Nga mihi nui ki a koutou katoa te whanau whanui o te Kura Tuatahi o Whakatu – greetings to friends and family of Nelson Central School.

Welcome new and returning families and a special welcome to those who have travelled from overseas to join our school. I hope you will all have positive experiences to reflect on come the end of the year! A special welcome to new staff – Katrina Read in Room 9 and Rachel Randrup in Room 13. I am sure those of you who have children in those classes will want to call by and welcome Katrina and Rachel to our school.

Meet the teachers
There will be opportunities for you to meet your child’s teacher for this year as set out below:
Monday 8 February - Totara – Rooms 1, 2, 7 and 8 – meet in the Library
Monday 8 February - Kowhai – Rooms 11, 12, Renwick 2 and Renwick 3 meet in Renwick 2
Tuesday 9 February - Pohutukawa R9, R13 and R14 – meet in the Library
Tuesday 9 February - Kahikatea – Rooms 3, 4, 5 and 6 – meet in the Arts Centre
Thursday 11 February -Te Pouahi – meet at Wakatu Marae – see class notice for details

National Standards
You will likely be aware of the debate concerning implementation of National Standards. The Minister of Education has legislated for Boards of trustees to implement the National Standards this year. If you want to be informed about the issues - click here or on the badge below;
           

Given the experiences of places where a National Standards approach has been taken, we are not convinced they are the answer to ensuring student achievement. We are disappointed that 26 million dollars is to be spent on an information campaign – the money could be better spent on programmes that we know work. Reading Recovery is one example and we have at least 2 in-school programmes that have been shown to be very effective in raising students’ reading achievement.

As a staff we will take time to ensure we understand the education issues, implications and requirements arising from government policy. We respect your right to have relevant and easy to understand information about your child’s progress and achievement. You should feel free to discuss your child’s progress and achievement at anytime. Teachers will always have that information available for you.

Curriculum 2010
In preparing learning programmes for 2010 we have attempted to build on themes from previous years – they were important when we framed them and they are no less important today. We also considered the tools that will help children shape their future. One of those tools is likely to be Science. In 2010 we intend making this a focal point for the school. Our 2010 school theme is:

“Explore – Dream:Discover! Kia Toro-Kia Moemoea: Whakahura!”

There are two aspects to this theme. The first is the notion that Science as a discipline has much to offer in terms of a methodology that extends our work on inquiry learning and is likely to be useful in helping children to understand their world as they shape it.

The second aspect grows out of our 2009 theme (Citizenship Is Everyone’s Business) and has to do with the emerging concept, ‘citizen-centric’. For our purposes that means increased involvement in curriculum by students, parents and others.

The theme offers some exciting possibilities for learning through our transdisciplinary approach to curriculum design. As each Syndicate develops implementation details these will be put on the school website under the Curriculum menu for you to follow.

Dr Paul Potaka
PRINCIPAL

Term dates for 2010

Monday 25-29 January – Teachers Only
Monday 1 February – Nelson Anniversary
Tuesday 2 February – Teachers Only Day
Term1: Wed 3 February - Thurs 1 April
Term2: Mon 19 April - Fri 2 July
Term3: Mon 19 July - Fri 24 September
Term4: Mon 11 October - No later than                        Thurs 16 December

Public Holidays

Queen's Birthday - 7 June (Monday)
Labour Day - 25 October (Monday)