Beginning Principals Wānanga

 

9th June 2026

Today is about Clarity - connections and collaboration

MOE - Mel and Jane

See slide deck

Share required, required, encouraged

Principal Panel

"We are on a journey to improve outcomes for learners"

The things that are coming from the top down are not internal changes. Attendance Management plans are a bit different in the South. What is important for our school? How can we tuck it in behind but still be at the forefront? 

We have to make the "why" of our kura the most important thing. 

Where is my vision and my strategy, and how are these policy shifts affecting these? It's a long term plan, are there some quick wins? 

What are the opportunities for the team to get the small wins?

What are we doing well now? Where do we want to head, and then where are the gaps?

What strategies have maintained staff morale? 

- Bring everyone on the journey together, natural conversations about what is happening

- Communicate often about what is working for you (Put this on the team hui?)

- It's not about communicating quickly; it's about managing how the information is getting to staff. 

- It's ok to not be on top of it, and that we are on a learning journey together, be vulnerable, and honest. 

- Knowing the team is so important, what gets them excited? Who are the early adopters? Who are the rocks? Invest time in those who are ready to shift. The middle of the curve will shy away from the new things. 

- Celebrate the early wins! Make it solid and show them the data. 

Be the chief reminder of all the shifts happening. 

Keeping everyone in the decision meeting, but in their own lane. 

Keep them off the NZ teachers' Facebook page

Never underestimate the people that you employ, as they become your team. 

Every change is different and can make you feel like you're still a beginner principal.

Coconstruct a literacy and maths statement - What does literacy/maths look like at Waitati School?

What resources are we using?

What does it look like when we walk into a classroom?

Came up with 10-12 key practises - if you walked in, then these are what it would look like.

Then look at the assessment - what makes a difference for the learners? 

How is this sustainable? How is it going to stay? How does it continue? (SL, Math and Deeper learning?)

Making it visible in the school - what strikes us as making it seen or sustainable?

Take the curriculum - what does it look like in teacher/student speak? We need the children to understand it. Making it manageable.

The change is constant - there is always a time of change - we need to come up with what is important for the students. Takeaways for the graduate profile and what we want the Waitati tamariki to look like? 

Make it intentional to celebrate the values - make sure that we get the community buy-in and that this is what they want.

It's a long-term journey - it's not quick, but it's a collaborative process. What do the parents want to read in their children's reports?

How do we keep team morale up? 

The school's values and my leadership values guide where we are headed, especially when it comes to change.

Don't carry the change yourself. Who are the early adopters? 

How do new people know how we do things at Waitati School? Where can someone find that? 

Create those statements that are visible and available to the team. Make sure that you are measuring the change. 

Resourcing people with time - this will help them. 

Sense Making - Block Two

What does this mean for me as a leader?

From National Policy to local leadership - 

Consider how you will enact these new requirements.

- Send a letter to the parents regarding the changes.

- Holding an online hui to tell the team more. 

- Discuss with the kaiako, and then create a sheet with the new and old side by side, so that there is no confusion.

- Use the new descriptor rubrics next to the ones that we are already using, to triangulate the OTJ

- New reporting template created with these descriptors 

- 3-way conferences to discuss the assessment data. 

Next steps: 

- Could create a timeline for the website and the team. 

The values that we display in our leadership show the team who I am. Am I showing the values through this process that I want to be shown? What do people want to see in my leadership? Am I showing this? 

- Walking alongside - bringing everyone along on the journey. What will the stakeholders see as I roll out this reporting system? Are they going to see what I want them to see? 

Work through this as the next module - Leading change. 

How do the school values align with the reporting change? 

What are the short-term wins this time around? 

Make a plan and have clarity about it. Planning template in the leading change section. Not having a plan is taking a risk. The planning model can be used across everything. 

Use this planning template to create the change management plan for the school's strategic plan over the next three years. 

Looking ahead:

Complete  the following statements:

- One implication for my school is...

- One leadership priority I need to focus on is...

- One conversation I need to have soon in...

- One area where I need further support or planning is...

What are my deliberate acts of leadership taking the school further?

- BP ILP 

Create a clear line of sight - 

- Vision and mission

- Values

- Strategic & annual planning

- Budgeting and resourcing

- PLD

- Teaching and Learning

- Assessment

- Reporting

- Evaluation

You have to quieten the noise in education so that things link to my values. Having a line of sight is so important so they can work toward the ultimate goals. 

Your BP goals should be those of your PGC. Have fewer goals so that they are achievable - be careful about what you are working towards. 

Clarity creates coherence, and coherence reduces overwhelm. 

The power is not in doing more, but in leading what matters most. 

Leading with the community: Stakeholder Engagement

How to bring people with you on the journey of change

Light the mind, fire the heart and engage the whānau

Kotahitanga, Rangatiratanga, Manaakitanga and Turangawaewae

Strategic plan - keep it simple

One statement of a vision - where do we want to go? Keep it simple

Values - our key values

Before you start reviewing the strategic plan, do we have a clear vision and statement?

In a small school, keep it at 2 or 3, 

What does our vision mean to the chn when they start and when they leave? 

School Planning Toolkit

1. Collaborative trust

The engagement reality

The cost of isolated leadership - take the team with me on the change, so that they are on the journey with me. 

1. Why is stakeholder engagement critical in leadership work?

2. Approaches to stakeholder engagement that you have seen or been part of?

Not just assuming what the community wants, co-construct things, and make sure the staff is all on board. 

It's the BOT to set the strategic plan - 

- Chn at the gate iPads to get their idea on.

- Give the parents things to jot down ideas. 

