School Newsletter – 3 May 2022

Term 2, Week 1

A Message from the Principal

Wow, what great weather to be starting school for this the Autumn months of the year. I do hope that you all have had an opportunity to enjoy the school holiday break with your children. 

At the end of last term I informed you about the assessment and reporting timelines that the school uses to ensure that we are actively monitoring progress and achievement. This works hand in hand with teacher assessments that include observations, dialogic conversations, discussions about evidence of the learning and recording this in SchoolTalk, an online learning management system that allows you to see students’ learning and progress.  

Now is an opportunity to talk about the results of the latest set of standardised/normed assessments, the Progress and Achievement Test (PAT). 

New Zealand teachers use a variety of tests to determine what level students are at, what progress they are making, and where they may need extra help. Progressive Achievement Tests, commonly known as PATs, are one of the main sets of tests schools use.

PATs are multiple-choice tests designed to help teachers determine achievement levels. We use the Mathematics, Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary, and Listening Comprehension PAT. The test results help teachers decide what kinds of teaching materials are needed and which methods or programmes are most suitable for their students. PATs are also important because they identify the progress a student is making from year to year.

This year the students who received a stanine 8 or 9 in 2021 were assigned a test one year ahead of their Year Group.  This was advised by NZCER PAT administrators as best practice.  Students who received an 8 or 9 stanine last year had made very few errors in their test.  By giving them the test, a year level ahead, the teacher is more readily able to identify their next learning steps.

PAT:Mathematics covers number knowledge, number strategies, algebra, geometry and measurement, and statistics. PAT:Mathematics is for Years 4 to 10

Our results are very good with 94% of our students in the within and above categories. This is represented by the graph below. It’s certainly not a bell curve, rather it is heavily weighted to the right, within and above.

Key;  Below = Stanine 1-3, Within = Stanie 4-6, Above = Stainine 7-9

PAT:Reading Comprehension assesses how well Year 4 to 10 students understand the text they are reading. Each test is organised around several extended pieces of writing which include stories, poems, reports and explanations.

Our results are again very good with 89% of our students in the within and above categories. This is represented by the graph below. The bell curve is centred above the midpoint. 

Key;  Below = Stanine 1-3, Within = Stanie 4-6, Above = Stainine 7-9

PAT:Reading Vocabulary assesses Year 4 to 10 students’ ability to understand the words they read. Each question is based around a keyword that is embedded in a short sentence. Students are asked to choose a synonym that best represents the meaning of this word from a list of five possible alternatives.

Our results are very good with 94% of our students in the within and above categories. This is represented by the graph below. Again this is not a bell curve, rather it is heavily weighted to the right, within and above.

Key;  Below = Stanine 1-3, Within = Stanie 4-6, Above = Stainine 7-9

PAT:Listening Comprehension measures Year 3 to 10 students’ ability to understand spoken material. Students listen to a passage and then answer questions. It helps teachers detect children with poor listening skills and is also useful in identifying those children whose listening comprehension performance is significantly different from their ability to comprehend written material.

Key;  Below = Stanine 1-3, Within = Stanie 4-6, Above = Stainine 7-9

This is an area that, I’m sure many parents would agree, needs further development. 86% of our students are in the within and above range,while we remain ahead of the national comparison.   

What do we do with these results

These results are discussed with the Board of trustees, with the leadership team and shared with staff. They were also shared with parents at the assessment snapshot meetings held at the end of term 1.

Our teachers use the information to triangulate their assessments of where students are learning. They also inform the learning that is required by students to accelerate their individual learning. We call this assessment for learning. 

Each student has learning that is personalised for them and their next steps. We will be reporting their progress using our SchoolTalk reports at the end of this term and again at the end of this year. 

Parents are also welcome to make time to see the teacher to discuss the learning. We will do this formally again in term 3 at our learning conversations. Teachers may also request a meeting to discuss learning with you if required. As we continue to state, students are the centre of what we do as a school. Our Kohimarama Way clearly articulates our vision, values and learner dispositions that enhance that environment where students’ Enter to Learn and create students who leave us ‘Leave to Serve’. 

