Term 4, 2019

Sitting at the Manaiakalani Wananga in October to work with other schools, teachers and Principals from this nationwide programme.
Congratulations to Joanne Ryken who presented as part of the Manaiakalani Innovative Teacher (MIT) programme

A great opportunity for us to listen to these teachers share their inquiry projects all linked to student achievement.

This term we look at the device roll out.  A wonderful opportunity for our whanau to purchase a device for their child/ren.  Students are able to access a huge range of learning anytime, anywhere, anyhow.  Being part of Manaiakalani enables us to access the best device at the best price!

The summer learning journey is another opportunity for our students to continue their learning over summer.  This is a chance to access learning.  The students must have blogged and taken part in our cyber safety programme - cybersmart.  The students take part in nationwide learning which is marked by University students.  The summer slump of learning is avoided as part of this wonderful project!

We are certainly very blessed to have these great opportunities for our schools and students!

Term 3, 2019

We have had loads of visitors into PCS this term and it is so exciting to be able to hear the feedback of what they are seeing from our learners.

Recently we hosted the Principal's from Tamaki and some Manaiakalani staff too.  The highlights that I shared with staff included:

Today we welcomed Principals from Tamaki in Auckland to our space. Our seniors were fabulous ambassadors for our school. The whakatau included some impressive waiata too! Highlights they mentioned:

- quality teaching and learning 

- depth of learning and vocabulary in the play based learning

- quality of learning in STEM and the student blogs

- contracts covering a range of curriculum areas

- mahi tahi covering co-operation, communication, collaboration and creativity 

- all students were engaged and could talk about their learning 

- tuakana teina in action

So proud of our school staff and students!!! 

What a great chance to celebrate with the staff and build on our learning with our focus on critical thinking school wide.

We have also been using some data gathered from our Kahui Ako based on student agency.  Again, a chance to celebrate with our learners feeling safe and valued.  They use feedback from the teacher's to improve their work and enjoy working with their peers.

Next steps for us will be to continue to work on planning of next steps by our students.  If they have a strong understanding of where they need to go, it really impacts on their achievement.

It is so good to have "outside eyes" to come in and give us some valuable feedback to build on what we gather as a school.

Ka mau to wehi PCS!!!

Term 2, 2019

Catholic Celebrations

What a wonderful time for our school to be celebrating being Catholic.  Tuesday 28th May was Catholic Schools Day.  The theme was "Extending Christ's Call:  to love, to be to do".  What a beautiful theme for us!

We had the pleasure of hosting Te Kura o Hato Hohepa te Kamura our neighbouring Catholic School from Waitaruke.  The day consisted of a powhiri welcome, karakia, waiata, Mass, art, weaving, games and learning about Catholic Schools Day, finishing with shared kai.  Such a great day of celebrations.  We gifted Waitaruke with a kawakawa plant and will continue to keep in touch.

Term 1, 2019

This term we have had a real focus on Learn, Create, Share throughout the school.  Our partnership with Manaiakalani is in the second year and we are joined by 10 other schools in our cluster.

Staff have been taking part in professional development to improve their digital technology skills.  I am impressed that they are all "learners" modelling and sharing the new learning with each other.  It is also great to be able to walk alongside our students in this journey.

The focus for our teaching and learning is on:
- critical thinking
- task design
- flexible grouping

This means that we are deliberately planning to enable students to think at a deep level.  Tasks are being designed to allow for them to link and transfer their thinking to global issues and learning.  We continue with our mixed ability grouping and deliberately plan to target learning that is required.

As a school we are also working on the "soft skills"  - collaboration, creativity,
communication and critical thinking.

The senior syndicate recently shared this at our hui - check it out
Senior Syndicate Hui

We had some great fun while whanau took part in the mahi tahi sessions!

Looking forward to continued great learning in term 2!