- Google forms

- 

Setting time frames for starting the strategic plan. 

Term 2 

- Set the stakeholders

- Do we need to change the vision and values? 

- It needs to be embedded into the Kura

Typical key school stakeholders:

- Staff

- Whānau and iwi

- Students

- School BOT

- Playcentre/high schools/intermediate

- Community groups

- Cultural groups

- Local businesses

- Library

Anything that the school community has access to should be a part of it. 

What is the purpose of engaging these stakeholders? Sometimes the voice is valuable, but sometimes it has a bias that suits them, not you. Why would they engage? 

Core 

Involved

Supportive

Periferal 

What is the purpose of engaging these stakeholders?

Why would they engage?

What is their influence?

How can they contribute?

How do you move from one layer to another? A parent is an important stakeholder, but they can move to another layer. 

What engagement strategies can you use?

We need to make it clear which layer they are in when you ask them: are you asking them as a parent, or in a supportive role?

Are there certain groups that have a stronger voice than others, and how will you ensure that everyone feels heard?

1. High influence/high interest - Partner and co-design

- True collaborative leadership - don't present them with the polished ideas. It's co-constructed. Highly interactive and face-to-face. 

2. High influence/low interest - Consult and met needs

- Keep satisfied and aligned. Reading what they are putting out and then doing it. 

3. Low influence/High interest - Involve, consult & Empower (heartbeat of the school)

- Empower and value them. Talk to the student regularly about it. Where is our vision? 

4. Low influence/Low interest: Inform and monitor

- Weigh the value of the voice up. Where do they sit?

Monitor and push minimal low-cost information.

Culturally responsive practice:

NotebookLM - helpful for bringing out the key points. 

Put in the 2027 strategic plan about community consultation around the vision 

Understand why our vision is what it is. 

How are we going to do this as a team? BOT, kaiako and tumuaki.

Beginning Principal Modules

 21/4/26

Leadership for Principals

One of the key aspects of being a principal isn't about the mahi that you put in, although the work is never ending, it's about how you conduct yourself, in the staffroom, playground, classroom and wider school community. 

Effective tumauaki share a purpose, to ensure that ākonga has the opportunity to succeed in education. 

The different sizes of schools bring their own challenges; for example, small schools have a lot more to deal with, as they might not have the operational budget of a large school. The rural schools often have larger grounds, with trees that are generations old, which you have to work with and manage on a limited budget. The fact that 40% of schools within New Zealand have less than 100 students is a big wake-up call and needs to be addressed. 

Then we need to think about the ākonga who are entering our kura each day, their diverse home lives, needs and cultures, ones that have to be taken into account before the learning has even started. What works best for most might not work for others. 

I have been at Waitati School for 10 years now and have worked my way from a scale A teacher, up to the leadership team and deputy principal. Taking on this role was not a quick, yes, let's do it, decision; it was well thought out, and I had completed my aspiring principal training in 2025. 

I had sat on the BOT for many years and thought that I had a handle on all things governance...Alas, I did not. Moving into this position was a huge stepping stone, one that has come with positives and challenges. 

There are three distinct areas that you need to focus on. 

- Manaakitanga

- Pono

- Ako

Awhainatanga

Math PLD - 29th May 2026

 ​Introduce the Airtable to the team and explain how to use it. 

- Co-create a planning document that works for all. 

- Print out the te mataiaho so that the team have a printed copy, that they can go back to. 

- Sort the connected books, 

- Use the figure it out books at the reading time. 

Use the vocab in the back of the curriculum and get the team to make a vocab wall so we can unpack it for the ākonga. Putting an image with the vocab. 

The ākonga can stick it into their maths books, modelling books, 

Learners talking about their learning is very important. 

 Vocab is key to understanding

We need to celebrate the math mahi in the classroom, having a concept map moving through the strand. 

Census at school

We need to know the practice statements for the children that we are learning. We need to be deliberate about the tasks we put in front of the children so they connect to what we want them to know. I have to repeat the tasks to help the learner make connections to their thinking. 

Mathematical and statistical processes are the basis of the planning. We need to integrate it effectively and efficiently into the planning process. 

Sentence stems for the processions, which are blown up and on the wall. 

Investigating situations - New name for problem solving

What are the 

Set up norms in the class so that no one feels like they can't share. What is the math culture in the room? 

When you approach problem solving, how can we make it ours? 

My time as Acting Principal

 I was acting principal for the end of Term 2 while Tara was on sick leave, and again in Term 4 2025. 

This was a huge learning curve, and I leaned into what I was learning through the Growth Culture course. 

In term 2, we had a staff changeover, and they were not happy with how things were going. For example, Antoinette was spending half the morning in Kapuka, then coming over the Huatea, and Debbie was teaching maths in Huatea and then going over the Kapuka. It was a mess, and neither of them liked nor really understood the why. 

After hearing these conversations and thinking about it, it became clear that something needed to change and that something was me and where I was to be. 

After talking to the kaiako and sharing my idea with Tara, we decided to move forward. 

The idea was as follows:

Antoinette became the main teacher in Kapuka, Debbie became the main teacher in Huatea, and I became the CRT/roaming teacher who can still do the intervention groups in the morning. 

Once we had this worked out, Term 3 went well until Tara handed in her notice. I then became acting principal for Term 4 and decided to apply for the job. 

Term 4 was filled with a lot of cleanup and reminders to the children, community, and staff about expectations, plus I was dealing with a sick team member who took 2-5 days off each week. After talking to them about that, she decided to take the end of the year off to 'recover' and start fresh in term 1. 

