I have, over the past few months, commented on my concerns regarding the new National Standards in my newsletter to parents. As the Standards approach implementation in the new year, it seems timely to again look at why so many principals and teachers are opposed to this initiative.
There is a wealth of educational research from around the world that shows National Standards do not work! When I first moved from the UK system into the New Zealand one, it was like a breath of fresh air. The schooling system here is based on children's needs, it is fun, exciting and challenging and the new curriculum is wonderful. In contrast, the UK system has suffered greatly from years of National Standards that have forced schools to focus their attention on the few children who are on the cusp of "crossing the line". The children who are safely meeting the standard do not, therefore, get the extension that they need to keep their learning moving forward. Our New Zealand curriculum aims to educate the whole child and at Fendalton the key to that is knowing our children. It the relationships between teachers and children working together to meet individual needs that make a difference to their progress. National Standards risk narrowing the curriculum and over-simplifying learning.
If you would like to read more about some of the concerns with National Standards please follow these links.
Fact Sheet from the NZPF
New Zealand Principal's Federation
Academics’ Open Letter to Hon Anne Tolley
Thursday 26 November 2009
Tuesday 24 November 2009
An interesting article
This link was recently sent to me by a parent, it makes for very interesting reading.
Thursday 22 October 2009
Fabulous Middle Team Performance
This afternoon, the Middle Team performed their 'Sparkle Taker' show for the rest of the school and they were spectacular!
If you have tickets for tonights performance (few tickets still available), then you are in for a real treat. The children were so impressive with their confident acting, singing and dancing. When I think back when I was seven or eight years old, I would have been terrified by the idea of performing in front of a packed theatre, but it didn't seem to phase the children at all. There is no danger of any of these children losing their sparkle!
Congratulations to everyone involved in putting on the production. The teachers, parents, children and extra helpers worked their socks off in the lead up and today. Special thanks goes to Kiri and Nick for their efforts in bringing it all together and sharing their sparkle.
Monday 12 October 2009
Powhiri for Rob
Today we farewelled Rob Clarke and delivered him to his new school, where he has taken over as principal. It was a daunting, but very rewarding day for me personally, as I took on the role of speaker for the visitors, during the Powhiri. Speaking in Te Reo Maori for the first time was certainly a challenge and hopefully I didn't offend anyone with my pronunciation.
The Powhiri is an impressive tradition to be part of and it is a great way to bring to school communities together and formally hand over a staff member. It was a pleasure to be able to take some 30 children from our school down to Burnham and for them to be part of the experience. Burnham is a lucky school to have Rob as their new principal and we all wish him the very best of luck in his new role.
My part from the Powhiri:
Ko te mihi tuatahi ki te atua, tena koe.
E te whare e tu nei, te papa ki waho ra tena korua.
Ki nga mate kua hinga i te po moe mai i roto i te ringa o te atua.
Tatau te hunga ora e huihui mai nei, tena koutou, tena koutou
tena koutou katoa.
Tena koutou e te iwi kainga mo te reo powhiri ki a matau.
He honore tenei kua tae mai matau ki waenganui i a koutou.
E nga mana, e nga reo, rau rangatira ma, tena koutou, tena
koutou, tena koutou katoa.
The Powhiri is an impressive tradition to be part of and it is a great way to bring to school communities together and formally hand over a staff member. It was a pleasure to be able to take some 30 children from our school down to Burnham and for them to be part of the experience. Burnham is a lucky school to have Rob as their new principal and we all wish him the very best of luck in his new role.
My part from the Powhiri:
Ko te mihi tuatahi ki te atua, tena koe.
E te whare e tu nei, te papa ki waho ra tena korua.
Ki nga mate kua hinga i te po moe mai i roto i te ringa o te atua.
Tatau te hunga ora e huihui mai nei, tena koutou, tena koutou
tena koutou katoa.
Tena koutou e te iwi kainga mo te reo powhiri ki a matau.
He honore tenei kua tae mai matau ki waenganui i a koutou.
E nga mana, e nga reo, rau rangatira ma, tena koutou, tena
koutou, tena koutou katoa.
Friday 28 August 2009
Library plans!
The new Library plans are here and ready for viewing. Over the next week, we are seeking feedback on the plans for our new library. The images here show the proposed library at the current stage of planning (Click on the images to enlarge them). At the end of next week we will finalise the plans based on feedback from the staff and community and will then move on to the working drawing and council approval stage. 
