Maungatapere School

Kia Ora Whanau

I have a few important dates and changes to inform you of as a result of the current curriculum changes. These changes directly impact student reports, parent/teacher conferences and the need for a day of school closure for instruction in Term 3.

The Board of Trustees have approved:

• Sending mid year student reports home during Week 1 of Term 3. This allows time to create a new report format that meets the MOE reporting requirements aligned with the new curriculum.
• Hold parent/teacher conferences on Thursday 24th July, in Week 2 of Term 3. A change to the timing of parent teacher conferences.
• Close for student instruction for a full day on Thursday 24th July for an 8am first interview time, through to 6pm, which gives us 40 time slots for a class teacher.
• Offer After School Care for registered students from 8:50 to 2:50 (at parents cost), then normal ASC hours after that.
• Ministry of Education requires us to be open between 382 and 386 half days per year. Closing for reporting purposes still means we are meeting these requirements whilst remaining open for as long as possible at end of the year, during what we know is a busy time for parents.

Behind the scenes of Maungatapere School Professional Development
As you will be aware from the media, there have been many changes within the NZ Education System. What you may not be aware of is the pace of changes, the work behind the scenes at school and the impact on what we do at Maungatapere School.

In summary, we have a revised curriculum that has a more structured format and we have moved from the existing curriculum levels 1,2,3 & 4 to phases for Maths in Y0-8 and in English from Y0-6. Note: The Y7/8 English Curriculum has not been released until mid year. The leadership team has been working under time pressures to make an informed decision about changing the report format from levels to phases, and new requirements for reporting language, and curriculum strands.

As a school we have been very busy from the beginning of this year, unpacking and understanding the refreshed Maths and English Curriculum. This includes the changes in expectations, at each level of the new curriculum. In particular, mathematics has been our big focus with an outside provider observing teacher practice, providing feedback to teachers and helping us focus on integrating the ‘Science of Learning’ into everyday teaching. In summary, we are excited to be continuing working with Charlotte Wilkinson as part of our professional development journey.

Alongside the mathematics focus, we have worked hard moderating student writing across the school, as part of understanding the refreshed English curriculum. Our teachers and leadership team have really honed their skills analysing student writing, to better understand student learning needs. The assessment platform, we introduced for writing last year, has provided a much more detailed breakdown of student knowledge and skills.

At the end of last year our Leadership Team worked with The Education Group Ltd, on refining our leadership model and structure. This has resulted in the workstream across our leadership team being refined, which was necessary to define roles and responsibilities, particularly with the fast pace changes we are currently facing in Education. We are about to roll this process out across all teams within the school. This process is about strengthening our whole staff to strive to be the best we can be, in relation to our school values and create highly effective teams across the school.

Year 7/8 students attended the Winter Sports in town yesterday and I was fortunate to spend time at most of the sports. Our kids proudly represented our school with a lot of them taking the opportunity to try a new sport and all had a fantastic day. Talking with the kids and parents, there was a real buzz about the day and getting to enjoy the beautiful weather (this event was canceled last year due to bad weather).

Terry

20 May 2025 Think and Be Me Performance

23 May 2025 Year 7/8 Technology

28 May 2025 Year 5/6 Winter Sports Tournament

2 June 2025 Kings Birthday Public Holiday

4 June 2025 Cross Country Training Starts

6 June 2025 Year 7/8 Technology

11 June 2025 School Photos

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20 June 2025 Matariki Public Holiday

26 June 2025 Pizza Day

27 June 2025 Year 7/8 Technology

27 June 2025 Last Day Term 2

14 July 2025 First Day Term 3 - Powhiri for new students

18 July 2025 Year 7/8 Technology

21 July 2025 Whg Boys High Promotional Visit to Year 8s

23 July 2025 Whg Girls High Promotional Visit to Year 8s

24 July 2025 Parent/Teacher Interviews (School Closed)

28 July 2025 Talent Quest Juniors

29 July 2025 Talent Quest Seniors

30 July 2025 Talent Quest Final

30 July 2025 Whg Boys High Open Evening (for Year 8 Students)

1 Aug 2025 Year 7/8 Technology

6 Aug 2025 Whg Boys High Enrolment Interviews (at WBHS)

12 Aug 2025 School Cross Country

14 Aug 2025 Mathex

15 Aug 2025 Year 7/8 Technology

27 Aug 2025 WPSSA Cross Country

29 Aug 2025 Year 7/8 Technology

10 Sep 2025 Mangakahia Lions Speech Competition

12 Sep 2025 Year 7/8 Technology

19 Sep 2025 Last Day Term 3

Mason, Harvey, Benji and Ruben have been busy building a superb maimai.

If your child would like to raise chickens for Ag Day you can order chicks from Hidden Valley Produce

Chick Order:

Email: office@maungatapere.school.nz

Principal: principal@maungatapere.school.nz

BOT Chair: botchair@maungatapere.school.nz
Website: https://www.maungatapere.school.nz/
Location: Mangakahia Road, Maungatapere, Whangarei, New Zealand
Phone: 09 4346743
Facebook: facebook.com/maungatapereschool