or private entity

can apply to become a COOL. “This government is committed to delivering high quality online learning for all students. But the previous government ploughed ahead with the legislation for online providers despite experts and education professionals raising a number of concerns.

“We are proposing to do away with a policy that enables private entities to become accredited as COOL and make a profit out of it.

These COOL also aren’t required to employ registered teachers or teach the national curricula.

That doesn’t line up with this government’s vision of a high quality public education system.

“Sitting on the select committee that considered this legislation, I also heard significant concerns that gave even national MPs pause that kids with additional learning needs may be shuffled away from schools and into COOL even if it’s not the best option for them.

“Decisions about the future of online learning shouldn’t be made in isolation. I want new provisions around distance learning opportunities to be considered within broader strategic discussions with the sector around modernising the education system,” Chris Hipkins says.

Aside from repealing the startup of COOL, the Ministry of Education is seeking the public and educators’ views on a number of other issues including: •

protecting the public interest in Education Council decision making

•

establishing a College of Educational Leadership

•

making student welfare a registration criteria for private schools

•

ensuring appropriate safety and police vetting requirements

•

reinstating a skills leadership role for industry training organisations

?

| NEWS

Supplier Profile | Autex Industries

Solid foundations for steady growth Situated in Auckland, New Zealand, King’s School is an independent boys’ school ranging from early learning to Year 8. Since opening in 1922 with 164 students, the school has grown and evolved over time to an impressive 700 students.

As King’s School approaches its 100th year in education, a Centennial Building was commissioned to celebrate the milestone and meet the growing needs of students and staff for both intimate and flexible learning spaces. Located in the centre of the school, the new building provides an additional 5,000sq metres of large light-filled classrooms, music studios and discussion areas over four levels. The Centennial Building runs east west across the campus creating a dynamic multi-storey an internal street with a cross axis of circulation allowing for links to the existing buildings at multiple levels, unifying all parts of the project and wider school.

To bring the envisioned state-of-the art teaching facility to life, King’s School collaborated with Warren and Mahoney Architects Associate, Sarah Hewlett Diprose, developing a project brief that explored the spaces which make up the learning landscape. Every detail from specialist spaces relating to music studios, practice rooms, learning spaces of the classrooms, multipurpose rooms and breakout areas to informal transitional spaces, bleacher seating and open lounge settings were examined. The key objective of this project was to capture best practice pedagogical opportunities to facilitate and enhance the teaching/learning experience for teachers and students, and develop the coherency and legibility of the wider campus by creating new internal connections and new internal and external addresses.

Products

King’s School Centennial Project, Photographer Patrick Reynolds – provided by Warren and Mahoney

fabric were extensively used throughout the project to provide a durable wall surface, meeting the acoustic criteria established by Acoustic Engineers Marshall Day. Composition® in Autex colours Lime, Chilli Red, Clay, Azure and Silver were selected predominately for classrooms to provide a visual wayfinding tool in conjunction with the feature carpet tiles with matching accent colours, differentiating one floor from another while also providing quality acoustic treatment and display surfaces. Highly popular in the education sector, Composition® is an acoustic wall lining which can be found in many educational facilities throughout New Zealand. As well as providing excellent acoustic performance in reducing reverberated noise, Composition® transforms walls into acoustic notice boards due to its pinnable, hook and loop receptive surface.

Composition® is available in a wide range of bright to contemporary colours with limitless branding and design possibilities to suit many different applications.

Quietspace® Panels overlaid with Vertiface® in matching colours were specified for areas requiring increased acoustic treatment such as the internal street, music rooms and multipurpose spaces. A light-weight, semi-rigid, impact resistant and incredibly durable premium acoustic panel, Quietspace® Panel is the market leader in controlling reverberated noise. The Veritface decorative fabric overlay compliments the Quietspace® Panel giving the same functional finish and colour as Composition®.

Additional to Composition® and Quietspace® Panel overlaid

with Vertiface®, Autex Acoustic Blanket (AAB) was also used behind perforated plywood ceiling panels in the internal street for added acoustic absorption. A highly versatile product, AAB is ideal for managing noise in theatres, studios, auditoriums, offices and retail complexes.

Result The finished project is nothing short of a world class teaching facility. King’s School Headmaster, Tony Sissons is delighted with what the outstanding new Centennial Building will bring to the school.

“Research tells us that young children need to have the feeling of safety and belonging that a small class size and one single teacher can provide. Yes, we need to create flexible spaces to allow our students to break out of their classroom and work both individually and in groups, but not at the expense of their relationship with their classroom teacher. I want my teachers to really know the boys in their care. The new Centennial Building allows a flow from the individual classrooms into open flexible spaces, which can be used by boys and staff from across the school. It is quite frankly, the best of both worlds. Both staff and boys feel very fortunate to be able to enjoy teaching and learning in this world class teaching facility.” says Sissons.

Autex Industries are committed to working with architects, designers and schools to create better built environments through delivering high performing sustainable products, while also providing assistance with the quality assurance process on site during the construction phase.

King’s School Centennial Project – Photographer Mark Scowen of Intense Photography

“Acoustic performance was a key functional criteria for material selection in both typical classrooms / breakout areas and specialist music rooms” says Hewlett Diprose.

Consideration of sustainable design was also important throughout the project, commencing at the site planning phase and developing through to the planning / modulation of the building and material selections. Having previously specified Autex interior acoustic products in numerous school projects, including music blocks, Sarah was confident that the Autex products specified were a good choice for this project. A combination of Autex Composition® and 50mm thick Quietspace® Panel overlaid with Vertiface® decorative

King’s School Centennial Project – Photographer Patrick Reynolds, provided by Warren and Mahoney

Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

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NEWS |

News In Brief

Workload demands at dangerous levels for primary school leaders A second independent, in-depth health and wellbeing survey of primary school principals and senior leaders has found the sheer quantity of work is seriously affecting their health and taking time away from leading their school’s teaching and learning.

and set the direction of learning in their schools, but they are working 53-58 hours a week to keep on top of their workload – a three-hour increase in just one year. It’s unhealthy and unsustainable,” she said.

NZEI Te Riu Roa commissioned the study by Australian Catholic University last year, to follow up the results of ACU’s 2016 survey of school leaders. NZEI president Lynda Stuart said the “disturbingly high” levels of stress and burnout amongst her colleagues was “deeply distressing”.

“The increase in learning and behavioural needs of our students is putting massive pressure on our schools because the resources available fall far short of actual need. More support in these areas would make a huge difference for children, as well as decrease the pressure on principals and teachers,” she said.

“Principals need time to lead

Ms Stuart said a big stress on principals was the amount of time spent working with external agencies and trying to get support for children with high learning and behavioural needs.

School leaders suffer 1.7 times the rate of burnout, 1.8 times the rate of stress and have trouble sleeping at rates 2.4 times higher that of the general population.

Survey respondents reported virtually no support from their employers, and the report recommends more support and mentoring for boards and for leaders, reduction in red tape and paperwork and consideration of the impact of governance models on leaders and their wellbeing.

Australian Catholic University has been running similar longitudinal studies of school leaders in Australia and Ireland for a number of years and the New Zealand survey will be conducted annually so trends can be studied over time.

Ms Stuart said the findings had serious implications for the long-term health, recruitment and retention of school leaders.

School toilet controversy: is banning loo roll too far?

This was the measure taken by a primary school in the UK this term.

Repeated toilet flooding prompted Oldswinford C of E Primary School to remove loo rolls from stalls and make students ask their teacher's permission to take toilet paper with them from the classroom.

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According to NZ Herald and the Daily Mail, parents are furious about the new rule, labelling them "unnecessary" and "truly ridiculous". One parent deliberated: "Maybe it's just me but I think it is absolutely awful.

Having toilet paper in the actual toilet is just a basic need.

School toilets in general are renowned for getting messy. In fact, author and former principal John Marsden advises parents to make a beeline for the school toilets on any open day.

"The rules are also unhygienic and it is humiliating for children to have to ask in front of everyone for toilet paper. I have heard some of the children saying they will not go at school - they will wait until home time."

“The quality of the lavatory facilities is the single best indicator of the respect in which children are held in a school; far better than any number of glossy brochures stuffed with photos.

What you want to see are

schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

facilities that are sparkling clean, no graff iti, good quality toilet paper that will be soft on your little one's bum, and fragrant soap. What you don't want to see is a vile and smelly place that induces instant constipation in all who venture near.”

bathroom facilities by providing warm water, liquid soap at every basin and functioning hand drying facilities. A further 37 percent would have made the standard if they had provided hot water or fixed the roller towel dispenser.

He’s not joking. Research published in the Nursing Times, revealed that school toilet facilities are reported to be a problem for many school children as well as teachers, caretakers and school nurses.

The study, by researchers from Otago University and Public Health South, concluded that “a significant number of New Zealand children do not currently have access to high quality hygiene facilities at school”.

When children were asked to describe their school toilets, a clear picture emerged of poor standards of cleanliness, supervision and access. They said school toilets were smelly and dirty, that there was often no toilet paper, soap, hot water or towels.

In New Zealand, a survey of 68 schools in the South Island revealed that only 28 percent followed the Ministry of Education’s code for toilet and

School socioeconomic position and toilet facility quality were not related.

This has serious implications for students’ health and well-being.

If students avoid using the toilets because they are dirty and smelly, they can develop unhealthy toileting habits which can lead to constipation, a contributory factor in recurrent urinary tract infections in children.

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NEWS |

News In Brief

'Disturbing and serious' racism in schools

Need for funding of special needs role in schools

The Office of the Children's Commissioner and the School Trustees Association has described “disturbing and serious” complaints about racist behaviour in schools in a recent report.

A new survey shows that many children are missing out at school because there is not enough funding to give them the one-on-one support and resources they need to thrive and succeed.

This included discrimination by teachers and abuse from other children, according to students interviewed by researchers for the study, Education matters to me: Key insights.

Educational Institute president Lynda Stuart said that teachers would be disappointed and upset to hear such allegations, a view shared by Post Primary Teachers Association president Jack Boyle and children's commissioner Andrew Becroft.

"It was surprising to us, it's disturbing, I'm sure most

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schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

teachers would be horrified," Mr Becroft said.

Mr Boyle said that many schools would not be surprised that the racism evident in wider society was also present in schools. Nevertheless, teachers were "ahead of the game" in addressing racism and avoiding bias against students.

Principals Federation president Whetu Cormick, too, believed that the report reflected the racism that permeated right throughout society Ms Stuart said schools were trying to recognise children's language, culture and identity, but not everyone was there yet.

According to Ms Stuart, the report showed that it was now time to change an education system “that has been very monocultural for years" into something that “matters for our kids".

The NZEI Te Riu Roa survey of school special needs coordinators (SENCOs) shows that they are struggling to get adequate support for the children and are swamped by the workload.

The survey findings have reinforced NZEI’s advocacy for a fully funded permanent and designated SENCO in every school.

NZEI Te Riu Roa president Lynda Stuart said the best society is one in which the most vulnerable members are protected and supported to thrive. “What does

this say about us when we cannot fund and support the people who are doing their best on a shoestring, often in their own time, to help these children?

“We are identifying an increasing number of children with severe learning and behavioural needs and not being able to help them in the way we should.”

At the moment, SENCOs are often permanent staff members – often teachers or deputy principals - who already have a full-time workload and work after hours to fulfil the role and “scratch around to find funding for children”, says Ms Stuart.

SENCO at Karori West School, Janice Jones, says having a dedicated, funded SENCO in schools would make a world of difference as it would spread the workload - writing applications, finding funding and targeting the teaching and learning of the most vulnerable students.

News In Brief

“We are desperate for better resourcing: there are great people in the Ministry of Education providing support - educational psychologists and speech language therapists for example, but there are not enough of them, and the wait time for their service is unacceptably slow. We are also desperate for more teacher aide support in classrooms.”

Ms Stuart says the SENCO role is complex and demanding.

“It requires knowledge, skills and perseverance to be able to negotiate the current system.”

Other results from the survey, which is a follow-up to a 2016 survey, include: •

48 percent of respondents did not get any release time

for their SENCO role •

•

36 percent were not at all confident, or only confident to a certain extent, to carry out their role

•

61 percent said they would be interested in obtaining a SENCO specific qualification

•

16 percent had funded their own professional development.

30 percent of respondents do not receive any financial compensation for the role

•

72 percent either disagreed, or strongly disagreed, that it was easy to obtain access to external support for children in a reasonable timeframe.

| NEWS

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EDUCATION |

Principal Speaks

The nature of planned change…

Hautapu School is a stunningly green, semirural primary school that seeks to teach boys and girls how to reflect on their own learning processes and ‘explore their limits’.

When I started in Term 4 of 2017 as the newly appointed principal of Hautapu School, in the Waikato, I had the words of Fullan going through my head, as well as three key questions that needed urgent attention.

I had to determine what made Hautapu School special? What were the values that made this organisation come alive? and finally; what was the overarching vision for Hautapu school for the next three to five years?

To answer these, I had to act, and quickly. Our starting point was to openly consult with staff to determine what skills, attitudes, dispositions and behaviours that we wanted to instil in our students during their time at Hautapu School. We also asked the same questions of our students, parents and local community- including the local ECE centres who help transition children from pre-school to school.

This was a vital step as it began the process of thinking towards the future and it also allowed all stakeholders within the organisation to have aspirational thoughts of what our school could be like, for our boys and girls, for our staff; and for our community.

Once the initial consultation process had concluded the thoughts of all parties were collated and reported back to the community and the newly formed values became the agreed outputs for all stakeholders within our school. The values of Challenge, Courage, Explore, Community and Growth will define our school over the coming years as these are the values that we want to instil in all stakeholders, now and in the future. Our newly established

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schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

vision and values were then made into a learning model that brought the school vision and values to life for the children, staff and community.

This collaborative consultation was an integral foundation of the new leadership structure within Hautapu School.

If we had not gathered a collective responsibility and shared understanding through this collaborative process, any change would have been destined to fail.

The leaders, or ‘drivers of change’ must gather the voice from all who have a vested interest in the school. Without that, there will be no sustainable change. By doing so, it enabled us to introduce a new approach to leadership, and a new way of doing things at Hautapu School.

This has set the tone for the leadership of staff, where we work closely together as a collective unit. From this consultation we

were able to develop our strategic plan together for the next three years, where we set agreed outcomes for each other based on the evidence gathered. This was not only influenced by hard data, such as National Standards, it was also hugely influenced by the soft data that we gathered from students when asking them what makes a “good learner”.

It became clear from the student voice that they identified themselves as passive learners who wanted to be told what to do, rather than ‘exploring’ themselves.

This went against what we wanted to become the Hautapu model of learning, and meant changes to pedagogy and teaching practice were required. As a staff we unpacked what this could and should look like in our classrooms in 2018, providing clear and concise examples that we could be held accountable against.

We agreed that the strategic plan had to be owned by all, and as a result, had to be constructed by

all teaching staff, as they are the ones at the coal face ensuring that the agreed actions are being put into action every day. Now that this founding document has been created we are able to continually reflect throughout the year on progress made- both individually and as a collective.

This was based on James Nottingham’s learning pit.

Our next step is to build upon this initial success and to continue to change the organisation by promoting staff involvement in the development of the organisation.

If done successfully, organisational development in schools can be very effective and lead to increased change.

Lewin’s model of change refers to two sets of forces “those striving to maintain the status quo and those pushing for change”. This is a scenario that most within any organisation would be very familiar with. The way people perceive change is determined

Principal Speaks

Relationships are at the heart of any successful implementation of organisational development.

We often forget that organisations are living organisms, full of emotions and the employees who serve the organisation each and every day are the arms and legs that drive it towards success.

Michael Fullan fully understands this and also comprehends the importance of leading a culture of change: “Actually, most people want to be part of their organisation; they want to know the organisation’s purpose; they want to make a difference. When the individual soul is connected to the organisation, people become connected to something deeper - the desire to contribute to a larger purpose, to feel they are part of a greater whole, a web of connection”.

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I agree with this statement.

For the staff to believe in the change process and to view it as being of value to them we have to manage the change process carefully to ensure its effectiveness.

Organisational development must go beyond solving particular problems to helping members gain the necessary competence to continually change and improve the organisation. This is what every organisation aims to achieve.

For our school to continue to develop and improve, there has to be a collective responsibility towards managing the change process as this will help the Hautapu to sustain the initial improvements that have been made.

Successful leaders aim to become invisible and build collective capacity to enable change to be continual and incremental; and the way the organisation is run has to be constantly refined and improved upon.

The introduction of a coaching and mentoring approach towards our leadership has been influential in helping staff identify areas of strength and areas of development for their practice, based on the agreed actions in our strategic plan.

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by their attitude towards the organisation and where they currently lie within it. It is well known that leaders have the power to make decisions and enact change due to their status, but, it must be noted that these leaders will have a different view of the perceived benefits of the changes that are to be made than one of their employees who has not been involved in the decision making process.

| EDUCATION

Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

13

EDUCATION | Principal Speaks

This came about from a restructuring within the leadership team, and through collaboratively redefining the job descriptions of the leaders within the school.

The leaders had previously been spread very thin and were leading across many aspects of the school, but with little support to enact real change. Being able to tighten up their leadership roles by asking them to lead in more specific and specialised areas of the school has worked exceptionally well as they are now far more focussed on their own responsibilities and ‘outcomes’ that have been extrapolated from their job descriptions, than they used to be, where there was more focus on ‘output’. This is a key differential as outcomes mean there is a tangible result, rather than output that lends itself towards ‘getting things done.’

Henry Mintzberg said what organisations have to do to ensure success over the next ten years is “to build a strong core of people who really care about the place and who have ideas. Those ideas have to flow freely and easily through the organisation. It’s not a question of riding in with a great new chief executive on a great white horse. Because as soon as that person rides out, the whole thing collapses unless somebody can do it again. So, it’s a question of building strong institutions, not creating heroic leaders.

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schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

“Heroic leaders get in the way of strong institutions.”

This idea is key to successful, long term organisational development.

Leaders have to empower staff to become involved in the change process where, Fullan states “members are heavily involved in creating the vision, they are committed to changing the organisation in that direction.”

This has been at the heart of what I have tried to achieve.

I want to grow people to become better teachers, to become leaders and to grow to their full potential. If a leader leaves the organisation, I should have a readymade replacement within my staff; however, I do not only grow staff to lead in our school, I want them to pursue opportunities to take on leadership roles whenever they feel as though they are ready.

If that means they flee the nest and take on a new challenge somewhere else then we are putting our vision into action. This is what we want for our learners, so this is what we want for our staff.

This is our vision, this is my moral purpose.

Our moral purpose as educators should not only be around student achievement and engagement,

it should also include teacher achievement and engagement.

For an organisation to change we have to focus on the teaching staff and upskill them, allowing them to reach their full potential in an environment that challenges them to be the best teacher that they can be. We want staff to push themselves to think differently, to try and to fail, but to do so in a place that allows them to reflect on their failures and to make the necessary changes that will have a better impact on their learners.

We want staff to live the values and to display these to their learners at all times, but for staff to do this, they have to learn from the leaders. It is the leaders who have to display this at all times and to create the culture that fosters this approach.

Principals have to have different leadership styles to ensure that change has a clear direction and that it is built around a culture that is inclusive. They have to be ‘authoritative’ at times and lead the change through their own innovative ideas that they share with the staff, but they also have to be ‘democratic’ and ‘affiliative’ by listening to others ideas.

When leading the school through change, I have had the words of Maurer continually play through my mind: “Often those who resist us have something important to tell us. We can be influenced by them. People resist for what they

view as good reasons. They may see alternatives that we never dreamed of.” It is the job of the leader to ensure that they build positive reciprocal relationships with staff so these types of conversations can take place and leaders or managers can learn from staff and vice-versa.

This is a key component of successful implementation of strategic planning and is one that I have learnt from the many mistakes that I have made along the way in my leadership journey where I have led three schools through huge change.

I have learnt that effective leaders have to provide a collaborative environment for staff in which there are high levels of trust, security and openness. This will lead to communities of practice being established, which will encourage all members to be professional learners and to take responsibility for one another’s professional development... and professional learning will be focussed on enhancing teachers’ classroom knowledge, understanding and skills in order to facilitate pupil learning.

As an educational leader, this is the only way that I can evoke change that will be meaningful and sustainable.

By Gavin Clark, Principal, Hautapu School

| EDUCATION Supplier Profile | sKIDS

Tamariki love sKids Kids thrive when they feel safe and secure within a positive extended family…

The Kiwi kids at New Brighton Catholic School in Christchurch experience an incredibly warm sense of Whānau, and this extends to the exceptional out of school care programme provided by sKids (Safe Kids in Daily Supervision).

New Brighton Catholic School is completely committed to educational excellence within a caring and nurturing atmosphere and is renowned for developing the whole child, fostering a family-like ambiance where “every student is known and valued”. Deb Daines is the school principal and she told us that the after-school programme provided by sKids is the perfect fit for their school culture.

“When our previous after-school care provider closed down we had to look for a new provider and I came across the superbly structured sKids programme.

I was very impressed, and, in May 2017 we engaged sKids to provide a service that not only guarantees our students are in safe hands, but also offers a varied and motivational program of fun, games, music, sports and activities.”

A “family of families”, sKids is dedicated to “growing awesome kiwi kids”. They offer affordable out of school care to primary school children (age 5–13) at centres across New Zealand.

The award-winning programmes have been designed to develop and enrich a child’s core capabilities, allowing individuality and uniqueness to flourish.

They do this by working in collaboration with schools so that everyone has a

good outcome - directly helping parents but also assisting schools and teachers to achieve their desired goals. The programme offered at New Brighton Catholic School is grounded in the positive philosophy of “supporting families and providing students with life skills and different experiences”.

Deb explained: “We chose sKids for many reasons, but they are an established before/after school programme provider, and sponsors of the New Zealand Catholic Primary Principals’ Association, so they are already a special part of our school community.

“I was extremely reassured that safety and wellbeing of children is their top priority and this gave us peace of mind knowing that our special little people are safe and accounted for each day after school.”

