In 2014 the figures were similar, with a
transience rate of 33%. The significance of
this is that we are facing an ongoing issue –
not a one off.
Taihape Area School
Tuesday 8th June 2015
Term 2 – Newsletter Number 8
Phone - 06 3880130
Email – [email protected]
[email protected]
Website - http://tas.spikeatschool.co.nz
Tena koutou katoa
Welcome back to a new week. As a Staff
we continually reflect upon life at school,
the things that are going well, areas for
improvement, and whenever possible
implement changes that promote positive
outcomes.
However we live in times of rapid change,
primarily as a result of the impact of the
unprecedented growth and development of
technology. For example the influence of
social media has been profound, and has
changed the way people communicate with
each other.
One massive challenge many schools face,
particularly those from lower decile areas,
is the disheartening impact of high rates of
student transience. Transience is the arrival
and departure of students, apart from those
who enrol at the beginning or end of the
year. In 2013 the average transience rate
for decile one schools was an incredible
52.8% - for decile 10 schools the figure
was 29%. Taihape Area School is 4-decile,
and in 2013, while we enrolled an
impressive 113 students, 123 students
moved away from the district. This
amounts to approximately 40% of our total
roll.
The Centre for Research, Evaluation and
Assessment (CRESA) has completed
research into the issue of transience, which
causes major problems for schools. Many
transient children have multiple issues academic, behavioural, and otherwise. As a
consequence schools pour resources into
these students, at the expense of other less
mobile students.
Often the children who are transient are the
ones who are in the greatest need. One of
the major problems schools face is
obtaining information about children from
their previous school/s. This can be a real
issue, and teachers spend many meeting
hours discussing how to support them. As
well a large amount of time is spent by
teachers assessing students, discussing
entry information with parents, setting up
students with books and resources, and
welcoming them into classrooms.
It also takes students time to settle into a
new school, and to learn how “we do
things”. All schools are the same but
different, and they all have their own
characteristics and nuances. Sadly in some
cases, no sooner has a child settled, the
family moves on and the whole process is
repeated, and the issues heightened.
Another issue is that teacher time and
attention, as well as resources, are absorbed
by the transients to the detriment of those
students who are not transient. This is a
natural response as teachers work hard to
ensure a smooth transition of all students
into their class, and into a new school.
It is a fact of life that families generally are
more mobile than previously, and
unsurprisingly, the lure of employment and
“Leading me to lead my learning”
work is a massive incentive for families to
move. Unfortunately, at times children, and
their education, can suffer.
Jack Eames (Year 9) - for effort in
Have a great week.
creativity in writing;
Regards
Emma Fellingham (Year 9) - for skills and
creative writing
Courtney Fannin (Year 9) - for skills and
creativity in writing;
Richard McMillan
Principal
Tayne Goreman (Year 9) - for skilled
creative writing;
Tall Poppies
Tia Wilkie (Year 9) - for effort in creative
The following Taihape Area
School students rose above
the crowd last week as
outstanding achievers:
Phoebe Huxtable and
Kainda Troon (Room 5) - for
consistently showing the TAS Values in all
thy do;
Hauwaho Taipeti (Room 9) - for showing
Rangatiratanga in his individualised reading
plan;
Leila Marshall (Room 9) - for showing great
research skills in her inquiry;
Jack Squires (Room 4): for fantastic
reading comprehension and hard work in
maths;
Kasey Huirinui (Room 4): for outstanding
comprehension in reading;
Tia Marshall: (Room 4) – for awesome
achievement in reading;
writing;
Eternal Sutton – for demonstrating
exceptional student behaviour, and
supporting her peers, in Science;
Melissa Mete (Year 12) - for leading her
learning and perseverance to create a
career pathway;
Kelsey Eames (Year 12) - for coping with
adversity and persevering to achieve tasks
to a high standard;
Teresa Sumich (Year 12)- for showing
wairuatanga to reflect on her workload and
create a study plan;
Iria Chase (Year 7) - for showing
whanaungatanga by helping his peers
patiently in PTP Science;
Caryse Clark, Erika Elers, and Brynel
Santos (Year 9) - for showing
Rangatiratanga by achieving with
Excellence in Year 9 Chemistry;
Erika Elers (Year 9) – for demonstrating
exceptional student behaviour, and
supporting her peers, in mathematics;
Kalani Grant (Year 9) - for effort
in creative writing;
Dontay Kaata (Year 9) - for skilled
Nicola-Mary Geraghty and Vidya
Vijayakumar (Year 13) - for achieving with
Excellence in Biology;
Michaella Simpson, Mikaela Turfrey (Year
13) and Hayley Maher (Year 12) - for
achieving with Merit in Biology.
creative writing
Victoria Palmer (Year 9) - for effort
in creative writing;
“Leading me to lead my learning”
contacting the school office, the year Dean
or DP Andy Lincoln.
