rumpelsnorcack (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rumpelsnorcack) wrote2013-05-17 02:38 pm
rumpelsnorcack) wrote2013-05-17 02:38 pm
Stuff
So, stuff's been happening. Lots of stuff. Enough lots of stuff that I should probably bullet point it for ease of access.
1. I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I've picked up another kid at the school where I've been teacher-aiding. She's lovely & funny and friendly, but the poor thing was a selective mute for a lot of her life so she doesn't have many of the sounds she needs for speech. She also has comprehension issues with her reading so we're working on both of those things. One of the important parts of my job is just to talk with her so she has to use her sounds to communicate. It's pretty fun. The other boy is still delightful, but he tries so hard to work the system 'oh, I'm so tired today I think we should just play games' etc. Hmmm, not likely buddy - work first, then to consolidation with the games :)
2. I'm doing the second year of my Maori course. It's fun, but quite intense - much more work than first year. We've had our first assessment, which was incredibly stressful (we had to write 34 sentences using different structures and vocab from memory, then draw a chart describing the parts of the day, then present it all in front of the class where we were assessed as much on pronunciation, stance and fluency as we were on what we wrote). Thankfully it's over and I passed and we've been told that was our hardest assessment as all the others we will be able to prepare in advance before presenting them. Currently we are learning 'passive commands' by playing cards. It's amazing how many commands there are in card games from 'shuffle the cards' to 'take your turn' etc :)
3. I went to Council yesterday as part of a deputation to ask them to send a letter to the minister of education asking some very necessary questions about the whole process and requesting a return to the old timelines. This all came from Di and I pushing our local councillor to act. To his credit, he took that call and ran with it. The letter was shown to Di and I before it was sent before council and we made several of the changes. To support the motion, he asked us to come along and speak to it. Di did a fantastic job on her speech and several people came and congratulated her afterwards, including councillors. Interestingly, the motion was passed unanimously. It's interesting because apparently some of them were all for taking it to committee and/or delaying it. After hearing from Di and two other people they obviously changed their minds and all of them supported it. We can chalk that up to a win, especially given it elicited a response from our dear minister. Here is Di's speech, under a cut because it's long
Good Morning.
My name is Diane Hubrick. I am here today on behalf of the Freeville School Whanau and Community Support Group.
Freeville is a wonderful school. It has dedicated and talented staff, creative and innovative programmes and a bilingual unit of 40 children. It is not a little school, it has a steady and historically stable role of around 300 children.
It is also high performing school according to the Education Review Office report dated June 2012.
In their words “This school provides students and their families with high quality care and education. The board, principal, teachers and students have high expectations for learning and behaviour. They want all students to achieve to their potential and be the best that they can be. The key factors that promote success in this school are:
• The strong relationships between teachers and students and amongst students
• Maori enjoying opportunities to succeed as Māori
• Students actively engaged in learning
The school is strongly placed to sustain and improve its performance.
In 2012 the MOE released a document called Directions for Education Renewal in Greater Chch. The Executive Summary it states that 500 submissions were made.
Questions relating to the compulsory school sector dominated responses with school size attaching the largest number of responses. Small school were preferred for building community, reducing negative social and educational impacts and improving outcomes for families. Increased transport costs, difficulties, and time made the idea of larger but fewer schools unattractive to many, as well as post-quake concerns that children be close enough to walk home if required.
Well, that seems pretty clear. Why, oh why then has the Minister decided that that on the east side of Chch super schools are the way to raise the achievement and educational outcomes for children?
4 of the New Brighton “cluster” schools are to be merged creating two schools with roles exceeding 500 children.
Another super school is to be created when Burwood School with 274 children merges with Windsor which has a role of 581.
But still is continues with a yet another super school planned for the east: Wainoni, Avondale and Aranui Primary are set to merge with Chisnallwood Intermediate and Aranui High School. Total role 1824. New entrants to Year 13 in one place at one time. Would you send your children to that school?
There are currently only 38 primary schools in the entire country with roles of between 600 and 800 children.