While the time in the chair was challenging, it was, in fact, something that I enjoyed. The good times far outweighed the learning conversations I had to have, and since taking the job as Principal, I have done a huge amount of learning, especially about myself and how I handle tricky situations. For me, it is about forming relationships with others so they can trust me and know I am here to help them. I have the children and the community at the heart of everything I do and every decision I make. I work alongside the team to make informed, carefully weighed choices that will have a positive impact. 

Don't get me wrong, Term 4 and Term 1 2026 haven't been a walk in the park; they have had their fair share of challenges, learning, and joy, but it has definatly been what I have needed to move forward and grow in who I am and the way that I operate. I definatly am still in the learning pit, and feel like there aren't enough hours in the day to get things achieved, but my thoughts are that if something doesn't get done, then it can wait for tomorrow, and I have to put my family first and encourage others to do the same. Those boundaries that have been blurred for the last 5 years under others, the phone calls at night, at weekends, and on holidays, they have all stopped, and now they are precious times with those that I love. 

Self Care plan

 

At the start of the year, we created a self-care plan after a webinar with Karina.

Refleciton 11/8/25

Daily - 

Walk - 

I am in a good space when I walk in the mornings, and then it allows me to process and mull over those things that are in my head, whether it's personal or work-wise. It has really helped me and who I am. I have a few weeks off this, but I need to get back to it as I can see the difference in myself. 

Read - 

I am getting my reading in and prefer this to scrolling or watching TV. 

Meditate - 

This is a lifeline for me, I do this every night, and when I don't, I can tell the difference in myself. 

Journal - 

I do this when walking and meditation don't work. This means that I am in a place where I need to get my thoughts out, but can't through the normal ways or can't process it. 

Eat well - 

Since having a functioning kitchen, I am more conscious of what I am cooking and how fresh kai tastes better. I love creating meals that fill me up with healthy kai. 

Drink water - 

Ah, this is still my downfall...I reach for Kombucha, or Zero Sugar Sprite, rather than water. I need to improve my skills with this. 

Weekly - 

Gym, run, catch up with friends and nature walks - 

Apart from catching up with friends, everything else has fallen off. I have a Zoom with my trainer this week, and she is going to create a program for me to follow. 

Monthly -

Roxburgh trips, dates with my husband, massage and a Dr visit every three months. 

Roxburgh trips fill my bucket when I need some time out. Things with Jody have got better, but he is focused on his trip to Croatia in September, so they have fallen off. But we are taking the times when Hank is in bed, or when we were in Roxburgh this weekend, we decided to not turn on the TV, and sat around the fire chatting and joking. My massages have been amazing! These aren't relaxation massages, they are deep tissue and they make my body feel better. 

Yearly -

I have been going to the dentist every three months!! I am very proud of myself and my teeth and mouth feel amazing! 

I still need to go to a new event...what is that going to be?

Growth Culture Summit

Keynote speaker 1 - Marshall Diggs

Trust is your currency.

Culture is:

- everything you say

- everything you do, and (walking the walk)

- everything you allow 

Culture is established through process and reinforced through events. How do we do this through change and diversity? It's not about being on the waka, it's about preserving and maintaining a positive culture throughout the kura. 

How do you roll out change, and how do you do this?

Every single person has a different appetite for change. Most people aren't afraid of change; it's the pace at which you roll out the change. As a leader, we can't be comfortable; we need to be ok with being uncomfortable. 

It's always the right time to do the right thing, when it pertains to health and safety, sexualised or racist things. 

What is the season of Education currently in? It's a season. There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the sun. 

As leaders, we need to get the timing right because timing is everything. 

There is a heartbeat in every community, and what is the rhythm of your community and school?

Got to capture the heartbeat of the community, the school.

"Change. But start slowly because direction is more important than speed," Paulo Coelho

It's about the mantra, repeat this meeting after meeting, time after time, and lead by the mantra, what are our big rocks? How do we lead this change? 

We all have a lens, and we should use it wisely. Leaders are custodians of culture 

Trust matters:

Not everything counts, but everything matters. Trust is established through small incremental acts that occur sporadically. 

Humility matters:

Humble yourself to build relationships - "We can go fast by ourselves, but we can go much further with others," African proverb

Work Ethic matters:

It involved a work ethic, it is key

EQ matters: Well-Being and self care is important

Emtional Intelligence

- Be aware of you! 

- Self awareness

- Self regulation 

- Motivation 

- Emplath

- Social skills (others awarenes)

Communication matters:

Encouraged to sit and have lunch with the people. Capture the heart beat of you people. 

Priorities matter:

What are out big rocks for the school/community? 

We only entered the sector for outcomes, not the income. Know our priioties - what are the key ones becasue there are two mant at the moment. 

Authenticity matters:

Turning up to work as me, not as anyone else. 

Keynote 2: Culturally responsive leadership - Barbara Alaalatoa

Step up, step out! Why dance?

What does culturally responsive look like and mean in our school?

What is essential to our community and children, and how can we foster ownership among children to help them become more engaged and take ownership of their learning? How does this link to that deep learning? 

How do you make it last? How can we keep it going with the new staff and leadership? What is the most important thing, and how can we keep it going? 

Induct

Research and evidence in its widest sense

-mantras - Respect and honesty

- Going public - sharing the data far and wide

- Take ownership - being optimistic - we got this! We have a plan and we are sticking to it. 

- Make it a clear priority

- know thy teacher - 

- Leadership

Knowing the why and sticking to the why. 

Apply - it's how we roll.

What adults do matters - every day and all day (ask the staff what this means to them? How can we make this change? What is expected from the adults? How can the adults create the culture for the school?)