The location for the new library was decided after surveying the school staff on the best option. The site is just next to the main school office beside the basketball court. This is a central location that puts the library where it should be, in the heart of the school.This project is being funded by the Ministry of Education as part of the ratio changes being introduced at year 1. The Ministry have given the school $320,000 to help us meet the classroom space requirements of reduced class sizes in year 1. As a board, we decided to spend this money on building a brand new library and using other funds to convert the existing library into classrooms. The new library will be slightly smaller than our existing one but will provide us with a much lighter, brighter and more welcoming space for our children to read and learn in. The Ministry property funding guidelines limit the size of library that we are able to build.
Please have a look at the images here or pop in to the school office to see the printed versions. You can make comments via the drop box in the office or by completing the form below. Please let us know what you think of the ideas and plans, we want to make our new library a place that children a rushing to go to and we need your ideas to help make this a reality. Thank you!Wednesday 5 August 2009
Thank you to the workers!
Thank you very much to the parents who joined me last Saturday morning to dig out the pathways for our new seating area in the playground. The day saved us a heap of money and we had a good chat whilst we worked. Thanks to David, Dale, Darin and Rob your help was much appreciated.
Monday 29 June 2009
Health and Safety Review
Each term at Fendalton, the Board of Trustees review a different aspect of school life and the policies in place to support that aspect. As part of this review we like to survey the community for any feedback. This term we have been reviewing "Health and Safety" across the school and so would like to know if there are any concerns around this within our community.
The review looks at the physical spaces within the school, the systems that we have for managing risk and those for ensuring child safety. If you identify areas for us to develop, please provide ideas for how the system could be improved by completing the form below. The form is now open and will remain so until the end of week 2 of term 3 (Friday 31st July). Please take a moment to complete the form.
The review looks at the physical spaces within the school, the systems that we have for managing risk and those for ensuring child safety. If you identify areas for us to develop, please provide ideas for how the system could be improved by completing the form below. The form is now open and will remain so until the end of week 2 of term 3 (Friday 31st July). Please take a moment to complete the form.
Friday 12 June 2009
Swine Flu
I am closely monitoring the regular updates from the Ministries of Health and Education on the Influenza A (H1N1) Swine Flu. There has been some mixed messages and inconsistencies, which is frustrating for parents and for the school. I have asked for children to be kept away from school for 7 days after they return from an overseas trip, even if they are not showing any symptoms. This advice came from the Ministry of Health and is not a requirement but a strong recommendation. Decisions about asking staff to stay away from school have not yet been made, the Board will discuss this at our meeting on Monday night.
I have been wondering why the swine flu situation has been receiving such attention, when the symptoms don't appear to be any more serious than the ordinary flu. The following background information (endorsed by Dr Alistair Humphreys, Medical Officer of Health for the Canterbury Westland region) helped to clarify the reasons for me:
The issue is the infection rate. With normal seasonal influenza the infection rate is about 1 person in every 20. This swine flu epidemic is forecast to infect as many as 1 person in every 3. Thus, in the peak week of infection, if nothing is done about it, there could be 60,000 new infections in Canterbury in that week alone. When a virus takes off in a community, the infection rate is very steep to start with, then peaks, and then slowly decreases. If the onset is too steep, so many people report for treatment at the same time that services are overwhelmed, and medical staff also succumb to the infection. The strategy is trying to flatten out the curve of the infection rate, to take the peak out of it, and make it longer and flatter. By slowing down the onset curve, medical planners seek to get us through with hospitals and GP's coping with patients; both those suffering from the swine flu virus, and those with other medical conditions. Schools' procedures are hugely important as they have the ability to amplify or reduce the effect of a virus on a community.
I have been wondering why the swine flu situation has been receiving such attention, when the symptoms don't appear to be any more serious than the ordinary flu. The following background information (endorsed by Dr Alistair Humphreys, Medical Officer of Health for the Canterbury Westland region) helped to clarify the reasons for me:
The issue is the infection rate. With normal seasonal influenza the infection rate is about 1 person in every 20. This swine flu epidemic is forecast to infect as many as 1 person in every 3. Thus, in the peak week of infection, if nothing is done about it, there could be 60,000 new infections in Canterbury in that week alone. When a virus takes off in a community, the infection rate is very steep to start with, then peaks, and then slowly decreases. If the onset is too steep, so many people report for treatment at the same time that services are overwhelmed, and medical staff also succumb to the infection. The strategy is trying to flatten out the curve of the infection rate, to take the peak out of it, and make it longer and flatter. By slowing down the onset curve, medical planners seek to get us through with hospitals and GP's coping with patients; both those suffering from the swine flu virus, and those with other medical conditions. Schools' procedures are hugely important as they have the ability to amplify or reduce the effect of a virus on a community.
