2022 - 2024
Current Projects
There are many pockets of mahi going on in the background that you may not be aware of.
Below are our current projects in various areas.
All of the mahi we do aligns with our achievement challenges and strategic plan.
Find links to these documents below.
If any of these initiatives appeal to you and you wish to be involved, check the calendar dates, apply for release and come along! All are welcome :)
One plan
Across School Leads, LSCs and SENCOs from across Te Iti Kahurangi are working together to develop a central document that travels with our high-need students as they transition from school to school. This will enable information across multiple agencies to be transparent to all involved in the student’s care. All actions taken to support the student and their whānau will be tracked in one place and whānau will contribute to the document throughout the student's educational journey. This document will be flexible to best meet individual whānau needs but will consist of a common framework to ensure consistency and inclusion of agreed information and documentation.
In-School Lead Teacher Hui
This year with all In School Lead Teachers, there has been a focus on developing a robust inquiry question that is measurable, allows scope for collaboration and provides leadership opportunities. Hui are held twice a term, which allows all ILT attending the opportunity to do some new learning and to converse and collaborate with others that have a similar inquiry focus or teach a similar year group. The feedback around this is that the time given to talk and connect with others is invaluable. This year we are working closely with Poutama Pounamu and Jenny Thompson (our leadership coach).
Check out ILT inquiries under the 'Inquiries' tab above.
LSC/SENCO work
The LSC Collective has continued to meet regularly, both face-to-face and online, to discuss best practices, share professional development that individuals have been involved in, analyse trends and patterns illustrated by our Learning Support Registers, and identify areas of need across our Kāhui Ako and then brainstorm ways to address these needs, gaps and inequities.
Through discussion, inquiry and reflection, the LSC Collective have identified two areas of professional practice that need to be further developed so we are better able to support our whānau and learners with additional needs. These are Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Culturally Responsive Practice. Successful funding applications were made to the MoE to source facilitators to provide this professional learning for the LSC Collective and other members of the Kāhui Ako (SENCos, APs, DPs, etc).
Te Iti Kahurangi Kāhui Ako has engaged the services of Thane Williams from Cyclone to provide learning and support around UDL, with a particular focus on enhancing/strengthening curriculum and classroom adaptations for our learners with additional needs. Te Iti Kahurangi has also engaged the services of the team at Poutama Pounamu to provide guidance and to walk alongside us as we journey down the path that is Culturally Responsive Practice.
LSCs have spent time identifying and analysing trends within the Learning Support Registers (LSRs) of their respective schools. They have found that there is a significant number of learners across our schools that are on the Autism Spectrum and another large group with ADHD. At this stage, we are planning to improve our understanding of these areas and how we can better support these learners across the Kāhui Ako.
Transition Project teams have continued to meet and discuss possible pathways and procedures at key transition points for our learners with additional needs. Whānau, ECE providers, and members from the MOE and RTLB Service have attended meetings both online and face-to-face and have made valuable contributions to the discussion and planning processes.
An across-school LSC/SENCo whanaungatanga group has been established. The purpose of the group is to make links across the six primary schools (Te Papapa, Onehunga, Waterlea, Oranga, Māngere Bridge, and St Joseph’s) that the four shared LSCs work with. We meet to share best practices, brainstorm ideas, network and discuss ways that the skills and knowledge of the LSCs can be best utilised to support our whānau and learners with additional needs.
universal design for learning
Who: LSCs, SENCO and any other staff keen to attend.
The purpose of this mahi is to increase staff knowledge of the readily available digital tools that can be used to make teaching and learning more inclusive and accessible.
With a focus on both Google and Microsoft tools, we will explore the use of a range of digital tools that are built into schools' chosen learning management systems but often underutilised by teachers and support staff.
Work with this group will focus on supporting students with specific needs but can be applied to all learners within the community. Using Universal Design (UDL) for Learning as the framework to guide this work, the ultimate goal is to see a shift in classroom perceptions of inclusive and accessible tech, seeing its use become the norm and not an exception in day-to-day teaching and learning.