However, there is hope. If I decided to move my family to the west side of town I can choose to send my children to a school based on decile, demographic and philosophy.
Giberthorpe School has a roll of 104 and was proposed to merge with Yaldhurst Model School which has a roll of 123. These schools have been reprieved, which we applauded, however, together their role is about that of North New Brighton School, with which it is proposed Freeville merge.
A factor that could account for this decision is that Gilberthorpe would lose its decile 2 rating and the extra funding that this attracts. Central New Brighton School is also a decile 2 and their 120 children would also lose their extra funding and support if forced to merge with South New Brighton School which is a decile 5 school of 453.
In September 2012 we were told of the “firm” merger proposal. We were told that our merge date was to be 2016, that we would merge to a completely finished site as a whole school. There would be not split site disaster for us, as Dunedin schools are suffering through.
The Minister came to listen to us and has offered us “certainty” with the February’s announcement.
Not only are we now facing the dreaded split site arrangement, our merge date has been pushed forward to Jan 2014.
If September was our 7.1 than this announcement was our 6.3. Not an unexpected aftershock, smaller but causing more damage.
This creates more uncertainty not less, more questions when asked, that we don’t get answers to. How can possibly we achieve a successful merge in such a short time frame?
We are simply asking that the Minister and the MOE make fair and consistent decisions across the wider Chch network.
There has been a deafening silence from this council as our communities have struggled through these announcements.
We are asking you, really, we are begging you to act. To protect the education of our children and the wellbeing of our communities. The first step is to ask the minister to explain why now? After all we have been and are still going through. Why now? We are being forced into a “one size fits all model”. As councillors you are more aware that most that different communities have differing needs.
An area of significant concern to us is the fear that the quality education offered at Freeville will be compromised in a larger school. Research suggests that a role of approximately 300 is an effective size for a primary school in an area that is socially and economically disadvantaged.
From a mental health point of view communities are more empowered, and feel better about change if they are able to advocate for change not, as we are having to do now, advocate against change. The opportunity to support a positive change for our community was never given to us as we were presented with “firm” proposals that stymied any creative “Green Hat thinking” as schools not unsurprisingly went into patch protection mode.
The minster is good at making the big statements that are good media sound bites. 1 Billion dollar investment in Chch sounds great but she failed to point out was that included money that was already earmarked to be spent over the next ten years on upgrading Chch’s old building stock.
The number of children affected is only 1% across the wider Chch Network. Not so bad, only 1% but that 1% equates to 5 680 children from 24 communities. This does not include the 2 schools she has already closed or those reprieved in Feb. Those 5 680 children have already been forced to cope with major events in their short lives that most will never have to face. Why force more unnecessary change on them now? Within those 24 communities you will find some of the most affected areas that are still recovering from NZ’s largest natural disaster.
You as a council asked us to support each other, our neighbours and our friends. At Freeville we did this. Again in the MOE own words
“Since the earthquakes, the school has shifted its focus from how the community can contribute to the school, to how the school can contribute to the community. As a result, there are strong and trusting partnerships between the school, parents and community agencies. Students told ERO that the adults make this school a safe place to be and that they care about their emotional well-being.”
Schools are the heart of any community. You know that. Right now we need our communities to be strong and to stay strong. How can that happen when our heart is under attack?
4. Somewhat related, I have stood for the school's Board of Trustees. If the minister doesn't delay the merger this board will only be in place for 7 months, but I still felt the need to participate. Also, the 'merger board' which will implement and run the merged school is drawn equally from the boards of both schools. If I get on (and it looks like there may not even be an election because they got the exact number they needed to fill the positions) I have a better chance of being on that board. I don't think I will though, because the merger board is chosen by the minister and I've been a bit ... well, a bit outspoken against the idea :D
5. I am also considering running for the Community Board for my ward. The councillor who did the letter etc suggested I should run with him for Council (the group he runs with, and whose politics align with mine, wants a woman on the ticket to give some balance), but I think it's a bit early for that. I'd rather do my time on the Community Board then maybe look at council next term, if I even still like politics after that. I'm undecided, but I think starting small is the best way to go.