There have been many recent legislative changes in the out of school care industry

and sKids speedily implemented new systems in response to the Vulnerable Children Act, Workplace Health & Safety and more recently the Food Act. sKids prompt response to change and openness to new technologies also impressed Deb. “They are pioneers, in the out of school care industry, leading the way with innovative and ever-evolving programmes. The team constantly explore developments to the program, growing, tweaking and improving.

“I especially like the sKids enrolment scheme, where parents can register for sKids through a parental portal, allowing parents to work direct with them online.

This technology makes everyone’s life easier (especially our admin staff ) and simplifying and adding clarity.

“We have found that sKids always goes above and beyond, they are not just an out of school care provider; they are part of our school family. They also give back generously to our community through their Charity Kiwi Kids Education Foundation.”

The team at sKids work tightly with the teachers and support staff at New Brighton Catholic School. “We work well together, the sKids staff come into the off ice every day before they set up and we share important information about the children.

“Communication between us is excellent and sKids is always willing to oblige and help us with any issues,” said Deb. A passion for working with children, a teachable mindset, resilience, sense of humour and commitment are all qualities

demanded of a sKids franchisee owner and Christchurch director, Lee-Anne Werner has these attributes in spades. “I am excited to be part of a network that is recognised as the leader in out of school care,” said Lee-Ann. “I love going to work. I have found my passion and enjoy building relationships with kids, parents and teachers, it is very rewarding to always get such positive feedback about our programme.

“It is important to keep communication flowing, so we send out emails to inform parents of timetables, changes or any new information, our Facebook page is also a great way of keeping parents in the loop.

We add photos and get great interaction from parents.”

On health and safety: Lee-Anne said: “My three top priorities are ensuring up-to-date health and safety procedures are in place, maintaining cleanliness and most of all emphasise fun!

“Furthermore, our adult/child ratios are always what they need to be, whether at school or on a trip during the holiday programme (onsite 1:10, off site 1:8, or if water is part of the activity 1:4) subsequently the quality of the programmes we offer are outstanding.”

TM

If you’re interested in learning more please contact sKIDS on 0800 274 172 or visit www.skids.co.nz Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

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EDUCATION |

Special Report

Evolving with the times: teaching sexuality post-2018 Conversation bloomed recently, on schoolnews. co.nz, in a discussion of ‘sex education’ in New Zealand.

While the subject matter has evolved considerably over the last 100+ years of teaching, there are calls for further change.

According to UC Associate Professor Kathleen Quinlivan, research indicates that schoolbased sexuality education programmes struggle to engage with contemporary sexualities and relationship issues with children and young people.

“Sexuality education sits uncomfortably as a school subject,” she notes. “Programmes are under-resourced and undervalued and research shows that the curriculum struggles to make itself relevant and meaningful to young people in terms of their lived experiences of negotiating intimate relationships, particularly in a digital world.”

[DID YOU KNOW?]

A majority of young people between the ages of 13 and 17 in New Zealand has never had sex (75.6 percent)

New Zealand Health Education Association (NZHEA) health education kaiārahi Debbie Jones spoke with us about how the NZC influences sexuality education.

“The shape of sexuality teaching will be approached quite differently in each school,” she revealed.

“There is no prescribed content (or ‘must teach topics’) in the NZC, so schools have the autonomy to design their programmes in sexuality education, which is an integral part of health education.

“This means that while classroom programmes are thought-out programmes built around the learning needs, the values and belief systems of the students and school community, means that there is variation and inconsistency in approach across Aotearoa.”

On whether social media and/or

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schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

the internet should be covered in sexuality education, the Ministry is quite vague: “This depends on your school and what is included in your school’s health curriculum.

The online world is a part of many children’s learning, from new entrants right through to high school. The responsibility for helping children to manage this learning in a safe way is best done through schools, parents, whānau and family members working in partnership.”

This seems to leave it to the discretion of individual schools.

Indeed, the school board of trustees has to consult with school communities “at least once every two years on their draft health curriculum”. However, the nature of this consultation is also up to schools and the board has final approval. National Education Guidelines must be abided and the Ministry stresses that providing “a safe physical and emotional environment for all students” is paramount.

There is potentially a lot of wiggleroom there, in terms of creating a specific sexuality education programme to teach students.

A lot has changed Once upon a time, during the early-1900s, sex education in New Zealand was dubbed ‘sex

hygiene’ and focussed on warning students against premarital sex and masturbation. Te Ara, the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, expands: “The introduction of sex education in schools was debated in Parliament in 1910, but for a long time there were no coordinated programmes. Students got information from books, pamphlets and lectures outside school hours.”

Over the next several decades, sex education evolved quite a bit: by the 1960s some high schools were teaching limited sex-ed and the Education Amendment Act 1985 allowed for some sex education in primary schools. Still, its role in schools was seen to be that of a lesson on reproduction. Biological pedagogy and clinical discussions were the focus. As Te Ara reviews: “A new health syllabus, Understanding change in puberty, was introduced in 1987, and in 1989 legal restrictions were removed on advising under-16-year-olds on the use of contraceptives.”

1999 saw a switch in terminology for schools, as ‘sex education’ was replaced with ‘sexuality education’; and moved away from the strictly clinical approach. New Zealand refocussed on health and physical education as a whole, attempting to include aspects of ‘sexuality’ like relationships, spirituality, and emotion into the lesson plan.

As Debbie Jones explained: “It is uncommon these days for schools just to offer sex education and teachers use the term sexuality education to reflect the more holistic nature of the issues explored.”

[DID YOU KNOW?]

Sexuality education programmes that focus on engagement, empowerment and information rather than risk, are shown to reduce risky behaviour

What about today?

A lot has changed in our culture since 1999 – the internet, for one thing, is now a permanent force in the lives of children and teenagers.

While it has become compulsory for sexuality education to be taught up until Year 10, parents are able to exempt children if they write to the principal. But parents can’t so easily exempt their child from the using the internet, and that is where most children now look for information about health and sexuality, according to the Ministry of Education.

Digital technology has changed the way young people perceive a lot of the subject matter schools are told to cover. From dating

Special Report

| EDUCATION

Supporting students with diverse sexual and gender identities is a whole school approach and doesn’t lie only with teachers and students in sexuality education

apps and reality TV, to a 24hour news-cycle that reports on celebrity sex tapes and a steady stream of social media platforms showcasing the moment-bymoment relationship scandals of [Insert popular teen star here.].

The nature of a relationship – even friendship - is constantly being dissected in pop culture, which is bound to be confusing for any child trying to navigate school life.

Associate Professor Quinlivan notes: “In an era of social and digital media, it’s not surprising to see diverse young people are increasingly taking sexuality education into their own hands.

Sexuality education researchers suggest that sexuality education needs to focus more on helping young people to imagine and participate in conversations related to sexualities and relationships both within and outside school.

“Sexuality and relationships education is paradoxically both everywhere and nowhere in today’s world. A lot of anxiety, and sometimes panic, surrounds learning about sexualities and relationships both within and outside schools. Parents too, feel out of their depth with knowing how best to educate their children and young people about sexuality and relationships in an era of consumption and digital technologies.”

NZHEA offers a different view, with Debbie Jones telling School News: “In an ideal world, all students would feel safe, valued, visible and accepted in all aspects of the school environment, including in health and sexuality education classrooms. However, there is variation in health education across schools, and research has shown that some teachers struggle with the more ‘personal’ nature of learning in this area.

“Sometimes health education is devalued in a school, for example not having enough curriculum time, or trained teachers teaching the subject. So perhaps it is up to health teachers and students to advocate when and where they

can to improve access to quality learning in this area. As part of the teaching as inquiry approach, teachers undertake on-going reflection into the impact of their teaching practice on their learners, including on-going collection of student voices to see the extent to which the learners’ needs are being met. Also, responding to and supporting students with diverse sexual and gender identities is a whole school approach and doesn’t lie only with teachers and students in sexuality education – education policy makes clear the role and responsibility of all teachers and leaders to value diversity, practice in ways that are inclusive of diversity and promote student wellbeing.”

[DID YOU KNOW?]

In a national survey of 8000 secondary students, 96 (1.2 percent) said they were transgender and 202 (2.5 percent) said they were not sure

Terminology and labels One thing that education and the internet both do is create a vocabulary around particular issues so they can be discussed.

Type ‘sexuality’ into Wikipedia and you will soon come across terms like pansexual, asexual, heterosexual and homosexual.

The ‘sexuality’ Wikipedia page references “religious sexual morality”, the pornographic industry, controversy over the Kinsey scale, reproductive rights, sexual abuse and harassment, STIs, contraception, gender theory, anatomy and sexual response, something called “sociocultural aspects”, and ‘the patriarchy’. These are just keywords glanced over a single webpage on the subject of sexuality. It’s a frantic mashing together of topics that no teenager Googling definitions or information is likely to fact-check. But how many of those topics would get airtime in a school sexuality education programme? Because

programme content varies so widely, the answers to this could be vast and differ from school to school.

Debbie Jones noted, “teachers integrate a wide range of materials from agencies such as Rainbow Youth and Family Planning to support their teaching and learning in this area and should be accessing ongoing professional learning and development to make sure they are up-to-date with current issues and terminology.”

So, what should schools be tackling in their sexuality education lessons?

Associate Professor Kathleen Quinlivan suggests that schools take on subjects like gender diversity, sexual pleasure, violence and intimacy with more verve.

“Young people can feel frustrated with the emphasis on the biological aspects of sexuality, and want to learn more about gender diversity, violence in relationships, intimacy, sexual pleasure and love.”

On whether topics like sexual pleasure and consent have historically been ‘glossed over’ by education programmes, Debbie Jones said: “I’m not sure I agree with this. Resources commonly used by health teachers have included activities on pleasure and consent for the past 30 years.

“Learning opportunities to develop understanding around consent is very much part of the curriculum.

Activities may include Think/ Pair/Share where students are required to think about something themselves first, share and listen with a partner then again with a bigger group, thus allowing them to build understanding around the different attitudes towards sexuality issues, other activities such as continuums could be used to develop “the why we think this way” – these allow them to develop confidence in their decision making and views.

“Bus stop ideas gives the teacher insight to their understanding

around the different attitudes towards sexuality or a particular aspect of sexuality. Interpersonal skills are developed through role play or reading a scenario which involved a pressure or imbalanced situation. The variety of learning activities used are all geared towards meeting the wide range of learning outcomes of sexuality and health education.

“The different discourses around the notion of ‘pleasure’ in sexuality education would suggest there’s a variable understanding around what this is intended to mean.

For decades we’ve had resources that require students to consider what young people can do to express their affection and attraction to each other – while at the same time realising and recognising the limits of ‘how far they want to go’ – and being able to communicate this. If a teacher is teaching sexuality education to students under 16 years (e.g. year 9-10 when most students have some form of compulsory sexuality education), there is still a professional responsibility to recognise age of consent (of 16) and that NZ research shows that only a minority of under-16s are sexually active, so the opportunities or the scope that a teacher has to respond to the learning needs of students in relation to ‘pleasure’ also needs to be age and experience appropriate.”

Opportunities for learning The amount of content accessible online is, quite literally, infinite and children can scroll through endless keywords, half-truths, opinions and images.

But the vast benefit of a school sexuality education programme is the opportunity for depth, understanding and discussion. This is why continual evolution should always be part of the goal and, even for teachers, there is always more to learn. *Did you know facts sourced from education.govt.nz.

By Rosie Clarke, Editor Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

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EDUCATION |

Antibullying

Bully talk: how can we turn these statistics around?

The horrific stats on New Zealand’s youth suicide rates indicate a strong link between suicidal ideation and bullying. It raises the question, what can we do?

For a start, talk about it. When we think about our incredible country, we focus on its beautiful seasons, landscapes and proud people, but there is a dark side to every light and we need to recognise that, as a community. Many New Zealanders struggle with suicidal ideation, especially our youth.

A recent Unicef report, as reported on by the BBC, uncovered shocking news that New Zealand has the highest youth suicide rate in the developed world.

Depressingly, it’s not the first time we topped a table: Unicef also

found our youth suicide rate – in teenagers between 15 and 19 - is the highest of 41 OECD and EU countries.

Deep breath… the bad news doesn’t stop there. New Zealand is the second-worst country (of 70 countries surveyed) for bullying in schools according to an OECD report. Twenty-six percent of 15-year-olds in New Zealand reported experiencing at least one of six bullying behaviours a few times a month.

So, we have some of the world’s highest records for youth suicide and bullying… Is there a correlation?

That is a complex issue: statistics also reveal that suicide rates are highest for young Maori and Pacific Islander men, and that poverty and family violence are also factors.

The ongoing effort to be bullying-free KiVa takes a whole school approach to reducing bullying, explains company spokeswoman Deidre Vercauteren.

“Schools need to be serious about making a difference.

This is about the safety of our children. We’re really looking at a culture change, changing norms, and it takes commitment from the school. For consistency and continuity there needs to be a champion within the school who will keep the discussion going and check in with teachers that the classroom lessons are meeting goals.

“The preventative nature of KiVa makes so much sense to our schools, along with the fact that it’s been thoroughly piloted, evaluated and researched. And because it has positive results!

“Once a school is registered, teachers undertake training and receive a teacher manual that includes a series of richly resourced lessons. The school’s KiVa team is trained to follow a no-nonsense process to address identified bullying incidents. Having a clear definition helps everyone.

“Principals are telling us that they are saving time as a result of KiVa and some describe a change in how

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parents approach bullying.”

According to Deidre, students’ understanding of what bullying is, and the consequences for both the victim and the bully, are targeted through KiVa. “Some students who have been displaying bullying behaviour have expressed gratitude for the chance they get to change their behaviour.

“Through the lessons the victim gains confidence to talk about what is happening to them which of course means they can get support. A large part of KiVa centres on the peers, or bystanders, who through lack of action appear to support the bully/ies. They are given strategies and confidence to begin acting in support of the victim.

“Parents need to be kept informed and know clearly what is happening, why, and what their role is. Keeping parents informed via newsletters and websites is a successful approach for many schools.

Change also takes time and everyone has a key part to play.

In the same way that a school is smoke-free, we need to ensure our schools are bullying-free. It’s an ongoing effort.”

Antibullying

| EDUCATION

PEACE EDUCATION

PROGRAMMES Your school or community may be eligible for free training!

Bullying stands out as a persistent precursor to anxiety, low self-esteem, and a trigger for depression.

Occasionally, you hear the media talk about “a snowflake generation” because as long as there have been schools and students, there have been bullies, right? Sticks and stones can break your bones, but words can never hurt you, right?

Wrong, according to school students. Who describe how “verbal mistreatment is the biggest bullying issue in schools”; that is, “higher than cyberbullying, social or relational bullying such as social exclusion and spreading gossip, or physical bullying”. These insights come from a long-running national statistics education project for primary and secondary school

students, called CensusAtSchool/ TataurangaKiTeKura.

Added to this miserable mix is the advent of cyberbullying: 31 percent of students who took part in the census agreed that cyberbullying was a problem at their school.

This is something that didn’t exist for previous generations, and it all adds up to paint a nasty picture.

One that we should recognise adults cannot fully relate to: schoolchildren now face types of humiliation online that did not exist five, 10 or 20 years ago. The internet has created a whole new genre of bullying, so how can schools get to the root of the issue and help students avoid becoming a statistic?

Our political leaders acknowledge that bullying on any medium has no place in New Zealand, but is the government doing enough?

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What is KiVa? KiVa is a school community approach to bullying prevention.

It is designed first and foremost to create a school climate unaccepting of bullying and, instead, encouraging of empathy and positive social behaviours. KiVa students are equipped with strategies and confidence to act and defend.

What makes KiVa different?

• KiVa has a strong theoretical basis • KiVa is based on decades of research • KiVa is centred on the idea that the way bystanders react either maintains bullying or puts an end to it

Is KiVa Successful? YES! • KiVa principals report spending less time on bullying incidents • Students talk about getting a second chance and changing their behaviour • KiVa teams are dealing with less incidents each school term • Research (2017) and annual student survey comparisons show an average of 10% reduction in bullying

Contact Accent Learning deidre.vercauteren@accent.ac.nz | DD: 04 4639612 | www.kivaprogram.net/nz

Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

19

EDUCATION |

Antibullying

Anti-bullying is a message that has long been taught in schools, with students urged to say ‘no’ to bullying and not be bystanders but schools must do more. The message is clear that children, parents, and schools need an elevated level of backing from authorities, social media and the whole community (it takes a village) to create a next-level solution.

Some measures have already been introduced at a national level to specifically deal with cyberbullying but do these initiatives actually trickle down to the child in the playground?

The launch of public campaigns certainly seek to galvanise communities, while hosting antibullying days at schools are a good way to keep kindness on the forefront of students’ minds.

BullyingFree.NZ is the latest initiative from the Bullying Prevention Advisory Group, which is a collaboration between different government agencies and organisations committed to reducing bullying in NZ schools.

The website shares some of the experiences of schools and students as well as bullying prevention research, resources, and interactive tools. In May 2018 the theme was Let’s Talk About It! Talking is critical as a way to help children speak out about

and against bullying, as well as understand what it looks like, where it comes from and learn how they can deal with the emotions involved. Talking, in general, is also a good way to build bonds amongst students.

Lunchtimes can be scary for children with social anxiety or fears about bullying but if schools work on creating opportunities for socialisation amongst small groups of children during the day or outside school-hours this might be a way to help build a strong peer-group bond.

consequences and not all kids are vocal about the level of bullying they experience.

•

consistent, non-hostile and non-punitive behaviour management methods.

Antibullying strategies that have been shown to work include:

•

Encouraging students to respond negatively to bullying behaviour and support students who are bullied.

Most schools do have antibullying policies and procedures in place, with clear steps for teachers to follow if bullying does happen.

But it can be difficult to spot in the early stages and know when to step in. Badly managed bullying behaviour impacts the whole school community and can have detrimental effects on health, wellbeing, and learning. Remember, both the target and initiator of bullying are at increased risk of tragic

•

a whole-school detailed policy that addresses bullying

•

effective classroom management and classroom rules

•

a universal whole-school approach over a long duration

•

an increased awareness of bullying in the school community through assemblies, focus days and student-owned plans and activities

•

the promotion of a positive school environment that provides safety, security and support for students and promotes positive relationships and student wellbeing

Strategies that have been proven less effective include: •

zero tolerance and 'get tough' suspensions and exclusions

•

rigid control of student behaviour

•

belief that students must receive punitive and negative consequences in all cases

•

increased security measures

•

unfair and inconsistent use of discipline

•

punishment without support.

By Mandy Clarke, Industry Reporter

Supporting students to make good choices NZ Blue Light, with sponsorship from AA Insurance, is giving New Zealand schools and students the chance to win $1000 cash for their school by producing what they consider to be the best anti-bullying TV advertisement or social media clip.

“New Zealand has one of the highest rates of bullying among young people in the OECD,” shared Blue Light community

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youth worker and mentor Kayla Murphy.

“Frequent bullying is associated with a number of problems, including increased rates of mental health issues including self-harm and suicide, relationship difficulties, and an elevated risk of violence toward others. NZ Blue Light held a hui with a large group of young people and from this hui the National Anti-Bullying Campaign was developed.

“This competition is based around peer education and action based learning to address

this issue. This year’s theme for primary school is ‘Verbal Bullying – Dude, that’s rude don’t bully!’, and the theme for intermediate and secondary school is ‘The Bystander – Strong people stand up for themselves, the strongest stand up for others’.

“Bullying is widespread in New Zealand and has been shown to result in poor educational, social and emotional outcomes for our young people. The digital world has added a new dimension to bullying and we are only now just beginning to see

the devastating effects online bullying can have on our young people. Due to the competition including drama and film as well as covering health and safety messages it fits into a number of key curriculum areas, such as English, Drama, Film Studies, Health and Social Sciences,” notes Kayla.

“This competition is seen as a vehicle for schools to talk openly about these issues and create a forum to support students in making good choices.”

The competition closes September 28, 2018.

Antibullying

| EDUCATION

Learning to be calm, self-aware and tolerant

Robin Schofield, director and master instructor of Rock and Water New Zealand, told School News: “We specialise in whole-staff training, so that the Rock and Water can be developed across the school consistently, and it becomes just 'what we do here' rather than a 'special' programme.

“We describe the use of the ‘Rock and Water’ language, actions

and ethos as a sauce for the curriculum that schools already provide - it can be integrated easily with restorative practices, PB4L goals and values etc, to add flavour and real meaning.

“Teachers benefit from the skills developed in the workshops, in their practice and in their private lives. Rock and Water is for everyone. There are always times when we might be under pressure and, as a result, our interactions and relationships may be affected. Learning to be calm, self-aware, reflective, tolerant and confident are skills

we all require in everyday life.

“The superb manuals provided with the workshops, and the various resources available, enable time-pressured professionals to deliver Rock and Water effectively with minimal preparation.”

Robin explained: “To deal effectively with bullying we need to build awareness - of ourselves, our feelings and attitudes; and for those of others. We also need to build strong communication skills - to learn to be assertive, clear and able to stand strong. As selfawareness and self-confidence

grows, then we are more able to tolerate others, to empathise with others, and consequently more able to really connect with those around us.

“Rock and Water helps both the bullies and the bullied (often one and the same) by building self-confidence and connections, solidarity and ultimately spirituality. This learning path needs to be fun and active. We live in our bodies and we learn through activity, so playing games and working together is crucial for us to learn about ourselves and those around us.”

The internationally renowned Rock and Water Programme

Full staff training with 1, 2 or 3 day workshops

END THEG BULLYIN

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Primary, Intermediate and High Schools build the language, skills and ethos across the school.

Hauora in action!!!

Make the soft skills stronger!

• Rock and Water is a scientifically evidenced social safety programme that builds physical, mental and social strength.

• Engage, enlighten and empower your staff and students

Contact, rockandwaternz@gmail.com or visit www.rockandwater.co.nz for details Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

21

EDUCATION |

Antibullying

Promoting fairness and respect for all students “My recommendation, as head of peace education at The Peace Foundation, Aotearoa/ New Zealand, is that schools empower students with life skills so that they can listen to each other with empathy and communicate their needs effectively,” Christina Barruel told School News.