If you would like support for this at your kura, contact Thane: thane.williams@cyclone.co.nz
Digital technology
& TIk website
TIK Digi Kaiako
The digital team is back up and running! Collaboration this year will come in the form of an online group, via Microsoft Teams. As this group share and collaborate in this online forum, opportunities will arise where we can come together for new learning.
The group is open to all teachers/staff who have a passion for digital technology and wish to collaborate with others. Our aim is to use the space as a place to share ideas and resources, discuss authentic integration and support our kaiako in the best way possible.
If this sounds like you,
contact Robin: rtapper@royaloakint.school.nz
TIK Website
Another piece of this mahi sits with the TIK website. Ingrid and Robin will continue to build upon the work that Budd did with support from a Wix developer in 2021.
All In-school Lead Teacher inquiries are listed on the site, with access to their learning journey which we hope will aid collaboration. A new ‘Current Projects’ page has been added, where staff can see what’s going on and opt into groups if they wish. Another hope for the site is that we can get the blog feed being used more frequently so that staff can see what’s happening in and around our schools.
There has also been the addition of a ‘Support’ tab ~this was an initiative of the Learning Support Coordinators (LSCs). The aim of this public page is for teachers and whānau to be informed of the support that is available to them.
The LSCs also now have a folder in the File Share where they can upload resources or content relevant to Kāhui Ako members. Lisa Maka was invited and accepted administration access. This ensures collaborative ownership of the website design and administration.
Contact Ingrid if you would like to add an event or info to our website: ingridg@rops.school.nz
Work with Thane Williams (Cyclone)
Who: Digital Team and any other staff keen to attend.
The Kāhui Ako Digital Team is a fantastic vehicle to share common digital teaching and learning tools and strategies that are being employed across the Kāhui Ako. Support for this group will involve connecting with the team and exploring digital tools that are currently or could be used throughout community schools.
The intention is to not only upskill members of the digital team around a variety of edu-tech tools but also to develop an idea of what and how digital technology is being utilised across the community and ultimately, developing a pool of common tools being utilised in schools across the Kāhui Ako. Some time may also be spent addressing the community roll out of the digital technologies curriculum and better integrating this curriculum into teaching and learning across schools.
Enviro
Group
Our Enviro Group of teachers has continued to meet twice per term via video call, together with several of our community partners including Auckland Council, Mountains to Sea, Tamaki WRAP and Tūpuna Maunga Authority amongst others.
We enjoyed an informative presentation from Auckland Council on the State of the Environment monitoring report for the Manukau moana. We appreciated hearing from the new operator for the Onehunga Community Recycling Centre with a proposal for us to provide student artwork to be displayed in the new education space. We have also reinstated the beach audits again after last year’s lockdowns - at both Taumanu Beach and Māngere Boat Club Beach in partnership with Sustainable Coastlines.
A new initiative has been connecting with the Onehunga People’s Garden. Originating from our schools' connections with the Mountains to Sea Experiencing Marine Reserves Programme, Royal Oak Intermediate students visited the site and thus began a collaborative effort between some of our schools, including student video calls between schools, as well as site visits.
Several schools have visited the Onehunga People’s Garden for water quality monitoring of the local stream and we have taken an e-DNA sample from the stream and are currently awaiting the results. We are excited about the opportunities for collaboration this offers our students this year.
We also gathered together for a collaborative tree-planting event at Ambury Regional Park. This combined activity involved approx ten students from all of our ten schools, which was a great way of helping to build a sense of belonging and shared purpose across our schools, as well as connecting with the whenua and moana in our local community.
Supporting EnviroGroup Projects with Digital Technologies
Who: EnviroGroup and any other staff keen to attend
The EnviroGroup is involved in several community projects that are highly relevant to teaching and learning occurring in classrooms across the community.
Mahi with this team will focus on how digital tools can be used to better showcase the mahi that the EnviroGroup are doing, hosting resources connected to local projects that are accessible to teachers and students. Not to mention exploring ways that digital technologies can be used by teachers and students around the community to connect with and contribute to EnviroGroup projects from their classrooms.
