Introduction to staff

Editor's Notes

• #3: Would anyone like to lead us in our opening Karakia?
• #6: I share with you my whānau and something of my whakapapa.
• #7: Please join me in this simple waiata.
• #8: The waiata that we have just shared speaks of Aroha – in Te Ao Māori – this is a very powerful concept – as a learning community I believe aroha lies at the centre of our work in building powerful culturally responsive relationships with each other, with our rangatahi and with our whānau and wider community. I have chosen the following whakatauki for todays Kaupapa. I like this whakatauki – I’m sure many of you have heard it before. I feel it is appropriate for us today as we begin our journey together. We are getting to know each other. Does anyone wish to add a thought about this whakatauki?
• #9: I am not sure whether I have chosen the correct Reo here but the meaning is clear. When we meet with students in our classrooms we must share our intentions. You are my class and I share mine with you. I share also how we might know whether the aims have been secured through success criteria.
• #10: We must always return to our values - as Tumuaki I must do so – in our work we must do so – in our decision making we must do so – in our relationships with one another we must do so – in working with our tamariki and our rangatahi we must do so – we must model these values – live these values – inform our practice through these values
• #11: Thank you for you gift to me at the end of 2013. Starting with your feedback which I read closely – I divided the responses into a number of categories that meant sense to me. Your responses were all encompassing but I felt there were common threads. I have endeavoured to include all your responses that I received. They informed me a great deal about where you were in your minds and hearts.
• #12: And I then proceeded to group them into three general areas: Blue – concerned about students and achievement Red – The Bigger Picture stuff White – Organisational Matters
• #13: I would like to spend a few minutes painting a picture of how I see my role as principal – across these four aspects: of Leadership, you my colleagues, our rangatahi and the wider community. Some of what I have to share draws on responses I made at interview – most of you were not there and I want you to have that opportunity. This was part of my kōrero to the board and to Steven, Jane, Sara and Karina.
• #14: The Focus for me has to be achievement – students achieving and you achieving so that student achievement benefits. Look closely at the circles – because they capture deep and profound messages for how I aspire to lead – BUT they also define how I wish to see you also leading as professionals and support workers with each other and with our tamariki and rangatahi.
• #15: My role is to develop you – look at it this way – you are my class – just like I am looking for you to the facilitate learning of students – my role is to facilitate your learning.
• #16: This is how I see my role in relation to our rangatahi – these act for me as a student charter like the Magna Carta or indeed my commitment to them under Te Tiriti o Waitangi – they place challenges and requirements on us as servants of this community of Reporoa. Reporoa College is not simply a place where we work and earn money – it must be seen as our mission to ensure all our rangatahi experience success – this is why we are here. Look at it this way – as professionals – a pilot flying a plane or a surgeon operating – cannot afford a ninety % success rate – much less a success rate of under 20% which reflects our current NCEA Level 1 results for Māori.
• #17: My message to you is simple – every responsibility I hold as principal is also vested in you as members of the staff at Reporoa College – this is a noble role to hold for all of us working together – Kotahitanga – He kotahi te kōrero - we must we united in what we say about out school in the community – Me mahi tahi tātou mo te orange o te katoa –we must work together for the wellbeing of all.
• #18: I want you to see the work we are engaged in on different fronts as one – elements that we must see as linked and connected – so that you no longer see this or that change as separate but all part of the whole – Kotahitanga. Just take a look at each of the elements of this picture. Consider what your role might look like in this tapestry of Success for All – consider what commitments you need to make to your professional learning what changes do you know you need to make – what do you need help in order to grow and learn?
• #19: In the same way – see the work we are engaged in as a part of our National Obligations and duties - our Charter reflects this. Over the summer I looked at the Charter, Strategic Plan and the 2013 Annual Plan – the responses you gave in your reflections at the end of the year – and the ERO Report and ERO Action Plan. As a college you have all been on a journey of reflection – looking at yourselves – asking yourselves questions about how you can be more effective in meeting the needs of our students. This must be a way of life for all of us. Our examination results for 2013 raise many questions for us – at the same time the significant progress made in literacy for many of our juniors are indicators of success. The work we have is complex – teaching is complex – relationships are complex raising achievement is complex. But we are professionals and this is our mahi.
• #20: I have made some small adaptations in the redrafting of the Charter for the board to consider and aligned it more closely with our priorities in 2014.
• #21: Being culturally responsive in a way which leads to success for all our students requires us to do things differently. I have seen what success there can be when we are able to do this in our classrooms, in our management of a school. This is our obligation.
• #22: It requires us as teachers and support workers to be prepared to look at some of our underlying assumptions and to support one another in doing things differently in our classrooms. We are well into the 21st Century yet in too many of our classrooms we continue to operate in much the same way as we were taught at school.
• #23: It is common to hear people in government and indeed in education – comment on the “long tail” of underachievement in New Zealand schools and in particular the over-representation of Māori students in that tail. We might view our examination results this year in terms of this tail. However, this according to John Hattie who lies behind much of the research into achievement here in Aotearoa sees it differently. He draws our attention to the gap between achievement of Māori and Non-Māori at all points on the curve of achievement. In other words Māori are consistently achieving below at all points of performance, not just the tail. It is for this reason that we must focus on Māori achievement and Māori students. We know from our present examination results at NCEA Levels I, II, & III that much of how we are doing things at present is not working for Māori students. Steven will say more on these results presently. So my focus as Tumuaki must be to develop us as a professionals in a manner in which this is reversed. The research behind the successes of the Te Kotahitanga Professional Development Programme indicates that this is perfectly possible. The Te Kotahitanga project was once viewed with suspicion by PPTA – it is now advocated by PPTA not least because it places priority on investing in you as a staff.
• #24: On the National Scene there have been changes – Building on Success brings together a raft of initiatives under one banner. More will be said about this in due course – but for now I want to emphasise the connectivity. Our involvement in Building for Success will be tailored to our own context – focusing on those aspects that can bring the greatest gains as a learning community in meeting the needs of Māori students to be able to learn as Māori.
• #25: Starting from where we are is important. I have taken aspects from the Strategic Plan and the draft Annual Plan for 2014 and created a Self-Assessment Tool for you as Teachers. Support Staff members will be interested I am sure to see our agenda for raising achievement – working as you are to support the teachers and students. As support staff it is important you are able to see these connections. My focus here at Reporoa College as “Leader of Learning” will be to ensure we prioritise – that we operate in a SMART – way – through our Professional Learning. I need your honest and respectful responses to inform me where you feel you are in your practice as teachers.
• #26: You will see I am inviting one of four levels of response. I am also asking for you to identify yourself. You are my class and this is your formative self-assessment that will help inform me about what your next steps in your learning might look like and what I might need to do to facilitate new learning for you. But I hope you will also recognise the responsibility is shared and I am seeking your leadership also – your readiness to put yourself forward as we work together - He awhi tētahi i tētahi – to help each other. May I have your completed audits by end of Thursday so that I can start work on them straight away. They will inform a draft Professional learning Plan for 2014.
• #27: Let me close this section of the morning by returning to our Whakatauki. I hope you are beginning to learn a little about me and how we can work together as one. Kua oti mo tēnei wā – that’s sufficient for now – I will speak again later after Steven shares his kōrero on Achievement & NCEA Analysis for 2013 Kia ora koutou – thank you for you listening