“Having a conflict resolution toolkit gives them more resilience at times when they are being challenged socially and emotionally. Students trained as peer mediators are ‘ambassadors of social justice’: student leaders/ role models in the school community promoting fairness and respect for all students,

stress' and can enjoy their welldeserved breaks in peace. Peer mediators take responsibility for managing 'small stuff' conflict in the playground. When the 'small stuff' is resolved, it does not escalate into 'big stuff' that teachers deal with. Our programmes, when implemented effectively, can change the culture of the school. They align well with Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) and restorative practices.”

Rangitoto College students train for the 1st time in LtPM

watching out for harassment and bullying and helping students to get the support they may need.”

The Peace Foundation has funds to support schools. The funding pays for staff and student training, also providing resources for implementation.

“Our programmes teach

essential life skills for peaceful conflict resolution. The skills taught empower teachers and students to build positive, caring relationships with others especially in times of conflict.

“Teachers can refer students to mediation, which means they are relieved from 'minor conflict

Programme options for schools looking to eradicate bullying include the Cool Schools Peer Mediation Programme for primary schools (years 1 to 8) and Peaceful Conflict Resolution Skills for Leadership (years 9 to 13), as well as the Leadership through Peer Mediation Programme (LtPM) for secondary schools (years 11 to 13).

Learning to be calm, self-aware and tolerant Barnardos 0800 WHAT'S UP is a free, nationallyavailable counselling helpline and web–chat service for children and teenagers.

It is run by trained counsellors from early afternoon to 10pm, 365 days a year. They help callers find their own solutions to their problems, equipping them with the tools they need to deal with situations now and in the future.

What’s Up counsellors are trained in child-centered practice and empowerment and use these principles on the phones and online chat. They deal with a range of issues from loneliness to suicide.

Bullying is also a big issue for many of the callers.

Last year, What’s Up counsellors answered 649 calls and online chats from young people who specifically wanted to talk about

Get in touch today!

Call 0800 WHATSUP (0800 942 8787) Mobile or Landline Monday to Friday 12pm - 11pm Saturday and Sunday 3pm - 11pm What’s Up Web Chat www.whatsup.co.nz Monday to Sunday 5pm - 10pm

22

schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

bullying. “Our youngest caller was just five years old.

“We remind kids that being an individual or 'different' isn’t the problem – the problem is with the person who is doing the bullying.

Bullying can leave them feeling hurt, threatened, put down, or excluded, and it can cause lasting damage,” says one of the What’s Up counsellors.

“When a child is being bullied, they may think they are the only one experiencing this behaviour but a bully may also be mean to others as well. If a child knows that others are being bullied too, then we encourage them to report this behaviour as a group. This means that they are less likely to be held responsible if the bully is confronted about his behaviour and, who knows, they might even make some new friends.”

Children who are being bullied usually call about verbal assaults

but there are cases of physical contact and technology based harassment. Over half of the children calling in told us that the bullying was frequent or continual.

Calls are confidential unless the caller is at risk to themselves or someone else.

When a child or young person talks about being bullied at school, we recommend checking: •

If they are in immediate danger

•

Do they have a support system at home and school

•

The type and frequency of the bullying

•

Any thoughts and feelings associated with the bullying

Let them know they can call 0800 WHAT’S UP (0800 942 8787) and chat anonymously to one of our friendly counsellors and discuss anything they want.

Case Study – St Albans Primary School

| EDUCATION

Linewize by Family Zone helps create successful digital citizens St Albans Primary School in Christchurch fulfils its duty of care to both students and teachers, ensuring online safety by installing a Linewize by Family Zone classroom internet management system.

Principal Ginnie Warren told us: “We have developed an ICT strategic plan intending that ICT will be an integral part of the teaching and learning process, ICT should become invisible within the school - a seamless join of learning - as secondary in nature as picking up a pen.

“Our board of trustees work hard to provide the funding required to keep in-step with technologies, and our home bases have a mixture of the

newest technologies and desktop devices. We also implement a BYOD scheme from years 2-6, a signed contract enables students to bring their own device. We encourage the use of these devices and ensure those who do not bring one of their own are given access to a school device.”

Linewize by Family Zone controls class internet access with a simple dashboard that displays the websites and applications that each student is using. Ginnie confirmed: ‘We use Linewize as a robust filtering system to maintain safety, it’s easily manageable and enables teachers to restrict internet access or relax filtering for a particular lesson. We have real-time, live visibility of in-class student online activity, focussing internet use to specific sites and applications.

Ongoing contact is provided by

staff, who Ginnie described as “approachable, readily available and responsive”, making the Linewize by Family Zone journey educational, supportive and comprehensive.

“This support ensured a smooth introduction into our school, it’s now an integral part of our ICT strategic plan. We love that we can monitor/restrict what the children are accessing at any given time.”

Feedback has been very positive, Ginnie said: “Parents feel

reassured that children are being taught to be successful digital citizens, safely and securely.

Teachers love the simplicity and instant feedback and students feel empowered, trusted, safe and accountable for their online learning.”

And finally, a comment from Charlotte, age 9: “Linewize is easy to use and keeps me safe on the internet. It is like a big net that covers our school and keeps the bad things out and lets the thing to help me learn in.”

Linewize and Family Zone have teamed up to deliver cutting-edge technology plus specialist support and education – across the entire school community!

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09 888 9285 Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

23

PROFILES |

Discovery School

It all started with a worm farm…

In 2015, one very special school embarked on three-year-long journey to become an Enviroschool.

School News spoke to Discovery School’s principal, Carmen Jennings, and environment science leader, Natalie Packer, about their treemendous efforts and the impact that becoming an Enviroschool has had on students.

Garden treasure and green teams Natalie told us the charming tale of how it all began: “A lovely new entrant teacher donated a worm farm to our school and had it up-and-running for her classroom.

When I inherited the care and upkeep of this little garden trinket, a whole new world opened up for the school. My class and I began looking at the world of worms and how to take care of these wriggly creatures and the snowball began to roll.

“A group of students soon showed interest in the gardens around the school and The Green Team was born. We have now gathered every Tuesday lunchtime since term one, 2015.

“Over the last three years, there have been many projects, inquiries and student-led research, showing how different areas of the school could be enhanced to further

learning. By listening to students’ ideas and reaching out to the community for guest speakers and help with learning, the students have transformed this school into an Enviroschool with their rising passion for Papatuanuku, Native New Zealand bird and wildlife, and their curiosity.”

A treemendous school makeover Every year, four New Zealand schools win $10,000 grants to transform their school grounds

and landscape up to 600 square metres of school grounds into educational space with native trees and plants.

Dubbed the ‘Treemendous School Makeover’ event, it is a joint initiative between the Mazda Foundation and Project Crimson that teaches children about the importance of caring for the environment through the development of outdoor classrooms. Natalie championed Discovery School’s successful grant proposal.

“With designs and ideas from the students, teachers and research, I wrote an award winning grant.

Project Crimson and the Mazda Foundation awarded us to transform our school bank from unused space into three outdoor classroom spaces. On Saturday May 2, 2016, school children, whanau, board members, PTA families, and friends from the Whitby community came together for the morning to help with the final installations of all the plants and finishing touches of our makeover.

“We now have outdoor seating to house an entire syndicate in one of our three outdoor classroom areas. We have planted an orchard with seating, which has a dozen fruit and citrus trees that are now

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schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

bearing fruit for our students to pick and enjoy. We planted over 700 natives, constructed a lizard garden, installed student painted murals, landscaped using boulders, natives and a special playmat walkway up our memorial slide.

Students also painted and hung bird houses and tui feeders in the trees and weta hotels were introduced to entice wildlife into the school grounds.

Community ties and bug guests Rudd Kleinpaste, known as the bug man, visited Discovery School to give professional development to the staff and lead a huge assembly.

He worked with students for the rest of the day, and returned with all of the Mazda, Project Crimson and community volunteers on May 2, to dig, plant, water and get dirty!

“The learning in and around a giant project like this is tenfold, with all the families involved in the care and nurturing of our bank, it was a huge changing moment for our school community with people working collaboratively for this wonderful project,” Natalie recalled.

“It really brought our community together.

“We celebrate our Treemendous Anniversary each year. Last year it fell on our Friendship Interaction

Discovery School

| PROFILES

new passion and excitement in students,” Carmen told School News. “I am so fortunate to be working in a school where teachers give their time generously to stimulate our tamariki.

Day, where the whole student population divided into small groups and rotated around the staff for different activities and learning. That day, all the children rotating through my section helped plant more native trees in other areas of the school. Our SENCO, with the support of the Student Council, formed a ‘friendship bench’ for students wanting a friend to play with.

Caretaking and taking care

“This year is a Treemendous Anniversary Working Bee Day that will be on a smaller scale than our original Treemendous Working Bee but with invitations to all our school community especially those who joined us in 2016 to return and laugh, learn, and dig in the dirt planting, cultivating and caring for our precious outdoor spaces. We hope this event is maintained for many years, as it is a great way to bring our community together for the benefit of not only our school grounds but for the connections everyone makes with others working alongside them.”

“Sustainability is key and the ETT, Enviro Teacher Team, and I put ‘sustainability’ first. Education for sustainability is a philosophy that I hope stays integrated in the school community as the school continues to grow and evolve in the education arena.”

One of the striking impacts that becoming an Enviroschool has had on students, according to Natalie, has been a change in attitude towards the school grounds. “The children are taking more pride in looking after their school grounds than five years ago when I started as a teacher here.

Principal Carmen added: “Today, we have 453 students attending our school, from new entrants through to year 8. Over the past few years we have had a focus on ‘growth mindset’ and ‘student agency’. Syndicates might use a sustainability theme within their planning, taking them beyond our

school to label drains for our local council, create murals with an artist on an area prone to graffiti, pick up rubbish on the local walkways and beaches, plant trees at a local park with other schools or take action for water, produce a ‘Go Green’ newspaper, collaborations with kindy for bush walks, council action groups redesigning future educational spaces, etc.”

As Natalie revealed, “This is a school where the children show more concern, pride and awareness. They know their actions have an impact on a larger scale. I am very proud of what all the students are learning directly and indirectly as a result of the staff using Enviroschool resources to support quality programmes.”

One of my favourite things…

“Nothing makes me happier than to see teachers following their passions and engaging their students along the way, creating

“Whether it be Natalie and her teaching colleagues, running the Green Team, or the teachers with other passions (like the arts, computer coding, robotics, or sports) running our lunchtime clubs… Without input from teachers, our school would not be the vibrant place that it is with so much on offer to our students, no matter what their interests.

“Every day, something special takes place here!”

“One of my favourite things is to see our juniors join with the kindergarten next door, go bushwalking, exploring and creating in the natural world. More recently, the juniors got our senior students involved, inviting them to join in on the bush walk, play and observations. The younger generation are far more aware of looking after our planet than my generation is, and they are the ones who will protect it for future generations.”

A sentiment echoed by Natalie: “These young people are the voters of the next generation and if they can take life skills from the bits and pieces we offer them along the way here at Discovery School, then it is my honour to provide what I can.”

By Rosie Clarke, Editor

Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

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y d n a d l o o c d o l approve e v r a m n e e k t u o t s u j d n a m h g groovy inde u o s t n e c e r r a l u p o p y h c a e b neat nifty p a f l o o c e t u n i m e h t o t p u y d super tren

LEADING SCHOOL HALL CHAIR The Sebel Postura + linking chair is perfect for quick setup and pull down in halls and auditoriums. The built-in links hold position when placed in rows. This adult sized chair is lightweight, durable and easy to clean. It has the perfect lumber position for sitting for long periods of time. No screws, metal parts and anti-rocking make it one of the safest school chairs on the market. Hot stamp with your logo or tagline as an option. Stacks 10 - 12 large footprint at bottom of legs. 10-year warranty.

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BERNINA 330 SEWING MACHINE The BERNINA 330 is very popular with school technology departments. It’s at a fantastic price point, while offering extra features above and beyond what the older classroom machines have. It’s very easy to use, while being durable. The machine’s memory function is particularly useful for classes as it saves required stitch combinations for the next class. The ultra-high contrast LCD display lets students keep track of what they are doing. The start/stop button, slide speed control, semiautomatic needle threader, automatic buttonhole and securing stitch function save time and allow students to sew effortlessly and professionally.

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INFOHUB PYLON SIGNS ANNOUNCE. CONGRATULATE. RECOGNISE. CELEBRATE. Every school needs good communication to operate effectively. Signopsys new INFOHUB Pylon signs not only offer stunning LED displays, they can be personalised with your school colours, logo and directional signage to take your communication to the next level.

If you’re looking for a highly visible and exceptionally easy to update form of communication, please get in touch today.

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HOW DO YOU TEACH SOMETHING THAT YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN TAUGHT TO TEACH? That is the challenge 3D printing has created for many schools and teachers throughout New Zealand. All too many schools have delved into this field less than satisfactory results which can be attributed to the quality of the printer, the software and a lack of knowledge.

MakerBots 3D printers, software, online support and educational resources are a game changer and why they are the benchmark of 3D printers worldwide. Although slightly more expensive than alternatives, the ease of use, reliability, performance and overall experience more than makes up for the additional cost.

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INTRASPEC RADIUS SHELVING Intraspec Radius Shelving is the cool shelving the librarians are asking for. It’s genuine curved design gives you more flexibility to create and define collaborative areas and capture creativity in your library. The robust steel construction gives superior strength, and with castors the Intraspec Radius Shelving provides the flexibility and functionality that is essential in today’s learning spaces. Why not integrate elements of the Intraspec Radius Shelving with your straight lines and open up endless possibilities, creating energy and special spaces within your library.

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CONNECTING ALL STRANDS INCORPORATES CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE TEACHING EXPERIENCES INTO YOUR MATHEMATICS CLASSROOM Children engage enthusiastically when learning experiences connect to their cultures. To create this type of experience requires thinking about students as cultural mirrors. New Zealand has a unique cultural history that our students understand. Leveraging their backgrounds improves their learning. Mathematics lends itself to incorporating many types of culturally inclusive strategies.

The Connecting All Strands series published by Caxton Educational is created in New Zealand for New Zealand students. The resources offer activities, games and puzzles, and instructional suggestions that reflect Kiwi students’ cultural experiences. From demographically diverse pictures to word problems that highlight unique Kiwi experiences, the series ties mathematical learning in to background knowledge.

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Digital Passport

touches down in New Zealand New online learning platform enables Kiwi teachers to bring 21st century skills to students around New Zealand In New Zealand, it’s more important than ever for teachers to understand how exponential change is impacting our world and how education must shift to meet the needs of students today. This fact has led the Ministry of Education to establish the new digital curriculum, and for The Mind Lab by Unitec to release the Digital Passport a free online course for year 1-10 teachers.

The Mind Lab by Unitec, the education facility known around New Zealand for bringing future-focused programmes to students and teachers alike, built the Digital Passport from the ground up to empower Kiwi teachers and parents. It is an online learning platform designed to enable Kiwis to understand the digital

curriculum and for educators to teach it FRQČ´GHQWO\ LQ VFKRROV

Two new focus areas in the curriculum Dr David Parsons, The Mind Lab by Unitec National Postgraduate Director, says, “The Ministry of Education’s new digital curriculum consists of two new technology areas, computational thinking for digital technologies, and designing and developing digital outcomes. This new curriculum aims to have year 1-10 students participating in and developing skills for the 21st century, which means all primary school teachers will also need to be digitally competent in order to deliver this curriculum in class. This is where the Digital Passport comes in.�

ĚąÂ§Ä Äƒ ƕŎŏĺÝ ĤŰ ĂľÄ Ă˜Ĺ…Ä™Ä¤Ĺ…Ä™ Ă˜Ĺš Ă˜ ĹŹĂ˜Ĺ¨Ä¤Ăť Ĺ¨Ă˜ĂľÄƒ ĚŞ Ć•Äƒ ĂľĂ˜Ĺ…ĚľĹš ĹšÄƒĂ˜ĂľÄ ĹšÄ Äƒ Ĺ°Ă˜Ĺ‚Äƒ Ć•Ă˜Ć› Ć•Äƒ Ć•ÄƒĹŹÄƒ ĹšÄƒĂ˜ĂľÄ Ä¤Ĺ…Ä™ ˘˗ Ć›ÄƒĂ˜ĹŹĹ° Ă˜Ä™ĹŽĚ–Ě˛

Digital Passport, an engaging way to learn about the curriculum Matt Sorkin, Co-Leader of the Digital Passport project, says, “Built on The Mind Lab’s experience and expertise teaching teachers and students around New Zealand, the Digital Passport is an engaging way to learn about the curriculum, breaking down complex topics while bringing in real world examples and activities that can be taken directly back to the classroom.�

'DYLG VD\V ČŠ:HȇUH WKH Č´UVW WR PDUNHW ZLWK DQ RÎ?HULQJ WKDW JXLGHV WHDFKHUV through the new digital curriculum in an accessible way. It’s made to help teachers integrate digital skills and key competencies into their broader teaching practice. As digital skills become fundamental for education in the same way we value literacy and numeracy skills, this will become more important than ever.â€?

David adds, “The world is changing at a rapid pace - we can’t teach the same way we were teaching 10 years ago.

This curriculum, “We’re the and initiatives like ƹŏŰŚ ŚŎ Ĺ‚Ă˜ĹŹÄˇÄƒĹš Digital Passport, Ć•Ä¤ĹšÄ Ă˜Ĺ… ĹŽĆŤÄƒĹŹÄ¤Ĺ…Ä™ are how we’re ĹšÄ Ă˜Ĺš Ä™Ć€Ä¤ĂťÄƒĹ° ĹšÄƒĂ˜ĂľÄ ÄƒĹŹĹ° changing ĹšÄ ĹŹĹŽĆ€Ä™Ä ĹšÄ Äƒ Ĺ…ÄƒĆ• that for our ĂťÄ¤Ä™Ä¤ĹšĂ˜Äş þƀŏŏĤþƀĺƀł students in ĤŅ Ă˜Ĺ… Ă˜ĂľĂľÄƒĹ°Ĺ°Ä¤Ă˛ÄşÄƒ New Zealand.â€? Ć•Ă˜Ć›Ě–Ě˛

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Professional Development

| TEACHERS' DESK

An investment for the future: lifelong learning in our contemporary world In the face of rapid technological, social and economic changes taking place today, the role of teachers has become more important than ever.

Hilton says, “Teachers need to find the product that works for them and meets the needs for their development in an education context. It is useful for educators to do something that is very practical and immediately applicable back into the classroom or their area of work.”

It has also become critical for teachers to engage in lifelong learning beyond the experience of their own classroom or school, and actively develop their practice through professional development and study that suits them best.

Hilton adds that it’s hugely beneficial for educators to engage in professional development, including study, collaboratively with other educators from their school or peer group. To work collaboratively means to draw on different data, ideas and input that can reframe situations and broaden perspectives.

Dr Craig Hilton, The Mind Lab

by Unitec National Academic director, says: “All workplaces are changing and teachers are, more than ever, the most important professionals in our society. They’re training our future generations for a hugely different world than they themselves grew up in. When students come out of education they need to have the skills necessary for these changing work environments, there is a lot of pressure on people to be adaptive to change.

Our experience is that teachers already know this and are looking for opportunities to improve their practice.”

According to Christopher Day in ‘Developing Teachers: The Challenges of Lifelong Learning’, in a world dictated by change, uncertainty and increasing complexity, teachers must encourage students towards lifelong learning and demonstrate their own commitment toward lifelong learning and developing their knowledge, understanding and education practice.

Learning is a lifelong commitment - especially for teachers Day writes: “Continuing careerlong professional development is necessary for all teachers in order to keep pace with change and to review and renew their own knowledge, skills and visions for good teaching. Teachers learn naturally over the course of a career. However, learning from

What suits you best?

Finding study that works

experience alone will ultimately limit development. Teachers cannot be developed passively, they develop actively. It is vital, therefore, that they are centrally involved in decisions concerning the direction and processes of their own learning,” Study is a crucial way educators can actively engage in lifelong learning. There are many options of study for educators; however, it is important for each individual or school to explore options available and choose what is most relevant and suitable for them. It is also important to understand that study is arguably more valuable as a longer term, collaborative undertaking with support from peers and management.

This is indicated in a study

highlighted by the text ‘What Makes Professional Development Effective?’. According to the article, “Results indicate three core features of professional development activities that have significant, positive effects on teachers’ self-reported increases in knowledge and skills and changes in classroom practice: (a) focus on content knowledge; (b) opportunities for active learning; and (c) coherence with other learning activities.

It is primarily through these core features that the following structural features significantly affect teacher learning: (a) the form of the activity (e.g., workshop vs. study group); (b) collective participation of teachers from the same school, grade, or subject; and (c) the duration of the activity.”

When it comes to the options available, Hilton says there are many. Educators can opt for a programme that acknowledges the place of traditional education yet brings it into our contemporary world, such as The Mind Lab by Unitec’s new Master of Contemporary Education (MCE), or choose to learn through online resources such as Coursera and Udacity, choose more traditional tertiary study, or opt for short-term workshops or conferences. Many options today, including the MCE, are designed to enable educators to continue to work full time while they undertake study.

Hilton says, “More traditional Master’s programmes require dissertations or a thesis and are a stairway to more academic careers that are non-practice based. We recognised a need for educators engaged in active practice to have study options that are directly applicable for a classroom or learning context.

This is why the Master of Contemporary Education (MCE) was born.”

“In creating this programme we engaged with teachers, educators and industry professionals around New Zealand and asked, ‘What is it your need?’

We also drew on our experience Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

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TEACHERS' DESK |

Industry Events Calendar

SCHOOLNEWS 2018 Industry Events Calendar MAY 27 | GirlBoss Leadership Summit

JULY 9 | Future of Learning Conference

PHAB Youth Community Space CONTACT: vicky@girlboss.nz WEBSITE: www.girlboss.nz

Haeata Community Campus, Christchurch CONTACT: support@futureoflearning.nz WEBSITE: www.futureoflearning.nz

ABOUT: An event designed for Year 7-9 girls, this summit is organised by 19-year-old Alexia as an inspirational event designed to motivate and facilitating networking. A passion for future-focused education is why she was named the most influential woman under the age of 25 at the 2016 Westpac Women of Influence Awards, a Top 30 Global Teen Leader, and received a 2018 Queens Young Leader Award for Services to the Commonwealth.