Contact Brendan: bmarshall@onelearn.nz if you're interested in coming along for the ride!
Learning Progressions Framework (LPF)
Cultural Capabilities - Poutama Pounamu
This year, we are working with Dawn Lawrence and her team from Poutama Pounamu ~ accredited cultural capability educators from the University of Waikato. Dawn supports kaiako and schools to:
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Implement Ako: Critical Contexts for Change
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Understand cultural relationships as the basis for responsive pedagogy
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Form and sustain home, school and community collaborations
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Work within a critical cycle of school reform
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Use and understand evidence for greater impact
Poutama Pounamu work closely with our Principals, Boards of Trustees, In-School Lead Teachers, Across-School Lead Teachers, SENCos & LSCs
The LPF Working Group was established at the beginning of 2022 with Irene Anderson from Evaluation Associates to support schools in their journey to understand and implement LPF and PaCT. Those who have been part of this work mostly were unfamiliar with using the LPF but together we have been able to participate in moderating a piece of student writing with kaiako from other schools. Through doing this, those in attendance could identify where the students' next steps were and it allowed them to identify areas they had neglected to teach in their own classes.
This group continues to meet regularly, this year having branched off into two groups, a beginners group who have just begun to unpack the LPF and the an advanced group, now focusing on reading progressions. Irene is also available for more focused support for Te Iti Kahurangi schools. Check the calendar for dates or contact Robin: rtapper@royaloakint.school.nz or Kydene: KydeneS@tepapapa.school.nz to find out more.
Local Curriculum
Local Histories &
Community Partners
Last year, this survey was put forward to all school local curriculum leaders. Within the survey, we asked leaders what their schools most needed support with in order to improve the teaching of local curriculum in their schools. The two highest needs for support were around:
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Understanding Mātauranga Māori and;
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Building Community Partnerships
A large number of teachers also indicated their desire for Te Iti Kahurangi to focus on helping teachers to integrate the local curriculum more smoothly into other curriculum areas.
The work we had done in 2021 in relation to understanding the progression of the Aotearoa New Zealand Histories (ANZH) document, specifically the ‘Understand’, ‘Know’ and 'Do' sections, provided a solid foundation for local curriculum group members to work collaboratively in and across year groups. Within these groups, teachers and leaders discussed, planned and shared content that connected with a variety of curriculum areas.
Student Inquiry provides a framework for learning the ANZH, and helps to integrate the ANZH across the curriculum. Teachers have shared what this looks like in their classrooms which prompted collaboration between local curriculum group attendees. We referred to the Tainui Waka migration story and used this to examine links to the ANZH document and the activities that students could participate in. Clear links were made to multiple curriculum areas.
We invited several of our community partners along to our Local Curriculum Hui to share their mahi. Guests included the Auckland Council Sustainable Schools Team, Onehunga Community Recycling Centre, the AUT field site at Pourewa (Ngāti Whātua, Ōrākei) and the Onehunga People’s Garden. As we listened to their presentations, the opportunities for authentic curriculum integration were obvious and relevant. For teachers and leaders, this helped to consolidate their understanding of ANZH and it has provided a means by which students can participate in this local curriculum development. Community projects include opportunities to teach and for students to explore maths, art, science, literacy and digital learning being just a few of the possibilities!
Community Partners
Future mahi for the local curriculum team will be guided by the goals and targets outlined in the recently refreshed Achievement Challenge. These include ensuring there is a shared understanding amongst teachers about Te Iti Kahurangi Kāhui Ako’s local curriculum, strengthening knowledge and pedagogical approaches of the Aotearoa New Zealand Histories curriculum (integration) and incorporating Mātauranga Māori.
In the sustainability strand, the goals here are to further develop local environmental/sustainability projects especially those that foster collaboration between students in different schools (including digitally) and to integrate these local projects with the mahi of the local curriculum development.
All staff are welcome to attend Local Curriculum Hui, check out the calendar for dates and locations.