Wesley Primary School Principal's Blog

 Reviewing workshops with Terry and Doug - 16 September 2021 Terry suggested that he is an observer and supports the teachers and will link into working with teachers and helping provide case study material. Doug will be working with the teams on an as-needed basis and we will not be charged. However, Doug would also like to work with our team on Zoning with our staff and put into practical models for how the learning could be structured.  I also suggested that we can look at the Zoning working in relationship with our 3D virtual reality Pepeha game that we are developing. Doug's work with us would fit well with this  The objective for Workshop 4 is that we have identified what our next practice looks, eg students are more engaged = what does this look like and therefore we have a clear definition of this linked to the bank of pictures. The picture shows a learning activity, doing things around learning based on the shape, learning structure, organizing of learning, and a...

Kia ora e te whānau,  We experienced a really special online google meet with our tauira and kaiako for our school's Wā Tuku Reo Māori #TeWikioteReoMaori hei te Rātū with the whole of Aotearoa, at 12 noon. Māori language moment 12pm Tuesday 14 September 2021 We shared our kura pepeha, a waiata and also heard from our cultural advisor/kaumatua Hare Paniora.  Kia kaha te Reo Māori! #reomāori #wēterikura  Nga mihi nui Matua Joe, Kaiawhina Max, Whaea Ocea for setting it up for our tauira.

During the Aug-Sept 2021 Lockdown - our leadership team decided to continue working on our PLS reflection and analysis of our school's value proposition. By working together with Terry White (PLS founder) - https://planninglearningspaces.com/, we get regular coaching and support to implement a framework for planning our new school.  Each team has now completed workshop 3 of the PLS self-review,  our teams found it energizing, provided clarity of what we do well and some challenges. Terry summarised that as a school we are at the stage to start collating our themes i.e Pedagogy, Organization of learning, Curriculum, leadership, community engagement.  The teams have decided to continue to clearly define the key features of each theme labeled as a current practice which we can see in our team spaces. Then the challenges we see in the current spaces that we need to address in the new build in respect to Pedagogy and then finally in the coming weeks start to look at addre...

Principal's PLD Session two 28 April - Planning Learning Spaces with Terry White What is our learning agenda? We are currently heading towards the new build stage 1 and also building on the culture and pedagogy of Wesley Primary currently. We are also in the move from single-cell - individualized eurocentric In NZ we have a focus on the needs of learner - we as a school achieve this through learning through play, though support and through inquiry/experiences.    We are currently in the PLS Framework intro- We are currently in the process of reviewing our vision, mission and purpose - which at times I have really struggled to connect as they are same. 

Teacher only day - 4 August 2021 We have had a fantastic day with kaiako and kaiawhina learning with Harko Brown and also Planning Learning Spaces kaupapa.  Here are some highlights of our day.  Our staff feedback was really amazing and it gave a sense of whanaungatanga while we learned about being a kaitiaki and takaro and toi Maori.  Composting and eco warriors Great turn out with 24 staff attending.  Special taonga made for our kura Sustainable schools presentation Sharing kai Learning takaro Weaving Manu Planning learning spaces workshop 1 Sharing more kai

As we have done earlier this year our teams (Kea, Takahe and Hoiho).  Takahe  The team has started to use the kitchen space in room 8, have set up the breakfast and have kai accessible straight away in the morning.  Use of QR codes and using IPad for Classdojo   In room 9 is mainly used for construction and play eg for arts and children have plenty of access to the resources and supplies.  Takahe has also spread out the equipment and the organisation of learning.  Also the new promeathean have helped to link into learning through play and presenting through the active board.  The daily planning and groups are up on the wall and include 4 social groupings. We are mixing the kids and rotate the teachers and kids.  Literacy is set up and we are tighting our systems and also use of tokens. Teachers are encouraged to use their tokens for the...

PLD with Terry and Bhavini via Skype from the UK - 23 July 2021 Workshop 2 Reviewing our vision -  Using the PLS survey tool around our vision first and getting our staff to reflect to so that they can honestly provide a collective view of the school's vision and what is working and what may not be understood. It can be done individually and as a team and be very helpful to for individual reflection.  Workshop 3 - use Diagrams.net  Current and Next practice Part A - What is working well and challenges Part B - What is your next practice? Workshop 4 - use the learning behaviors into design principles Part A - What does it look like? or what should it look like in practice Part B - Pictures of these examples attached to the hex and gives the team the chance to define what they mean in their future planning regarding that particular learning theme e.g a shared common language.  Our leadership team feedback that this approach has come at the right time and also would hel...