Continuing on with the maths theme from last week, I thought I’d share a couple more math related things…

ALiM (Accelerating Learning in Mathematics):

At Vogeltown School we have had Matt Goodwin and Dani Melody supporting a small group of students in mathematics. This programme, called ALiM, focuses on accelerating the progress of a small group of students over a short-term period. It’s an intensive support that runs alongside the students' regular classroom learning.

The key goals of ALiM include fostering a positive attitude towards mathematics and supporting children to make accelerated progress. Teachers are encouraged to inquire into their practice and evolve their teaching strategies to meet the needs of the students. ALiM encourages a focus on rich mathematical tasks and student talk, which have been shown to improve engagement and learning outcomes. For more information, you can follow this link: Education Gazette

For Mr Goodwin and Mrs Melody, delivering this programme has involved professional learning, online meetings, delivering targeted lessons and monitoring progress through teaching and assessments. We greatly appreciate their hard work in this space, and we are eager to see the results of their efforts.

Supporting maths at home:

Supporting your child with maths at home can sometimes be tricky, especially when teaching methods have changed! Even in a household with teachers, we’ve found that these differences can occasionally cause tension.

My advice, if you’re wanting to do help at home, is to focus on number knowledge. Start with basic skills like reading and writing numbers, counting forwards and backwards, skip counting, and building confidence with basic facts-starting with addition and subtraction facts and once these are strong, you can move on to multiplication and division.

As children progress through school, knowing their basic facts is incredibly valuable because it frees up working memory, allowing your child to focus on the strategy being used to solve a problem. Research shows that having a method to solve basic facts also helps commit them to memory. I wish someone had taught me when I was younger that you can double your 2s to learn your 4s, or that 5 + 7 are nearly neighbours, so you can pick the number in the middle and double it!

Whatever you choose to do at home, consider the following things in order to make maths more accessible and enjoyable for your child:

Encourage a growth mindset: Praise effort over results and emphasize that mistakes are part of learning. Encourage your child to approach maths with curiosity instead of fear.

Make maths practical and fun: Play board and card games that involve counting, strategy, probability, and money management. Many online maths games are also available. Look for real opportunities to bring maths concepts to life through opportunities like cooking or shopping.

Look for resources tailored to the NZ curriculum: The New Zealand Ministry of Education offers resources on the Tahurangi website with activities aligned with the NZ curriculum. Khan Academy provides free online videos and exercises, and Learnwell has a great range of books suited to the NZ curriculum that can be used at home.

Regular practice: whatever area you choose to help with at home, it is important that the learning is revisited regularly until mastered.

Well done - you made it to the end! If there is anything you need help with in this space then start by chatting with your child's teacher.

Mā te wā! See you later!

Ryves

Congratulations to the following tamariki who received a principal's award at our school assembly today:

Charlie Conroy, Harry Hunt, Marlow Coutts, Bree Donnelly, Luca Gooch, Kiaan French, Skyla Cameron, Sithulka Fernando, Chloe Chapman, Millie Cross, Chloe Miller, Morgan De Villiers, Matilda Hope, Emma Flay, Andie Rathgen, Nyah Jones, Mia Vooght, Austen French, Millie Hodson, Sandil Ganewattha Kattadige, Emma Wills, Lacey Pitcairn, Carter Gibbins, Eddie Vooght, Caitlin Johnson, Noah Doney, Tiaan Botha, Raniera Edwards, Ash Benton, Raqim Rasli.

Kei runga noa atu koe!

Later this term, we will be holding our school cross-country event, followed by the interschool competition for those who qualify. We encourage all children to actively participate.

Our focus is on personal achievement. We want each child to challenge themselves and do their personal best. It’s not about being the best but about each person pushing themselves to do their best. This is what matters most.

Kia ora e te whānau

We are looking to finalise our enrolments for 2025 and need your help!

Please let us know if this sounds like you:

- Living out of the Vogeltown School zone

- Have a child currently enrolled with us, who will still be with us in 2025

- Have another child who you wish to start school with us as as New Entrant in 2025

Please contact the senior office if all of the above apply to you, so that we can plan for 2025 with you in mind.

Thanks whānau!

We just wanted to take a moment to express our thanks for your support on Daffodil Day. Your generosity will go towards making real difference in the lives of those affected by cancer. It was also great to see the children (and teachers) get involved by dressing up too! Through our collective effort we managed to raise a total of $339.20 which goes to prove that our contribution truly matters.

Kia ora e te whānau

Just a quick note to let you know that Kindo is open for pizza lunch orders, which will be on Wednesday 11th September (which is also Wig Wednesday!). It is $2 per slice of Dominos cheese pizza.

Orders close on Monday 9th September at 8pm - no orders can be taken after this time. Orders can only be placed through Kindo, no cash or eftpos. If you haven't got a Kindo account, you can use the following link to get one set up:

www.vogeltown.school.nz/school-information/kindo-shop/

Ngā mihi

Home and School Committee

TERM CALENDAR

Put all these dates in your diary or your phone! Remember we will put all updates on Facebook, Skool Loop and Seesaw.

TERM 3

30 August - Whole school assembly

30 August - Highlands Intermediate Out of Zone enrolments close

30 August - Daffodil Day

3 September - Smash play cricket sessions for juniors

5 September - Smash play cricket sessions for middles

5 September - Market Night - Build a Business

6 September - Four Year Old Friday, 9:00am to 11:00am, Junior School

10 September - Vogeltown Cross Country

10 September - BOT meeting

11 September - Home and School Pizza Day

13 September - Whole school assembly

16 September - Māori language week starts

16 September - New Plymouth schools cross country

17 September - New Plymouth schools cross country postponement day

18 September - Starting School the VS Way, 5pm to 6pm, Junior School

20 September - Four Year Old Friday, 9:00am to 11:00am, Junior School

25 September - Taranaki Schools Cross Country, Hawera

27 September - Whole school assembly

TERM 4

14 October - 13 December

1 November - Four Year Old Friday, 9:00am to 11:00am, Junior School

15 November - Four Year Old Friday, 9:00am to 11:00am, Junior School

29 November - Four Year Old Friday, 9:00am to 11:00am, Junior School

Stay safe and be kind to each other. Thank you for the ongoing support of Vogeltown School, we really appreciate the efforts everyone makes to ensure our kura is such a great place to learn and work!

On behalf of the Vogeltown team, ka kite ano!

Ryves Hunt and the VS team

Email: office@vogeltown.school.nz
Website: www.vogeltown.school.nz
Location: Vogeltown School Huatoki Street, Vogeltown, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Phone: (06) 753 6843

Our school policies, like many schools, are now in an online system through a portal called 'Schooldocs'. Any time you want to bring up a school policy, just log in to schooldocs and you can access the policies.

The login is: vogeltown

The password: huatoki

The website link to Schooldocs is below.