ABOUT: This conference focusses on the future of learning.

It will have an opening keynote from Knowledgeworks and several keynotes during the day, with each speaker linking back to the way technology contributes to the future of learning from a deeply human perspective.

JULY 3-4 | New Zealand Education & Technology Summit Unitec Auckland Campus, Auckland CONTACT: 09 912 3616 WEBSITE: www.edutechleaders.co.nz ABOUT: Topics at this year’s summit will include ‘using data to improve student outcomes’, ‘addressing the digital divide’, and other issues relating to technology and pedagogy in the NZ education sector. The keynote speaker will be Alec Couros, professor of educational technology and media at the University of Regina, Canada.

JULY 5 | New Zealand Education & Technology Summit Unitec Auckland Campus, Auckland CONTACT: 09 912 3616 WEBSITE: www.edutechleaders.co.nz ABOUT: The workshop looks at how various digital tools are innovating the learning experience, and the associated challenges.

working with teachers through our postgraduate programme, which has given us a huge amount of understanding and experience about what New Zealand educators’ needs and requirements are,” Hilton says.

He says, “We know what our teachers are good at and what they need. We know a far more valuable way for teachers to evidence their learning is not through a thesis or dissertation, but through doing a work based project that addresses their own practice and brings value to their school. We also know collaboration is something that is very important to educators, especially Vice Principals and Principals - they need their staff to work together.”

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schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

JULY 10 | Teachers Matter Conference Day SkyCity Hamilton, Hamilton CONTACT: support@futureoflearning.nz WEBSITE: www.spectrumeducation.com ABOUT: Topics covered will include different ways of thinking; critical, creative, collaborative; growth mindset, and unpacking the learning process.

AUGUST 8-9 | Education Leaders Forum 2018: Valuing Educators Revaluing Education Millennium Hotel, Rotorua CONTACT: admin@smartnet.co.nz WEBSITE: http://www.smartnet.co.nz/elf-2018 ABOUT: Valuing educators and revaluing education are imperatives in an age of technological disruption. Teachers are more important than ever as knowledge navigators in an ocean of digital data. The ELF18 themes are timely as the new Minister of Education foreshadows wholesale changes, such as improving participation rates in higher education and overhauling assessment.

Created from the ground up, with this knowledge, the MCE programme takes a blended approach, including face-toface workshops, online learning, forums and applied project work, to help educators to develop a forward-thinking teaching practice, and empower students to build critical 21st century skills. Those who complete the programme gain an understanding and knowledge of contemporary challenges and opportunities, and are able to develop their practice to suit the demands of today, Hilton says.

“This programme recognises that all teachers are leaders,” he says.

By Catherine Knowles, Spokesperson, The Mind Lab

AUGUST 9-10 | New Zealand International Education Conference and Expo 55 Cable St, Wellington CONTACT: +64 4 499 6909 WEBSITE: www.nziec.co.nz ABOUT: This year’s theme is ‘Inspiring Global Leaders’ and Education New Zealand has put a call out for speakers to present at NZIEC. Registration is open as of May 2018.

OCTOBER 10-12 | uLearn18 SKYCITY Convention Centre, Auckland CONTACT: becky.hare@core-ed.ac.nz, 021 930 367 WEBSITE: www.core-ed.org ABOUT: The conference is part of a learning continuum and ongoing cycle of development that helps build a national professional learning community across the education sector. This is critical for developing and extending the vision and capability of school leaders and teachers. There will be a range of workshops, speakers, tools and resources available and School News will be in attendance.

SCHOOLNEWS PROMOTE YOUR EVENT TO INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS NATIONWIDE

ENQUIRE TODAY! (03) 365 5575

Study is arguably more valuable as a longer term, collaborative undertaking with support from peers and managemen

About The Mind Lab With its national coverage and focus on student education, teacher training and postgraduate teacher education The Mind Lab by Unitec has become the largest education facility of its kind in New Zealand in their five years of operation. The Master of Contemporary Education is now open for applications with the first intake June 2018, followed by September 2018. The programme will be offered at centres around New Zealand and have part time and full time options available.

| TEACHERS' DESK supplier profile INTERLEAD

Haste vs Speed

BY DR PHIL RAMSEY

As the old saying “more haste, less speed” suggests, it is important to distinguish between speed and frantic activity. If everyone in your school doubled their current pace, what would be the combined effect? The answer depends on alignment.

Increasing the pace of individuals may result in people crashing into one another, cancelling out each other’s efforts, or reinventing the wheel more quickly. Effective leaders are interested in strategic speed: doing the right things at pace.

Your school can’t do everything.

One of our colleagues who works in the business world tells us that leadership used to be about deciding what to make a priority based on evaluating the importance and urgency of alternative goals. Increasingly, it means deciding which important and urgent goal to sacrifice in order for others to be achieved.

As complexity increases, particularly if people are left to decide independently what is important and what is not, the situation is ripe for people to head off in entirely different directions.

Extraordinary schools, like extraordinary leaders, don’t attempt to do everything superbly. They realise they need to focus their efforts in a particular direction; one that takes advantage of their strengths and which makes a real difference.

Most leadership teams can identify a strategy that makes sense for their school. Yet, having a strategy is no guarantee that people will pursue it. People - even the leaders who created it - can lose their clear strategic vision unless communication about the strategic direction is powerful and consistent.

Sometimes the way to increase speed is to avoid hasty decisions that lead in the wrong direction.

Take time to pause and consider whether actions that have been suggested really contribute to the direction you want to head.

Suggestions may be brilliant, exciting and attractive, yet still lead you on a tangent to where you really want to go. And pursuing a brilliant tangent may leave people confused about what you really care about.

Many leaders have found it beneficial to use a technique like STOP. The acronym stands for: •

Step back from what you are doing;

•

Think about it (using questions like “how does this align with our strategic direction?”);

•

Organise your thoughts (for instance, reaching a conclusion about what is best and what needs to be done); and

•

Proceed.

Writer Tim Gallwey suggests that leaders should “start each day with a STOP”. Rather than let momentum carry you off your intended path, taking time to clarify your thinking will help you to pick up your pace for the rest of the day.

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TEACHERS' DESK |

Upskilling

Upskilling to lead students into a digital future Some days it may feel like students are leading their teachers into the digital age, but that’s not the case.

Even the students who arrived at school already knowing how to code, are learning about what’s acceptable digital behaviour from their teachers. Whether teachers have the technological skills or not, they have an impact; so it’s vital to make sure that they do, in fact, have the skills.

The Ministry of Education has been shaking up its approach to professional learning and development (PLD). It claims the new system is focused on delivering the right support at the right time to the schools, kura and Communities of Learning/ Kāhui Ako that “need it most”.

The changes were first disclosed in 2017, and planned to roll-out over two years; we are now about nine months into the transition. A significant update in December meant that a planned transfer of centrally-funded PLD from the Ministry of Education to the Education Council was stopped.

“Options for the establishment of a comprehensive education

advisory service that may oversee all centrally-funded professional learning and development are still to be developed,” the MoE has said on the matter.

Priority areas of PLD have been identified to include digital fluency, pāngarau/maths, pūtaiao/science, te reo matatini (pānui, tuhituhi, kōrero)/reading and writing; and so the Ministry has asked schools, kura and Kāhui Ako to identify the priority areas in which they need further support and development.

For schools, there are two ways to approach PLD: your local education advisor may contact you to advise that you are eligible for PLD support, or you can apply yourself once you have identified an achievement challenge that matches criteria.

There are a number of avenues of support for the proposal process, such as a local MoE advisor or a PLD facilitator.

Here are the questions that your MoE proposal should answer: •

What are you trying to achieve?

•

How did you reach this conclusion?

feel and would require more

How does this relate to the overall goals or strategic direction of the school, kura or CoL?

school, while others are designed

•

Details of the proposal?

holidays or online are a few of

•

Who else will be leading the PLD?

course workload can be spread

•

What other internal expertise do you have to support the PLD?

postgraduate qualifications are

What external expertise do you need?

the postgrad certificates can be

What other PLD will you be undertaking during this period?

diploma or degree.

•

• •

of a time commitment outside for flexibility and integrate with day-to-day school life. Taking place after-hours, over the school the options. In many cases, the over a year or two and various achievable. For those looking to attain a Master’s degree, many of undertaken as part of a postgrad Regarding an emphasis on digital skills, these PLD courses are

What is clear here, is that making sure your PLD will better the learning environment of your school, is key. This is regardless of whether you are looking to be centrally funded or self-funded.

targeted for a range of teachers;

The Ministry has two separate lists of PLD facilitators, one for centrally funded and one for self-funded. It’s also possible to search by region.

their lesson plans.

Upskilling programmes range in scope, length and structure.

Some have a more academic

those who already teach tech and want to advance their skills, those who want to move into teaching tech, and those needing to integrate tech learning into With the Ministry recognising the need to upskill teachers as an investment in New Zealand’s digital future, now might be a good time for schools to put together a PLD proposal.

Digital skills education for teachers “In today’s world, any learner in school without access to comprehensive digital technologies education will not have the same opportunities as those who do.”

courses is delivered as a short intensive workshop during the first term break with ongoing self-study for the rest of the school year. The workshop includes hands-on activities, seminars and visits to local industry in the South Island.

– New Zealand’s Digital Future 2017 Manifesto (InternetNZ, ITP, and NZTech)

The changes to the digital technologies curriculum over the past few years have allowed greater opportunities for students to prepare to enter a workforce with an increasing reliance on digital skills and IT capability. We know how difficult it can be for schools and teachers to find time and fund

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the professional development required to support you in delivering the new standards, which is why SIGNAL ICT Graduate School has a programme tailored to help.

The Educate programme is an at-work study programme, led by Professor Tim Bell and Distinguished Professor Niki Davis, delivered over two years.

Each of the two one-year

Patrick Baker, a teacher at Middleton Grange for 15 years, has been part of the Educate programme and says: “Educate has enabled me to think about aspects of all my teaching, not limited to programming or computer science.” Patrick applauds this type of learning and the environments as “... invigorating, and the content delivery and support was second to none.”

Upskilling

| TEACHERS' DESK

Give someone a hammer and everything looks like a nail In the same way that a hammer can be used creatively or destructively, teachers, parents and students are gradually realising that the technical tsunami that has engulfed us during the last decade, is comprised of multiple layers of positives and negatives.

It may sound obvious, but students don’t always benefit from better or more devices and associated screen-time - they do, however, benefit greatly from significantly enhanced learning experiences that help develop smarter brains and more marketable skills.

The world continues to change in an exponential fashion, fuelled by the digitisation,

collaboration, creativity, problem solving, and showing empathy to others. These skills can indeed be developed and enhanced by using technology in our classrooms, if we are very careful about how it is done. Without this care, these very same skills can be crushed - just like when you hit your thumb with a hammer!

Martin Hughes

automation and acceleration of processes - many of which were traditionally carried out by people. AI, robots and other technologies are taking increasingly large and irreversible bites out of our skill-sets, with profound implications for the future of

Educate

For Digital Technologies Teachers

humanity and jobs. The skills that cannot be digitised and automated are becoming increasingly valuable in the workplace - fortunately, many of our great teachers are already focussing on the development of these very skills, such as communication,

“When I work with school leaders, teachers, students and communities,” says Martin Hughes (3M Learning), “I have a relentless focus on simplifying people’s relationships with technology while ensuring that it is used effectively and creatively, saving time and stress for teachers and embedding high expectations for our students. By making it significantly easier for teachers to differentiate, scaffold and feedback to students, everybody wins!”

Places now available for 2019 Find out more: signal.ac.nz/educate

Are you looking to increase your Digital Technologies teaching skills, whilst continuing to teach?

Commencing February 2018, Educate supports teachers who are introducing the new Digital Technologies curriculum into their teaching and learning programmes. Educate is designed for teachers at all levels; primary, intermediate and secondary, including NCEA Achievement Standards.

The programme consists of two University of Canterbury courses, designed to complement a full-time teaching load by integrating your learning with your current teaching over a two-year period.

With Educate, you will build on your own experience as a teacher and develop practices in your own context with world leading expertise and resources.

signal.ac.nz 0800 900 024 info@signal.ac.nz

• Accredited PLD provider with MoE • Professional Learning that guarantees 100% uptake across schools • Effective engagement with students, teachers & communities around screentime issues • Enhancing alignment of goals, people, technology, strategies and planning • Certified Google and Apple trainer

C E R T I F I E D E D U C ATO R

For more more information, please visit www.3ml.nz or email Martin Hughes: martin@3ml.nz Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

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TEACHING RESOURCES |

3D Printers

Bring learning to life…

Additive manufacturing, more commonly known as 3D printing, is no passing fad.

tend to be unfamiliar with the technology) clarify what they will use the 3D printer for.

“I would suggest that most 3D printers to be used by students, as part of the curriculum will be small in size and of simple design. Therefore, a small printer, designed for schools (not a huge industrial-style) would be suff icient. Printing time is a major issue in schools: multiple students will need to print off their models by deadlines which, as 3D printing takes time, means several smaller machines are far better than having just one big one. This multiplies the schools 3D print production capacity.

Many experts believed that by now, 3D printers would be in every home helping consumers making everything from replacement parts to tools and toys. This obviously hasn’t happened yet but we are still on the verge of a 3D printing boom.

From the Aerospace industry to medicine, weaponry, building design and tailor-made equipment for individuals with special needs; 3D printing is already making a significant difference across sectors and the demand for workers with 3D printing skills is soaring.

Statista, an online statistics portal, noted the value of the 3D printing market: “This industry will be sized at around 26.5 billion US dollars in 2021.”

3D printing allows developers to print parts and composites from different materials with unique mechanical and physical properties in one single process.

This is why an increasing number of future engineers, designers, technologists, and researchers are learning about 3D printing in schools around the world.

NZ education plans to stay competitive by preparing students for the highly competitive workforce through including 3D printing in the STEM curriculum.

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What is exciting about 3D technology in schools?

Proper use of good technology will complement the STEM curriculum and bring lessons to life for students who may not have been as interested in STEM before. It expands learning opportunities, promotes problem solving skills and encourages students to take their designs to the next level.

The relative affordability of 3D printers and the push to have the technology available in schools may have encouraged teachers to embrace the technology before they were fully educated about it. This may have led to schools purchasing equipment without knowledge of its full potential, what it can be used for, how to use it and without ongoing support.

We sought the expert opinion of Murray Clark, marketing manager of Ricoh NZ, a leading supplier of printing equipment and services. 3D printing is a subject that Murray is very passionate about, already supplying MFD’s and laser printers to schools, he recognised the trend towards 3D technology and was motivated to find out more.

Being mechanically minded, he researched the technology and trialled 3D printers at home and taught himself how to design.

Initially he put his 3D skills to use at home by making a diverse range of useful things, including hooks, parts and toys.

He told us: “Through trial and error, I learned very quickly that not all machines are equal, and they do not all print the same! It is very important that teachers (who

“Feedback and experience tells me that teachers want a good quality printer; one that lasts for years, is easy to maintain and use; and, most importantly, teachers want to be educated and supported.”

The cost of 3D printers does vary, some are inexpensive – just a few hundred dollars but Murray warned: “Do not penny-pinch because cheaper equipment and filament is likely to produce substandard results and are prone to mechanical and software issues, whereas higher quality equipment will last much longer and do not need as much maintenance.

“Buying a cheap 3D printer is a mistake and indeed a very false economy. Failed prints and having to regularly repair a machine will cost more in the long run not to mention the backlog of printing that will build up.”

3D Printers

| TEACHING RESOURCES

Supplier Profile | Ricoh New Zealand

MakerBot 3D printers allow teachers to teach Ricoh NZ, brings learning to life with MakerBot 3D desktop printers.

Ricoh provides 3D printing solutions for schools MakerBot’s Replicator desktop 3D printers. MakerBot is a global leader, of 3D printers boasting superior components and software for reliability and optimum performance, A choice of three printers: Replicator +, Replicator mini + and Replicator Z18. The Replicator Mini + is the ideal performer for primary schools.

Choose all-new MakerBot Replicator Mini + The MakerBot Mini is perfectly suited to classroom use.

It’s simple, easy to use, and reliable. Teach students 3D design then print using MakerBot’s intuitive software manages the 3D printing process.

Fast printing – Superior components and software means significantly faster than many other similar sized machines. With proprietary MakerBot Print software and MakerBot Mobile, the Replicator Mini + is cloud-enabled, so you can send and monitor prints remotely.

MakerBot’s industry leading hardware and software makes exceptional print quality and hassle free 3D printing a reality!

All MakerBot Replicator 3D printers come with the Smart Extruder+ and a range of advanced features standard, such as an on-board camera and connectivity via wifi.

MakerBot has your back – so you can just teach.

Access the most comprehensive 3D printing program for educators with content available online 24/7 covering everything from machine set up to tips and tricks as well as troubleshooting.

MakerBot Educators Guidebook is the definitive guide to 3D printing in the classroom and available free of charge on request.

Create your own 3D printing lesson plans or projects using MakerBot’s education portal online

Join the world’s largest 3D printing community, with MakerBot owned Thingiverse.

MakerBot Thingiverse is an easy to use portal that provides an outstanding resource for educators to deliver successful 3D printing learning in the classroom.

Contact Ricoh NZ now for a 3D printer with the quickest set-up and most reliable results. Become an expert and have a blast teaching your students how to harness the infinite possibility of 3D printing!

MakerBot makes 3D printing easy for educators.

MakerBot Replicator+ and Mini+ Simple. Accessible. Reliable.

MakerBot is empowering today’s students to become the innovators of tomorrow by making 3D printing accessible, relevant and fun.

MakerBot 3D printers make it easy for educators to teach problem solving, collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship, STEM literacy and design thinking.

Reliable components • User-replaceable smart extruder.

• Requires no tools and zero downtime.

• Advanced connectivity and remote print monitoring.

• User-friendly hardware and software.

• HIgh quality components.

• Fast and easy latest technology.

Educational Resources • Free copy of the 200 page MakerBot for Educators Handbook.

• Educational resources available online.

Local service and support • In-house servicing and complete local support.

• Provided by Makerbot certified technicians.

For more information call 0800 80 76 76 or visit www.ricoh.co.nz/makerbot

Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

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TEACHING RESOURCES |

Maths Programmes

There’s no maths problem quite like student engagement...

Perhaps more than ever before, mathematics is an interdisciplinary subject.

behind maths programmes taught here in New Zealand.

Industry insights…

Caxton Educational curriculum facilitator Joel Bradley spoke to School News about what she believes student engagement in mathematics should look like…

We are seeing digital evolution manifest across all industries and with that, maths education also needs to evolve. Senior research fellow Max Planck, from the Institute for the History of Science, penned an essay for The Conversation in March explaining how the study of history is being “revolutionised” by mathematics in the form of something he calls “the digital humanities”. Compiling, visualising and analysing different forms of data has become a critical part of the job for many people, across all sectors, in 2018. Using Planck’s focus on the humanities as an example, he noted: “Historians now have to get their heads around mathematics, too. While a database is never much more than an expression of arithmetic or linear algebra, the increasing amount of available data is calling for a more sophisticated approach.”

Whether today’s students enter tomorrow’s workforce in retail, media, academia, medicine, the arts, business, or a trade, they will need solid mathematical skills. Yet, according to the latest PISA results, the average mathematics score of New Zealand students declined between 2003 and 2015 from 523 to 495 points. Critically, these results also showed that the proportion of NZ

Maths should be relevant, engaging, and fun. In a recent symposium, I sat in on a wonderful session with a teacher who spends the whole first day of class playing maths ‘games’ in a supportive environment, precisely to erase the stigma of students who don’t like maths and/or believe they are not good at maths.

As I visit schools around New Zealand, I see educators who are ready to tackle maths instruction from a cohesive, connected angle. The approach to teach maths strands in isolation is waning, as is the ‘drill and kill’ of numeracy, to the exclusion of the other curricular strands. Research has shown that teaching maths with rich tasks where strands are intertwined works to help students really learn maths and, to that end, I support this trend wholeheartedly.

students able to do “complex mathematical tasks” fell from seven percent to three percent between 2003 and 2015.

Meanwhile, the proportion of students that “can complete only

Audio-assisted, bilingual resources by Alice Patrick – user-friendly for teachers, engaging for students

0800 827 332 36

schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

info@arahiabooks.co.nz www.arahiabooks.co.nz

relatively basic mathematics tasks and whose lack of skills is a barrier to learning” rose from 15 percent to 22 percent in the same timeframe.

If maths is going to continue its trending rise in relevancy, this is a worrying result. For teachers, it presents the task at hand: how to increase maths performance and engage students in mathematics who may favour other subjects.

‘When am I ever going to use this in real life?’ is a question teachers may commonly receive from students who ‘don’t like maths’. However, this question no longer makes sense in our social media-centred, datadriven society.

To brainstorm some solutions to this critical issue, School News spoke to some of the minds

It’s important to decide whether a maths programme is working for a particular student or student group. Are the students excited about maths? Do they talk about maths at home? Do they gladly and freely share what they are learning? I think these are all good questions to ask when educators sit around the table to evaluate their maths programmes.

Numicon director Margi Leech told School News why she thinks it tends to be difficult to engage students in mathematics...

Children don’t like maths because they can’t make sense of the abstract nature of using symbols; how to use them when problem-solving and how to apply them to their lives.

Maths is all about relationships and with structured concrete materials such as shapes or rods, then maths becomes achievable

Maths Programmes

| TEACHING RESOURCES

for everyone. These patterns and relationships can be used to solve problems.

Provide problems for children that relate and connect to everyday life experiences in measurement, geometry and statistics; modelling how you, the teacher, solve these same problems every week within the context of the number skills you are teaching. For example, skip counting in fives leads to counting around a clock. Skip counting in 10s leads to counting in millimetres. Learning about dollars and cents leads to placevalue.

Understand your children. Some may never or at least delay memorising their times-tables.

This does not mean they are not understanding maths, but just the memorisation part. A picture of numbers sure helps!

For example, showing three ‘5-shapes’ joined together shows 3 x 5 = 15.