I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of it and it's now time to pick up my kids from school so I'll leave it there.
1. I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I've picked up another kid at the school where I've been teacher-aiding. She's lovely & funny and friendly, but the poor thing was a selective mute for a lot of her life so she doesn't have many of the sounds she needs for speech. She also has comprehension issues with her reading so we're working on both of those things. One of the important parts of my job is just to talk with her so she has to use her sounds to communicate. It's pretty fun. The other boy is still delightful, but he tries so hard to work the system 'oh, I'm so tired today I think we should just play games' etc. Hmmm, not likely buddy - work first, then to consolidation with the games :)
2. I'm doing the second year of my Maori course. It's fun, but quite intense - much more work than first year. We've had our first assessment, which was incredibly stressful (we had to write 34 sentences using different structures and vocab from memory, then draw a chart describing the parts of the day, then present it all in front of the class where we were assessed as much on pronunciation, stance and fluency as we were on what we wrote). Thankfully it's over and I passed and we've been told that was our hardest assessment as all the others we will be able to prepare in advance before presenting them. Currently we are learning 'passive commands' by playing cards. It's amazing how many commands there are in card games from 'shuffle the cards' to 'take your turn' etc :)
3. I went to Council yesterday as part of a deputation to ask them to send a letter to the minister of education asking some very necessary questions about the whole process and requesting a return to the old timelines. This all came from Di and I pushing our local councillor to act. To his credit, he took that call and ran with it. The letter was shown to Di and I before it was sent before council and we made several of the changes. To support the motion, he asked us to come along and speak to it. Di did a fantastic job on her speech and several people came and congratulated her afterwards, including councillors. Interestingly, the motion was passed unanimously. It's interesting because apparently some of them were all for taking it to committee and/or delaying it. After hearing from Di and two other people they obviously changed their minds and all of them supported it. We can chalk that up to a win, especially given it elicited a response from our dear minister. Here is Di's speech, under a cut because it's long
Good Morning.
My name is Diane Hubrick. I am here today on behalf of the Freeville School Whanau and Community Support Group.
Freeville is a wonderful school. It has dedicated and talented staff, creative and innovative programmes and a bilingual unit of 40 children. It is not a little school, it has a steady and historically stable role of around 300 children.
It is also high performing school according to the Education Review Office report dated June 2012.
In their words “This school provides students and their families with high quality care and education. The board, principal, teachers and students have high expectations for learning and behaviour. They want all students to achieve to their potential and be the best that they can be. The key factors that promote success in this school are:
• The strong relationships between teachers and students and amongst students
• Maori enjoying opportunities to succeed as Māori
• Students actively engaged in learning
The school is strongly placed to sustain and improve its performance.
In 2012 the MOE released a document called Directions for Education Renewal in Greater Chch. The Executive Summary it states that 500 submissions were made.
Questions relating to the compulsory school sector dominated responses with school size attaching the largest number of responses. Small school were preferred for building community, reducing negative social and educational impacts and improving outcomes for families. Increased transport costs, difficulties, and time made the idea of larger but fewer schools unattractive to many, as well as post-quake concerns that children be close enough to walk home if required.
Well, that seems pretty clear. Why, oh why then has the Minister decided that that on the east side of Chch super schools are the way to raise the achievement and educational outcomes for children?
4 of the New Brighton “cluster” schools are to be merged creating two schools with roles exceeding 500 children.
Another super school is to be created when Burwood School with 274 children merges with Windsor which has a role of 581.
But still is continues with a yet another super school planned for the east: Wainoni, Avondale and Aranui Primary are set to merge with Chisnallwood Intermediate and Aranui High School. Total role 1824. New entrants to Year 13 in one place at one time. Would you send your children to that school?
There are currently only 38 primary schools in the entire country with roles of between 600 and 800 children.
However, there is hope. If I decided to move my family to the west side of town I can choose to send my children to a school based on decile, demographic and philosophy.