Start small and get it right - if you get it right, then we can make it grander, what can we do collectively that we can't do individually? How can we create ownership? 

Key not 3 -The hidden lives of schools - Kyle Brewerton

In recent times, there have been a lot of top-down. 

Cultivating a thriving ecosystem - Where do you start, and it's all so interconnected. There are four boulders: culture, strategy, leadership, and change.

How do you intentionally grow, nurture, and protect culture?

Change in envidtable.

You have to lead

Strategy is the way we go about it. How am I going to lead this change? How am I going to protect the culture and the community?

People remember how you made them feel! 

The weaver - 

You are constantly holding multi aspects of school and school lives, our job is to weave them together into the good. 

Culture is a reflection of leadership

What do they see, think, hear, and feel when they walk into the office? 

Trust - What is it?

Honesty

Benevolence - do they make you feel safe and look out for your best interest? 

Authenticity

Competence - can they actually lead?

Openness - we are all human, being open to vulnerability 

Communication - We think about it as talking, but that is superficial - it's around leaning into the more challenging conversations. Get back to the facts before you try to solve the problem. 

When things go wrong, they need you, and you need them. 

...is a Reflection of Leadership

Trust

Communication

Walk the talk - you have to create the space so that I can figure out what's not working for people. Create a space by saying what's getting in the way? It has a positive focus. Invite and create a space for asking what's getting in the way. Invite this by 1-to-1s 

Growing self and others - middle leaders, they are the engine house. Collectively create the vision - the team is the engine room; they will help drive the change. Ensure that we develop our middle leadership. 

Humour - This job isn't easy, but humour is one of the greatest outlets. It makes you human, it's disarming. 

Calm - in those times where it's really hard, if I can stay calm, then its such an important piece. 

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) - Daniel Goleman - It's your personality, it's who you are. 

- Self-awareness

- Self-regulation - did you erupt or did you lean in? If you are not in the right place, then you can't have the conversation. 

- Motivation - What drives me? The optimism is from within. Coaching is important; make sure that you have someone whom you can talk to. If you make someone feel good, then it comes back. 

- Empathy - 

- Social Skills - 

Feeling the air

Culture is in the air, how do you feel the air? If you are not in the space, how can you feel the air? What is the vibe? Find ways to be in the space. If you don't know your people and feel the air, then none of the MOE stuff matters. 

In the eye of the beholder

Discuss improvement, not change; it's the negative continuation. Talk about how we can improve things? Building that collective vision - do this with the kids, teacher, and community, what is it going to look like when we arrive? 

It has to be a human process and challenge - 6 months to create a vision. 

Probable, Possible, Preferred futures - 

Vision/mission

Values & Beliefs

Strategic goals/priorities 

Planning 

Success for every single kid is what is most important? 

Let's work together for the wellbeing of everyone - Me mahi tahi tatou, mō te oranga, o te katoa

Keynote 4 - AI in educational leadership - Bex Rose

Seseme.ai - good to ask advice 

googgle vivo - crictial thinking

The manual part of AI is learning how to prompt - if you can prmpt you can rock it. 

Genertive AI

Chatgpt/Gemini - These are like local pantries (large language model) no privacy issues

School Gemini - Staffroom pantry (can go into the large lanugage model but doesnt' go out)

Popular Generatvie AI

- Chatgpt

- Perplexity - get the same responses but tells you where the information came from.

- Claude

- Gemini (google version)

- Co-pilot (microsoft version)

Help us in our leadership

- Instant stragetig planning support

- Effortless BOT report

- Smarter email drafting

- AI assistant for tough conversations

- Fast policy & procudral dragting

- AI-enhanced Data insights

- Personalised Professional learning pathways

- Meeting magic - Agendas, notes and actions

- Community Communication clarity

- On-demand AI coach or thought partner

It's all about the prompt - 

Persona: IF your role. This gives context to your request.

AIM: Stage your objective so LLM can focus on your desired outcome.

RECIPIENTS: Specify the audience. These steps give GENAI the information it needs to tailor the language, tone, and content to resonate with the recipients. 

THEME: Describe the style, tone and any related parameters.

STRUCTURE: Note the desired format of the output, bullet points, code and even emojis/

Notebook.LM - creating your own pantry

SUNO - Music

Keynote 5 - Truth and Lies - Aaron Ironside

Powerful Emotions that cause reactivity are trauma responses - whether... capital T trauma or Little t trauma

Stories that might not seem to be very important, but need to pay attention to, these are ones that shape us. 

The two days I have spent interacting with other teachers and leaders have been truly fabulous. From hearing about the story that Dan shared at Dilworth, his journey to unpacking the day of Keynote speakers, it has all been such a learning journey and has really fostered my ideas and thoughts if and when I get the chance to take my next step. I think that I am ready to lead change and create a culture where everyone feels safe, heard and positive. Where I can create an environment where the children are at the centre of their learning, holding respect and honesty, leadership and mana at the heart. We truely have the chance to be change makers, both in the current space and in any future space, not just with our school but with our students. Turning those little traumas into moments when people can learn from each other and make the change that we need. 

My next steps from this summit as a DP/leadership team - 

- take on the communication aspect if agreed to. 

- Lead up

- Remind the team of our why, including unpacking it again with the principal and making clear pathways that we can share with the community. Making sure we are all on the same page. 

- Rebuild trust in our Kura 

- Listen to my own inner voice

- Get all of us to lift our eyes to the horizon, the whole team, to see where we are going and the direction we are on. 