Review expectations of demanding children to do maths fast. Some mathematicians spend years figuring out problems with trial-and-error along the way. Instead, ask children to do maths well.

It is important that teachers value the importance of maths.

Spend an hour at least on maths every day. Don’t let it slip off the timetable when a conflicting event happens. It is one of the main determiners for quality employment and getting out of poverty.

The IT Education Company New Zealand business manager Janine Trembath told School News how she believes teachers can tackle a lack of student interest in mathematics...

I feel that we accept too many students saying they ‘don’t like’ or ‘can’t do’ maths, when their dislike of maths often just reflects a lack of understanding in foundational math skills.

‘Number’ is the foundational math skill that all other maths is built on, so it’s vitally important that students develop a deep understanding of ‘number’.

The NZ math curriculum reinforces the importance of

‘number’ by advising primary school teachers to spend most class-time on this foundational skill. It can, however, be diff icult to determine if younger students are mastering it on a conceptual level, or relying solely on rote memorisation techniques to get the right answer.

Fractions are a key indicator as to whether ‘number’ has been understood at a conceptual level. Students who haven’t developed a sound conceptual understanding of earlier numeracy tend to show signs of falling dramatically behind once they encounter fractions.

This is not to say students do not

benefit from learning number sequences or times-tables, etc.

Fluency is important and helpful when processing more diff icult equations, but they do not (by themselves) make a competent mathematician.

If students go on to rely on memorisation of a sequence of equations used to solve a larger problem, for example, without understanding the reasoning behind the equations; they will not have a sound basis.

One solution is to ensure that students use a variety of different mathematical models in early math lessons.

NZ Curriculum Mathematics

CONNECTING ALL STRANDS

by M.J. Tipler, S.C. Timperley, J.R. Holland

The complete series is NOW AVAILABLE 0800 MATHS4U or order online at www.caxed.co.nz Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

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TEACHING RESOURCES |

Maths Programmes

Increase student learning potential by changing their mindset about failure A ‘growth mindset’ framework helps students to achieve greater success when they are taught to embrace their mistakes as part of the learning journey.

the same potential, but it does mean that everyone can grow from where they currently are.

With hard work, our skills and abilities can improve.

We can exhibit ‘growth mindset’ and ‘fixed mindset’ in different areas – often being prepared to persevere longer in areas that we perceive we are already capable in. If you can encourage your sporty students to spend as much time practicing maths as sports, then they will improve in maths – which is much more successful if you can change their mindset about math!

Instead of allowing students to believe that mathematics is too hard, or that they are just not a ‘maths person’, we need to teach them that success requires hard work and that if you work hard you will improve.

Mistakes are a valuable and essential part of learning.

Science has shown that if we face a hard task and stick to it, neurons in our brain grow. Once students understand that their brains actually grow and learn when they make mistakes, then they can be more easily encouraged to put in the extra time and effort that leads to higher learning outcomes.

Those who become the best in their field are those who didn’t give up the first time they failed.

They tried again and again, explored new ways to achieve, and trained hard until they improved.

Growth mindset versus fixed mindset Dr Carol Dweck, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, coined the terms ‘fixed mindset’ and ‘growth mindset’ to describe the underlying beliefs we all have about our own learning and intelligence.

•

•

Enables students to develop a deeper understanding of Year 1 - 8 Number Create: ? = 30 + 70

Layla and Grace scored all their team’s goals during a game. If Layla scored 1 goal, and the team scored 4 goals, how many goals did Grace score?

Personalised, scaffolded instruction for remediation or the whole class Learn more and ask for a School Trial at www.itecnz.co.nz

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schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

A growth mindset understands that abilities and intelligence can be developed.

Implementing a growth mindset in your classroom The following ideas are from recent Symphony Learning Buzz Newsletters: •

The power of mistakes – instead of allowing students to hide their errors and feel a failure, try to present errors in a positive light, and encourage discussion about them.

•

Now versus yet – Simply adding the word ‘yet’ to negative statements from students, like ‘I can’t do this – yet’, gives students permission to not know something now, while giving them hope that they will be able to learn it.

•

Losing the answer key - don’t be tempted to automatically give the answer when students struggle, which can actually halt learning. Instead, allow students the time and support to make sense of mathematical ideas.

•

Praise with substance – how and what we praise, matters. Effort is important but must also be supported by practices that encourage learning and growth.

•

Grit – promote the benefits of perseverance in your classroom.

A fixed mindset believes that basic abilities and intelligence are fixed traits.

Dr. Dweck and her colleagues have tested thousands of students over the past 30 years, and observed that students’ attitudes to learning and failure affect learning outcomes more than other factors, such as social/ economic backgrounds or natural talents and abilities. While some students exhibit a growth mindset and rebound from failure, those with a fixed mindset can seem devastated by even small setbacks.

Research highlights that students with a ‘fixed mindset’ can stop themselves from striving to improve for fear of failure, while students with a ‘growth mindset’ persevere in the face of challenge and the result is they will learn something new.

Having a ‘growth mindset’ doesn’t mean everyone is the same with

By Janine Trembath, Business Manager, The IT Education Co NZ Ltd

Case Study – Fielding High School

| TEACHING RESOURCES

Feilding High School makes engineering fun Feilding High School stands out on the beautiful North Island, in the Edwardianthemed town of Feilding Manawatu. The school introduced the Mini Bike Project to its curriculum to show students that engineering is an exciting career path.

First introduced to the high school in 2008 by its engineering teacher and NZ National Secondary School Minibike Racing Club president, Roger Emmerson, students continue to reap rewards from the learning experience.

Roger dreamed up the pioneering idea in 2006 with a small debut race of just 12 mini-bikes, and was immediately struck by the potential of the project. Not only did it occur to him that an enviable toy was produced, but it also provided solid practical training for budding trade professionals.

Roger told us: “Mr Roger Menzies (the principal of Feilding High School at that time) and I were very keen on an education structure that included materials technology to provide practical skills that would be used toward future careers. I was tasked with developing the hard materials curriculum and putting these ideas into action.”

The idea was to make learning more fun while making a career in engineering a more attractive prospect. “The course introduces students to maths, physics and communication skills. Many do not realise the connection between these subjects,” Roger explained.

“Year 12 students earn unit

standard qualifications provided through the Tools4Work programme which regularly leads to apprenticeships at the end of year 12. Furthermore, employers regularly call the school looking for apprentices.

them ownership of the mini bike and of the course. Year 11 students produce 50cc mini bikes, year 12 produce 70cc mini bikes and year 13 students produce 110cc and 150cc sidecars along with their 70cc bikes.

“Year 13 is a level 3 achievement standard course. Most students then go on to further higher education courses. These students prove to be excellent practical academics.”

“The basic frame design details are provided by me because the headstock angles are very important. The students are responsible for the rest of the design, as long as they are within the specifications.”

The practicality and pleasure of the project is extraordinary and the outcomes an inspirational, with many students going on to obtain degrees from Canterbury University in mechanical engineering and structural engineering. Others have gone on to Massey University to study mechatronics.

School News asked Roger to explain the bones of the undertaking: “We purchase the kits from an importer who supplies to our requirements. The students pay for the kits and this gives

Throughout the year, excitement builds for the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Mini Moto G.P. held at Manfeild Chris Amon circuit every October. This is quite an incentive for students to finish their bike, all eager to beat their friends. Roger stated: “At this meeting students and machines are tested to the extremes.”

However, it’s not just about being the fastest, with awards given for most reliable, best workmanship and best design…

The introduction of this project has seen a marked increase in Feilding High School students studying and being successful in engineering, and the endeavour has become a beacon of inspiration to many other NZ schools to implement the innovative and motivating project.

Nathan Stewart, principal at Feilding High School, agreed: “Our school has seen significant benefits since the roll out of this project. It has completely engaged a huge number of students who wouldn’t normally consider engineering, and many have excelled because of it.

“The hands-on experience is important for those who respond to this type of learning but also indispensable to those students who excel academically and have gone on to university. They have fed back to me that hands-on mini-bike skills have facilitated and consolidated their scholarly knowledge.”

By Mandy Clarke, Industry Reporter

Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

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TEACHING RESOURCES |

Book Reviews

e h t o t w Ne f l e h s k boo Finding For YA readers

By David Hill Penguin Random House A family boards a ship bound for New Zealand. What will they find there?

Visiting You For ages 4-8

By Rebecka Sharpe Shelberg & Andrea Edmonds Exisle and Ek Books Setting out to visit their loved one, a child curiously asks a fellow commuter, ‘Who are you going to visit?’. In answer to this simple question, the child learns about the love and loss in the life of a stranger. Visiting You encourages us to find the similarities between people instead of focusing on differences, to recognise some part of ourselves in the life of a stranger.

More Happy Than Not

Spark

For YA readers

By Adam Silvera Penguin Random House

For YA readers

By Vasanti Unka Scholastic

In the months after his father's suicide, it's been tough for sixteen-year-old Aaron Soto to find happiness again…but he's still gunning for it. With the support of his girlfriend Genevieve and his overworked mom, he's slowly remembering what that might feel like. But grief and the smileshaped scar on his wrist prevent him from forgetting completely.

As half-Marked and half-Blank, can Leora ever wholly belong in either fractured community? Mayor Longsight wants to use her as a weapon: to infiltrate Featherstone, home of the Blanks, and deliver them to him for obliteration. Leona longs for answers about her mysterious birth mother, and Featherstone may reveal them. But will she find solace and safety there, or a viper’s nest of suspicion and secrets?

Trace the fortunes of two New Zealand families over seven generations, through wars, depressions, disasters, protest and social change in this exciting novel for intermediate readers.

Biscuits, Bands and Very Big Plans

40

Keep an Eye on this Kiwi

The Art Garden

For ages 5-8

By Scott Tulloch Scholastic

For ages 4-8

By Penny Harrison and Penelope Pratley Exisle and Ek Books

Kiwi is on the hunt for some tasty hu-hu grubs. But clever 'poo-hoo grubs' can outsmart an unassuming kiwi any day. Poor kiwi is determined to prove he is a crafty creeper, a kiwi of considerable cunning ...

With deadpan narration and a hilariously lovable lead character, Scott Tulloch has brought to life an incongruous array of forest friends for the 5-8 years age group, in his first illustrated, comic-style chapter book.

Whenever Sadie picks up a paintbrush she makes a big mess. So instead, she spends her time working in the garden or playing with Tom. But, one day, Sadie gets a look at things from a different perspective — and makes a big discovery about herself and her own creativity. The Art Garden encourages children to explore different ways of expressing themselves and celebrates the importance of individuality and selfacceptance.

schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

For age 7+

By Liz Pichon Scholastic

Kakapo Dance For ages 4+

By Helen Taylor Penguin Random House All the birds in the forest are singing and dancing. All except Kakapo.

New Zealand birds have such an amazing variety of sounds and movements! Dance and sing along with Kakapo and his friends in this read-aloud story about birdsong.

This book is VERY important because it contains BISCUITS, BANDS and all my (doodled) plans to make Dog Zombies the BEST band in the world.

Liz Pichon is the winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, the Red House Children’s Book Award, the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and the Blue Peter Best Story Book Award 2013.

Over 1.6 million copies are in print in ANZ across this series.

Honest, silly and laugh-out-loud funny, Tom Gates is a superb, accessible voice for children.

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ADMINISTRATION |

Library Upgrades

What to consider when refurbishing a school library Have you booked in your library for a makeover?

Thinking about it? There are a few things you might want to consider…

Furniture

A new school library can lead to an upswing in book borrowing, innovate teaching, and even become a social hub. In fact, schools that have researched and invested in redesigning and refurnishing their library spaces talk about seeing a growth in reading and library space popularity. Take yourself back to your uni-days for a second… wasn’t it nice to find a quiet, comfy corner of your campus library so sit and focus in? Didn’t it help you get through those tough assessment times? Sure, the needs of a school differ from those of a university but the core humanlibrary experience is universal.

Libraries offer safe harbour in a sea of academic challenge.

A library catering predominantly to computer research needs to have a different design to a library focussed on books, reading groups or more social activities.

For younger users, libraries can be a place for imagination and thought to run wild. Whether that’s through discovering a new book, listening to a story or joining in a lunchtime club. Dependant on how your library has been designed, the aim is to make it a place that inspires critical thinking, creativity and innovation.

Demographic This is the first thing schools should consider: who’s your library for?

Teenagers and seven-year-olds have very different requirements.

Senior school students will need more desk-space while infant school students will need more reading nooks.

Size From available library space to the furniture inside, size is critical.

How many student groups do you need to be able to use the library at one time? Do you need to be able to modulate the space so it can flexibly resize to fit demand?

If you have different age-groups using the same space, you’ll need to plan accordingly to avoid noise and disruption.

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What are people going to be using the library for? The best way to find this out is to ask teachers, who in turn can ask their students.

Furniture can range from charging stations and desks, to plush seating, lighting, and more; whether stationary or moveable, modular or in-built, you need to have an idea of how furniture in your dream library can best meet your school’s needs. If you’re going to have lots of technology installed, make sure that wires and leads are accounted for and hidden to avoid safety risks.

To gather advice for schools looking to reinvent their libraries, School News spoke to some companies that frequently refurbish school libraries.

Sector know-how…

David Stevens is the export and North Island sales manager at Hydestor Shelving. He described what he believes are critical elements of a library refurbishment…

In my view, the exciting part is the concept that you are looking to create to entice the students to pick up a book and open/read it.

The pedestrian traffic-flow and placement of collections to allow for the balance of people versus areas/

spaces that allows the collection to breathe and be easily accessed has a huge impact on students.

Previously, school collections were dominated by the size of the nonfiction collection, stored spine-out in dewy sequence for reference.

One recent trend has seen progressive schools enhance the presentation of their previously stored spine-out collection of nonfiction books into specific genre topics. A move to a ‘face-out’ display of non-fiction books and one that showcases covers will attract young readers.

In recent years, we have seen the opening up of spaces to allow for greater ILE environments and we’ve initially seen the pendulum swing wildly, as some schools have interpreted that as ‘let’s create a playground within a library space’ to the detriment of the nature of reading/resourcing material.

Fortunately, the pendulum has now swung back to a more balanced equilibrium.

The introduction of more flexible, easily moved library ‘rollaway shelving’ has allowed for the creation of teaching nooks and the

ability to relocate topics for certain genre displays.

Another trend has been the push into e-books and, again, it’s all about balance. As we all know, our lives are heavily tasked with immediate information being available online.

I’m now seeing a quiet revolt from students who actually welcome a break away from viewing a screen and the tactile joy of page-turning.

It’s refreshing to return to a nondigital pastime that allows our eyes and mind to relax.

What’s important to think about when planning a library refurbishment?

Consultation and vision. It’s about the concept that you want to achieve in producing the library environment that will inspire your pupils. Traffic-flow, natural light, collection size, flexibility, colour and texture: these should all be key considerations.

Beckett Neshat is the business development manager for Scholar Furniture and told us how schools can avoid creating a dull library environment…

A library should encourage creativity and imagination. There are many factors to consider in achieving this such as colour, acoustics, furnishings and placement; all of which have a big impact on students and can make the library a happier place for them to spend their time.

School libraries have typically been dull areas in the past. However, with the introduction of soft seating, schools are using this as a way to bring colour into the libraries, brightening up spaces. In terms of sound, panels around walls in libraries can provide better acoustics.

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ADMINISTRATION |

Library Upgrades

Libraries are now being used as student centres too. In the past, there may have been groups of tables and classroom chairs to accommodate 20 to 30 students but now the requirement is more for collaborative, interactive furniture that creates quiet areas for reading and studying, small group areas, along with soft furniture spaces for large groups.

You will find more ottomans and sofas in libraries now than in previous years. These items have become popular as they can be moved around to create different areas and many will have large backs for privacy.

Teachers are benefiting due to the fact these different areas can be created, providing flexibility. Often, soft furnishings are placed in a ‘bonfire’ shape for storytelling to younger students.

Consider the space available and the amount of students that could be in the library at any given time.

Schools often have an office area in a library, as well as multiple computer stations on high benches.

Consideration also needs to be given to soft/lounge breakout seating and the placement of furniture to suit different library genres. Architects are being used far more than in previous years, to create layouts for new areas.

This helps the librarian to create an effective, creative and inspiring working area for students and teachers alike.

Clark Beatson is the sales manager at Int.workspaces. He explained why he feels schools can bring themselves up-to-date by refreshing their library…

Refurbishing your library is a key project, bringing your library back up-to-date with current technology and teaching methods.

It can require significant capital expenditure and if you don’t get it right, you will be stuck with it for a few years so thorough planning is vital.

It is important that you step right out of your current library and dream from a blank canvas, so you’re not influenced by any of the current

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backs, lounge seating, bean bags and cushions. features of your library. Dream big: then, if you have budget constraints, you can stage the refurbishment, scale back the ‘nice to haves’ or fundraise within your community.

Begin by getting hold of a plan of your library building; imagine it with non-load bearing walls stripped out to open up your space; gather ideas from other libraries. Talking to students will also help but enlist experts too. Suppliers offer free consultations and have a wealth of knowledge from working with libraries all over the country.

Mobile bays of shelving and loose furniture can be wheeled around and easily reconfigured at any time to change the whole layout and functionality of your library.

Your library may need to double as a teaching space, auditorium or makerspace lab – don’t trap yourself with fixed items.

Devices are now part of our way of life so a standing height bar with charging ports, and some barstools is a great idea and will encourage collaboration groups. It’s also great motivation for the students to have a chance to stand while they study.

Plan for change in décor too.

Choose natural tones for your library with accents of bold to make it go bang. You could add colour with a few randomly scattered carpet tiles, your bay ends or a display wall.

This will save cost and effort in the future as you can refresh again by changing the accents not the entire library.

STEM activities don’t have to take up a large amount of space. It could be as simple as having a mobile storage cupboard to store your STEM activities and some flip tables.

If you have room, you may be able to include workbenches, whiteboard tables, a media hub or even a greenscreen and AV recording kit.

Flexibility doesn’t only have to be for the students. It’s as much your library as it is theirs so plan for you too. For example, books can be scanned and issued from your smartphone now, so do you need a fixed desk?

Refreshing your library will ensure that it remains that way into the future.

Suzanne Roxburgh-Blair is the sales team leader at Distinction Furniture.

She spoke to us about some of her favourite elements of library refurbishment…

Soft furnishings have a bigger impact on students than the standard chairs and tables. It encourages quiet reading and can be used to create small and large collaborative areas. Soft furnishings range from booth seating with tables, ottomans with and without

I have seen a few changing trends in library design, so research is a vital part of the process, ensuring the environment you wish to achieve meets the needs of students, teachers and sometimes the community. When designing furniture for spaces, take future trends on board, like makerspaces, presentation spaces, collaboration, connected and creative, quiet spaces.

Well thoughtout furniture can inspire, making the place feel relaxed, safe, comfortable and connected. Using colourful fabrics from reputable suppliers, comfortable soft furnishings and ergonomic seating to compliment flexible furniture for all different learning spaces is key.

Planning a library refurbishment comes down to understanding what you want to achieve. This includes how much space is required to create the different learning spaces.

Some school libraries are shared between new entrants and seniors, so shared spaces, makerspace, creative spaces, and quiet spaces need innovative thought to allow different age groups to use the same space.

Flexible book display’s and functional storage units can help create space. Materials used can range from soft tones of timber to colourful panels.

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ADMINISTRATION |

Yearbooks

The book your students will read for decades to come You can’t get your friends to sign a virtual yearbook…

In a predominantly digital world, the printed yearbook you can hold in your hands and flick through, still holds a special place in the hearts of students, graduates and families.

It is a tangible keepsake that protects the memories of youth and recalls a time in life that can be remembered fondly.

Now that school yearbooks are more affordable and gaining popularity with primary schools as well as high schools, it’s a big consideration for lots of schools.

With the reduced costs of printing, improved design software and the simplicity of digital photography, compiling a yearbook is now more cost effective and less time consuming than ever.

In this edition, School News talks to yearbook printers and designers to get pointers on planning a yearbook, design ideas and how best to capture those special moments.

Planning a yearbook Like any big school project, planning a yearbook should begin as soon as possible.

Although it may only take about two months to pull together the final product (depending on your printer), the process of compiling

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photos and articles should occur throughout the year.

Deciding on a printer early will also take some of the headache out of archiving photos because many yearbook businesses offer software or archiving systems through which to store images for easy access.

Design Yearbook design decisions include everything from the size and shape of the book, paper thickness, whether printing colour or black-and-white, and what to put on the cover. Beyond those big-ticket decisions, are finer details such as the layout of each page, the type of font, and colour schemes.

Then there’s the all-important

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www.readypress.co.nz 46

schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

question of who to employ to undertake the production and design work.

Yearbook providers offer choice when it comes to design options to cater different budgets and a school’s level of design expertise.

Hiring your own graphic designer can be expensive because they often charge by the hour, including for time spent on alterations and fixing mistakes.

A number of software programs are more user-friendly while specific yearbook software programs offer templates that allow users to drag and drop photos and text into boxes.

Capturing special moments Of course, the most important part of putting a yearbook together is making sure you capture those milestones and special moments throughout the school year With so many people owning high-quality phones, the quantity of images available is unlikely to be a problem. But it is important to establish the most practical means of collecting and collating those photos.

Industry take…

YOLO’s Janet Morgans-Lea shared her specialised insights with School News…

When it comes to yearbooks, print is still dominant, rather than electronic. Students are pro-print: having a digital option as well as print is becoming more popular but it does comes with its own set of challenges, such as privacy issues.

We’ve noticed that the hardest thing about creating a yearbook is sourcing content from busy teachers, especially during the end of Term 3 and beginning of Term 4 when most books are produced. To avoid the rush, you need proper planning.

The phrase ‘content is king’ springs to mind because it’s very true for yearbooks! You need to find the perfect balance of student work and achievements, staff messages, events, trips, and archival information.

More photos or more text? That’s always a tough call.

Here are a few tips on how to plan your yearbook content: •

The more students involved in a particular activity/event then the more space should be allocated to cover it.

•

Any significant news, such as teachers retiring, new buildings, or amazing achievements should also get more space and tend to be at the beginning of the book.