Wednesday 27 May 2009
Learning conferences
Last night, we had the first round of Learning Conferences and the first opportunity for parents to give us some feedback on the new Learning Reports. The feedback so far is very positive and includes some great ideas and constructive suggestions. This is very much an ongoing and developmental process but it seems that we are on the right track.
One really postive outcome so far is that teachers are starting to see a real benefit of the new reports in the classroom, and that they are becoming part of the learning journey rather than just a description of it. As the system develops and becomes embedded in what we do, the benefits to the children will increase. The links to the new curriculum are becoming more clear, however the next stage is to represent our Key Competencies more in the Learning Reports. The Key Competencies sit at the centre of our curriculum and they need to be more visible in the Learning Reports. If the old adage is true, what you measure is what you value, then we need to do a better job of showing what we value.
One disappointment from the Learning Conferences was the lack of children attending with their parents. The children are the learners in this journey and they need to be part of the conversations about their learning. How else can they take responsibility for their learning? Involving children in the process is a key element of the Learning Reports, and so involving them in the conversations around the reports is essential. I worry that children will see that learning is something that their teachers or parents control, or something which is done to them. I hope that we might see more children joining their parents on Thursday night. However, it might be that the after-school model is not conducive to including children and bed-time is dictating whether the children can come or not.
If you have not yet given us your feedback on the Learning Reports, please do so by clicking on this link. Thank you!
One really postive outcome so far is that teachers are starting to see a real benefit of the new reports in the classroom, and that they are becoming part of the learning journey rather than just a description of it. As the system develops and becomes embedded in what we do, the benefits to the children will increase. The links to the new curriculum are becoming more clear, however the next stage is to represent our Key Competencies more in the Learning Reports. The Key Competencies sit at the centre of our curriculum and they need to be more visible in the Learning Reports. If the old adage is true, what you measure is what you value, then we need to do a better job of showing what we value.
One disappointment from the Learning Conferences was the lack of children attending with their parents. The children are the learners in this journey and they need to be part of the conversations about their learning. How else can they take responsibility for their learning? Involving children in the process is a key element of the Learning Reports, and so involving them in the conversations around the reports is essential. I worry that children will see that learning is something that their teachers or parents control, or something which is done to them. I hope that we might see more children joining their parents on Thursday night. However, it might be that the after-school model is not conducive to including children and bed-time is dictating whether the children can come or not.
If you have not yet given us your feedback on the Learning Reports, please do so by clicking on this link. Thank you!
Monday 11 May 2009
Learning Reports
Our new Learning Reports will be going home to parents at the end of next week. To explain a little more about what we are trying to achieve, with the new reporting system, I have posted a couple of videos on YouTube. We have also created a Frequently Asked Questions page on the school website to help parents.
As with any new system there will be teething problems and feedback from the community, staff and children will be key to ironing these out. Please take a moment to complete the feedback form that will be included with the reports. There is an online version available here.
As with any new system there will be teething problems and feedback from the community, staff and children will be key to ironing these out. Please take a moment to complete the feedback form that will be included with the reports. There is an online version available here.
Monday 27 April 2009
Important information for this term
As part of our ongoing preparations for our new reporting system we have made a couple of changes that will affect parents next term. Feedback from parents suggested that it would be useful to send the new Learning Reports home before the Student Learning Conferences in May. To accommodate this, we have moved the Learning Conferences back by one week. Learning Conferences will now take place on Tuesday 26th and Thursday 28th May. Paul Norton will have his Learning Conferences on Tuesday 26th and Wednesday 27th May. Learning Reports will be sent home a week before the meetings so that you have an opportunity to have a read. It is essential that the report is then brought to the Learning Conference as it will form the basis of your discussions with the teacher.
We have a new system for booking appointments for Learning Conferences. To book a time to meet with the teacher, you need to go online to www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and put in our school code - VMECK. All interviews will be booked this way. If you do not have access to a computer, we will have one available in the office in week 1 of next term for you to use.
Next term we will be having a staff-only day in Week 7 on Monday, June 8th. The Ministry of Education gave schools two days to work on the new curriculum. We took one of those days in 2008 and this will be our second. The school will be closed on that day, so please make sure that you have arrangements in place for your children on that day.
