Principal Reports

Principal’s Report May 2018

This reports against the annual plan.  Not all goals will be attended within the timeframe of the report.  Some will already have been achieved.  This report is a variance report - it explains what has happened to meet our goals and anything that is preventing or diverting us from meeting our goals within the timeframe.

It is not necessary to follow and read all the links in this report - they are given as an extension, for those who might wish for further illustration.

 Goals
Goal 1 To ensure that our Catholic character leads and enriches all aspects of school life -  Build  a growing appreciation of  being  Eucharistic community into authentic curriculum - Develop staff spirituality
Goal 2 - Continue to practice and grow high quality religious education -  Review previous RE developments in light of the progress we have made, our changing school demographic and the new RE Bridging Document -
Goal 3 - To continue to involve the St Patrick’s Parish community to enrich and support the school. - Build appreciation of and participation in the spirituality of mass as the centre of our Eucharistic community - Involve parents and children in our Eucharistic community and bring families into the parish..
This Month’s Progress:
·       Senior production ties in with 4Rs.  Students developing production with literacy learning woven through - (project-based learning).  Authentic collaboration.
·       A voluntary Rosary group has started, called by one of our teachers, to pray for our students and members of the community.  All teachers attending.  This is really important to us.
·       Principal requested by CEO head office to present at Convention (may or may not happen now).
·       Assessment changes in RE: as our demographic has changed and we have more Catholic continuity through the school we are now assessing one key idea in depth at each year level, rather than all key ideas.  Year 7 & 8s report on all key ideas for each strand.  We are doing this in an essay format to prepare them for this sort of assessment in high school.
·       DRSs are planning (or have?) started to introduce the Bridging Document through RE staff pd meetings.
·       Principal shared with DRSs: interview formats and observation sheets from the review she was part of in 2017 so DRSs can start the teaching team thinking ahead to what will be in our external Special Character review in September.
·       Principal spoke at parish masses over a weekend at the end of term 1 to promote the school and encourage 5.4 enrolments.
·       Date for induction and welcome masses set later this term.  Two days of enrolments booked for later in term.  Presently contacting all families that have started and not had induction and welcome.  Also contacting families that we know are starting in the next 12 months to get enrolments up to date. 
·       We are accessing the promotional material designed by the Dunedin and Southland Catholic Principal’s Association and will be using this to promote our school.
Stewardship – (Board of Trustees) - Empowered for Success
Continue to build Board governance capacity - Resourcing for transformative practice - Maintain and develop school buildings and grounds to support diocesan plans for property development. - Support professional growth and  innovation-
This Month’s Progress:
·       Annual plan has been checked and is on track to be completed by the auditor and ready to submit to the Ministry by 31st May.
·       We have received our draft ERO report and principal has corrected and provided evidence for three factual errors which were shared with the board.  Principal would like to unpack the essence of the report further with the board in due course.
·       See finance report for budget and future staffing notes.
·       Arranged visit from Tony Wear from Programmed Property Services and discussions with Bill Haydon regarding 10 year property plan.  See property report.
·       Continuing to fund extra release time so teachers can engage in professional development with a facilitator around their spirals of inquiry.
Leadership for equity and excellence – Empowered for Success
Continue to develop senior leadership team capacity to improve progress and achievement in learning for all children particularly Maori, Pasifika and children with special education needs - develop senior leadership team capacity for leading learning.
This Month’s Progress:

·       Principal added more detail to fixed term leadership plans so that unit holders could continue their plans this term without direct supervision.  Acting principal checking in to ensure things are on track and unit-holders are supported by management:  STEAM, ELL.  Due to a  a teacher moving class and setting up a new class and increased responsibilities for the other teacher due to principal absence - both teachers have the option of doing the Enrichment Plan in term 3 instead of the planned term 2..
·       Continuing to work on distributing leadership:  the principal met with the senior leadership team for a day’s reflection and planning in the last school holidays.  A graphic was made and shared to explain how governance, leadership and teaching are linked in the school.  There was some good reflection, discussion and plans about how to move the whole senior leadership team more into the purple zone of school leadership.  Some adjustments were made to how we do things at syndicate level to better support syndicate leadership.  Ironically, the principal’s illness is forcing the senior leadership team to operate in the purple school leadership zone.  Some very good plans came out of this meeting that will address our curriculum direction in the next 2-3 years and involve staff constructing curriculum which will support our recent ERO findings - LFR will unpack this more with the board when unpacking the ERO report. Stewardship - leadership - teaching graphic
·       See personnel report for how leadership is being managed in the principal’s absence.
·       A timeline has been made for the term so that all the big tasks are broken down into weekly “to do” prompts so that things don’t mount up.  The acting principal is indicating this each week in the “what’s on.”
Educationally powerful connections and relationships - Empowered and Engaged
Continue to investigate ways of combining forums for dialogue - Learning deeply situated within multicultural Oamaru in the present time as a starting point for developing global perspectives and understanding of our place in time- Continue to build learning partnerships within the Whitestone Kahui Ako-Continue to develop transitions between pre-school, school and high school-Build learning-focused relationships with parents-
This Month’s Progress:
·       Pasifika fono is planned for later in term.  We had intended a full cultural meeting in term 2 but will postpone until term 3.  After discussion with families in cultural groups last year and with our Pasifika coordinator this year it is decided the whole cultural group will meet in terms 1 and 3 and in terms 2 and 4 we will have a Pasifika fono in order to continue our Pasifika talanoa (dialogue).
·       We have been selected to be an Enviroschool - there was some competition for this so we are lucky.  Our STEAM team are managing this.
·       Our last Kahui Ako group meetings were during our ERO week and most St Joseph’s staff missed out.
·       Kahui Ako facilitated groups are set up for week 3.  In week 4 there is shared staff meeting with workshops presented by the within school teachers.
·       Principal shared some information about St Joseph’s previous background with developing the literacy skills to effectively engage in maths problem solving.  It is intended that the senior syndicate will pick this up and develop it further.
·       Junior leader (and principal) have been visiting ECEs to promote St Joseph’s and make connections.
·       In consultation with the junior school, changes have been made to the junior reports so that they only focus on one key competency a term.  The seniors are still expected to be aware of and familiar with all key competencies.  This form of reporting is proving challenging for teachers.  It is worth it.  We will never fully engage with learning to learn skills for the children if we don’t value it enough to report on it.  We need to help the parents to understand and unpack it further.  LFR has planned a parent evening for later in the term. 
·       The teachers are being given weekly prompts to know what they should be doing with this so that it does not all hit in one go.
Responsive curriculum, effective teaching and opportunity to learn – Deep Learning for Success
Continue to embed St Joseph’s learning progressions and teacher capacity to facilitate students to evidence learning.-Curriculum development led by key competencies-Investigate transformative practice-Engagement with real world problem-solving - through inquiry or project-based learning.  Core subjects integrated with student-led inquiry - STEAM (Science Technology, Engineering, Art & Design, Maths) focus in our local environment - Develop a schoolwide learning progression for science - Work with the Whitestone Kahui Ako to share best practice for fostering student engagement - Maintain developments made in 2017
·       Our across school teacher has set up a meeting across the Kahui Ako for a group development of a science process curriculum based on the Nature of Science and the Science Capabilities.  This has been an ongoing work between St Joseph’s and St Kevin’s over 6 years and the result of several more depth conversations between the principals of the two schools in term 1 this year.  The goals for the development are:

·       From the start of year 1 through to year 13 students are systematically taught the skills needed to develop science capabilities (the competencies of science)
·       That these processes and skills build systematically through their school journey.
·       Students have the processes and strategies to achieve excellence in high school science and beyond and make a positive difference to the world.

·       End of term 1 - staff meeting unpacking the Performing Arts curriculum - looking in particular at drama.  Determined how we could be true to the teaching of the Performing Arts curriculum and integrate meaningful and useful literacy learning with this.  This is term 2 plans for senior production and junior wearable arts.
Professional and collective capacity - Every child engaged and empowered in deep learning for success
Senior and experienced staff encouraged to engage in masters level further education through BOT_funded student grants - Ongoing internal pd with a focus on transformative innovative practice for high student achievement - Celebrate the gifts and talents of our staff - Engage in collaborative practice development across the Whitestone Kahui Ako with a focus on engagement and smooth transitions.
Progress this month:
·       Within School Teacher has met with all teachers regarding their spirals of inquiry.  Principal has analysed each teacher’s inquiry in terms of how specific they are to each step, what is useful and what else is needed.  Across school teacher led a staff meeting where staff unpacked  success criteria for each stage of the inquiry to help them see if they are on track or not.
·       Principal has been steering thinking in the inquiry towards our target students.  Staff meeting on cultural responsiveness and a bigger focus on how teachers are challenging their practice to be culturally responsive and meet all students where they are.
·       SENCO has used extra release time to check on SMART goals and support teachers where needed.
·       The teacher aides are now using 5  Plus and 7 Plus consistently throughout the school.  The SENCO is making checks and the teacher aides will be doing peer observations.
·       Teacher appraisals put on hold until term 3.  Teachers are urged to put evidence on their appraisal records so that they keep up to date and acting principal is keeping check.
Evaluation, inquiry, knowledge-building for improvement and innovation - Every child engaged and empowered in deep learning for success
Through Whitestone Kahui Ako and using external facilitation,develop depth in spirals of inquiry to support research and evidence-based practice development - Appraisal system based on effective teacher inquiry.
Progress this month;
·       Principal has indicated  to within school teacher to ensure the staff keep our target students at the centre of our spirals.  Also initiated staff discussion on culturally responsive practice facilitated by Janice Tofia our Pasifika PLD provider.
·       Across school teacher has written very good summary guidelines for each step of the inquiry process and it is very well scaffolded.  She has also provided a range of research and background information to help teachers with their inquiries.  She has led a further staff meeting to ensure staff are honed in on the key points they need to do at each stage of  the inquiry.


NW: UPDATE: Roll: 190.  
2 new entrants, 2 left, 1 to Pembroke, 1 to Auckland
Compliance:

BoT has been notified at a Board meeting by end of Term 2:
1.     Audited Annual Financial Report and Student Achievement Annual Reports (including Statements of Variances) approved and minuted by BoT . 4 copies forwarded to MoE.
Draft annual financial report checked and approved. All presently at auditor’s
2.     Student absences monitored and followed up - see below
yes
3.     Fire Evacuation has been carried out this term
not yet
4.     That the annual review of the current Enrolment Scheme was completed before May 1
 n/a
5.     That all SUE reports have been checked for accuracy and signed by Principal along with information on current Banked Staffing figures - LFR checking
 Y



Attendance -
Number of children with 10% or more absence:- 9 students
Reason for absences
Some are one off occurrences e.g. going overseas, parent illness, and a grandparent’s death .


Any follow up required . One family if absenteeism continues at the beginning of term 3 possibly will be having parent meetings to review general progress and achievement.  A discussion about attendance will be part of this meeting.






Principal’s Report March 2018
This reports against the annual plan.  Not all goals will be attended within the timeframe of the report.  Some will already have been achieved.  This report is a variance report - it explains what has happened to meet our goals and anything that is preventing or diverting us from meeting our goals within the timeframe.
It is not necessary to follow and read all the links in this report - they are given as an extension, for those who might wish for further illustration.