Yearbooks

•

Most staff, students and parents prefer having more photos compared to text – a picture really does tell a thousand words!

advise using project management software or a calendar to keep track of everything.

Think about captioning portraits, class photos and teams photos – in 10 years’ time when the student looks back it will mean a lot to have everyone’s names captioned.

Done correctly, a school yearbook will be as unique as the yeargroup it was produced for. If you want something truly memorable, why not try personalised printing, which gives students the option to have their own personal cover or pages that are completely unique to them.

Once you have the content plan organised, writing and collecting all of the content requires good project management. When are the events happening? Is someone organised to take photos? Which staff member is writing which report? Does the staff member who is writing the report know the deadline, subject, word-length, etc.? We

We keep our eye on the latest design trends, and for 2018 we see bold colours in bright neon, rainbow hues and clashing tones. Large stylised typographic headings in extra bold weights are trendy to use across large photos, with the text often cropped in an artful way. Other trends include hand-drawn elements; retro-inspired illustration-style

•

| ADMINISTRATION

covers; gradient overlays; double exposure photo and geometric shapes. Authentic photography is also popular – people looking natural, not posed and airbrushed.

If you’ve never designed a publication before, it can be a steep learning curve.

For any school tackling it

themselves, we recommend using special yearbook software, because you can pick from a lot of pre-designed templates and styles to make your life a lot easier.

And last but not least have fun!

By Kat Donaghey, Industry Reporter

supplier profile YOLO

Create beautiful yearbooks with YOLO – without the stress Want a yearbook, diary or calendar for your school to treasure? It can be easy and fun! You don’t have to get stressed out or spend unreasonable amounts of money to create something beautiful.

by hand or worry that corrections won’t be implemented because of hard-to-read handwriting.

You will also get free access to the following:

YOLO and its parent company Spacific have worked with more than 100 schools over the past 16 years, designing stunning yearbooks and treasured memories.

The team have used their experience – along with feedback from schools they’ve collaborated with – to build a service that cuts costs, saves time and is simple to use. Choose from two options to suit your workload and budget: either create your own yearbook with Made by Me or let YOLO custom design one for you with Designed by YOLO. If you have the time and a flair for design, or if you have a team

of students and teachers ready to help, then Made by Me is a great choice. Crafting a beautiful yearbook is easy thanks to YOLO’s specialised design software.

Even better, choose Designed by YOLO and let them do the hard work for you, managing every step of the process: from font selection

to delivery of the finished product.

Every custom design they create is completely unique – there are no templates or duplicated designs.

YOLO offers complimentary access to an online editing portal that lets multiple people edit the same yearbook. And no need to painstakingly mark-up corrections

•

Proof reading software Grammarly, which automatically checks spelling, grammar, punctuation and more

•

The YOLO Knowledge Base, with guides, tips and answers to most questions

•

A community forum, monitored by YOLO staff and experts from schools across the country, to answer any other tricky questions you might have

•

An online system to make transferring photos and text easy

Get in touch with YOLO today on hello@yolo.co.nz to find out why so many students and teachers recommend working with them.

Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

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ADMINISTRATION |

School Balls, Formals and Graduations

An event to remember…

Did you have a ball at your school formal or graduation?

For some people, that might be a loaded question as many folks lament having had a bad experience at a ‘milestone’ school event. These tend to involve awkward teenage encounters, fashion choices that were ‘of their time’, downright cheesy music, and a shabby locale. Well, proper event planning can prevent at least two of those things from happening to your students.

Creating an event to remember (for the right reasons!) requires some research, and a little attention to detail on top of the basic elements, but it’s not rocket science. Getting it right will mean giving families photogenic moments they’ll always cherish, while getting it wrong could tarnish an otherwise great year.

The key is in the planning.

Event planning isn’t for everyone and busy teachers may not be the first to raise a hand and volunteer to plan an entire graduation.

Committees work well until there are disagreements or indecision.

Left up to the students, well, it’s probably not always best to go down that route! A happy medium is likely ideal, particularly if an event has to cater to different groups; for example, parents as well as students. A professional event manager can bring all the relevant parties together and organise the perfect shindig.

But what a perfect school event should look and sound like is another matter altogether.

Know your audience In other words, tap into the reasons why your attendees are attending and frame your event around that. A graduation event will have a very different ambiance to a school ball or formal. Similarly, secondary school graduations will differ from primary, which are becoming increasingly popular.

For a ‘party’ event, like a school ball, where students are attending to dress up and have fun with their peers, photobooths and props will work spectacularly

because attendees will be looking for casual and silly ways to take photos. A more formal event, where parents are attending too, like a graduation needs more of an emphasis on professional photography. In this case, planners should consider how to organise the photo-taking so that families, student groups and individual shots can all be taken during the event without emptying the main hall or venue.

Theme or vibe? Whether or not your event will have a theme should be decided quickly as this will inform everything else. Theme or vibe influences the choice in venue and entertainment as well

as food and beverage options.

A ‘cocktail party’ ambiance will focus more on drinks than food and certainly wouldn’t involve dinner. Entertainment can be more casual too – perhaps a local jazz performer, or talented music student. It would also need a much smaller venue than a full-scale black tie gala event, where the venue would require a ballroom facility, space and furniture for dinner service as well as a dancefloor if a ballroom dance is on the cards. For events with a more relaxed vibe, like a graduation luncheon or afternoon tea, an outdoor venue might be better suited.

A night to

remember

At Alexandra Park, we want your School Function to be unforgettable.

For an amazing evening with all the trimmings, our School Ball Package offers a choice of 8 function spaces, a mix-and-match menu, central location, free parking, security and most importantly, an experienced team who can look after everything from theming, lighting, organising your DJ and more.

We also offer an all inclusive Leaver’s Dinner / Awards Night package.

Contact us to chat about your ideas today.

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alexandrapark.co.nz 48

schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

$70pp

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Black or white table cloths Stage if required Lighting package Dedicated event coordinator Separate teachers lounge with tea and coffee provided

Enquire today to explore our range of unique event spaces T: 0800 54 9898 E: events@aucklandconventions.co.nz Level 4, Aotea Centre, 50 Mayoral Drive, Auckland 1010

ADMINISTRATION |

Digital Signage

Sign your school up for more effective communication ‘Screentime’ is a staple word for generation ‘z’, the group of kids born after the mid-90s.

different in 2018. Digital signage is one way that schools are evolving to reflect this.

Message streamlining

Today’s school-age children have been growing up in a digital world, so it makes logical sense that an effective way to communicate with them en masse would be through a screen.

Digital signage offers some unique benefits that more traditional methods of broad communication lack. One of those benefits, is meeting students where they are to notify them directly. The word ‘notification’ denotes the action of informing someone about an announcement, and traditionally this word would be used in a formal context like a letter

The essential first priority of any digital signage system is the ability to convey a clear message to its intended audience.

from the principal. However, to your students and many of your colleagues, a ‘notification’ is something that pops up on a smartphone when a friend has

commented or liked a social media post. Students might be more likely to read alerts on a screen than any number of letters or diary notes. Communication is

Knowing your budget and what you need to get out of it is the best place to start!

If you go with a DJ, you’ll need to deliberate on the DJ set-up and factor in cost. Entertainment is an area that schools typically try to cut costs on but it’s the thing people remember. Choosing something that feeds into your theme will be your best bet, even on a tight budget. If in doubt, ask your students – they tend to be a talented bunch and may even know a local band or performer that won’t be exuberantly expensive.

To unearth some dos and don’ts from the experts in the industry, School News spoke to some events specialists.

Viewpoints from the industry…

Ketaki Bhave-Khotkar is the events sales manager at Alexandra Park.

She told us: “We predominantly work with school students, teachers and school ball committees when planning school events.

“The first step, when planning an exciting and successful school ball event, is to book a suitable venue.

The venue needs to tie in with the look and feel of your event and the ambience and atmosphere you are trying to create.

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schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

In a message about safety…

Screens can updated or programmed to spur onlookers into action, e.g. Hall flooded, meet in library or School closed for emergency repairs. Check website for updates. Digital signs can also convey important messages to parents or school buses entering the school, with parking information, closure notifications or school traffic updates. Real-time weather forecasts, emergency alerts and

“There are so many trends that we see over social media – some are great but others only look good on your iPhone. When it comes to event styling, oversized balloons are the new ‘it’ thing… and metallics are right on-trend.

“It is also vital to secure the services of a good photographer to ensure that all the wonderful memories created at the event are captured by a professional. Most of the popular photographers who specialise in school ball photography get booked up pretty quickly so it’s important to pencil in dates with them as soon as you can.

“We have noticed that custom build DJ stations are becoming a huge trend at school events.

Many schools have been going the extra mile with their DJ set-up, using special lighting effects, bubble machines, smoke and haze machines etc.

“Some of the biggest dos and don’ts, in our opinion, when planning your event include making sure you are well acquainted with venue policies.

For example, some venues don’t allow you to use smoke machines as they can interfere with smoke detectors, certain venues have strict policies around using glitter and confetti as part of the decorative features.”

Meredith Drucker is the general manager at The Events Group.

She illuminated: “When it comes to planning a spine-tinglingly good school ball or event, it may sound boring but getting the basics right are key to planning a great event.

“The key thing to remember with any event is how to make an impact and where to spend your budget. For event décor/styling, the best way to get the most out of your budget is to work with a great lighting designer – then whatever else you put in the room will look amazing.

“Photo booths are always fun and a great way to make your event last longer than four hours. If you are tight on budget, you can save by not having the prints – you can always have a ‘gif’ station rather than a traditional printing station photo booth. Remember to add props in-keeping with your theme for an extra layer of detail.

“Make sure the ball committee are all on the same page when it comes to the planning. Agree on who is doing what so you don’t waste time on double handling anything.”

Digital Signage

relevant information available to be dispersed by the displays is important and there will be a requirement for media to be created and managed by staff, whether this media is able to be created in control software or imported from external providers.

messages are also possible with some software programs. Speak with the supplier of your choice to find out what they offer.

In a message about events…

Schools can promote their activities, fundraisers or competitions wherever they have organised digital signs or screens to be placed. From digital scoreboards that add a professional vibe to sports events and increase hype among students, to screens around campus that replace print flyers for school plays, functions and special assemblies.

The changing trend is the growth of SMD displays with a smaller pixel pitch, enabling a higher quality image to be displayed to the community. This is not as important when basic text messages are being displayed; however, the finer pitch SMD displays do produce far better delineation on characters when compared to a DIP type display.

For a slight increase in product cost, the quality of imagery increases drastically. This allows the user to utilise images of sports, arts and cultural events to be used with a sharp clear picture being produced on the display as opposed to a blurry low resolution colour image.

While SMD displays that can present high quality images are becoming more popular, there are many ‘basic text options’ that are useful in a school setting.

Particularly for simple messages, like uniform shop opening times, bell times, price lists or discounts for bake sales, etc. The different technologies, of course, come with different image qualities and price-tags so it’s worth enquiring directly to find out what specs you require.

With the increased lifespan in some screen technology, this is worth considering as future proofing the investment with a display that provide sharp images for years to come rather than look old the day it is installed.

Communal chit-chat…

A terrific way to boost community engagement or outreach, is to develop unique messages for your school to display externally.

Community engagement is one of the eight principles in the New Zealand curriculum that provide a foundation for schools’ decision making. “The principle of community engagement calls for schools and teachers to deliver a curriculum that is meaningful, relevant, and connected to students' lives,” states the Ministry of Education.

“Community engagement is also about establishing strong home-school partnerships where parents, whānau, and communities are involved and supported in students' learning.

Effective community engagement is imperative in this process.”

A digital sign outside your school can keep the community in touch with what is happening on

| ADMINISTRATION

campus and prepare incoming parents, students, or visitors. A few examples: Shhhh, please. We have exams. Foyer refurb starts next week – use side entrance. or Welcome, friends from France.

These are all straight to the point, easy to read and prepare entrees before they walk through the school gates.

Video messages in a place frequented by visitors, such as prospective new parents or teachers, can present voxpops or promotional footage from around the school – maybe even display some projects undertaken by students. These signs will differ from those playing in a canteen where students can quickly and quietly be briefed on upcoming school events or even shown

helpful study tips or stressrelieving techniques while they enjoy their lunch.

School News reached out to suppliers in the industry to find out more about the digital signage options available to schools.

Opinion from inside the industry: Ross Thomson, spokesman for Signopsys Electronic Signs, told School News what he feels schools should keep in mind…

The quality of the software is marked out by its ability to produce whatever content the school wishes to deliver with impressions that are effective.

Ensuring there is current and

The learning environment is all about the exchange of concepts and knowledge but they are typically constrained by broadcast limitations. Although LED displays cannot be in front of everyone all the time, when placed strategically it is inevitable that the school community will see the impressions being displayed.

Add to this feature the ability to instantly change impressions, which are visually attractive as a result of colour, movement and definition, and the construct becomes a powerful medium for the school community.

The real test of the eff icient use of funding available is how well the LED infrastructure is capable of delivering those impressions and how effective messaging will achieve results relating to the circumstances and conditions of the school and its community.

Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

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LEOTC |

Exploring Auckland

Why school field trips are more important than ever…

Social media, virtual reality, desktop computers, 3D printers and all manner of smart devices… this is the time of tech-savvy, smart kids but how can we prepare them better for adult life?

One way is to create learning experiences in real-world environments. This issue, School News is shining a spotlight on Auckland as an ideal place to take your students on a voyage of real-world delight and educational discovery. From its historic gardens and heritage buildings, to the iconic Sky Tower and world’s largest Polynesian market, Otara Market, you’ll want to join your students in snapchatting and Insta-filtering every moment.

On that note, do you confiscate smartphones on field trips?

This was something that came to mind as I read an article penned by Dr Jean Twenge, Professor of psychology at San Diego State University. In her online blog, Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? She states: “A generation shaped by the smartphone and by the concomitant rise of social media.

I call them iGen. Born between 1995 and 2012, members of this

generation are growing up with smartphones, have an Instagram account before they start high school, and do not remember a time before the internet.”

She suggests that the arrival of the smartphone has radically changed every aspect of young lives, in every type of household, regardless of wealth or ethnicity.

These super-connected iGen kids are the most intelligent generation yet, most self-conscious, and most over-protected with a tendency towards complacency and a lack of confidence for independence in the real world.

Technology both connects and

isolates; it shapes social life, alters personal relationships, community, and even civic life. I acknowledged the importance of real-world learning recently, when my iGen teenager asked, How do I post a parcel at the Post Office?

Oops: an essential skill he’d not yet acquired.

Alongside parental fails, classroom learning has its limitations too.

The standard form of education still involves sitting behind a desk and is increasingly dependent on technology. Therefore, it is more important now than ever before to get iGens out of the classroom (or their bedroom) and into the real

world to experience how society works and apply their virtual education to actual reality.

Field trips should be fun and they should also push students out of their comfort zones, encourage social bonding and offer unique educational moments. Every opportunity to learn through experience is priceless.

There is so much to see in New Zealand’s biggest city that it’s hard to know where to begin…

Auckland is built on a volcanic field and its magical location is filled with rich experiences: historic, scenic and geothermal, with rising green pastures,

Exercise in disguise for students and teachers JUMP offers four different Auckland and Waikato-based trip experiences for students and teachers, revealed brand and marketing manager Belinda Rowles. These include self-directed jumping, wellness (exercise and fitness), team building exercises and a dodgeball tournament.

“Students and teachers both benefit from the team-bonding that follows on from sharing an activity, a competition or having fun together. The by-product of

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schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

controlled environment. JUMP encourages teachers to take part too by offering participating teachers or supervisors the student rate.

all our activities is ‘exercise in disguise’ as trampolines provide a surprisingly intense workout (even a game of dodgeball) but it is such a uniquely engaging and fun form of exercise that the level of effort is only noted afterwards.

All JUMP activities, from simple jumping, to slam-dunking in the basketball hoops or learning to flip on an Olympic-grade trampoline, encourage risk-taking and an opportunity to build confidence and mastery in a monitored and

“Taking your class on at dodgeball or learning to do a flip is as much about building teacher confidence and mastery as it is about the students. And we see them having lot of fun together and bonding in the process.”

“Between them, JUMP activities meet four out of five New Zealand Curriculum key competencies: thinking, relating to others, managing self, participating and contributing.”

Exploring Auckland

for filming crews and scheduled protests. It might be worth researching online to see if any events might be worth attending – particularly for older students with an interest in modern history, politics or law. mountains and dormant volcanic cones. It is a city where students will discover rich culture and history, from museums, impressive art galleries and exhibits to guided walking tours, early colonial architecture and sacred Māori historical sites.

The volcanoes – maunga – make Auckland’s landscape unique and hold huge historical, spiritual and cultural significance to Auckland Māori. There are easily accessible volcanic summits if you are prepared to explore. Mount Eden is Auckland’s highest point and offers a 360° view of the city.

Always interesting… there are frequent events happening in

Auckland, from major sporting extravaganzas, to concerts and festivals as well as outdoor adventures.

With a city so vast, it’s a great opportunity for students to learn about city planning, such as transport (the historic seaside town of Devonport is a joyful ferry-ride away). The city harbours are connected by bridges, notably the Auckland Harbour Bridge, and nearby islands house olive groves, vineyards, a rage of natural ecology and phenomena that will fascinate young visitors.

This historic Mount Eden Prison would make for an interesting trip, particularly as they are a hotspot

EXERCISE IN DISGUISE

Three simple and economic ideas for a self-guided field trip in Auckland…

1.

Organise a walk and picnic in Auckland’s beautiful gardens, and tree-filled parks – choose the exquisite Parnell Rose Gardens, popular Cornwall Park or the 64 hectares at the spectacular Auckland Botanic Gardens.

2.

Explore the beautifully transformed Rotoroa Island, now accessible to everyone as an island sanctuary where visitors can connect with nature and be educated about conservation. The

| LEOTC

island is now populated with endangered species that require intensive wildlife management to survive and thrive. You can also explore heritage buildings including the former school house and jail.

3.

Participate in the Auckland City Heritage Walk, an easy 1.5-hour walk for history and architecture enthusiasts that gives you a glimpse of one of the city’s most historically significant areas, see the beautiful heritage buildings including the Civic theatre and the Town Hall.

Hot tip: sandwich any historic sites with activities that involve thrill and you’ll keep those iGen techsavvy kids and teens engaged.

They might even forget about that Fortnite game they’re all talking about this term.

SO MUCH FUN YOUR STUDENTS WON’T BELIEVE IT’S A LESSON! JUMPing challenges your active kids and encourages the not-so-active kids to enjoy physical activity. This is what some of our schools say: “Really good involvement from your staff, very interactive with the kids” “JUMP was a really safe environment for them to try and extend themselves” “Was a fantastic term at jump, staff and students loved it” Book our special rates for school groups: jumpwithus.co.nz/groups/jump-schools

www.jumpwithus.co.nz

0800 JUMP WITH US / (09) 600 5397 Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

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LEOTC |

Exploring Auckland

Encountering, understanding and appreciating amazing marine life Education Team Leader at Sea Life Kelly Tarlton's Auckland, Emma Ferguson told School News: “Our classroom session focussing on conservation has quickly become our most popular programme.

“For many students, a visit to Sea Life Kelly Tarlton’s is very exciting! This is a fantastic experience for students; however, it can be a sensory overload resulting in a fun day without much educational value.

teachers can use these in a number of ways; to aid in pre-lessons, as worksheets for students while they are in the attraction, or after their visit as a follow up activity in class.

“Our online resources and classroom sessions help to focus students and result in a more cohesive educational experience that is still fun and exciting! With our online resources freely available to download from our website,

“Coupled with a free classroom session on-site with a qualified marine biologist, Sea Life Kelly Tarlton’s offers a unique way for students to get inspired and learn about the marine environment and the creatures that live there.”

Be immersed in our underwater world, and discover the learning opportunities at Sea Life Kelly Tarlton’s.

Visits include all day admission to our attraction, FREE self-guided online resources, and even a FREE classroom session with our Marine Biologists.

BOOK ONLINE OR EMAIL Learn@kellytarltons.co.nz

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schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

Exploring Auckland

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Bringing history to life in an exciting way…

LIFE EXPERIENCE CONNECT TO THE PAST SEE BUNGY UP CLOSE

“Our stand out activity option for school groups in Auckland is the Bridge Climb experience,” explained Auckland Territory Manager for AJ Hackett Bungy New Zealand, Britt Gawith.

“Our bridge climb option can easily cater to large school groups. Our minimum age is seven years, so we can take a wide range of school levels.

The climb itself is a gradual incline, followed by steps up to the summit. For the bridge climb, we can also provide use of a barbecue and lawn

games to extend your stay and cover off kids’ lunchtime too.

“The SkyWalk Experience has also been gaining in popularity; however, it is important to note that the minimum age on this option is 10 years and our group numbers are more restrictive, with 18 people being the optimum number for this option.

“The bridge climb is a fantastic way to bring history to life in a fun and enjoyable way, plus there’s also the chance to watch bungy jumping up-close. Our guides are professionally trained so it will make managing your group on-site a breeze.”

CALL TO ENQUIRE 0800 462 8649 or +64 9 360 7748 Email: groups@bungy.co.nz

Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

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LEOTC |

School Camps

Planning a school camp without the stress Fun but frantic: filled with worry but so worthwhile, school camp is a milestone for children and for new teachers. What was your first experience chaperoning a school camp?

The best kind are as exciting for teachers as they are for the students but those require good planning. Depending on the length of the camp and distance from the school, you’ll need at least a year to prepare in advance: everything from food and shelter to activities, entertainment and learning experiences. Once the budget has been thoroughly accounted for, accommodation and location are probably the biggest initial concerns.

A good night’s rest To find the right accommodation provider, think about the size of your camp-group and length of stay. If it’s more than a week, you may want to consider multiple locations or make sure the rooms will be comfortable enough for an extended stay. There are a plethora of amazing accommodation providers that cater to school groups; from cabins and camping sites, to city apartments, motels, and more unusual offerings like overnight aquarium or planetarium stays.