- Remind our community of the big rocks, and get their feedback on it. Structure the learning around the community that we have now, not the one we had in the past. 

- Does our mantra "Light the mind, Fire the heart and Engage the whanau" fit with the current community that we have? How can we do this? 

- Get the children involved in having a voice around their learning - what do they want more of (not literacy and math) what do they want to learn? 

Module Two - Te Ārahi Tika: Ethical Leadership and Decision-Making

TeTeTe Ārahi Tika: 

Ethical Leadership and Decision-Making

Section One - Exploring Ethical Frameworks

Notes about Reading 1: “Tu Rangatera”

Notes about Reading 2: “What is Ethical Leadership and Why is it Important?”

Definition of Ethical Leadership:

Involves making decisions based on what’s right for the common good, not just personal gain or that of one student.

Ethical leaders consider:

Customers/students

Employees

Communities

How to grow the kura and community

What Is a Good Leader?

What Happens with Bad Leaders?

When leaders make bad choices or behave unfairly, it can hurt the company and make people not want to work for them.

That’s why having good, kind, and fair leaders in charge is imperative.

Unethical behavior and poor judgment in leadership harm a school's brand and reputation.

Leaders must be ethical to ensure long-term business success.

What Makes a Leader Good?

A good leader does what’s right, even when it’s hard.

They care about everyone, not just about money.

They think about:

- The workers

- The customers

- The community

- The future of the school. 

Helping Others Be Good Too

- Good leaders set a good example.

- They make sure the workplace is:

- Safe

- Friendly

-A place where everyone feels heard

Why People Want Good Leaders

People like to work for kind and fair bosses.

Young people today care a lot about doing the right thing.

They don’t like leaders who are mean or unfair.

6 Important Rules for Good Leaders

1. Respect

- Treating everyone nicely.

- Saying “thank you” and listening to others.

- Respect goes both ways – everyone gives and gets it.

2. Taking Responsibility

Good leaders own up to their mistakes.

They don’t blame others when things go wrong.

3. Helping Others

Good leaders think about how they can help people.

They like to do things like volunteer or donate to those in need.

They also encourage their team to be kind and helpful.

4. Honesty

Always tell the truth.

Even if something is hard to say, good leaders are honest.

This makes people trust them.

5. Fairness

Treat everyone the same.

Good leaders don’t have favorites.

They make sure everyone has a fair chance.

6. Teamwork

Good leaders think of their company like a team or family.

Everyone works together.

They listen to everyone’s ideas and ensure no one is left out.

How do we make ethical choices when this happens in a Kura or community? How do we take the first step, and how do we stay safe during these times? 

When considering leadership and what is best for the whole, we need to ensure that we are fair and treat those fairly during this time. When dealing with situations like this, it is important to lean into vulnerability, honesty, and fairness. How can we rebuild when these situations arise and make the kura feel safe and cared for? It's about rebuilding the community's trust and that of the students, teachers, and BOT members. 

It's about the leader taking responsibility for the actions of the kura. If that doesn't happen then it creates distrust in the company/kura. This is the time to step up and take it on the chin, as you are the leader of the school and therefore the 'buck' stops with you, it's not the teachers or the students responsibility to own that, especially when you have made the decisions around something. 

It is important for those in leadership spaces to practice ethical decision making, again what is right for the whole, not just one person. It's creates a culture of positivity, trust and honesty. When looking at weather. you are practicing ethical decisions, you need to look at the turn over of staff/students and how can can we create these and move to leaning into ethical leadership. 

Task - Ethical Dilemma Analysis

Step 1: Identify an ethical dilemma relevant to your role as an Associate/Deputy Principal at your kura.

Step 2: Apply what you have learned from the resources in this module, considering different perspectives, potential consequences, and relevant ethical principles.

Step 3: Discuss with your learning partner or a colleague at school how you would approach this dilemma, including how you might consult with others, what information you would need, and how you would ensure transparency and fairness in your decision-making.

Step 4: Document your analysis and proposed approach in the online forum for peer feedback and discussion.

Jubilee Hut Tramp

On the 5th and 6th of March, I led a group into Jubilee Hut, which is in the middle of the Silver Peaks. It was a trip that I knew the kids would love, and I thought, 'How hard can it be?'

Many things went well on the tramp, including the resilience that the children showed throughout the tramp, the bonding that we had as a group, and getting to know the children who came with us from Purakaunui school. 

We started off with Pete and Jody leading the charge, but it soon became clear that they were too fast at the front, so we switched so that I was at the front of the group. We made several stops and realised that this was, in fact, going to be harder than I initially thought. 

We were getting lots of breaks for the group to catch up, but it became apparent that the girls from  Purakaunui were not as prepared as the Waitati children. (Change number one: Gather all tamariki that are going on the trip with their gear a week before the trip so that can make sure that they have a correct gear, especially rain gear, suitable tents etc) Their packs were also too big for them and they struggled to carry them. 

As we walked into Jubilee hut the views were stunning and the children loved to see them and appreciated that they were in such a stunning place. 

We approached the start of Huatea and this was when the terrain was beginning to get harder. (Change number two - Do a recky so that I can see what the terrain is like) 

We got to the top of Huatea and sat there for a while, looking at our next part of the trip, down hill to the devils staircase. 

What went well

What are the challenges

What could I change for next time?

Math PD -

 Day 1 - 21 March 2025

Making it more consistent for teachers across the country. 

A wide variety of achievements and progress, methods, and teaching varied. 

Liking math and being good at math are linked to greater success. Teachers not feeling confident teaching math. 

Teachers know exactly what they need to teach. 