Giberthorpe School has a roll of 104 and was proposed to merge with Yaldhurst Model School which has a roll of 123. These schools have been reprieved, which we applauded, however, together their role is about that of North New Brighton School, with which it is proposed Freeville merge.
A factor that could account for this decision is that Gilberthorpe would lose its decile 2 rating and the extra funding that this attracts. Central New Brighton School is also a decile 2 and their 120 children would also lose their extra funding and support if forced to merge with South New Brighton School which is a decile 5 school of 453.
In September 2012 we were told of the “firm” merger proposal. We were told that our merge date was to be 2016, that we would merge to a completely finished site as a whole school. There would be not split site disaster for us, as Dunedin schools are suffering through.
The Minister came to listen to us and has offered us “certainty” with the February’s announcement.
Not only are we now facing the dreaded split site arrangement, our merge date has been pushed forward to Jan 2014.
If September was our 7.1 than this announcement was our 6.3. Not an unexpected aftershock, smaller but causing more damage.
This creates more uncertainty not less, more questions when asked, that we don’t get answers to. How can possibly we achieve a successful merge in such a short time frame?
We are simply asking that the Minister and the MOE make fair and consistent decisions across the wider Chch network.
There has been a deafening silence from this council as our communities have struggled through these announcements.
We are asking you, really, we are begging you to act. To protect the education of our children and the wellbeing of our communities. The first step is to ask the minister to explain why now? After all we have been and are still going through. Why now? We are being forced into a “one size fits all model”. As councillors you are more aware that most that different communities have differing needs.
An area of significant concern to us is the fear that the quality education offered at Freeville will be compromised in a larger school. Research suggests that a role of approximately 300 is an effective size for a primary school in an area that is socially and economically disadvantaged.
From a mental health point of view communities are more empowered, and feel better about change if they are able to advocate for change not, as we are having to do now, advocate against change. The opportunity to support a positive change for our community was never given to us as we were presented with “firm” proposals that stymied any creative “Green Hat thinking” as schools not unsurprisingly went into patch protection mode.
The minster is good at making the big statements that are good media sound bites. 1 Billion dollar investment in Chch sounds great but she failed to point out was that included money that was already earmarked to be spent over the next ten years on upgrading Chch’s old building stock.
The number of children affected is only 1% across the wider Chch Network. Not so bad, only 1% but that 1% equates to 5 680 children from 24 communities. This does not include the 2 schools she has already closed or those reprieved in Feb. Those 5 680 children have already been forced to cope with major events in their short lives that most will never have to face. Why force more unnecessary change on them now? Within those 24 communities you will find some of the most affected areas that are still recovering from NZ’s largest natural disaster.
You as a council asked us to support each other, our neighbours and our friends. At Freeville we did this. Again in the MOE own words
“Since the earthquakes, the school has shifted its focus from how the community can contribute to the school, to how the school can contribute to the community. As a result, there are strong and trusting partnerships between the school, parents and community agencies. Students told ERO that the adults make this school a safe place to be and that they care about their emotional well-being.”
Schools are the heart of any community. You know that. Right now we need our communities to be strong and to stay strong. How can that happen when our heart is under attack?
4. Somewhat related, I have stood for the school's Board of Trustees. If the minister doesn't delay the merger this board will only be in place for 7 months, but I still felt the need to participate. Also, the 'merger board' which will implement and run the merged school is drawn equally from the boards of both schools. If I get on (and it looks like there may not even be an election because they got the exact number they needed to fill the positions) I have a better chance of being on that board. I don't think I will though, because the merger board is chosen by the minister and I've been a bit ... well, a bit outspoken against the idea :D
5. I am also considering running for the Community Board for my ward. The councillor who did the letter etc suggested I should run with him for Council (the group he runs with, and whose politics align with mine, wants a woman on the ticket to give some balance), but I think it's a bit early for that. I'd rather do my time on the Community Board then maybe look at council next term, if I even still like politics after that. I'm undecided, but I think starting small is the best way to go.
I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of it and it's now time to pick up my kids from school so I'll leave it there.