Don’t forget to think about the accommodation options for teachers and chaperones; ask the

accommodation manager about this during your initial enquiry. A venue that’s close to your school will mean cheaper transport and, particularly for the littlest campers, parents aren’t too far away if the experience gets a little too much for someone. On the downside, it can be less exciting for students and the range of activities available may not be as wide. Travelling a little further afield gets everyone in the adventurous spirit and increases the number of opportunities to tie in different subjects.

Another vital element of school camp is the unique opportunity to

School groups our speciality Close to all local sport fields Large kitchen & common areas

build bonds within student groups.

Camp is a chance for kids to ‘hang out’ with peers outside their friendship circle; to rely on and trust each other in group activities and share new experiences that will create positive memories and hopefully strengthen their bonds.

It is the camp coordinator or planner’s role to try to make room for this to happen by organising the ideal itinerary. Things that might suit your student-group include an end-of-camp dance, campfire story-times, impromptu plays or social activities, or group orienteering but there are countless options.

Food, food, glorious food. This can really make or break a school camp. The last thing you need is for a child to get sick because of something they ate, so first of all make sure you are clear about allergies and food intolerances.

Second of all, plan to have good camp food. Cooking might even be a great activity to schedule into the itinerary but, either way, make sure everyone will be well-fed. Whether you opt for a caterer (do a taste test well in advance, if possible), order food to be sent to the campground, book a facility that includes food, or plan for students to bring a set amount of money for food each

Looking for a venue...

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schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

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School Camps

Three months before camp •

Notify parents about fees, volunteer requests and permission slips.

•

Remember, changes to the Vulnerable Children’s Act 2014, and health and safety regulations mean these may require more processing time.

day, make sure you think it through.

Decide what to ban students from bringing along to camp.

Some parents will want their children to bring phones, for example, so it’s up to you to decide whether this is permitted.

Snacks, games, technology, books, makeup: cover all your bases and let parents and students know why they can’t bring certain items. If it’s not explicitly banned, someone will probably bring it.

Industry insider opinion Sarah Rhodes, groups coordinator from Christchurch Top 10, shared the following with School News…

Regarding some of the different types of accommodation available to school camp groups, some schools choose to bring their own tents and experience camping under the stars in non-powered sites.

Meanwhile, others choose to stay in cabins and use communal group kitchen and bathroom facilities.

Others still would prefer to have units with facilities inside each room and stay in units such as chalets or motels.

Two months before camp

One month before camp

•

Engage with students about the school camp to get them excited and prepared for any camp activities; particularly if they will be travelling somewhere new or strenuous physical activity will be involved.

•

•

Incentivise form returns or any other housekeeping required from parents or students to aid your process; stickers, awards, ‘first dibs’ on rooms, etc., may help your cause.

| LEOTC

Check all permission slips have been returned, finalise your ‘bad weather’ plan, including any alternative transport or activities, and specify special dietary requirements and health concerns.

There is a wide range of options available for school camp stays.

Other facilities that school groups particularly enjoy include indoor heated swimming pools, playgrounds and jumping pillows, giant chess sets and indoor electronic games. It’s important to continually update and improve facilities for school groups, such as with a slackline or new games, bike and storage areas. Schools looking to organise a school camp should do so the earlier the better, to save disappointment if specific room types are already booked.

The more details a provider knows about the group, the better to cater to different needs.

School camps are a great opportunity for children to spend a night away from home and learn about things outside of their home town. It can also teach them a little bit about independence as, for some, it might be their first trip away parents. While camps can organise or put schools in touch with caterers, most groups prefer to save on costs by ordering groceries from a supermarket online and have it delivered so they can do their own cooking.

Christchurch TOP 10 Holiday Park 0800 396 323 39 Meadow Street Papanui, Christchurch

christchurchtop10.co.nz

With room for everyone, our park is the ideal space for your school or sports group.

Motels | Units | Cabins | Sites • Motel 2 bedroom • Self-contained units • Lodge sleeps 40 • Cabins • Group kitchen/dining • Indoor heated swimming pool/spa • Games room • Jumping pillow • Playground • 5km from City Centre, close to Northlands mall

By Rosie Clarke, Editor Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

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LEOTC |

Out Of School Care

Caring more about ‘out of school hours’ care There’s a delicate magic to a truly terrific before/ after school programme.

It should provide a safe, engaging space for students to enjoy quiet time, play, or work on school homework. It’s not school. But it does need to be a place where children can learn if they want to focus on reading or a school project that they would be working on at home.

There are strict guidelines for these programmes, explained by the Ministry of Social Development: the OSCAR Standards for approval are used to determine whether out of school programmes comply with sections 25–27 of the Social Security (Childcare Assistance) Regulations 2004. Out of school programmes provide care and recreation before school, after school, and during school holidays.

These programmes are for children aged from five to 13, where the duty of care is formally handed over from the parent to the programme. The OSCAR Standards measure whether an out of school programme provides adequate care and a safe environment for children. The standards determine whether a programme is properly run and were developed after consultation with the OSCAR Foundation, key OSCAR stakeholders and OSCAR providers.

Children will require out of hours care for all sorts of reasons, from having working parents to living in a remote area or even student preference. As the quality of the programmes increase, so do their popularity, and the modern age brings with it new factors to consider. Care providers must cater to different age group needs: keeping tabs on the social dynamics of 12-year-olds requires a different approach to keeping a five-year-old occupied in their imagination. For this reason, it’s important that schools carefully consider their programme selection and have a close relationship with the programme provider to make sure their students’ receive the most magical care possible.

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School News spoke with some providers in this sector to find out what it’s like to run ‘out of school hours care’ programmes.

Industry views On different activity options for before and after school care that benefit students most… sKids managing director Dawn Engelbrecht said: “Good after school care services will have a variety of opportunities available for children of all ages to participate in and will also have the option for quieter children to just ‘chill’ with their friends or even a quiet corner where they can read a book.

“Good out of school care programmes have the child's needs at heart. Staff that work there do so because they love being with children - they are not babysitters they are passionate people who want to make a difference in the life of your children. There are heaps of great programmes around the country that are doing a fantastic job each day, bridging that gap between home and school so that families can feel comfortable that their children are safe and cared for.

“As a parent, you ultimately want your child to be happy; so look for a programme that has a variety of activities available each afternoon

for their child to choose from and talk to your child about trying new things with their friends. The good news is that most children are actually not overly worried about missing out on extra-curricular activities as long as they are having fun!”

Fun Zone Group managing director Rangi Esson said: “Structured free time plays a critically important role within OSC. After a long day at school, in a strongly structured learning environment, kids need some time to unwind and express their freedom; offering an optional 10 to 20 minutes’ homework support per day so kids can complete simple allocated homework tasks so parents can focus on quality family time at home; fun projects spanning many days, or even weeks; outof-the-box craft ideas that require imagination and creativity; ‘cool and crazy’ science experiments; taking games they know well and changing the rules to create a new games; music, dance and any modern crazes that the kids are into; some balanced time chillout time for reading or electronic device use; fun group games that help develop social interaction.

Good quality outside school care provides adult caregivers that are relatable, show positive role modelling and actively express sincere interested in what’s going

on in kids’ lives and with their outside interests.

On changing trends in ‘out of school hours’ care, and the challenges faced by providers…

Dawn Engelbrecht added: “There are huge changes, both in NZ and Internationally. The biggest change in NZ is that the sector is becoming more regulated, which of course is good and bad. It's good because there absolutely needs to be standards and protections in place to ensure our children are in safe professional environments.

Unfortunately, the standards are essentially voluntary and there are still some providers out there that choose not to be assessed . The ‘bad’ is that with increased compliance comes increased cost, which is always challenging when you are trying to deliver an affordable service to families and, secondly, there is the real risk that we end up like some countries that are so highly regulated, good operators struggle to keep up with the red tape and close down.

“Often, the regulations are simply adapted from the early childhood standards, which are simply not appropriate for out of school care; why would we need nappy changing areas or laundry facilities?”

Rangi Esson noted: “More schools are accepting OSC as a valuable

Out Of School Care

extended service within their schools, and parents’ need for OSC is increasing to the point that we are starting to see waiting lists like with ECE. Gaining approval as a registered OSCAR programme to allow parent to qualify for childcare subsidies has become easier.

However, there is less government support available for new OSCAR programmes seeking grants that use to be available in the past.

Parents are starting to expect convenient electronic enrolment and quick electronic sign in-andouts systems. OSC programmes are also now having to increasing actively manage kids’ electronic content and electronic device usage.

“Tweens expressing their interests in relationships has dramatically increased, requiring OSC staff to become more active in supervision and guidance in this area. Age and stage-wise, kids 8-9 years old, are acting more like 10-11 with less interest in junior activities. Parents are needing longer hours of care, so there is an increased usage of before school services and after school services are trending towards longer 7pm finishes.

Dawn Engelbrecht also said: “Some countries are focusing on increasing the expectation of the sector to become an extension of the school day and so staff are expected to monitor the educational progress of children attending. Other countries are going in the opposite direction and focusing on ensuring that

children are exposed to play in a variety of settings including risky play. Personally, I believe that we can include educational outcomes in out of school activities without requiring formal tuition to take place - think about cooking, for example, as an ideal opportunity for a conversation about science, maths and technology while having heaps of fun along the way (and you get to eat it at the end).

Opportunities for play should be a given.

“In terms of allergies - especially food allergies - these definitely increasing but good providers are aware of that and design menus that are still fun and nutritious but ensure safety safe for all children to enjoy.

On how OSCAR standards and guidelines play into what kind of care or support these programmes offer…

“The OSCAR standards provide reassurance to parents and caregivers that a programme is properly run and takes place in a safe environment for children. In addition, parents and caregivers may qualify for an OSCAR Subsidy, explained Dawn Engelbrecht.

“Parents of children attending unapproved programmes cannot receive an OSCAR Subsidy. If parents are unsure whether they qualify for the subsidy, they can find more information online.”

critical child safety and health practises are being applied within a set programme environment. This gives parents and venue providers confidence in the standard of child safety and basic level of service being delivered.”

On recommendation for schools looking to improve or add ‘out of school’ care…

Rangi Esson advised: “Seek a OSCAR approved out of school care provider whose values and beliefs are in-line with the school and families. Ensure all kids ages and stages needs and interests are being met and the parents service needs are satisfied by the OSC. If possible, for parent convenience and peace of mind, schools should consider ideally allocated some space within the school grounds that is free outside of school hours.

This further provides opportunity for hiring underutilised hall space

| LEOTC

and creating a valuable additional income stream for the school.

“Finally seek an OSC provider that can set up and operate independently from the school to minimise use of school resources; yet are willing to keep all lines of communication open with the school and are committed to building a strong ongoing trust relationship with the school.”

Dawn Engelbrecht also advised: “Look for providers that have experience in the sector and have programmes that are already approved under the ‘level three’ standards. Also look at what they offer families, what activities they can provide, what type of staff training they undergo, whether you can visit their current sessions, and whether they have appropriate insurance cover.”

By Rosie Clarke, Editor

ids K g n i t t e L Be Kids

According to Rangi Esson, “OSCAR standards and guidelines play a fundament role in ensuring that

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www.funzone.co.nz Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

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FOOD & BEVERAGE |

Healthy Canteen Choices

The ultimate guide to a healthy canteen School canteens play an important role in influencing healthy food and drink choices; not just through what’s on offer, but also how it’s promoted.

Making changes to your canteen can feel like risky business and can raise many questions… Will healthy products sell? What will the financial impact be? How will students accept the changes?

Here’s where to start: When making changes to your canteen, it is easier to begin with one or two areas as a starting point. Small and gradual changes are more likely to be accepted by students and it also gives you an opportunity to evaluate the outcomes.

Throughout the process, remember to communicate with the school and wider community about changes to your canteen. Encourage support by highlighting the changes that will benefit students’ nutrition, health and wellbeing.

There are some simple tips to help transform your canteen and encourage students to make healthier food and drink choices...

1. Review your menu Take a look at your menu and all the products on offer. Can

some of the less healthy options be removed from the menu?

Particularly if they don’t sell well. Or, can they be replaced with healthier alternatives? E.g. products lower in saturated fat, sugar and salt?

Don’t forget to consider portion size. Nowadays, the serving or portion size of some food and drinks can be much larger than necessary. Check to see whether products come in a smaller size.

If you’re preparing food from scratch, can you cut or serve smaller pieces?

Be sure to give the healthier options on your menu exciting names that will appeal to students. Be creative: these could be linked with movies, countries, bands or sports. For example, ‘Olympian Omelette’ and ‘Tex Mex Pizza’.

When reviewing menu options, encourage students to get involved. Have you thought about running a taste testing day or naming competition with new menu items? This is a great way to gather feedback and acceptance from your important customers.

2. Look at the layout Stand from where the students queue and take a good look at how your canteen is presented and organised. What are the first products or menu items in sight? What foods and drinks are displayed on the front counter?

Is the menu clearly visible? Do the meal deals and healthy items stand out?

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It’s best to have the healthiest choices on display at the front counter. This could include fresh fruit, whole grain rolls with lots of colourful fillings and plain popcorn or nuts.

The Heart Foundation supports schools to be water-only. Visit our website for more information about how your school can become water-only. Reshuffle your fridge and place plain water and low or reduced-fat milk at eye level so it is easily visible. You could also have some on display at the front counter.

3. Communicate and promote your healthy canteen There are many marketing strategies you can use to promote healthier options.

We all know about the importance of cost when making purchasing decisions, so remember to ensure your healthier choices are priced competitively. They could be sold as part of a meal deal or combo or they could feature as a ‘seasonal special’.

Healthy Canteen Choices

| FOOD & BEVERAGE

How can Fuelled4life help?

Be bold with your marketing and promotion to make use of what’s available; noticeboards, assemblies, newsletters, the school website or a Facebook page. Don’t forget to give your canteen a catchy name (why not ask the students to come up with some ideas?).

4. Create a welcoming environment An important part of establishing healthy eating habits is by eating slowly and enjoying meals with others. Take a look at the space where students eat. Is it clean and tidy? Use furniture, decorations (especially for themed days), greenery and posters to create a welcoming environment.

Posters about nutrition are a good way to help educate students about the importance of healthy food.

These can be linked to relatable topics like sports or exams.

5. Be a good role model

Fuelled4life is based on the Ministry of Health’s Food and Beverage Classification System (FBCS).

Encourage all canteen and school staff to be good role models by making healthy food choices themselves. This will encourage healthy foods and drinks in the classrooms.

It’s a free practical tool that helps schools provide healthier options. It aims to increase access for young people to healthier food and beverages. It inspires food services to provide tasty, nutritious products.

By Sarah White, Fuelled4life Programme Manager, Heart Foundation

Sign up to Fuelled4life

Sarah White works for the Heart Foundation as the Fuelled4life programme manager. She is a New Zealand registered dietitian and is passionate about food, cooking and enjoys helping others make healthier lifestyle choices.

healthier options •

You’ll also get free access to the Fuelled4life website and newsletter with tips, recipes, special deals and information on ways to improve nutrition in your school.

For more information or one-to-one nutrition support, please contact the Fuelled4life team on 095268550, email fuelled4life@heartfoundation. org.nz or go to fuelled4life. org.nz.

If you are a teacher, principal, canteen manager, caterer or cook and would like to see your school offering healthier food and beverages, here’s what to do: •

Sign up to Fuelled4life for many free resources to help you choose

HEALTHIER CHOICES MADE EASY. Fuelled4life is a practical tool which makes it easier to provide healthier food at your school. Sign up today at fuelled4life.org.nz for our free resources.

fuEllED4lIfE.Org.nz

Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

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HEALTH & SAFETY |

Allergies

Managing food allergies and anaphylaxis in New Zealand schools

Penny Jorgensen Allergy Advisor, Allergy New Zealand

Food allergy can have a considerable impact on anxiety levels for students and their families, particularly when they start a new school.

This can be alleviated by having clearly stated policies and procedures focussing on safety as well as full participation for the student.

Food allergy is a health condition that seems to have crept up on us in recent decades. It was considered rare prior to the 1990s but is now described as a common condition in early childhood. One-in-ten infants are likely to have a food allergy by the time they reach 12 months.

Fortunately, many will out-grow their milk and egg allergies (two of the most common food triggers) and the latest data indicates that prevalence reduces to around five percent of 10 to 14-year-olds.

The main food triggers in this age group are peanuts, tree-nuts, fish and shellfish, which tend to persist for life. Some adolescents may also have unresolved milk, egg, soy or wheat allergies.

Other food allergies common in New Zealand include sesame and kiwifruit.

Many people report problems with food these days and it is often hard to distinguish between food allergy and food intolerance.

The main reason for the focus on food allergy and the need for it to be managed appropriately in schools is that it is potentially life-threatening. Food allergic reactions usually happen within minutes of ingesting the food and if symptoms progress to affecting breathing, or the cardio-vascular system, (a severe reaction known as anaphylaxis), an emergency response is required. Getting the person to lie down, administering an intra-muscular injection of adrenaline (using an EpiPen) and dialling 111 for an ambulance are the essentials.

Food intolerances, on the other hand, do not cause lifethreatening symptoms, and symptoms are often delayed and/or dose-responsive, unlike food allergy where even a small amount ingested can cause an allergic reaction.

There are six key steps in reducing the risk of anaphylaxis: 1.

2.

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Have questions on the enrolment form that will identify students at risk of anaphylaxis. Ask the parent/ caregivers to provide up-to-date medical information including a copy of their child’s ASCIA Anaphylaxis Action Plan signed by their doctor. Develop a health-care plan, including decisions on where the EpiPen should be kept.

Update annually.

Ensure all staff have training in recognition and management of acute

schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

Most food allergies emerge in early childhood as children are introduced to solids. If food allergy is suspected, children should be referred to a specialist or paediatric department at their local hospital for confirmation of the diagnosis, clinical management and on-going monitoring. As part of this they should be assessed for their risk of anaphylaxis and given an Allergy or Anaphylaxis Action Plan signed by their doctor. If at risk of anaphylaxis, two adrenaline auto-injectors e.g. EpiPens, are usually recommended, one for home and the other for school (note that these are not funded by PHARMAC).

There is no cure or treatment for food allergy, and the only way to manage it and prevent reactions, including anaphylaxis, is to completely avoid the food. It is

allergic reactions; know the students at risk, and where their EpiPen is kept.

3.

Be aware that unexpected allergic reactions might occur for the first time outside of home in those not previously identified as being at high risk, e.g. on a school trip where a student has anaphylaxis to a bee or wasp sting.

4.

Age appropriate education of children with severe allergies and their peers, to help minimise risk, reduce bullying, and increase opportunities for socialisation and participation for students with food allergies who otherwise tend to miss out.

therefore vital for schools to have policies and procedures in place which support the child or young person to manage their food allergy safely, and at the same time ensure staff and volunteers know how to respond if an accident (anaphylaxis) happens.

Information and resources for schools are available online via Allergy New Zealand or the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA).

This includes links to free on-line training, and resources developed under the Australian National Allergy Strategy (a federal government-funded project). One of these is ‘250k’, a hub for young people with food allergies.

Allergy New Zealand is a national charity dedicated to improving quality of life for people living with allergies.

5.

Implementation of practical strategies to reduce the risk of accidental exposure to known allergic triggers.

Banning of foods such as peanuts is not recommended as it is difficult to enforce and there is no evidence it reduces risk.

A review of risk minimisation strategies can be found at www.allergy.org.au.

6.

Consider institutional provision of AAIs (e.g. EpiPen) for general use. EpiPens in first aid kits could be used as back-up devices for students who may need more than one injection of adrenaline in case of a severe reaction and/or a remote location, e.g. school camp.

NZ Teachers’ Games

| SPORTS & RECREATION

The NZ Teachers' Games is back – bigger and better!

After the success of the inaugural New Zealand Teachers' Games in 2017, the countdown to getting your ‘game on’ in 2018 starts now.

Mt Maunganui Club. These games are designed to be inclusive with options for competitors of all levels of ability and fitness.

More recently, the organisers announced that four new sports have been added to the 2018 schedule, including eight ball, darts, table tennis and indoor bowls. All will feature as a part of an evening session, based at NZTG HQ, Club Mount. So this is a call out to all keen bowlers, dart or eight ball players to head to the website for more details.

This NZTG kicks off in Mount Maunganui on Sunday, September 30 and runs through to Tuesday, October 2. All your favourite events are back and some exciting new ideas have been added to the fun.

Last year’s event was a great success, attracting 520 participants and received amazing feedback, word spread and the 2018 games is expected to be even bigger and better. Get your team registered now to make sure you don’t miss out - join the Facebook group to prepare for the games and participate in the banter.

Inspired by the Victorian Teachers’ Games in Australia, which has been running for 21 years and attracts around 3000 participants, the event is filled with fun, competition and antics. Its value is not just to bring teachers together to have a fun time, but to solidify the importance of sport in schools and to increase the enthusiasm/participation of teachers.

Sport in schools reaps so many physical benefits for students, and research consistently links participation in sport to increased self-esteem and mental alertness, and it also enables students to develop their sense of belonging both within the school and the wider community.

It’s not all about work though;

The 2018 NZTG registrations will open mid-Term 2, so avoid disappointment and get your teams organised early!

It promises to be another fantastic event – one that you mustn’t miss.

after all, teachers and support staff love to let their hair down and this event is a fantastic opportunity for participants to have loads of fun with their colleagues. You can compete seriously or socially but mostly you can enjoy each other’s company on and off the sports field, relax and network both socially and professionally. It is a huge morale-booster and many schools use it as a team-building exercise, adding a day to the trip for professional development.

Garry Carnachan, executive director of NZSSSC said: “The games are about re-engaging teachers in the joy and value of sport. However, any person on a school payroll is eligible to enrol, so bring along the groundsman and your teacher aides. Schools can merge to form teams and a

Team Builder platform can be found on our Facebook page to help with that.”

Enter the King/Queen of the Mount race if you are a serious competitor or a sprint race and become New Zealand’s Fastest Teacher. Team sport options include netball, beach volleyball, bowls, badminton, basketball, touch rugby, hockey and dodgeball. Sports that are trending with young people but new to most teachers, such as waka ama, will be offered on a non-competitive basis to provide teachers with experience and confidence in working with students.

