Kia Ora
The first four weeks of term have been all about children settling into their classes, learning their routines and developing good working relationships with their classmates and teacher/s. Currently our school roll is at 52 students and with cohort entry we have more new entrants beginning at the start of Term 2. Welcome to our new students in the Junior Room: Liam, Emma, Ryder, Marleigh, Ella and Joel. Welcome to Georgia in the Senior Room. Also we are delighted to introduce a new staff member, Nik Taylor who is a new additional teacher aide at our school.
This year is the Triannual Board of Trustees elections. The current Board would like to encourage new members to stand for election (Elections will be held on the 7th June 2019). If you are interested in becoming a Board member, we would like to invite you to attend a board meeting. Our next two Board meeting this term are on Wednesday 13th March and Wednesday 10th April at 5:30pm in the staffroom. Please let the Board Chair Mike Moss know if you would like to attend one of these meetings mikemoss@xtra.co.nz . If a large number of people are interested in being on the Board of Trustees, we will look at holding an information evening at the school.
At Waitetuna School we run a balanced programme to develop confident and caring children. We believe academic excellence is important along with social, emotional and physical development, all of these elements are given equal importance in curricular planning and instructional program design at Waitetuna School, ensuring a well-balanced and thriving child. An environment filled with caring teachers, parents, and peers ensures that each child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged. Our Whole Child approach leads to students who grow to be the best version of themselves. This philosophy requires very dedicated, caring and passionate staff, so that our children have the best possible learning and growing experiences.
This term our core focus is on relationships and team building exercises through technology, sports and physical activities. Within the curriculum we are required to teach Te Reo (Levels 1 and 2) and introduce the Treaty of Waitangi at Level 3 and 4 (ie senior level). In addition, we provide extra curricula activities such as surfing, skiing, school camps, relevant core focus school trips, student leadership days, and many sports trips so our children have an opportunity to compete against eight other local schools (in our Western Waikato Sports Cluster). Through our supportive environment and these varied and interesting learning experiences, our Waitetuna students grow to be confident and capable young people.
Our main learning focus this year is on Digital Fluency. Through professional Learning and Development in Digital Technology through out 2018 and 2019, teachers are now beginning to implement the new Digital Curriculum. This term the Senior Room are pre-coding on the Chromebooks. The Middle and Junior Rooms are introducing (procedural writing) which relates to the first steps in coding instructions. For the last two years our school wide focus has been on Mathematics. Teachers have received 80 hours of training and in class support with our facilitator Gaynor Terrill. As a result, Waitetuna School has impressive school wide maths results.
By the end of 2018: In Mathematics we have 98% of students working at or above in their expected curriculum level. In Writing we have 85% of students at school working at or above in their expected curriculum level. In Reading we have 77% of students working at or above their expected curriculum level. These are great results for 2018 year!
Nga Mihi