The Refresh process - 

Got together and revised, and there is continuous feedback from the sector and lots of drafts to ensure that teachers and students gain success.

Books: 

- Effective Pedagogy in Mathematics (little pink book)

- Making it count - teaching maths in years 1-3. 

- Accelerating learning in oral language, reading, writing and mathematics

The learning matters:

The strands must be taught equally. 

Spending time to share students' thinking, they need the opportunity to share how they used that specifi.c 

Always fold back to the materials and then manipulate and talk about it. They need to visualize before they can move forward. Pattern and structure play a big part in maths. They want to apply their learned strategy through rich tasks and word problems. 

When we give them a word problem, we need to unpack it more for the children so that we can identify the language and structure of the problem. Spending time on the launch is really important. 

Our learners are struggling to understand word problems. They get stuck as they get older, and this starts early with creating word problems so that they can understand and unpack them. 

Another way to look at the overview

What is conceptual understanding? It's connecting related ideas, representing concepts in different ways, identifying commonalities and differences, communicating things, and interpreting information.

using assessment to inform teaching

Continuously monitor students' progress - observations, conversations, and low-stakes testing.

Planning the next steps

Using the assessment information promptly - identify the misconception immediately and get them to share their learning. 

They can then go home and share with their parents what we are doing and where we are heading. 

Create a concept map—what are we learning along the way? Put it on the wall, and then they can use the wall to help them work through the problem. Support the learners along the way.

Planning:

Teaching and learning plans, 

Program richness - thought being put into the work and how it supports them to make that progress>

Using assessment information to guide and support them. 

Put the vocabulary wall/sheet so that they can have a deep, rich conversation with their peers, which will deepen their learning. 

Teaching Resources - 

Features of the sequence - 

We need to connect our learners to these sequence statements multiple times throughout the year. We need to get into applying through the strand; they need equal opportunity. 

Need to change the thinking around the long-term plans, 

Rich Tasks - 

Rich tasks are meaningful problem-solving and investigation experiences, designed to invoke curiosity and engagement. They should relate both to mathematical contexts and wider contexts relevant to the communities, cultures, interests, and aspirations of students. Rich tasks provide a motivational hook when exploring new concepts and procedures. They can also be used to consolidate concepts and procedures that have already been taught, to develop the mathematical and statistical processeses of Do, and to facilitate the transfer and application of learning to new situations. These experiences often allow students to decide how to approach the task, developing their agency, confidence, and motivation. Teachers design rich tasks that are accessible to all students and offer different levels of challenge. They ensure that students are clear about the purpose of learning, and they consider the core requirements of the task as well as the range of possible responses. As students work on rich tasks, teachers plan opportunities for discussion, collaboration, and feedback. They are actively involved in monitoring, prompting, and questioning during the task, to encourage students to ask questions, test conjectures, make generalisations, and form connections. 

These are contexts that are relevant to our community, which are a motivational hook to explore or proving concepts and procedures. 

Example of rich tasks at phase 2:

Plan to explore rich mathematical and statistical situations and contextual tasks that are useful and meaningful to the class or community. 

› Design tasks that use different contexts or combinations of operations to encourage students to apply their reasoning and knowledge to other types of problems (e.g., using decimals in measurement situations). 

› Encourage students to generalise by using questions such as “If I change this, what happens to that?” and “Is there another way to show this?” 

› Teach problem-solving and investigation strategies. Support students to read and make sense of a problem – through drawing, using materials, or trying some numbers – and then to identify relevant knowledge, plan how to solve the problem in a sequence of steps, take action to apply their plan (recording calculations with meaningful explanations), and check their findings. 

› Give students opportunities to notice and wonder about patterns, structures, and relationships and make statements about them.

Example of rich tasks at phase 3:

› Design investigations where students experience rich mathematical situations, as well as investigations where students use their findings to make decisions in their lives (e.g., making a savings plan). When planning an investigation, help students to identify appropriate questions, as well as the mathematical and statistical concepts, procedures, and representations they will need. 

› Design tasks that have multiple entry and exit points and more than one solution or pathway. 

› Teach problem-solving and investigation strategies such as:

– making sense of the problem by drawing a diagram or considering previously solved problems to identify strategies that can be reapplied

– trying some sequential numbers, recording the results in a table, and looking for patterns– identifying key information in the problem and connecting it to prior knowledge

– translating a word problem into a linear equation, to solve for an unknown quantity– recording calculations in an organised way, using correct mathematical notation 

– checking the reasonableness of findings.

An example of a teaching time:

How would you define accelerated learning?

Acceleration: students are able to learn concepts and procedures more rapidly than expected. 

Enablers and extenders

Enablers: strategies to reduce barriers and allow students to engage successfully. Examples: Scaffolded entry points break down complex concepts into smaller steps, visual aides, and strategic prompts that guide students into engaging in the tasks. 

Extenders and enrichment: Strategies used to deepen understanding. Example: add complexity to problems, apply learned concepts to new learning. 

NZEI training day

There are 8 pou that uphold the NZEI structure. 

They include the pou in all of the interactions with the worksites. It the way of demostrating and walking the walk of the organisation. 

Can always get back to the coassemble modules 

“Kotahi ano te kohao o te ngira

E kuhu ai te miro whero, te miro ma, te miro pango

A muri i a au kia mau ki te aroha, ki te whakapono ki te ture

Hei aha te aha! hei aha te aha!”

(King Potatau Te Wherowhero )

There is but one of the needle through which red, white and black thread must pass through.

Hold fast to Love, hold fast to the Faith, hold fast to the Law

Nothing else matters! Nothing else matters!

