Kua kī te hirikapo!

Rāhina 28 o Paengawhāwhā, 2014

Kua kī kē a hirikapo me ngā mihi matihere ki ngā tumuaki, ki ngā kaiako me ngā tamariki, nā rātou tātou i manaaki i te rā nei. Ahakoa ko tātou ngā tauhou e torotoro ana i ngā āhuatanga o tēnei mea te ako-e ko te hononga o te tangata te mea i āta kite atu i te rā nei.

He tuhinga tēnei nā mātou ko ngā māngai o Kia Ata Mai, ā, ko Eleanor, ko Cribby, ko Reggae, ko Daz me Hone ngā kaituhi o te rangitaiki nei. He kohinga whakaaro ēnei e pā ana ki ngā kura e rua o te rā nei.

Kura 1 - Debney Meadows Primary School

He kohinga whakaaro e pā ana ki te kura nei;

• New principal appointed to start in the near future
• 85% Somalian tamariki attendance
• Most of the whānau are from the Horn of Africa
• Very close to Government housing, mainly home to refugee whānau
• P-3 are 1:1 iPads
• Staff have attended a range of courses, visited other schools and in school professional development over time.
• Four languages operating within the kura, Arabic, Italian, Vietnamese and English.
• Partnerships within the kura are a key part in the success and cultural responsiveness to the needs of individuals;
• International Awareness
• Centre for Cultural Partnerships
• Play Pod
• Network Student Engagement project
• Huddle & 
• School Volunteers

Hangarau me te Tūāpapa/Technology & Infrastructure

• $150 bond per iPad
• 1:1 iPad for Prep-3 (from 2011)
• Specialist iPad technician at various times throughout the week/month
• Security procedures in place
• 10 x Macbook Pro's
• The kura has an active web page that the whānau are able to engage with.

Just some other whakaaro from our visit to Debney;

• The wireless infrastructure had not been developed more over the past 4 years. 
• Big push on inquiry learning as a staff
• New Leadership will mean for interesting change and direction for this kura
• Staff are working hard to ensure they are culturally responsive towards all ethnic cultures within this kura.

E mihi ana ki a koe Kieran, nāu tātou i akiaki, i arahi i te rā nei. E kore e mutu te mihi ki a koe. Nā mātou o te rōpū nei.

Kura 2 -  Silverton Primary School

E mihi ana ki a Tony, nāu te rā i whakarite, ā, nāu ngā whakaritenga o te rā, nāu hoki ngā hua o te kura i whakaatu mai. E mihi ana ki a koe, ki a koutou ko ngā kaiako me ngā tamariki.

Some whakaaro from Silverton School

• 1994, Principal Tony started to open up the classrooms as open learning spaces, although some staff had initially put up resistance to Tony’s radical new ideas.
• 480 students
• Half of the students are from out of the region
• 67% non English background tamariki
• 4 learning centres within this kura

Te Taiao Ako/Beyond the Classroom

• Children had examples of e-portfolios
• ACER tablets bought outright or on a payment-plan digital accessibility at home and at school
• Video conferencing/media capabilities/student edited and self-managed tv channel/radio station 'run by the students for the students' within a 2km radius from the school
• Content of work is accessible on youtube
• One Note' online data system and school wide online resource, school roll, online booklet in immersion sessions - 'investigation time'
• A couple of xbox consoles and wide screen tv's mounted to the wall for students to play on during 'recess'

Kanohi Mataara/Leadership

Tony had a dream, he had a vision. From pulling down walls and establishing school radio stations, a TV studio, and venturing into new technologies such as robotics and 3D printing.

Leadership is a strong part of Silverton School and is driven by a passionate and innovative principal, associate principals and team leaders.

.

Not a follower of any particular teaching model, but pioneering new methods.

7 principles of the Kura

1. Children are active members of a variety of communities - including family, friends, ethnic cultures, sporting teams etc
2. Learning is Lifelong. Children born with potential to be curious, powerful learn ears with desire to make meaning of all experiences.
3. People have particular predispositions to learning styles, ways of learning and intelligences.
4. Education must value and support democracy. The rights of children require the child to have a "voice."
5. The knowledge and technological age has transformed the concept of being educated
6. People bring to any situation, pre-existing understandings and theories which fare always partial. Learning is not linear.
7. Learning occurs in a variety of learning environments and experiences.

Ako/Teaching & Learning

• Ako / Whakaako:
• Academic coaching:
• Sharing time - pre knowing
• tune in time - explicit teaching
• Exploring time - personalised learning student choice
• Evaluation - reflection & enquiry into learning
• Open learning spaces - No teacher only space, shared learning spaces
• Open planning school
• MLE - modern learning environments
• Personalised learning
• A national cirriculum in austrailia for all states
• Victoria has a cirriculum
• Group work are based on mixed abilities
• Tuakana - teina
• Workshops are based on explicit teaching
• Where the instructional levels of tamariki are the same
• Evaluative capabilities
• Visual representation of progress and achievement of mokopuna identifying those who require awhina, those working towards expectations, meeting expectations and exceeding expectations. Targetted learners monitored regularly. Moderation occurs across all teachers in learning centres

Hangarau me te Tūāpapa/Technology & Infrastructure

• The kura allocates budget that supports the need and demands of a kura with 700+ devices
• A mixture of platforms are being used
• iPods, iPads, Acer Netbooks, Tablets, Camera’s and Flip Cams
• Wireless is very strong and robust within this kura
• Screens are in each class
• Lego robotics

• The vision and expectations of the school are set out from the start

Kātahi te rangi ko tēnei, ā, ko tēnei te rā tuatahi noaiho. Hei āpōpō, he rangi anō, he kura anō, he tumuaki anō, he tamariki anō. Tāria te wā e hoa mā kia tuku anō i ngā kōrero.

Peace out! Photos to come!