 Goals
Special Character
Goal 1 To ensure that our Catholic character leads and enriches all aspects of school life -  Build  a growing appreciation of  being  Eucharistic community into authentic curriculum - Develop staff spirituality
Goal 2 - Continue to practice and grow high quality religious education -  Review previous RE developments in light of the progress we have made, our changing school demographic and the new RE Bridging Document -
Goal 3 - To continue to involve the St Patrick’s Parish community to enrich and support the school. - Build appreciation of and participation in the spirituality of mass as the centre of our Eucharistic community - Involve parents and children in our Eucharistic community and bring families into the parish..
This Month’s Progress:
We are teaching RE - at the start of the day according to the curriculum and our key ideas.  RE is integrated into our inquiry learning plan.  Our overall year plan (on the staffroom wall and here) is an integrated plan including RE and special character with the special character merging with all curriculum areas.
The whole school has learnt the words, parts and movements to “E Te Ariki.”
Principal and both DRSs have attended a day training on the new RE Bridging document (curriculum) and on the updated Special Character Review process (we are being reviewed in September).
Sacramental program is underway and Commitment and Reconciliation masses have happened.

Stewardship – (Board of Trustees) - Empowered for Success
Continue to build Board governance capacity - Resourcing for transformative practice - Maintain and develop school buildings and grounds to support diocesan plans for property development. - Support professional growth and  innovation-

This Month’s Progress:
Board have met to prepare for ERO - discussions indicate board is of like mind and has a clear understanding of its governance role.
Opus has visited and looked at future capital works (see property report).
Leadership for equity and excellence – Empowered for Success
Continue to develop senior leadership team capacity to improve progress and achievement in learning for all children particularly Maori, Pasifika and children with special education needs - develop senior leadership team capacity for leading learning.

This Month’s Progress:
Fixed term units have been allocated to fit annual plan goals.  Plans made for how this will happen - Fixed Term Unit plans 2018 - these allocations and plans ensure the main goals for this section will be met.

Syndicate leader job descriptions updated to include:
       Know details of all children below expected curriculum level and their goals - read and keep up with IEPs and monitored student profiles.  Challenge teachers to further develop strategies for meeting needs.  Check that goals are SMART.  Keep them alive in the syndicate.
       Keep track of all children needing enrichment and what the class teachers are providing for them.
       Keep close track and take responsibility for progress of all students in syndicate - through the progress trackers - note any who are not making progress and action.  Through visiting classrooms and checking in with children. 
Principal does all this and will continue doing this - AND we need the distributed leadership where each syndicate leader has a similar depth of knowledge about the children in their syndicate.  Syndicate leaders will accompany principal for some of classroom observations this term.

Principal met with all teachers for 1.5 hours each (release provided) to go through monitored students in detail.  Junior syndicate leader participated in this for the juniors and SENCO participated for the seniors - building distributed leadership.

SENCO and senior leaders have set up the teacher aide timetable so that all teacher aide time is purposefully used for identified children with specific targets.
Educationally powerful connections and relationships - Empowered and Engaged
Continue to investigate ways of combining forums for dialogue - Learning deeply situated within multicultural Oamaru in the present time as a starting point for developing global perspectives and understanding of our place in time- Continue to build learning partnerships within the Whitestone Kahui Ako-Continue to develop transitions between pre-school, school and high school-Build learning-focused relationships with parents-
This Month’s Progress:
Collaborative goal-setting meetings have been had with families.  Prior to meetings, families invited to give information on children’s interests, what helps them learn, what gets in the way of their learning and from last year’s report what areas need attention - from this made collaborative goal for the child.

Whitestone Kahui Ako (across school) professional learning groups have been made and teachers released to join their group for a 2 hour session guided by our professional facilitator.  Systems have been set up to manage the groups and they have all started working on the beginning of an inquiry process.

We have engaged with Waitaki Gardens to continue our gardening lessons.  The STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art & design and maths) team are putting in an application for us to participate in the Waitaki Council Enviroschools project.

A teacher aide has been provided with time to organise the Young Vinnies group - this is up and running and going well.

The new entrant teacher and principal are visiting kindergartens and early childhood centres to meet staff, make connections and leave information about St Joseph’s for parents.  An added benefit of these visits is we are able to discuss individual children who will be shortly joining us, helping to smooth their transitions.

The principal and principal of St Kevin’s have had ongoing in depth discussions about teaching and learning and are now of sufficient agreement that we are prepared to put staff from both schools into a thinktank to develop a seamless year 1-13 science and year 1-13 social sciences curriculum.  We aim to do this before the end of term.  The curriculum will be process-based and use SOLO to develop deeper thinking and application (NCEA merit and excellence are based on SOLO criteria).  This is a BIG step forward and a benefit of inter-school collaboration.  Discussions on this first started in 2012 between SKC science and St Joseph’s intermediate departments.
Responsive curriculum, effective teaching and opportunity to learn – Deep Learning for Success
Continue to embed St Joseph’s learning progressions and teacher capacity to facilitate students to evidence learning.-Curriculum development led by key competencies-Investigate transformative practice-Engagement with real world problem-solving - through inquiry or project-based learning.  Core subjects integrated with student-led inquiry - STEAM (Science Technology, Engineering, Art & Design, Maths) focus in our local environment - Develop a schoolwide learning progression for science - Work with the Whitestone Kahui Ako to share best practice for fostering student engagement - Maintain developments made in 2017

Progress this month:
The end of National Standards and a refocus on the whole curriculum is an opportunity for us to change how we do things.  A new report form has been developed.  It is very close to the report form that we developed over several years with lots of parent input - it was a very holistic form.  This one has one major difference - that is it is the children who will be filling in the report and doing it over the course of the year.  This may provide a challenge for some parents who don’t believe children can do this.  It has been introduced gradually with explanations started in the start of year letter, then in a couple of newsblogs, the first showing has been shared at the whanau goal-setting meetings and sometime in term two before we have an official mid year reporting we will need a family meeting to explain how it works and why.

