1 April 2009 principal@taonui.school.nz http://taonuischool.wikispaces.

com

Home Print at Taonui School

This week John Brebner, art specialist, has been at School working with all the students on
bookmaking. John has been assisted by Aimee. Some of the activities have included:
• marbling
• pencil carving WOW KIDS
• paper folding
John & Aimee tell us that your work and
• sewing
effort is outstanding.
• letter press printing
• making a hard case
• assembling the book

EFFECTIVE BEHAVIOUR SUPPORT (EBS)

Building a sustainable culture of respect and competence in partnership with the whole
community.

Taonui is a pilot school for the introduction of this programme in the Manawatu area and we
are working with the Feilding Resource Teachers of Learning (RTLB) on the project.

What is EBS?
EBS is a structure which enables the development of successful school wide culture by:
• Developing positive and respectful relationships through ongoing consultation with, and
decision making by, parents, students, community and all staff
• Developing a caring culture where students and staff feel valued and the whole school
community feels safe
• The development of consistent expectations across all settings and by all staff
• Teaching behaviours instead of “expecting” that students just know what to do
• Enabling students to identify their strengths and strive for their potential
• Maximising the time spent on student learning
• Working smarter not harder: as relationships and behaviours across the school
community improve, so do student engagement and academic achievement
• Using data on student learning and behaviour to make informed decisions

EBS is not a “quick fix” project. It takes several months to build the foundations through
extensive consultation with the whole school community. After implementation there should
be noticeable improvements in behaviour and learning. However, long term commitment is
necessary to effect a sustainable change in school culture.

EBS is tailored by the school community to work within its present structures and needs.
Because students are so involved in the process, the buy-in from them is high.
EBS is based on more than twenty years research in creating positive cultures, and is
supported by research describing the success of thousands of schools across Canada,
Norway, Iceland, USA, Australia and now New Zealand.

Where are we up to at Taonui?

• Staffs have been individually interviewed by RTLB staff.
• Some parents and Board members have been interviewed.
• The RTLB have spoken to most children to obtain their views about school.
• All the above information will then be used to determine needs.
• A draft action plan has been prepared.

What next?
• An EBS team will be formed that includes staff, parents, BOT and students. If you
would like to contribute please contact Stephen before the end of this term.
• The team will be looking firstly at their Dream School and forming a vision about what
is important to us as a community.

Want to know more?

EBS Information Evening Tuesday 5 May 7 – 8 pm
• Jennifer Gerrie (RTLB) will be explaining the programme.
• Where does EBS fit in with the new curriculum?
• School staff will be demonstrating how to use the school wiki and blogs.

Curriculum Development at Taonui

Key competencies

The new School curriculum must be in place beginning 2010. A really important component is
the Key Competencies and at Taonui we are looking at ways of implementing these.

The New Zealand Curriculum identifies five key competencies:

• thinking
• using language, symbols, and texts
• managing self
• relating to others
• participating and contributing.

This term we are focusing on Managing Self.

This competency is associated with self-motivation, a “can-do” attitude, and with students
seeing themselves as capable learners. It is integral to self-assessment.

Students who manage themselves are enterprising, resourceful, reliable, and resilient. They
establish personal goals, make plans, manage projects, and set high standards. They have
strategies for meeting challenges. They know when to lead, when to follow, and when and how
to act independently.

Examples of how we are introducing Self Management

Senior Students are learning to:

• Know class expectations and responsibilities

• Understand their own strengths and weaknesses
• Set their own learning goals (to do this they need to understand their level of
achievement)
• Reflect on their learning – using learning logs and student blogs.

Junior Students
In the Junior Room we have started off with the following:

Helping each other and working together. Classroom

expectations/treaty. Some of the children really stand out at
Classroom Culture helping other children, and are very tolerant, but a few of the
children are learning to be more patient when working with
others.
We have a classroom goal that all the children are aware of. In
the mornings when they come to school they are required to
unpack their own bags, make sure they have a sharp pencil and
Classroom Goal
put their chair down. They then have a chart to tick to say
they have done this. We are all working towards achieving this
goal.
Most of the children now have writing goals in the front of
Writing Goals their writing books. Each child understands their writing goal
and how to achieve it, and this is what each individual child is
working on with their story writing.

Other examples of teaching the self-management competency.

• Year 8 students have submitted a senior leadership programme to the principal for
consideration and further discussion.
• Junior students have researched and written to the principal requesting the school to
purchase a trampoline.
• In the art programme students have set goals, planned and will be evaluating their own
performance in bookmaking.
• How can parents help? Talk to your children about goal setting, working towards
achieving goals and reflecting on achievement. Give examples in adult lives. Why might
this be an important competency? Etc.

Cyber Safety Procedures

As we begin using web tools such as wiki spaces and blogs it is vital that we are always vigilant
about the safety of students and staff on the internet.
Procedures have been developed for students and these will be discussed in class with
students. Students will be bringing home a user agreement and we ask parents to reinforce
the message it contains. Students will be unable to access the internet until these
agreements are signed and returned to the school.

A further document outlines the options that parents/caregivers will have regarding the use
of images in the school newsletter and wiki. Please consider these issues and return this
form with your choices.
These documents will be sent home next week.

Assembly Thursday 2nd April 2.15pm

Edie and Tyla have organised assembly and the students are looking forward to describing
the art processes and displaying the work they are completing this week.
There will be other reports on school activities from students.
Please note the start time will be 2.15pm sharp.

Student Assessment

Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT)

Year 3 – 8 recently completed mathematic and Year 4 – 8 reading comprehension and
vocabulary. This is a norm referenced assessment where students are compared with other
of their age in the country. This is one part of the school assessment programme and is used
in conjunction with other assessments to plan future teaching. Our results are outstanding
with several scores in the top 4% of the country and many in the ‘above average’ categories.
Individual results have been reported to parents.

Important Dates

Date Event Comment

Wednesday 8 April Senior Athletics – Massey Track Transport required
Thursday 9 April Last day of Term 1
Monday 27 April Term 2 begins
Tuesday 5 May Parent Meeting 7.oopm
Friday 19 June am Senior Cross Country - Awahou Transport required
pm Junior Cross Country - Awahou Transport required