Module One Growth Culture

Section 1: Exploring Self-Awareness

How do I show up authentically?

Taking of the Armour and showing up authentically - Brené Brown

Am I to self conscious? How can I become more aware of myself?

I need to be honest with others and help them connect with me on a more personal level, I need to be open to being vulnerable, to listen to others to help me understand their points of view. 

I need to take off the armour that I have built to be able to show up authenically to my colleagues, so that they can see that I am the same as them. 

Do I need to reconsider how others see me? Take the time and let them be honest with me, without advice giving and just to listen. 

For me shame makes me feeling triggered, shame has been one of the emtions that throughout my life has led me to put my armour and walls back up, when I thing that I have unintentionally hurt someone, or said something wrong, the shame emotion in me comes out strong, I feel like I didn't do my best or live to my full potential, how can I use this to move through the emotion of shame?

Is courage the willing to show up and been seen, even though we can't control the outcome, can we teach and develop in ourselves or others?

You can teach courage, you can develop it in yourself and others. There are four pillars of courage

- Vulnerability

The willingness to be vulnerable, this is not weakness. Vulnerability is risk, uncertainty, emotional exposure. This opens us up to us being hurt, it's the shame, scarcity, fear, anxiety and uncertainty. It's the armour that you put on each day, I'm not going to let people see me, hurt me. Without Vulnerability there is no love and joy. What is the hardest emotion for humans? Joy.

When things are going really well, am I waiting for something to go wrong. 

- Clarity of values

- Trust

- Rising skills - getting back up when we fall and when we experience set backs and failures. 

If you are brave enough often enough then you will fall. If you are brave then you are going to get hurt. 

Shame is happening all around us.

Taking the armour off

The armour keeps be present, keeps us emotionally safe. 

What does this mean for my leadership? How to I show up to school authentically?

My armour goes up, I think that I must be the knower of all things, be able to take on any task and help others around me. I feel like I must be that person that everyone wants me to be and be perfect each and every time that I am in that environment. I must not faulter or be seen as weak, because those around me are relying on me to perform that tasks that I need to do, be that person who can solve all the issues, but also be that support person for them. The one that listens to their war stories, helps them through the day, keep them strong in who they are. I must be the one that does not faulter, the stable one who knows how to answer all the questions that they have, the one that can't take a sick day or time for myself, because I am the rock, the unwavering person, who can help all those around them, even at the detriment of my own well-being. 

When I have to take my armour off and show up authentically, I will be able to make mistakes, admit that I am wrong, that I don't know the answers. I have to let people see that I am not perfect, that I do make mistakes and that I am real. 

I want to be a leader who walks alongside the team, allowing them to share their thoughts, ideas and strategies, so create a positive environment so that they can talk to me, without me getting defensive, I want to be open to the feedback, weather good or critical, take it in, and make the changes that I need to make. I want people to know that they can come to me if they have a problem, with something or with me, to be able share in a safe way. I want to show them that I am vulnerable and that I am letting my armour come off, even if it makes me feel shame. I can raise again so that I can be brave and courageous the next time I fall or fail. 

Section 2: Developing Emotional Intelligence

Podcast

You need to develop your social-emotional learning as a school leader and practice incorporating emotions and how to coach others to help sustain the field of education.

Adults who are happy going to work means a more productive environment for the kids. 

It is a critical skill for leaders to thrive in their work. It has positive effects on the entire school. 

EI - is being smart about your feelings. So using your thinking to inform your feelings, using your feelings to inform your thinking, and all the while keeping in mind where you're going with it. When you can name then and ID them then you are in control of them. 

You need to be aware of the impact that you are having on others when they walk in the door in the morning. How do they manage their emotions, become aware that you are having emotions that you need to manage in the first place. It's the small moments and the big moments. 

If you aren't aware or working on your own emtions, how are you going to be able to deal with those of others? How are you going to make the appropriate decisions, ones that come from a deep place of swelf-awareness, being present and attuned to others around you. 

What are the emotions that leaders invite themselves to have by just walking into that position? Sometimes we are dealing with so much, and your emotions maybe more intense. There is never a time where leaders are not dealing with some sort of emotion, because we aren't seeing what they are dealing with behind the scenes, when they aren't in the classroom, it's whats happening for them on the email, phone calls and hui. 

How can leaders tap into and develop recognition of their emotional state? 

Do they believe that emotions matter and is this having am impact on those around us? If they do, are they motivated to develop these skills? 

Emotions are going to come back to bite you if you are not dealing with them. It takes a bite out of well-being when  you are in a state of emotional labour. The more we deal with them and work with them, makes us more effective in life. 

We have to look at our inner space, not just our day-to-day outer space, not many people want to go there. It's a matter of discipline and making sure that you do this daily or many times a day. It's surprising when people start to check in on themselves, the more you do it the more intune you become with yourself. Explore how you are feeling and why you are feeling that way, and do it with safe people. 

We are doing well teaching this to the children, but as adults we don't tend to do this. It's about working and developing our own skills to help the others around us. Unless we are practicing we can't make the most of our own emotional intelligence. Find out what works and what doesn't work, do I need to make changes? 

Need to take the knowledge and learning from the coach, we need to experiment with how we deal with emotions.

The more authentic you are as a leader, you are more able to move forward with the agenda that you have. It's about having trust in the leader. It's about the psychological safe and leaders like that can ask people to dream with them. It's about shifting the entire culture in a positive directions, towards that psychological safety.

We need to walk into school each day as our 'best self' putting other things that worry us behind us. 