It furthers our charter goals in several ways:
       We want children fully engaged and empowered in their learning process - to do this they have to know what they are learning and why and what comes next - this has to be specifically taught.  Ensuring that the children are recording this and are able to talk about it will ensure that it is a teaching priority and not an optional add-on.
       Key competencies are absolutely vital for success as a learner and lifelong learning can’t happen with them.  Key competencies are easy to overlook and only pay lip service to.  If they are on the report and the CHILDREN have to understand them it means they will have to be at the forefront of teaching and have a lot more coverage than they have had in recent times.
       Reporting against the curriculum, reporting using SOLO and showing goals and evidence of reaching them ensures and embeds - engagement (interesting, holistic curriculum), deep (SOLO), and success (achievement and movement forwards through manageable goals).

Some parents won’t like that the children write the reports - our challenge will be to enable them to see that rather than being a cop-out, the teachers actually will have to put a lot more effort into the things we say matter (every child engaged and empowered in deep learning for success) in order for the children to understand it sufficiently to be able to say anything meaningful about it.  Plus that if we do this over time the children’s  capacity for self awareness and meta-cognition will increase exponentially.  Parents will be invited to give feedback at mid and end of year and it will be taken into account.  It is also a challenge to the teachers as is putting the emphasis on something we all know is important but is easy to overlook.  It takes us to our next stage in 2018 of building a platform for growth.  In 2017 we consolidated good teaching capacity to help all children achieve success - plus we had to keep a tight rein on the children.  This year we’re taking it a step further by giving back some power and creativity to the children within  a structured learning environment and program.   If anyone doubts the need for this read through the student engagement survey summaries: Year 7 & 8 Me and My School NZCER survey

We’ve got a long way to go with this.
Professional and collective capacity - Every child engaged and empowered in deep learning for success
Senior and experienced staff encouraged to engage in masters level further education through BOT_funded student grants - Ongoing internal pd with a focus on transformative innovative practice for high student achievement - Celebrate the gifts and talents of our staff - Engage in collaborative practice development across the Whitestone Kahui Ako with a focus on engagement and smooth transitions.
Progress this month:
Professional Learning Groups have been set up in the Whitestone Kahui Ako.  Teachers have started a spiral of inquiry based around our annual plan and targets and how that relates to questions in their own practice. 
Principal has been gathering information, mainly from observation and anecdote, about how devices and the Internet is used in the senior and intermediate classes.  Reinforced with teachers the school agreements for limits on device-use and purpose and shared this information with parents via the newsblog.  More development will be provided by the principal on this in the next few weeks.  At St Joseph’s we want to use E-learning for value-added learning, not as a substitution for traditional learning - see E-learning at St Joseph’s. 
Principal has made term 1 checks on teacher planning and in-class visits  around student engagement and understanding of their learning.  This has led to some identified next steps for individual teachers and for teaching groups which will be addressed in term 2. 

New junior teachers and SENCO have been away for training in teaching phonics so that the programs we introduced last year can continue to be used consistently in the juniro school and for remedial support in the senior school.

All teacher aides, SENCO and junior leader went to Fiveplus training - this is in line with our phonics and Wordlab programs.  It is an intensive intervention for year 2-3 readers.  All teacher aides are now able to implement this program and it has been timetabled accordingly.
Evaluation, inquiry, knowledge-building for improvement and innovation - Every child engaged and empowered in deep learning for success
Through Whitestone Kahui Ako and using external facilitation,develop depth in spirals of inquiry to support research and evidence-based practice development - Appraisal system based on effective teacher inquiry.
Progress this month;
Professional Learning Groups have been set up in the Whitestone Kahui Ako.  Teachers have started a spiral of inquiry based around our annual plan and targets and how that relates to questions in their own practice. 
Teachers have used information from the whanau goal-setting meetings to inform their inquiries and as starting evidence.

Roll: 194. 
10 new entrants, 2 year 1 (Weston, Waimate), 1 yr 3 (ChCh), 1 yr 4 (Fenwick), 3 yr 5 (Australia, Waimate, Auckland), 1 yr 6 (Fenwick), 1 yr 8 (Australia)
Compliance:
A parent brought it to my attention that some of the food choices at the our recent Caritas fundraisers are not in line with our policy of promoting healthy food choices.  I will remind the staff of this policy at our next Thinktank meeting - which means we have to promote healthy food choices at any fund-raisers, school events and EOTC activities and can't include food which is high in sugar.  Staff will also need to be reminded that on this policy we also cannot give Easter eggs or have Easter egg hunts- although we could replace them with a healthier option or a non-food item.