-
Andy Lincoln
Behaviour Expectations
The TAS
Behaviour
Expectations are: -
Tall Poppies from Learning Street –
Week 7
Kamar
Portal
Student
Web
TAS have just launched a Kamar Student
Web Portal. Usernames and passwords
have been given to students in years 11-13
to access the site.
Thixs is an exciting development because
Student Web Portal provides the ability for
students to track information on the web.
This currently includes:
• Daily Notices
• School Calendar of Events
• Details, including the ability to email the school
of changes in Details
• Timetable
• Results Summary, including an NCEA Summary
• Subject Assessments (Current Year)
• Attendance (Live or delayed).
For our NCEA students the ability to track
their own number of credits is very
important. The web portal gives the student
the independence to track their own
attainment and shows which assessments
they have been entered for.
Caregivers also have the option of having
their own access to the web portal to
monitor the progress of their child, or
children. This can be obtained by
Rangatiratanga:
We are Learners
We show Rangatiratanga
Whanaungatanga:
We are Caring
We show Whanaungatanga
Wairuatanga:
We are Reflective
We show Wairuatanga
Manaakitanga:
We are Respectful
We show Manaakitanga
Prime Mathematics
As you will have seen on the news the
MOE has released report on Math’s in
Primary Schools. It criticises the Numeracy
Project that was introduced 15 years ago.
The Numeracy Project was aimed at
‘moving away from the Victoria era rote
learning style of teaching Maths
instead; asking students to learn multiple
methods for solving problems before
learning basic facts such as timetables, or
written methods such
as column
addition.’ The data
shows the results
have not changed.
We have been concerned for some-time
about the gaps that were apparent when our
students reached College age. This was not
because of poor teaching (in fact the
“Leading me to lead my learning”
growth our children did make was
attributable to excellent teaching), lack of
Professional Development, or lack of
resources. It was simply an indictment of
the Numeracy Programme that focuses on
teaching strategies, and not Mathematics.
Last week we meet
with a rep selling
the Prime
Mathematics
Programme. This
has been taught in
Singapore and
Korea (according to
various measures
the top scoring countries in the World for
Maths), and has been adapted by a New
Zealand team led by Lester Flockton to
meet the NZ Maths Curriculum
Achievement Objectives. Lester Flockton
is a world renowned Educationalist, and his
endorsement of this programme is the
ultimate commendation.
We are purchasing the Prime Math’s
Programme, and will begin using it next
term with the Year 1-10 students. From
next year it will become our core
Mathematics Programme.
Kahurangi NZ Maori
Dance Group
On Friday we hosted the Kahurangi New
Zealand Maori Dance Group. Students
from a number of country schools joined us
in the MFC for what was an absolutely
outstanding performance, and celebration
of Maori Culture.
The performance was
a mixture of dance,
waiata, traditional
stories, traditional
games, haka, poi, and
humour. The audience
was thoroughly engrossed for the entire
duration of the show.
To access background information about
the Kahurangi Dance Group, visit:http://www.kahurangi.com
Hockey
Last week there was no hockey because of
the Queen’s Birthday Holiday.
Tonight
Taihape Area School v Cornerstone, on Turf 1, @
4.30pm.
Next Week
Next Monday we have the bye.
Kahurangi Dance Group
Parents and Caregivers
An excerpt from the STA (Schools
Trustee Association) News Magazine:
“And speaking of parents/
caregivers One of the interesting things about
parents/caregivers is that their
expectations of the schooling system are
actually quite simple. They want their
child(ren) to achieve to their potential in a
happy, supportive, and fulfilling
environment, well prepared to be able to
move on to higher education or to get a
good job, and live a happy, productive, and
fulfilling life.
By and large, parents/caregivers do not get
into the ideology, protection, arguments,
power games and positioning that
characterises much of the education sector,
simply because from a parent’s/ caregiver’
point of view, it’s the meeting of their
expectations (call it outcomes, if you wish)
that matters, not the inputs, the outputs, or
indeed the particular views of sector
groups. And yes, some of us still have
“Leading me to lead my learning”
children /young people at School … and it
is certainly true for most, if not all of us.”
Great News
We had some amazing news last week
from Pub Charity – grants of $16,000, over
two applications, towards the cost of new
uniforms, sports gear, and the North Island
Mixed Hockey Tournament.
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long
as you do not stop” ― Confucius.
“Do not take life too seriously. You will never
get out of it alive” ― Elbert Hubbard.
TEAM = Together
Each Achieves More
Supporting Your Child at
Home: Telling the Time
Time is a challenging concept for
children. Frequently ask them what the
time is and support them in reading the
time. If it’s digital, ask them to describe
what that would look like on the clock face.
This skill takes a lot of practice and you
can add to the practice
they get at school by
encouraging them to
look at clocks and read
them for you: Is it PAST the
hour, or coming
up TO the hour?
 How many minutes to what hour?
 Or how many minutes past what
hour?
Encourage them to move back and forth
between digital and traditional clocks.
Quotes of the Week
“Leading me to lead my learning”