Social awareness is about empathy, but as a leader you need to have the hand on the door knob moment, to pause and bring to mind who I want to be that day. I need to learn to control my big emotion and be aware of them and deal with that later. 

Section 3: Identifying strengths and areas for development

Self-review can take many forms and be carried out in a number of ways, but the underlying principles of effective self-review require it to be:

- Purposeful – leading to action for improvement

- Meaningful – not reviewing for reviewing’s sake

- Manageable – realistic in terms of time and human and financial resources

- Systematic – programmed so it doesn’t get overlooked

- Reliable – based on relevant and valid evidence

- Collaborative – involving key stakeholders

7 habits of highly effective people

Recently, Tara sent Mikaela and me to go on the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Leadership course. 

This was held in Christchurch and was a two-day event. Needless to say, I was nervous going into it as I wasn't entirely sure what this would be about, even though I had sent out a 360 to the team.

Walking in, it was clear that this was a small group of teachers, most of who were principals. I sat down to wait. The first day was about intrinsic things, character, roots of the tree stuff. Who we are and what makes us up. Very confronting, even for someone who has been working on their inner self for many years. 

Needing to honest with yourself and try and pull out all of those things that make you tick is quite hard, but oh so worth it. 

So let's start with the start:

These are the 7 habits. 

Working from dependence to independence, and then to interdependence through the private victory (mastery of one's self), or who you are, through the public victory(effective relationships with others), the way you hold yourself.

Now a little summary of each Habit, but first, the see, do, get model:

This is the key model that flows through all of the habits. 

See  - our paradigms or how we see the world.

Do - our practices and habits are formed.

Get - results, or what you get.

Results show an ineffective paradigm. 

What do I mean by paradigm? It's the way we see, understand, and interpret the world - our mental map. 

So the question is, what are the essential paradigms in my life and how can I support them? That is truly a question I am still trying to figure out. I know that there are things that I believe in, but it will take a while to work through the habits for me to secure the paradigms that are the most important to me. 

 15th August 2024

Stephen R. Covey - 7 habits of highly effective people - Good book

BSLA - PD day Waikouaiti School

 BSLA PD - Waikouaiti School

NE/Year 1 class - Louise

Start of the day - Whole class

Start the day with the read-aloud - The Paper Bag Princess

A special word on the page, 'expensive.' 

Tell them one thing that you remember from the story. Keeping the book open for the children to look at. 

Move from the read-aloud to the new sound, ensuring the student has the correct mouth formation. Then, move on to the words, focusing on where the sound is. 

From the new sound move into word chains, they were writing on a whiteboard, but I think that having them in a book would be more helpful for the children, maybe like a book that they can use as a dictionary so that they can revisit them when they are writing and reading.

They read the 'th' book from word chains in a clear file so that the children could underline the 'th' sound. 

- I could copy the book onto A3, then laminate and bind so they can be reused. 

All up, the whole class lesson was 50 minutes long. 

Small group lesson

Start with the small tiles, 

Give the children their own letter folder, with all the letters inside but the ones they need on the form.

Go through the words and get the children to make them.

This is also a crucial part of orthographic mapping; as the teacher, you make it with the wooden tiles, so help the children see what they are doing. Hence, the scaffolding of this task.

When reading the book, you tell them the words that you need to 'just remember'. 

TOD - 29th October

 New Curriculum

With Amy-Lee from Core Education

The new govt has a new focus, sounding a lot like national standards in another form.

They have a focus on:

Achievement, Assessment, and Attendance

Draft number (number ?)

Kept the Whakapapa of Te Mātaiaho and the weaving of it all together. 

At the start of every learning area, it has a vision for young people, which means it will link our learning to the children. 

Science of learning:

It's not about the buzzword 'structured' but about the building blocks of learning in a curriculum area. 

Understanding the processes of learning and how we learn is crucial. The new curriculum emphasizes this more. 

The NZC of 2007 is about what we learn rather than how which is Te Mātaiaho. 

The science of learning is good at understanding that learning also involves contextual factors, like whether you have food or an argument with a parent or sibling. 

When using the word 'structured,' it's not about taking a' one-size-fits-all' approach; it's about understanding what you are teaching.

Good blog post - https://core-ed.org/en_NZ/free-resources/blog/structured-literacy-where-do-i-start/

The learning trajectory - 

Dr. Nina Hood, founder of the Education Hub, will give you a quick introduction to the science of learning, explain what the research tells us about the cognitive processes that inform the learning process, and discuss the implications of this for pedagogy and curriculum.

Video of Nina Hood

Te Mātaiaho has teaching considerations that you can take into account when teaching. 

Brian Poncy talks about Math Fluency Matters.

What does the new curric require for rolling out?

It's about the framework of understanding, knowing, and doing. 

The thinking is that we want children to have a deep understanding of the key learning areas.

Know is the rich context about the big ideas, it's the stuff that we are teaching and the nitty gritty of the stuff that we teach.

Do is the practical side. 

If they can know and do, they will understand what we are teaching them. When we combine these three aspects, they all work together. 

How do we make this come to life in the classroom?

What we want the children to understand, it deepens as you go across the curriculum. 

When thinking about the 'do' you need to apply rigour to the learning. Meaning the following:

The term “rigor” in education has been a buzzword for at least a decade. It describes the result of work that challenges students' thinking in new and interesting ways. Promoting rigor in the classroom requires expectations and experiences that are academically, intellectually, and personally challenging.

Instead of year levels there are phases

Phase 1 - Yr 0-3

Phase 2 - Yr 4-6

Phase 3 - Yr 7-8

The Math Draft:

Science of learning in Math