Compliance – Each Year the Board record in BoT minutes or receive  in the form of a report that the following been completed
Reported
ü  DATE
(or  N/A)
BOT has been notified at a Board meeting by end of Term 1:
1.     Delegations to the principal and other staff are minuted eg Acting Principal when principal is absent from school during the year can act as principal (Ed. Act requirement), financial delegation.
1st meeting
yes
2.     Charter /Strategic Plan sent to MOE 
Yes
3.     Staffing Schedule checked for accuracy.
 yes
4.     Each support staff and teaching staff member who is not a union member has signed an IEA
 yes
5.     Support staff members on a fixed term and the reasons why detailed
 yes
6.     All Teachers are registered (plus Relievers)
 yes
7.     The school has processes in place covering the recording of annual leave/ domestic leave/sick leave/bereavement leave etc.
 yes
8.     The school has a record of each staff member’s family (next-of-kin) contact details in the event of an emergency
 yes
9.     The Board are informed that EEO (Good Employer principles) are used when dealing with Employees
 yes
10.   Each teacher and support staff member had a Performance Appraisal last year
 Yes
11.   Harassment Officers confirmed
 n/a
12.   That there is a Privacy Officer for the school and a current job description
 No - it is part of the principal’s role
13.   There is always a staff member on site who holds a current First Aid Certificate
 Yes
14.   A programme for updating First Aid Certificates is in place for the year
 Done in 2017
15.   Application been made to the MoE for Beginning Teacher Induction Release time.
 n/a
16.   Application been made to the MoE for Tutor Teacher payments
 n/a
17.   How the Beginning Teacher Induction Release time is being used
n/a
18.   There is a Provisionally Registered Teachers’ Support and Guidance programme and documentation will meet Teachers’ Council requirements.
n/a
19.   Each teacher has been told about their Performance Appraisal for the year, including appraiser and the dates – all teachers have Schoolwide and Individual Appraisal goals – any BoT budget requirements have been met.
 Yes
20.   A signed and dated Job Description is in place for all staff for this year
 Yes
21.   The school has an accident record book in place for staff
 Yes
22.   Police vetting requirements have been met
 Yes
23.   Student absences monitored and followed up
 Yes
24.   1 March roll return report
Yes
25.   A report on Special Needs Register and use of related funding
 Part of budget, TA allocation
26.   Gifted and Talented Register and programme is in place.
 yes
27.   Learning Support Register and programme in place
 Yes
28.   Fire Evacuation has been carried out this term/Notified Fire Station/Fire Plan (if over 100 people).
Yes
29.   Principal Performance Agreement negotiated for this year.
This meeting
30.   Board notified of dates that the school is open for instruction.
 Yes
31.   That all SUE reports have been checked for accuracy and signed along with information on current Banked Staffing figures.
 Yes
32.   Board has minuted all Banked Staffing decisions regarding the indexing of teachers’ pay to the BG or TS.
 Yes (n/a)
33.   The process and timetable for reporting to parents on student achievement is in place
 Yes
34.    The process for reporting to the BoT on progress towards achieving the “student achievement targets”
 Yes
35.    That the current budget is minuted as approved by the BoT
 Yes
36.   Principal reports on Variance against budget monthly.
 Yes
37.   BoT minute where Annual Report is available for Community to read during normal school hours and whether on school’s Website.
Yes
38.   BoT Chairperson is elected at first BoT meeting in any year and minuted.        
Yes
39.   BoT Chairperson elected at first meeting after triennial election and minuted.
 n/a
40.   Policies and procedures are to meet all requirements of Vulnerable Children’s Act, and Health and Safety Act; will include having an understanding and appreciation of what is in these Acts.
 yes








Principal’s Report February 2018
(to be read in conjunction with the Annual Plan)
It is not necessary to follow and read all the links in this report - they are given as an extension, for those who might wish for further illustration.

SPECIAL CHARACTER

  • Integrated curriculum “Being a Eucharistic Community” introduced for 2018.  Planning for RE and integrated learning based on this overall plan.  DRS team met in December to draft plan and start of year planning term 1 -  Manaakitanga based around this.  
  • Sacramental program underway.  Sacrament commitment mass Sunday 11th February.
Stewardship - board of trustees
  • Two board members involved in Home and School planning.  One highly involved in planning Whitestone Wipeout with Home and School.
  • Grants in place for contribution to Sports Coordinator wages, sports equipment, sports shirts and musical equipment.  Grants will be put forward for student leadership and to cover disadvantaged students in EOTC activities.  Grant will be put forward for electronic equipment for programming activities.
  • Tight budget but resource provided for science and technology for STEAM (Science and Technology) projects.
  • Training budgeted for in order to sustain previous phonics practice.
  • Training budgeted and organised for teacher aides, junior syndicate leader and SENCO in “Five plus” remedial reading program.
Leadership for equity and excellence
  • Fixed term teacher management  units for:
    •  Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Design and Maths (STEAM) development.
    • Reviewing and improving student enrichment systems and practices.
    • ELL (English Language Learners) sustainable practice.
    • Pasifika Coordinator
  • First round of teacher spirals of inquiry coming to a close - reflection required on how to consistently create greater depth in future spirals.
  • Senior leadership team spent time before the start of the year reviewing our enrichment register and the profiles of individual children on the register.
  • As 80% of our teaching staff are new to St Joseph’s in the past 13 months, we still need to sustain and embed best practice for St Joseph’s.  There are many practices identified and praised in our successful 2013 ERO review which fell away in 2015-16 and have had to be reinvented to suit the present times and there are many more that we haven’t touched on yet.   In 2018 we have set up our meeting and pd structures so that practice which is important for equity and excellence is being modelled by the principal in senior leadership team meetings and transferred by syndicate leaders into the syndicate meetings.  The principal will also work directly with the senior syndicate which is 100% new to St Joseph’s in the past 13 months.  This may seem like a top-down approach but it is the only access we have into past practice which has been well thought-out, and well developed and works (see previous high achievement outcomes) particularly for the senior school.
  • Over the holidays all assessment information for each student analysed and transferred into our own student monitoring systems.  This means that we can continue to do accurate monitoring and tracking in the absence of national standards (which hindered this process).  The “official” student management systems have not done anything about this yet but we have set ourselves up well to move forward.
  • Teacher only day focused on unpacking our school systems and practices in light of “Teaching Positive Behaviour for Learning” a new resource put out by the Ministry which is aligned with our thinking and targets.  This resource supports teachers in all New Zealand primary and secondary schools to understand and draw on effective strategies that enhance students' behaviour, engagement, participation, and learning.”
  • Guidelines for dealing with bullying have been written and shared with parents.  Principal has spent time with all senior classes on addressing “low-level” below the radar undesirable behaviours and how to create a culture that does not tolerate “minor” put-downs.  Circles of friends are being set up in each senior class to support positive and kind interactions.
  • Principal and ELL Coordinator have made ELL plan for 2018.

Educationally powerful connections and relationships
  • Community of learning teachers had training day in holidays.
  • Teacher aide has been provided with time to organise our Young Vinnies and coordinate with the St Vincent de Paul society.
  • Meeting of senior leadership team and Waitaki Gardens facilitator to plan garden / science learning for 2018.  Decision made to invest some of our science budget in this project.  We are hoping this project will lead into an Enviroschools project and also into the digital garden club with Code Club Aotearoa.
  • Staff are indicating learning needs for COL professional learning groups.
  • Redeveloped report form to support: reporting twice a year across the whole curriculum.  The content of the form is aimed to support deepening teacher expertise and commitment in teaching key competencies, and further embed student ownership of their learning pathways.
  • New school website made over the holidays.  Office staff will be trained to make changes on the website, thus giving us control over updating our own website.