News

Kapa Haka

Term 2, Week 1 will see the beginning of Kapa Haka for 2022. If your child is interested in attending, please bring them to the hall for a 7.45am karakia. There will be senior students at the door ready to take names of students. Kapa Haka at Kohimarama School is for all students across all year levels. Depending on numbers we may work towards a junior and senior Kapa Haka later on in the term. I look forward to seeing the smiling faces of the tauira on Wednesday. Kia pai to ra. Kate Cadzow

SchoolTalk

Recently, the Stonefields Collaborative Trust (SCT) has secured an investment partner in the Hugh Green Foundation (HGF) to enable us to continue to grow as an organisation and provide our customers with improved support in the years to come. 

As a result of this new impact partnership, and to enable our continued development and expansion, a new entity has been formed called Te Kete Hono – SchoolTalk. This includes all the professional development that our wonderful team offers when supporting schools to utilise the full functionality of SchoolTalk. 

Because SchoolTalk is a new entity, this means that we legally require all our users to login, read and accept the new policies from Tuesday 10th May 2022. 

On the Tuesday 10th of May all users will be redirected to the Terms and Conditions screen, where they will need to read and agree to the Privacy Policy, Code of Conduct and Terms of Use. 

After accepting the terms, they will be redirected back to their portals. If you have any
questions or issues, please get in touch with support@tkh.nz

Welcome to the Library!

I hope everyone had a great and adventurous holiday and a time to finish a book or two.  The biggest and brightest news is the school library is now open for all students during a big break.  Everybody is welcome back to the comfort of the quiet reading space everyday of the week.
We have lots of new books to entice our readers.  Endangered Animals of the World series, Out of this World series, such authors as Alex Miles, Marcia Williams, Laura Bloom and many more.
I’ve also noticed the shelves are half empty so please return all your overdue books and select a new one as your best companion.

Certificates & Awards

Class Certificates

Congratulations to these outstanding students:

• Room 1 – Maxim M, JJ H
• Room 2 – Harrison R
• Room 4 – Conrad B
• Room 5 – Eme G
• Room 6 – Chloe B
• Room 8 – Freya H
• Room 9 – Stefan M, Oliver D
• Room 10 – Isabel G
• Room 11 – Tom K
• Room 12 – Spencer K 
• Room 13 – Nico G
• Room 14 – Keddy W, Jeffrey D

• Room 15 – Eva S
• Room 16 – Poppy P
• Room 17 – Lilian M
• Room 18 – Theo GM, Cathy L
• Room 19 – Freja E
• Room 20 – Madeleine H, Jacob R
• Room 21 – Henry N
• Room 22 – Sebastian M, Varvara B
• Room 23 – Angus W, Emily M
• Room 25 – Bella M
• Room 26 – Emma S
• Room 27 – Sava N, Bien Y

Caught Being Good  –  “Greenies”

Congratulations and thank you to the students who are doing the ‘right thing’ in the playgrounds, you are awesome.  Our lucky winners this time are:

• Iris               Rm 1                  for Reliability                Selwyn
• Marlo         Rm 17                for Compassion           Patteson
• Jacob          Rm 20                for Reliability                 Colenso

Community Notices

“URGENT!
LAST CHANCE
Tagalad Reserve
For sale or green space?
Tagalad Reserve is a quiet flat green space in Mission Bay with easy access and buildings that are spacious and sunny. MBKRA want to save Tagalad Reserve from being sold and we’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas to make Tagalad Reserve into a fabulous community treasure. We’d also love you to join us in making a photo saying ‘Not For Sale!’

Please come to Tagalad Reserve on May 14, from 12 noon. Mass photo at 2pm!

Two entrances: 9 Tagalad Road, 6 Nihill Crescent