Principal Meetings, The Connected Curriculum, National Standards (P2P - 2009/12e)

Term 3 seems to be flying by with us all managing this year’s tasks as well as starting the planning cycle for 2010.  Staffing Entitlement notices are due in mid-September, which will also start the staffing appointment cycle. Hang in there! Just over three weeks to go to the end of term….

Lets Meet

Our principal meetings are now under way with those held so far being mostly well attended. Do make sure you reply to your invitation to attend your local meeting.

The Connected Curriculum

You’ve probably received NZEI’s new Connected Curriculum DVD and booklet in the mail by now, but this is another plug for it as several principals have already told me how useful they’ve found it.

Every school is expected to critically review its curriculum to ensure it is consistent with the scope and intentions of the revised New Zealand Curriculum.  We are entitled to take ownership of this process by designing our own school curriculum in ways that meet the needs and circumstances of our students and the opportunities offered by our school’s particular context.

The Connected Curriculum resource was produced by NZEI and its Principals’ Council, in partnership with Lester Flockton and supported by the Ministry of Education.   The DVD/online resource and print booklet draw on Lester Flockton’s intellectual property and his wide experience with schools and the Curriculum. NZEI has provided every primary school, area school and kura with a copy of this resource  to help schools focus on what will be needed for effective implementation of the Curriculum, so do take some time to review the DVD content and the help and advice it provides. If you’re having any problems printing the pdfs from the DVD you can also access them, along with the printed materials at www.nzei.org.nz/connectedcurriculum

We’d appreciate hearing your feedback on the Connected Curriculum resource – please email me with any comments you have.

National standards: working with parents

With the Ministry of Education’s public consultation phase for national standards over, the Government is now considering the standards for gazetting in October. NZEI’s goal is to ensure the focus is on the New Zealand Curriculum as the driver of teaching and learning.  National standards should be tools to support learning by providing signposts for literacy and numeracy.  We will continue to guard against league tables and advocate for the “safe warehousing” of assessment data.

With parent/teacher/student assessment interviews coming up this term in many schools, consider how you can communicate to parents the importance of personalised learning and the ways teachers use “rich” assessment – the formal and informal interactions between teaching and learning - to provide evidence of student progress and achievement.

View a resource for parents on these issues