Responsive curriculum, effective teaching and opportunity to learn
  • New reporting system refers directly to learning progressions and emphasises key competencies.
  • Key competencies introduced as dispositions on Teacher Only Day.
  • Non-digital computational thinking introduced on teacher only day (will do a short session in the pd part of our board meeting to show what this means, after we’ve had ERO).
  • Leadership unit and extra budget resourced for STEAM.
  • Initial set-up meeting with Waitaki Community Gardens and senior leadership team.
  • School targets for 2018 have been aligned with the Whitestone Kahui Ako targets.
  • School targets for 2018 focus on equity through identifying specific learning needs and direct teaching required using Universal Design for Learning (UDI) principles which attends to children at both ends of the “bell curve.”  Also balanced with excellence - the type of curriculum and learning experiences which will enable our children to be fully engaged in learning and be “Confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners, (the NZ Curriculum vision),” and “Reach for the Stars as Lifelong Learners in the Catholic Faith, (our vision).”
  • Staff meetings and appraisal cycles realigned to Whitestone Kahui Ako cycles.

Professional and collective capacity
  • New staff have had induction resources and sessions and are now being given time to get to get to know children and families and the basics of how we do things at St Joseph’s.  They are receiving very good collegial support from existing staff.  I have to balance time given to settle in with the need to sustain and continue our systems and pedagogical practices which are a big learning curve for new staff.
  • Syndicate leaders have gathered Wordlab (spelling resources) and reassigned to new staff and new levels.Two teachers have expressed interest in the Masters study grants.  They have not finalised their enrolments or papers and I am not going to push them because both already have very high commitment and responsibilities within the school.  If they do go on to study this year they will continue to be a very positive and ongoing asset for St Joseph’s.
  • “Line of sight” has been created from charter, to annual plan to targets, staff pd and allocation and use of resources.
  • St Joseph’s pd site used to store previous development information and start up information for 2018.  This is a resource for sustainability of practice.
  • Teacher aides had start of year pd alongside teachers on SMART practice.

Evaluation, inquiry, knowledge-building for improvement and innovation
  • Appraisal cycle adjusted to start and end in term 2 to match Whitestone Kahui Ako.
  • Staff who were employed in 2017 are presently preparing to wrap-up their 2017 appraisal cycle.

Roll: 183
Compliance:

Compliance – Each Year the Board record in BoT minutes or receive  in the form of a report that the following been completed
Reported
ü  DATE
(or  N/A)
BOT has been notified at a Board meeting by end of Term 1:
1.     Delegations to the principal and other staff are minuted eg Acting Principal when principal is absent from school during the year can act as principal (Ed. Act requirement), financial delegation.
1st meeting
2.     Charter /Strategic Plan sent to MOE  
 After this meeting
3.     Staffing Schedule checked for accuracy.
 yes
4.     Each support staff and teaching staff member who is not a union member has signed an IEA
 yes
5.     Support staff members on a fixed term and the reasons why detailed
 yes
6.     All Teachers are registered (plus Relievers)
 yes
7.     The school has processes in place covering the recording of annual leave/ domestic leave/sick leave/bereavement leave etc.
 yes
8.     The school has a record of each staff member’s family (next-of-kin) contact details in the event of an emergency
 yes
9.     The Board are informed that EEO (Good Employer principles) are used when dealing with Employees
 yes
10.   Each teacher and support staff member had a Performance Appraisal last year
 Yes
11.   Harassment Officers confirmed
 n/a
12.   That there is a Privacy Officer for the school and a current job description
 No - it is part of the principal’s role
13.   There is always a staff member on site who holds a current First Aid Certificate
 Yes
14.   A programme for updating First Aid Certificates is in place for the year
 Done in 2017
15.   Application been made to the MoE for Beginning Teacher Induction Release time.
 n/a
16.   Application been made to the MoE for Tutor Teacher payments
 n/a
17.   How the Beginning Teacher Induction Release time is being used
n/a
18.   There is a Provisionally Registered Teachers’ Support and Guidance programme and documentation will meet Teachers’ Council requirements.
n/a
19.   Each teacher has been told about their Performance Appraisal for the year, including appraiser and the dates – all teachers have Schoolwide and Individual Appraisal goals – any BoT budget requirements have been met.
 Yes
20.   A signed and dated Job Description is in place for all staff for this year
 Yes
21.   The school has an accident record book in place for staff
 Yes
22.   Police vetting requirements have been met
 Yes
23.   Student absences monitored and followed up
 Yes
24.   1 March roll return report
 Not yet
25.   A report on Special Needs Register and use of related funding
 Part of budget, TA allocation
26.   Gifted and Talented Register and programme is in place.
 yes
27.   Learning Support Register and programme in place
 Yes
28.   Fire Evacuation has been carried out this term/Notified Fire Station/Fire Plan (if over 100 people).
 Not yet
29.   Principal Performance Agreement negotiated for this year.
 Not yet
30.   Board notified of dates that the school is open for instruction.
 Yes
31.   That all SUE reports have been checked for accuracy and signed along with information on current Banked Staffing figures.
 Yes
32.   Board has minuted all Banked Staffing decisions regarding the indexing of teachers’ pay to the BG or TS.
 Yes (n/a)
33.   The process and timetable for reporting to parents on student achievement is in place
 Yes
34.    The process for reporting to the BoT on progress towards achieving the “student achievement targets”
 Yes
35.    That the current budget is minuted as approved by the BoT
 This meeting
36.   Principal reports on Variance against budget monthly.
 Yes
37.   BoT minute where Annual Report is available for Community to read during normal school hours and whether on school’s Website.
 This meeting
38.   BoT Chairperson is elected at first BoT meeting in any year and minuted.                
 This meeting
39.   BoT Chairperson elected at first meeting after triennial election and minuted.
 n/a
40.   Policies and procedures are to meet all requirements of Vulnerable Children’s Act, and Health and Safety Act; will include having an understanding and appreciation of what is in these Acts.
 yes

Principal’s Report December 2017


This report takes a different format from the usual report which is against the annual plan.  The annual plan is updated with our outcomes for 2017 and can be seen on the annual plan tab.


