Wairau Valley School

Dear all,

Firstly, our thoughts are with Jo Chaney and Ollie as Jo’s mum is very sick. And, secondly, a big thanks to everyone who sends in the weekend sports success photos. They are great.

A Curriculum Update

I spent the morning yesterday with all of the Marlborough principals and Ministry of Education staff looking at the refreshed New Zealand Curriculum and how the data will now be reported to families/whanau.

The Curriculum, partly in draft this year and fully operational in 2026, is grouped for primary children (Years 1-8) into 3 phases beginning at Year 3. So Year 3 Phase 1, Years 4,5,6 Phase 2, and Years 7 & 8 Phase 3. Years 1 and 2 are the foundational years. So, phases instead of levels.

Teacher overall judgments (OTJs) have been renamed to become ‘Informed Decisions’, and the new terms being used to identify learner progress are: Needs support, Progressing towards, Proficient, and Exceeding. The terms we used in the past were Below, Within, and At.

A big focus for school leaders is working in partnership with families. The more home and school work together to help children understand the importance of having a “growth” mindset, the more the adults in their lives encourage them to recognise the importance of effort and progress, not just having ability. We all know that learning happens at home, school, through play, formal and informal channels, and the more experiences children have, the more they can apply those experiences to their school learning. Reading, reading, and more reading has always been my mantra. Books and e-books open up the world for learners. Maths, get children to calculate the cost of goods when you shop, and make numbers fun. Try competing with them with basic facts. I have always had the belief that every child has the right to be successful in who they are, and that takes family, schools, and the community together, making sure children know what success feels like.

Kindest regards, and see you Saturday at the Woody Fundraiser.

Ngā mihi ki a koe

Dr Anne Malcolm

Acting Principal

0274926060

We are getting closer to the school’s annual speech competition. Our final competition is at 11 am on the 4th of September. The week of 25-27th August, classes will hold their semi-finals and choose up to 4 speakers for each section (2 for each year level). The sections are Year 1/2, 3/4, 5/6 and 7/8. These are 2-year age bands. The class speech will be held at 2.15 pm over the 3 days, so that parents can attend if they would like to.

Years 1/2 - Recite a poem. They are judged on clarity of voice, knowing their poem, presentation skills, body language, eye contact, and choice of poem to recite.

Years 3/4 and 5/6 deliver a 3-minute prepared speech with an over-arching topic “My World”.

They are judged on the presentation/delivery, flow, visual imagery, voice, audience connection, performance, speech structure, and preparation. Time is important. It is a 3-minute speech with a 30-second leeway on each side of the 3 minutes.

Year 7/8 have a little more latitude, they can include rap and the spoken word/slam poetry genre into their speech presentation. The judging is the same for years 5/6, with a greater focus on topic, audience engagement, and presentation.

We have the Life Education Caravan at school next week. St Arnaud school will be in the van on Monday and playing a friendly netball game with us at lunchtime. The following is the programme for our learners:

Tuesday

9:30-10:30 – Seniors

11:15-12 pm – Juniors

Wednesday

9:30-10:30 – Seniors

11:15-12 pm – Juniors

The seniors' Inquiry Focus is on Building Resilience. Students explore what is meant by resilience and develop possible strategies to bounce back from difficulties or setbacks in a positive and successful way, so they know how to apply these in future situations.

The junior inquiry focus is on ‘Friendships and Choices’. Students will explore the qualities of friendship and what it means to be a friend and be friendly, for themselves and others. They will discuss how to develop the qualities to enable strong and positive relationships with others and how to respond if they are faced with a problem such as conflict, being excluded, dealing with a broken friendship, or witnessing unkind acts. They will talk about making good choices.

Both classes have been doing some excellent persuasive writing. The juniors wrote about why you shouldn’t tell lies. Gus read us an excerpt of his writing at the Friday assembly.

The seniors have been developing structure and looking at high-quality models of persuasive writing. They are working on a shared piece at the moment about why everyone should own a pet. They will move to their writing topics next week.

Looking good. Currently there is 1 staff member standing for the staff representative on the Board role and there are 3 school parent/caregivers who have put themselves forward for this election, and 1 more thinking about it. Everyone enrolled as a voter will be given the opportunity to elect 4 parent representatives.

Next Board meeting 7th August 4.30pm.

The senior students wanted to understand the process for appointing a principal, so this is a precis of the process for families who also want that knowledge.

1. The Board developed a personal specification for the person they want to lead the school.✅

2. The job advertisement went into the Education Gazette 4 weeks ago.✅

3. People have visited the school and been sent application packs, which include a detailed job description and links to all of the strategic documents.✅

4. Applicants have submitted their Curriculum Vitae and the application, which closes on August 6th at 6 pm.

5. The Board shortlists the applicants down to no more than four people and advises them that they have been shortlisted.

6. The Board does detailed referee checks on the shortlisted people and will sometimes visit them in their schools if they are local. They, at the same time, develop a set of agreed-upon questions for all of the applicants. The applicants also put on a presentation for the Board outlining their blue-sky thinking for the school.

7. Then the interviews and the Board have Anne advising, and a consulting principal is often invited.

8. A new principal is appointed, and a start date is negotiated. If there are no suitable applicants, the Board readvertises.

Currently, parents and caregivers are being asked to review the school policies on ‘food and nutrition’, ‘police vetting’, and ‘missing student procedures’. Just log onto the website School Docs.

User name: wairauvalleyschool

Password: sunshine

and click on current reviews.

As well, the school has updated its emergency planning and evacuation scheme, and although this school does not need a FENZ-approved scheme because of size, the scheme fully meets all the FENZ requirements. The new assembly point for evacuations is on the field beside the grandstand. A sign for assembling is on order.

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Calender

Fundraiser Jingo Night - 2 August

Life Education Trust - 5, 6 August

Cricket Coaching - 19 August

Speech Competition - 4 September

Ski Trip - 8 September

Board Election Voting Closes - 10 September

Disco - 18 Sept

Last day of Term 3 - 19 September

Reminders

Please remember to call or message the school office if your child is sick.

Students are welcome to arrive at school from 8.15 am.

Please inform the school if you are removing your child from class early.