Do not forget the highly popular social activities - a Great Race which includes problem solving challenges and trivia nights at the

Feedback from 2017 participants on Facebook…

Carolyn Berney: “We had the best time today bowling. Came away with a very unexpected medal!

Still haven’t taken mine off. The lovely people at the bowling club made our day.”

Aaron Falwasser: “These games were awesome both days…

Looking forward to next year.”

Jake Ryan: “Yeah, you guys rock!

Primo experience and we will be back next year.”

Wendy Bowden: “Thank you all for putting on an amazing event roll on 2018.”

For more information (and to register) go to www.sporty. co.nz/ nztg or go to the New Zealand Teachers’ Games page on Facebook.

Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

63

PROPERTY |

School Waste Management

Waste not want not, management matters New Zealanders are some of the biggest producers of waste in the world, even the littlest ones.

Interestingly, there are very few statistics that accurately indicate how much waste New Zealanders produce. The most recent results are from 2006 and those reveal that 3.2 million tonnes of waste were sent to municipal landfills that year, according to Statistics NZ. That is certainly a lot of waste, but why don’t we have stats on 2010 or 2017?

In a post about Recycling Week 2017, Nicole Gaston reports for the National Library that part of the reason why waste production has not been thoroughly recorded since 2006 is that New Zealand has “decentralised waste management systems” and notes “inconsistent reporting requirements”.

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schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

What schools can know for sure, is how much waste they produce now and their margin of improvement after putting measures in place

In the last 12 years, New Zealand has boosted access to recycling facilities and at the level of education, many schools around the country have moved towards sustainability programmes and acknowledging the need for an eff icient waste management system. It’s probably fair to say that the country has improved upon its 2006 statistics but there’s no off icial way to know for sure.

What schools can know for sure, is how much waste they produce now and their margin of improvement after putting measures in place.

The first step is to conduct a waste audit. This task should identify where most waste is produced within your school and where improvements can be made. There are specialist waste management companies that can do this for you, or it can be done in-house but it’s important to take a keen interest in the results so that you can be involved in the solution and make an informed decision about the future of waste at your school.

Solving ‘the problem of waste’ is also something that could be integrated into the learning environment at your school

in various ways, focussing on sustainability.

By and large, responsibility for waste management in schools falls to boards of trustees.

Guidelines from the Ministry of Education state that schools should use a combination of methods to reduce waste by separating, reusing, recycling and composting. “Incinerating and building waste pits on school grounds can only be done by schools with no other options”, according to the MoE, and there are extremely strict guidelines for (usually remote) schools that do this.

School Waste Management

| PROPERTY

Supplier Profile | Easi Recycling NZ Ltd

Rangi Ruru Girls’ School - Sustainable Waste Solution Rangi Ruru Girls’ School has reduced waste to landfill by 58% since establishing a separation at source waste solution.

Rangi Ruru initiated the changes after gathering then displaying a full days waste produced from the school. This highlighted not only the amount of waste that was produced in just one day but also the various waste streams.

The Longopac waste bagging system has allowed the community to easily identify different waste streams, including; organics, recyclables and landfill.

One of the other cost savings when using Longopac is that the waste can be compressed by hand, reducing the volume that goes into the skips by up to 50%. Rangi Ruru now have skips collected only three times per week compared to five to six times in the past. The compostable bags also fit with the schools Sustainability Philosophy.

Rangi Ruru also hope to be able to process their own organic waste and recycling to meet energy needs by 2020. The Longopac coloured

bags not only give clear identification of waste streams, the unique ‘endless bag system’ makes changing the bags easier for the cleaners. It is also useful to be able to see through the bag to check for cross contamination. The other benefit is that the bag is always 100% full, this ensures we are only using the plastic needed, no more part full waste bags.

Rangi Ruru are also a ‘water only’ school this has allowed them to significantly reduce waste such as cans, cartons and plastic bottles. The dining room uses biodegradable bowls, cups, plates and cutlery to serve delicious, healthy meals cooked onsite.

Rangi Ruru is also a ‘Fairtrade School’ and through increased education, they have ‘Meatless Mondays’, ‘Walk ‘n Wheel Wednesdays’, our substantial reuse programme (including Terracycle collections, where all payments go to Cool Earth) and from our Paper for Trees planting of hundreds of natives, we have offset our carbon emissions and became carbon neutral in 2017.

Recycling made Easi

Efficient • Loaded with bag cassette up to 110 metres in length • New bag always in place – saves time • Minimises plastic bag waste – 100% full bag every time Variable bag size - flexible replacement intervals

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Environmentally Friendly • 3 layered plastic – 3 times stronger than a bag of the same thickness • Less bag wasted • 6 colours enabling easy segregation at source.

Contact us today for a FREE no obligation trial or visit: www.easirecycling.co.nz

CALL US TODAY: 0800 342 3177 www.easirecycling.co.nz Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

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PROPERTY |

School Waste Management

sorting. Separating waste streams once mixed is very difficult but segregating at source, with graphic signage and colour coded bags, not only identifies what type of waste is enclosed but also ensures it goes into the right container when it arrives at the waste contractor bins.

Set up bins for the different kinds of waste, and label them for glass, paper, plastic, cans and organic waste.

Crucially, avoid sending waste to a landfill by educating staff and students about other ways of disposing of waste, such as recycling, reusing and composting.

Ways that schools can reuse waste include:

find out if local farmers want organic waste

•

keep hens at school and feed them the waste

•

have the organic waste composted at the local landfill – it’s generally cheaper to drop organic waste at a landfill than other rubbish.

Expert views from the industry…

•

taking lost property to local clothing banks

•

using plastic bags as bin liners or as packaging

•

having students make recycled paper and use shredded paper as bedding for pets.

Separate organic waste, like food scraps, plants, paper and lawn clippings, from other rubbish and teach students how to use it for compost. It could be used on the school’s garden, saving on the cost of fertiliser.

If composting is not possible: •

•

ask students and teachers to take organic waste home

On creating a school waste management programme, Easi RecyclingNZ CEO Jon Earnshaw shared the following: “Teaching our children from an early age about product lifecycles, contamination and segregation of waste at source will be a skill that will serve them and the environment for the rest of their lives. A simple in-house waste management programme should be part of every school curriculum.

“The key to every successful recycling programme is ‘segregation of waste streams at source’ avoiding cross contamination and secondary

Designed and manufactured in NZ from reinforced fibreglass.

The Bin-tainer can be delivered with signage, graphics and wording, all applied to a bin the colour of your choosing. By locking your wheelie-bins and drums in a rugged, fibreglass container everything that goes in, stays in, until you decide otherwise.

To find out how Bin-tainer can save your school time, money and anxiety contact Tru-tech:

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06 843 5137 sales@tru-tech.co.nz www.tru-tech.co.nz 66

schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

“New innovation has made recycling easier, as we no longer need to use one-size-fits-all black bin and bag. We should not be trying to hide our waste in the dark corners, but bring to the forefront and promote recycling.

When you segregate at source this is no longer rubbish, it becomes a commodity. Smart bagging solutions are now available where the bag is always 100 percent full, so you only use the plastic bag you need. Colour coded bags and attractive signage for mini recycling stations also make segregation at source easier.

“In 2016, New Zealand Recycling Symbols (RONZ) were created to consistently deliver the same message, colour coding recyclables. Educating students on this colour coding system from an early age ensures they are mindful to the various waste streams.

RONZ guidelines help significantly with segregation; however, using a colour coded bin with a black or clear bag makes identification difficult once that bag leaves the colour coded bin.

“Correctly separating food waste from dry waste at source prevents cross-contamination and dramatically increases recycling.

Depending on the waste providers in your area; when segregated

at source, waste can often be collected by type.”

On the circular economy beyond recycling, Friendlypak managing director Kevin Graham told School News: “‘Recycling’ is not the answer, there needs to be an end-use to make recycling work and the market for recycled materials is small and saturated. This is because recycled materials are contaminated, mixed and variable, so down-cycling is really the only opportunity for recycled materials.

“The new way of thinking uses a cycle where we take renewable resources, use intelligent design to make products fit-for-purpose, then after-use, return them to the environment from where they came in a sustainable way. This new transition to a ‘circular economy’ is part of the inspiration behind compostable packaging as a solution.”

“Having bins that look nice encourages user participation and user satisfaction, which results in habit forming long-term repeatability. Stackable bins are also available and these can be stacked two or even three high and occupying the footprint of only one bin. These can be colour coded and waste stream labelled with access through a front flap without needing to unstack the bins.

“Waste audits are easy to do and students that don’t mind getting their hands dirty are the best candidates. There is usually a champion in any group keen on environmental issues and

www.WeCompost.co.nz Compost Collection Service: • All Food Waste • Paper Towels • Compostable Packaging • Green Waste Our Collection Services also include: Paper, Plastics Recycling and General Waste.

School Waste Management

concerned about waste, pollution and sustainability.

“Waste audits are best conducted using weight as the measure so scales are the minimum requirement. If waste audits are to be part of the curriculum then it is best to include financial measures not just weight. Establishing a benchmark at the beginning is most important; this is where all waste is measured as a total by weight and then quotes obtained from waste collection companies to collect the total waste and dispose of it to landfill.

“From this starting point, the various waste streams are established along with good bin systems to collect and weigh these separate waste groups.

Students can represent the waste streams in creative ways as a percentages. Finding alternative end-of-life options for the different waste streams that cost less or are free becomes the challenge and

opportunity for more creativity.”

On integrating waste management into a school learning environment, ZingBokashi director Neville Burt said: “Introducing a recycling activity into a school setting can be as simple as collecting a bucket of food waste in a classroom or setting up a daily food collection across lunch areas.

In fact, composting activities often start in one classroom, evolve into a total school project, and expand into the wider community.

“There are important issues for teachers to consider when proposing a composting programme to their school's administration because they may face some concerns and barriers to the concept. First, it is a good idea to drum up support and enthusiasm from fellow teachers, staff, children and parents before you even present your ideas.

“Then, research, source and offer

Concerned about waste?...

There is hope…

Your ‘One Stop Shop’ for sustainable products that save landfill, litter, and pollution. · Recycling systems · Compostable products · Bins that look nice · Waste rescue · Better Fundraising Friendlypak has free advise on how to transform your schools Waste Management and Fundraising. sales@friendlypak.co.nz free ph 0800 rethink (738 446) www.friendlypak.co.nz | www.vegware.co.nz

up a composting system that removes any worries of space constraints, flies, odours and unsightliness of outdoor piles.

Moreover, focus on the value of recycling food waste and the benefits of the system and you will win over any negativity.

“Find the perfect system for your school: a system that can be used to establish a school garden, enhance science units, or as an ongoing project in food waste reduction and recycling. Once you get the go-ahead to establish a programme, you can assemble your team to implement the programme, include people from across the school spectrum – the principal, teaching staff, parents, maintenance staff and, of course, the students.

“I recommend you complete a food waste audit to determine just how much food waste your school generates. Even if you are generating large volumes of waste,

| PROPERTY

it's a good idea to start on a small scale until you are comfortable with the process, before progressing to larger volumes.

“It is very important to arrange training for all key personnel, so they become familiar with the various steps in the composting process, and if your school already has a gardening programme in place, make sure the two projects work together. Set up a roster detailing the different tasks and responsibilities for the volunteers to carry out. These should include: setting up collection stations, monitoring the collection process, clean-up, labelling, transfer of the fermented waste to big bins/ into soil/adding to compost heap, collecting data and reporting/ publicising results to school, parents and wider community.

“Take care to involve students from different year groups, to allow for continuity of trained team members from one year to the next.”

Turn your school food waste into organic compost! with NZ’s Original

Zing Bokashi

®

composting system  Perfect for gardens  Grow healthier plants  Enriches soil  100% natural  Easy to use

For stockists visit zingbokashi.co.nz Zing Bokashi (Bokashi NZ Ltd) P 03 614 8150 | M 027 245 4232 info@zingbokashi.co.nz Zing Bokashi

Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

67

PROPERTY |

Playground Safety

Safety is fundamental It won’t come as a shock that schools are required to make sure their playgrounds comply with safety standards.

What might come a more of a surprise is that these standards do change, from time to time, and it’s important to keep your school playground update and fully compliant.

The Ministry of Education (MoE) has outlined that that board of trustees is ultimately responsible for designing, building and upgrading playgrounds and providing playground equipment.

Regular maintenance is key to keeping on top of the situation.

Schools must also use board funding to build a playground.

This funding may come from fundraising, grants from trusts and community groups, or bequests. Schools will still need to obtain Ministry consent to use board funding for property

projects like playgrounds.

The MoE specifies: “You or your project manager should contact the local council to find out whether your planned playground needs building consent. Even if it does not require building consent, you must still get this advice in writing from the council and keep it in the project file for future reference.”

Building or upgrading a playground…

In many ways, this is the fun part: choosing and designing a funfilled, engaging playground that is conducive to impactful learning and positive stress relief for students is an exciting prospect.

Many schoolchildren would envy the task: designing a playground?

Surely that’s the dream job.

Of course, designing a playground is more complex than a child might imagine. A property manager or specialist supplier/

manufacturer will be eager to discuss available options with you, and aid in the process but the main focus must be adhering to government standards.

In New Zealand, what you need to look for is called the New Zealand Standard 5828:2015: Playground equipment and surfacing. Standards NZ has a comprehensive website explaining compliance and there is also a handbook that can be purchased.

Style and safety The two concepts might not ordinarily be associated with one another, but playgrounds bridge the gap. In this realm, generally, the safer the playground the more stylish it looks.

If you imagine an ‘unsafe’ playground, it’ll be one that’s not properly maintained or cleaned, is broken and filthy, with something like a hard concrete floor or trip hazard weeds. Not so pretty and

certainly not safe. You could also place more dangerous playground equipment in this category – dirt tracks for bikes, or skate ramps.

The MoE refers to items like trampolines and skate tracks as “high risk” and notes: “When deciding what type of equipment to install, consider whether it will affect your ability to provide a safe environment for your students.”

Fully compliant playgrounds have to be properly maintained, neat and tidy.

Surfacing is vital and there are a variety of options to consider, with different pros and cons, from wood-chip or bark mulch to artificial grass, sand and soft fall.

The latter is a type of brightly coloured rubber, usually recycled, that can be installed in different patterns or designs but may pose risk when very wet or in high temperatures.

Wood-chip or bark mulch has its own pleasingly natural aesthetic

The importance of suitable surfacing “Goodfall playground surfacing provides impact protection for falls on playgrounds, minimising the risk of injury,” explains Goodwood marketing manager, Felia Frei.

“Schools are facing more pressure to comply with the safety standard NZS5828:2015.

At Goodwood, we supply a measure and quote service as well as on-site supply and install options. Our product is manufactured by Goodwood in our own manufacturing yard, giving us full quality control.”

“Regular checks and maintenance of equipment and surfacing is how we recommend schools work on playground safety. We can provide our clients with

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schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

“What is the average quantity a school would order for a top-up?” Generally 25 to 60; a general top up is approx.

100mm, but some schools will have multiple playgrounds to top up, and again they vary in size.

information on how to identify hazards in the playground and have a standard inspection checklist which can be used in regular checks. The most important thing to check for Goodfall is that it is at the recommended depth of 300mm or 250mm compacted.

Additionally, there have been increased reports of vandalism,

so schools should check their playgrounds on a daily basis for any potential hazards.

“What is the average quantity a school would order for a full playground fill?” For a new install, this could be anything between 50m³ and 100m³ on average because playgrounds vary so much in size.

“What is the number one playground safety feature that schools care about when they order a product?” The fall height for Goodfall is up to 3m and many of the senior primary school playgrounds or confidence courses, and intermediate schools are likely to have a fall height of over 2m. One thing we can mention is that 80 percent of student injuries on playgrounds are caused by ‘fall’ accidents. The importance of having a suitable surfacing and maintaining it is not to be underestimated.

Playground Safety

| PROPERTY

and is easy to install but is easily moved during play and can hide trip hazards like stones or toys.

It is also possible to employ a combination of surfaces in the construction of a playground.

Depending on the design, this could be an ideal solution.

However, care must be taken that the surfaces don’t interact in a way that poses more danger.

Inspections and maintenance Every surface-type requires a rigorous maintenance schedule to help prevent injury and they should all be tested for compliance. Inspections should be taken out at least once a year; particularly if you have organic surfacing that will require topping up.

Look out for signs of wear-andtear in synthetic surfaces as well as play equipment and any shade installations.

an injury on the playground this should be investigated immediately, regardless of how minor the injury.

Of course, if a child sustains

It’s worth noting that that

Optimise safety impact absorption Reharvest Timber told School News about their product called Playground Cushionfall..

“It’s New Zealand’s only fivestar rated playground surfacing and has undergone rigorous testing to ensure optimal impact absorbency “Tests show that it is 25 percent more effective after five years, so it doesn’t just get older but actually gets better.

It’s also self-stabilising, inhibits weed growth, is nontoxic, and

has no ‘sharp edges’.

“Safety is paramount to us here at Reharvest Timber, so our Cushionfall meets the all the compliance certification standards and, once installed, we'll provide you with the compliance certificate so that you can rest easy knowing your playgrounds are the safest they can be for your students.

CLEAN SURFACE

DOESN’T SCATTER

Ministry’s School Building Insurance Funding Programme does not cover playgrounds, so this must be paid for with school board funding or a separate insurance policy.

DRAINS WELL

FEELS GREAT!

GOOD FOR ALL YOUR

RULE-BREAKERS

AND RISK TAKERS

“For interested schools, a minimum of 300mm wood chip surfacing is required in order to optimise safety impact absorption.”

0508 446 639

sales@goodwoodnz.co.nz www.goodwoodnz.co.nz

by goodwood

Term 2 - 2018 schoolnews

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Playground Safety

supplier profile REHARVEST TIMBER PRODUCTS LTD

Cushioning wood chips setting the standard in playground surfacing Reharvest® Timber Products Ltd manufacture premium wood chip/mulch products from waste wood that are eco-friendly and safe for children, animals, and nature alike, and have led the market in this area for 20 years.

Our name sake says it all; we REHARVEST used and unwanted timber to make a variety of products ranging from revegetation mulch, to playground Cushionfall, equestrian Cushionride, to coloured garden Enviromulch.

All of which are biodegradable.

PLAYGROUND CUSHIONFALL is self stabilising, inhibits weed growth, is non toxic, has no “sharp edges”, and because Cushionfall is installed to help with the impact absorbency on playgrounds it is also rigorously tested and the only 5 star rated wood chip surfacing in NZ. Cushionfall is the preferred choice of multiple councils, Ministry of Education, Kindergarten Associations, Playcentres Associations, and Pre School Centres.

DOES YOUR PLAYGROUND LOOK LIKE THIS?

If it does, then you need to top it up! It’s crucial that your playground surfaces are kept at the “right” level of wood chip fill - a minimum of 300mm is required in order to optimize safety impact absorption.

Cushionfall for playgrounds has been rigourously tested.

Prior to product launch we conducted 2 years of product development and did 3 years of onsite playground testing.

Materials used as safety surfacing require certification to validate their shock absorbtion. These certification tests require surfacing to

achieve a test of 3.0m with a product depth of 300mm.

Cushionfall has the highest test results in Australasia with 4.5 to 6.15m. Also, US testing laboratories have found wood chip surfacing to be 25% more shock absorbent after 5 years of use - so it doesn’t get older, it just gets better.

Safety is paramount to us here at Reharvest Timber and our CUSHIONFALL meets all the compliance certification standards. Once installed we’ll provide you with the compliance certificate and you can rest easy knowing your playgrounds are the safest they can be for your students.

Talk to our Sales Manager about your playground or garden requirements today Graham Villis - (09) 299 3999 - graham@reharvest.co.nz - www.reharvest.co.nz or follow us on Facebook 70

schoolnews Term 2 - 2018

NZ’S 5 STAR RATED PLAYGROUND SURFACING

UM PREMI IP CH WOOD YOUR NING O I H S U C FEET S T N E STUD

 EXTENSIVE RESEARCH: 2 years of product development before launch  RIGOROUS TESTING: 3 years testing of Cushionfall by 3 councils in 5 playgrounds before council approval

 ONGOING QUALITY TESTING: More than 50 tests in the last 10 years alone!

 HIGHEST IMPACT TESTS in Australasia achieved  PREFERRED CHOICE: Councils, the Ministry of Education, Kindergarten Associations, Play Centre Associations and Preschool Centres

PLAYGROUND WOOD CHIP VS MATTING? Choosing wood chips for playgrounds in a great choice in playground safety for 4 reasons: 1.

Shock absorption: United States Testing Laboratories found that Cushionfall® playground wood chips absorb shock better than rubber mats 3.75 thick.

2. Durable: The same laboratory found that Cushionfall®

playground wood chips are 25% more shock absorbent after five years of use.

3. Even temperature: Reharvest Cushionfall® does not change in temperature in hot or cold weather, unlike synthetic surfaces can.

4. Eco-friendly: Playground wood chips are more environmetally-friendly than playground matting.

Whereas playground matting is generally manufactured from rubber. Cushionfall® playground wood chips are manufactured right here in New Zealand by recycling waste timber.

Manufactured exclusively by Reharvest Timber Products LTD

Phone (09) 299 3999 www.reharvest.co.nz

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E ASY TO USE Change the message from ƼŅƚų ĘŅĵå Ņų ŅþÏåţ

EASY TO READ Day, night and in all weather conditions. LED display with single or double ŸĜÚåÚ ÏŅĹĀčƚų±ƋĜŅĹţ ECONOMICAL Low power and low maintenance.

END TO END SERVICE We deal with everything from the initial consultation to after sales service.

DESIGNED IN NZ With over 28 years in the business, we have an excellent understanding of what should go into making a reliable, coståýåÏƋĜƴå ±ĹÚ ĬŅĹč Ĭ±ŸƋĜĹč ŸƼŸƋåĵţ

We have other Electronic signage options available to suit a range of budgets and applications.

SIGNOPSYS ELECTRONIC SIGNS LTD For more information or to discuss your particular requirements please email sales@signopsys.co.nz or better still call us on 09 265 260 www.signopsys.co.nz