Special Character
We welcomed 12 new families at our Welcome Mass on Sunday 19th November.
My article was printing in Aoraki and we had very good feedback from the DRS advisors in Dunedin and Christchurch.


Stewardship
Staff leadership positions have been filled.
We have employed three new excellent teachers for 2018.
Support staff timetables and contracts have been signed for 2018.
The draft budget is prepared


Leadership for Equity and Success
Worked with the senior leadership team to analyse our next steps based on this year’s data.  Have established our priorities and developments for next year.
Close work with some year 8s and their families to ensure a smooth end to the year for them.


Educationally powerful connections and relationships
I have worked a lot more closely and intensely with Gary Shirley this month as COL support principal.  I have worked on the “line of sight” of the strategic plan in order to get us to being able to get staff moving and effectively engaging in professional development (pd) for 2018.
I have also somehow become involved in the pd leadership group for the Dunedin and Southland Catholic Principal’s group.  Attended meeting in Cromwell.


Responsive curriculum, effective teaching and opportunity to learn
Classes for 2018 have been set up and parents consulted about class placements where required.
Year 7 & 8 camps and year 6 EOTC weeks completed successfully.  
School athletics completed and students entered into North Otago athletics.


Professional and collective capacity
Engaged in moderation in writing across the COL.
Staff have used their NZEI settlement release time to investigate PACT (Progress and Consistency Tool) for National Standards to see how well it fitted with our curriculum progressions.  The process validated our curriculum progressions and the consensus is we continue to use these rather than move to PACT.


Evaluation, inquiry, knowledge-building for improvement and innovation
Staff finished Mindlab course.  We all had to do final blogs about our learning.  We have chosen to use these to report to the board.


BoT has been notified at a Board meeting by end of Term 4:
8.     Payroll provider  has been informed when any staff member  is on leave because of sickness or holiday
Y
9.     That each support staff member moved a step on the Scale or was held because of performance issues
Y
10.   School has an Accident Register that is maintained and checked for Hazards.
YY
11.   The school has an Induction process in place for new staff the following year.
Y
12.   Any Surplus Staffing requirements addressed and MoE notified within MoE stated timeframe.
na
13.   Fire Evacuation has been carried out this term
Y
14.   Fire extinguishers checked by contractors.
Y
15.   Student absences monitored and followed up (See note)
Y
16.   Received a report on appointment process for any current or pending appointment/s
Y
17.   Salary Increments for teaching staff approved/All teachers Professional Standards met.
Y
18.   Staff Prof. Development progress and outcomes reported (may be reported throughout the year).
Y
19.   Report on Special Needs Register/Gifted and Talented and use of SEG
Y
20.   Board notified of the number of days the school was open during current year
388 half days
21.   School house is insured (if applicable)
na
22.   That all Code of Practice requirements related to Fee-paying students are being met
na
23.   That all SUE reports have been checked for accuracy and signed along with information on current Banked Staffing figures
y
24.   That consultation with the Maori community has been carried out
Y
25.   Staffing Schedule for following year completed for Payroll by required December date.
IN hand and will be completed
26.   Following year’s Draft budget prepared and minuted.
Y
27.   Learning support reports forwarded to the BoT
Y
28.   All Staff Appraisals and documentation completed.
Y
29.   Unit holders reports tabled with BoT
Y
30.   Process for allocating Fixed Term Units for following year completed
Y
31.   Final report to Board by Chairperson on Principal’s Appraisal – Compliance checklist attached to final Report by Chairperson and Copy made for BoT records.
Y
32.   Auditor has been agreed and minuted at a Board meeting
Y - minute at this meeting.
33.   Draft targets for student achievement 2018 are related to the National Curriculum Standards
See NS analysis, 2018 draft targets come from this


Principal's Report October 2017

This report takes a different format from the usual report which is against the annual plan.  The annual plan has been updated with our outcomes for 2017 and can be seen on the annual plan tab.


Annual Plan in Summary


Special Character: special character leads everything and even more so this year as the core teaching staff have reinforced commitment to special character as the reason for the school.  We have tightened enrolments so that we have more base from which to evangelise.  This has many repercussions.  


The staff very much want our Catholic culture to be the heart of the school.  We feel we have made big inroads this year towards establishing and promoting our core values.


I believe we’re on the right path though and i believe that holding up our special character as a jewel will give it more strength and make it more desirable.  To be a good Catholic school we have to be a great school - we have to have high achievement and engaged and motivated students - because that reflects our core values.  So as a staff we work extra hard to make that happen so we can live John 10:10 “I came to give you life, life in the fullest.”  


POSITIVES FROM 2017


Staff are all on the same page with promoting learning intentions and helping the students to provide evidence of their learning.  This provides ownership and motivation to the students.
We have developed systems for managing learning support and at risk learners that mean we are very focused on student achievement and keeping a close track of our learners.
Our students are definitely making progress.
We have developed systemised phonics and spelling learning.


NEXT STEPS


We have investigated ways of promoting and monitoring key competencies.  Our students seem to be lacking key competencies.  Many students are not engaged or motivated to find out more about the world.  Attention spans are short and instant gratification is expected.  This makes it harder but even more important for us to develop learning that matters, that makes a difference and engages in the world around us.  These are our charter goals.

