Teacher Only Day 2023

On the 6th of June, over 250 staff from across the Kāhui Ako, came together for a professional development day.

We took the opportunity to launch our new Achievement Challenges which arose from the distillation of voice from stakeholders across the Kāhui Ako, as well as the synthesis of current data. We shared these Achievement Challenges in our previous newsletter and were pleased to officially launch them at our Teacher Only Day.  

We were honoured to hear from two key speakers on the day. The first keynote speaker was Dr Lehan Stemmet. Dr Lehan Stemmet is an expert on Resilience.  He holds a Ph.D. in Behavioural Neuroscience, Experimental Psychology, and has been key in supporting our Across School teacher team with growing our own understanding in this area.

Dr Stemmet donated his time and expertise to be with us, as he is a strong believer in this crucial work in schools to support our ākonga early, so their resilience capabilities as emerging adults allows them to be connected, critical, confident, life long learners, able to take their place in society and contribute effectively as members of God’s family.

The second keynote speaker was Rosina Wikaira. Rosina has worked in education for over 20 years, with vast knowledge and experience in educational leadership, management and pedagogical coaching. Rosina’s Principalship spans 15 years, and she recently graduated with a Masters of Contemporary Education. Her practice-based research project was focused on, “Building & Sustaining Effective Leadership Practices to Improve Educational Success of Maori Learners, in Culturally Appropriate ways”. Having a firm foundation of “Kaupapa Māori me ona Tikanga” gives Rosina the confidence to be unapologetic about putting ākonga Māori first. Leading from a kaupapa Māori belief system allows Rosina to act on these key beliefs, normalising Māori values, behaviours and understanding. 

We wish to thank both of these incredible speakers for taking the time to prompt our thinking and help ground the mahi of workstreams.

The Across School Teacher Team also launched the Four Cs tool; a cognitively portable tool, that helps us to activate our workstreams.

Thank you to the 45% of people who responded to the feedback survey. We are currently collating the responses and will feed this back to you in the next newsletter.

The slide show from the day is available below.

End of SELO Professional Development

The successful completion of 250 hours with the SELO professional development programme concluded on the 8th of June. We thank Mina and Barb for their valuable knowledge of Te Ao Māori and guiding and supporting kaiako to develop their knowledge and grow their confidence to weave Te Reo Māori and culture into everyday practice, contributing to a rich  environment where language, identity and culture are valued. Ngā mihi maioha!

Literacy Workstream Update

The work of the Memorandum of Understanding refresh has introduced a new  achievement challenge: To improve achievement in Literacy by developing effective (research based) pedagogical approaches that align with the New Zealand Curriculum Refresh, Common Practice Model and new NCEA corequisite. 

Feedback from students, parents, and teachers has emphasised the importance of strong literacy skills as a fundamental factor for success across all areas of learning and in life. 

To achieve this goal, we recognise the significance of building literacy capability among our teachers. By equipping teachers with the necessary skills and knowledge, we can work towards achieving equitable outcomes for all students. 

Through the collective efforts of Within School Teachers leading the inquiry process, we are exploring various aspects of literacy. For more information and updates on the progress being made, please visit our dedicated literacy website.

Bi-Culturally Embedded Practices Workstream

Through the development of our Memorandum of Understanding refresh, our Achievement Challenge 1 aims  to: Build teacher capability in the use of bi-culturally embedded practices to increase our students’ / ākonga understanding and knowledge of Te Ao Māori in its unique place in Aotearoa New Zealand.  

As a Christ-centred Kāhui Ako, we aim to work together to lift the capabilities of all kaiako to grow our ākonga to reach their full potential for God’s glory. Through this, we seek ways to promote Te Ao Māori and Mātauranga maori, deepen our knowledge of the cultural narratives within our schools and honour a living treaty through bi-cultural teaching.

As such, we recognise that Aotearoa New Zealand is privileged to be the one and only home of the Māori culture (Te Ao Māori). For this reason, although we are a multicultural country, it is, first and foremost our responsibility as treaty partners to protect, participate in and work in partnership to promote Te Ao Māori.