We have a new system for booking appointments for Learning Conferences. To book a time to meet with the teacher, you need to go online to www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and put in our school code - VMECK. All interviews will be booked this way. If you do not have access to a computer, we will have one available in the office in week 1 of next term for you to use.
Next term we will be having a staff-only day in Week 7 on Monday, June 8th. The Ministry of Education gave schools two days to work on the new curriculum. We took one of those days in 2008 and this will be our second. The school will be closed on that day, so please make sure that you have arrangements in place for your children on that day.
Monday 30 March 2009
Friday 27 March 2009
Heroes at Fendalton
As part of our school theme on Heroes we had a very exciting day today with visitors from a RNZAF helicopter. We managed to keep the visit a secret from the children so the arrival from above was even more special. The children loved seeing the helicopter arrive and winch one of the crew in and out. All the children had a chance to sit in the machine and ask questions of the crew.A huge thank you to the RNZAF for agreeing to come down to the school and give the children such a treat. It is fabulous when parents are able to use their connections to arrange exciting experiences for our children!
The Heroes theme is a year-long focus through which all the classes are looking at different aspects of the curriculum and learning about our key competencies: Thinker, Dream Maker, Team Player and Communicator. All these traits were on show today as the crew explained to the children what their job entails, how they have to work closely as a team, communicate well and are always thinking and problem solving.
We have also had visits from Police officers, Mid-wives and, of course mums and dads. Teaching the children about the key competencies through real-life people is so powerful and the learning is really coming to life!
Monday 16 March 2009
Gifted Conference in Rotorua
This weekend I attended the Reaching Forward conference in Rotorua. Attended by educators from all over New Zealand, the conference focused on how we differentiate our curriculum, teaching and schools to try and personalise the learning for all our children.
One of the most inspiring talks at the conference came from Robyn Boswell. She talked about the opportunities offered by the new curriculum to start by asking "who are we teaching" rather than "what are we teaching." I believe that this is key to changing the way that schools run and teachers teach to better meet the needs of 21st century learners. What and how we teach our children depends on who our children are. All children have different needs, understandings and ways of learning, and it is no longer acceptable for us to work from a one size fits all model for teaching. The challenge for all schools is to find a way to change how we teach so that we are meeting the individual needs of children much more effectively. There has been much talk in New Zealand in recent years about "personalised learning" but there has been no definitive answer to the problem. However we must continue to search for one. The world our children are growing up in has changed and education must change too, or we are doing them a great disservice.
The conference certainly got me thinking and excited about the times ahead. It is a great time to be in education. We are on the cusp of some really exciting changes and, at Fendalton, we need to be riding the crest of that wave.
One of the most inspiring talks at the conference came from Robyn Boswell. She talked about the opportunities offered by the new curriculum to start by asking "who are we teaching" rather than "what are we teaching." I believe that this is key to changing the way that schools run and teachers teach to better meet the needs of 21st century learners. What and how we teach our children depends on who our children are. All children have different needs, understandings and ways of learning, and it is no longer acceptable for us to work from a one size fits all model for teaching. The challenge for all schools is to find a way to change how we teach so that we are meeting the individual needs of children much more effectively. There has been much talk in New Zealand in recent years about "personalised learning" but there has been no definitive answer to the problem. However we must continue to search for one. The world our children are growing up in has changed and education must change too, or we are doing them a great disservice.
The conference certainly got me thinking and excited about the times ahead. It is a great time to be in education. We are on the cusp of some really exciting changes and, at Fendalton, we need to be riding the crest of that wave.
Friday 6 March 2009
Friday 27 February 2009
Engineer wanted!!
We are nearing the completion of the design stages for our playground seating and shade project, but we need some help! The footings for the wall and posts in the plan need to be looked at by an engineer. If there are any parents who are (or know) an engineer who might be able to help with this please could you get in touch with me! paul.sibson@fendalton.school.nz.
Thank you.
Friday 20 February 2009
Fendalton on Google
Throughout 2008 Rob Clarke and I worked on setting up FOS Live, a new way to share our learning online. We began with the aim of creating a new site which was easy to update by the right people in our school but more importantly was a portal for sharing the learning that takes place every day across our school. Running in parallel to our work on the website was the continuing drive to make better use of online tools that allow children to collaborate and share online. By combining these two strands we have been able to create FOS Live, a website which shows learning as it is happening across the whole school. Whenever a child, or teacher, in school posts to their blog it appears instantly on FOS Live. Whenever children upload new photos to their class Picassa account, those photos are instantly fed into slideshows on FOS Live.