TERM 3 PROGRESS 2017


Overall Progress up to end of term 3 2017


Acceleration = children who have made a year or more’s progress already (¾ of year).  
Stuck = children who have made six months or less progress so far



Percentage of all * students accelerating
Percentage of higher achieving students accelerating
Percentage of students struggling to make a year's progress
Compared to less than a year's progress in 2016
Reading
37.50%
16.50%
13.00%
33.00%
Maths
29.60%
4%
0.00%
66.00%
Writing
29.10%
5%
8.60%

*There are some small data gaps as teachers are still getting used to the increased expectation for recording and monitoring.


The major areas of acceleration are in years 1 and 2, in the intermediate department and in year 3 & 4 maths.  These were the areas identified at the end of 2016 as in most need.


Children struggling to make a year’s progress are both high and low achieving children.  Learning plateaus as learning is not a completely linear process ie. it can happen quickly then stop for a while to consolidate before taking off again so there will always be some children not making steady progress at any one time.  However it is worth noting that half  of the children who are struggling to make a year’s progress this year have had more than 10% absence in term 3.


Maths Intervention Plan Year 3 & 4


Focus on raising achievement in identified gaps of place value and fractions


Fractions
Before
After
Place Value
Before
After
Well Below
50%
0%
Well Below
14%
0%
Below
48%
29%
Below
67%
29%
At
2%
71%
At
19%
71%


29/34 overall have improved a stage in fractions - 85%
7/34 overall have improved 2 stages in fractions - 21%
22/34 overall have improved a stage in pv - 65%
4/34 overall have improved 2 stages in pv - 12%
1 stage = roughly one year’s progress


Appraisal
The appraisal cycle has been changed to begin and end in term 2 in order to be in sync with the rest of the COL.  The final report incorporating each teacher’s spiral of inquiry will be completed in term 1.
Teacher aide observations and appraisal meetings have been held.
Other support staff appraisal updates are in progress.  
Our provisionally registered teacher has completed her provisional time and been signed off for full registration.
Another teacher has had a support program due to being new to teaching but ineligible for a PRT program.  Our board has funded release and mentoring support for this teacher.  She is also doing very well and has benefitted from the extra input and support.
School Year
The school will have been open for the statutory number of half days.
Proposed start and end dates for 2018 are:
Two TODs before start of term
Start date: Tuesday 30th Jan
Finish Date: Friday 14th December. = 384 half days
Move to accept start and end dates for 2018.


Registrations and Vetting
All teacher registrations and support staff vetting are up to date.
Year 8 Camp Safety

Due to the heart attack of our camp guide we have had to seek another guide.  We are using a guide from Peel Forest Outdoor Adventures.  The cost is $1000.  This will mostly be offset against camp costs.  Instead of taking the bus they will be taking cars.  The food budget is also quite high and so the costs should even out.
Roll: 201. Arrivals - Y2 from Pembroke, 2x NE
Returns - Y2 (Dunedin), Y5 (Christchurch)
Leavers: Y2 - Weston

Term 3 - 2 stand-downs same child (continual disobedience causing dangerous example - now have MoE Learning Support intervention and some positive turn-around), 1 stand-down (gross misconduct - already on MoE Learning Support).


Compliance


Attendance:
Principal has noted any absences of more than 10%.  Some are one off occurrences e.g. having chickenpox, or follow up to a particular condition and no further followup is required.  We are closely watching medical non-attendance for 23 children who had high medical absence in term 3.


Further attendance actions:


Two families will be having parent meetings to review general progress and achievement.  A discussion about attendance will be part of this meeting.  


Three year 8s with high unjustified and medical absences will not be followed up as they were ski trip participants and this is their final year.


Nine children (five families) have high non-attendance with a mixture of unjustified and medical reasons.  All are ski trip participants.  The non-attendance ranges from 17-40% absence in term 3.  I am not going to follow up as many notices have been put in the newsletter and information explicitly shared already.


BoT has been notified at a Board meeting by end of Term 4:
8.     Payroll provider  has been informed when any staff member  is on leave because of sickness or holiday
Y
9.     That each support staff member moved a step on the Scale or was held because of performance issues
Y
10.   School has an Accident Register that is maintained and checked for Hazards.
YY
11.   The school has an Induction process in place for new staff the following year.
Y
12.   Any Surplus Staffing requirements addressed and MoE notified within MoE stated timeframe.
na
13.   Fire Evacuation has been carried out this term
Y
14.   Fire extinguishers checked by contractors.
15.   Student absences monitored and followed up (See note)
Y
16.   Received a report on appointment process for any current or pending appointment/s
Y
17.   Salary Increments for teaching staff approved/All teachers Professional Standards met.
Y
18.   Staff Prof. Development progress and outcomes reported (may be reported throughout the year).
Y
19.   Report on Special Needs Register/Gifted and Talented and use of SEG
Y
20.   Board notified of the number of days the school was open during current year
21.   School house is insured (if applicable)
na
22.   That all Code of Practice requirements related to Fee-paying students are being met
na
23.   That all SUE reports have been checked for accuracy and signed along with information on current Banked Staffing figures
y
24.   That consultation with the Maori community has been carried out
Y
25.   Staffing Schedule for following year completed for Payroll by required December date.
26.   Following year’s Draft budget prepared and minuted.
27.   Learning support reports forwarded to the BoT
Y
28.   All Staff Appraisals and documentation completed.
Y
29.   Unit holders reports tabled with BoT
30.   Process for allocating Fixed Term Units for following year completed
31.   Final report to Board by Chairperson on Principal’s Appraisal – Compliance checklist attached to final Report by Chairperson and Copy made for BoT records.
32.   Auditor has been agreed and minuted at a Board meeting
33.   Draft targets for student achievement 2018 are related to the National Curriculum Standards



Principal's Report September 2017

Principal's Report August 2017


Principal's Report June 2017



" width="900">

Principal's Report May 2017

" width="600">




" width="600">

" width="600">



No comments:

Post a Comment