This has all been possibly thanks to the incredible (and free) online tools that Google provide. Blogger, Google Docs, Picassa, YouTube, Google Apps and Google Calendar are all tools that we use extensively across the school.
Keep your eye out in The Christchurch Press next week for a story all about us and how we are using these online tools to support our children's learning. We also appeared on the official google blog in 2008, you can read the post here.
Of course, sitting underneath this is a robust digital safety programme designed to make sure that children understand the risks of using the internet and how to keep safe online. We never use the full names of children online. Parents give permission for all images and video footage that goes online.
This has all been possibly thanks to the incredible (and free) online tools that Google provide. Blogger, Google Docs, Picassa, YouTube, Google Apps and Google Calendar are all tools that we use extensively across the school.
Keep your eye out in The Christchurch Press next week for a story all about us and how we are using these online tools to support our children's learning. We also appeared on the official google blog in 2008, you can read the post here.
Of course, sitting underneath this is a robust digital safety programme designed to make sure that children understand the risks of using the internet and how to keep safe online. We never use the full names of children online. Parents give permission for all images and video footage that goes online.
Thursday 12 February 2009
Soaring Blade!
This morning, year 4, 5 and 6 welcomed two visiting authors from Australia to Fendalton School. Meridith and Hilary Badger are hugely popular authors of the "Go Girl" and "Zac Power" series of books. They spent time with our older students, inspiring them with the power of stories and even giving some of them their own secret spy names (my spy name is Soaring Blade and I look forward to being referred to as such in the coming weeks!). It was great to see our students in awe of the authors and, from the discussions on the way out of the village, we will be seeing some budding story-tellers emerging very soon. A big thank you to Desna for arranging the visit and doing a great job of organising the event, including another fabulous performance from our Kapahaka group. Meredith and Hilary were blown away by the welcome that they received, the boys and girls who performed overcame any nerves to do a stunning job, as always. Spine tingling!
Monday 9 February 2009
An exciting year ahead.
Welcome back to school! It has been a long, hot summer for those who sensibly stayed in New Zealand through the Christmas and New Year period, however for me it was a cold, cold winter in the northern hemisphere visiting all my family and friends back home. I had a fabulous time away and loved seeing my family, but it is great to be back and looking forward to a really exciting new year at school.
The staff kicked off the year with a bang last week with another very successful retreat in the mountains. We set up camp at Pudding Hill Lodge and had a very productive (and fun) time planning the year for the children.
One of the main discussion points over the two days was how we can do a better job of aligning our assessment and reporting procedures. It was broadly agreed that the current written reports sent home to parents in term 4 are not feeding into the children's learning as well as we would like. The reports are too late in the year to have a direct impact on learning and need to be more reflective of what is happening in the classroom.
I asked the leadership team to write down what they believed student reports should achieve and their thoughts are shown through the wordle picture below. It is pretty clear that "Learning" is the key element and we believe that a reporting system should be a natural part of our assessment process. We would like our reporting to be reflective of what is happening in class and feeds into discussions with the children about their learning and next steps. Over last year I visited or spoke with a number of other schools to see how they report to parents about children's progress. Those visits and the discussions with the staff last week have led to us revamping the reporting process for 2009. I will post more details about this in the next few weeks along with details about a series of meetings with parents to look at the new format and gather feedback.
The staff kicked off the year with a bang last week with another very successful retreat in the mountains. We set up camp at Pudding Hill Lodge and had a very productive (and fun) time planning the year for the children.
One of the main discussion points over the two days was how we can do a better job of aligning our assessment and reporting procedures. It was broadly agreed that the current written reports sent home to parents in term 4 are not feeding into the children's learning as well as we would like. The reports are too late in the year to have a direct impact on learning and need to be more reflective of what is happening in the classroom.
I asked the leadership team to write down what they believed student reports should achieve and their thoughts are shown through the wordle picture below. It is pretty clear that "Learning" is the key element and we believe that a reporting system should be a natural part of our assessment process. We would like our reporting to be reflective of what is happening in class and feeds into discussions with the children about their learning and next steps. Over last year I visited or spoke with a number of other schools to see how they report to parents about children's progress. Those visits and the discussions with the staff last week have led to us revamping the reporting process for 2009. I will post more details about this in the next few weeks along with details about a series of meetings with parents to look at the new format and gather feedback.
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