Friday, 2 December 2011
Staffing Update - Welcome Whāea Sam
Thursday, 1 December 2011
2012 Reports & Tentative Class Placements
As always, if you have questions, concerns or worries about this - talk to your teacher or me and we will be happy to see how we can best meet the needs of your child(ren). Thank you to those who completed the intentions for next year survey which gave us good information to make the best placement possible.
Staffing Update - welcome Lucy Ellery
Lucy Ellery - Sports Co-ordinator |
Starting next year our Year 7/8s will travel to Lincoln for Technology instruction on Fridays so they can compete and play sports each Friday afternoon against a wider pool of competitors from the three schools. Lucy will also be helping staff at each school design richer experiences for developing sports and physical education programmes. Welcome Lucy!
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Burnham School - PTA Calendars/Diaries, Intentions, Reports, Classes 2012, Camp
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Whanau Hui 2011 Wednesday 30 November 5pm @ the Camp Whare
Host Family Opportunities 2012
Student Exchange Australia New Zealand is a not-for-profit organisation registered with the New Zealand Ministry of Education. You can find out more by visiting www.studentexchange.org.nz
In January 2012 Student Exchange Australia New Zealand Ltd will be receiving exchange students from Japan, Europe, the USA and Latin America. The new arrivals will live with a host family and attend a local school for 2-10 months.
They are keen to hear from suitable families located in New Zealand who might be interested to host a student. Host families come in all shapes and sizes, backgrounds and ages. To this end, we would again be grateful if you would place a notice in your newsletter/bulletin or mention it on your website. Please note that all our host families are interviewed in their homes and carefully checked for suitability.
All students have at least basic levels of English, would attend a school in your local area and live the life of a local. Our group of students cover a wide variety of interests and hobbies. If you would like to provide your students, parents or language teachers with further information on our inbound students you can also download some student profiles in PDF Format. This is just a small sample of all the students who will be arriving. Our staff members will be happy to discuss which student might be best suited to a family.
Hosting an exchange student can be a truly rewarding experience. It allows a family to experience a foreign culture first hand, be exposed to a new language and pass on a bit of our own culture. They might even make a friend for life!
“It’s been a fantastic experience so far...It’s been great having an older brother for our young kids. Simon has been a fantastic role model...Simon helps around the house a lot. One of the first things he said to us during the first couple of days he was here was what should my chores be? I was delighted to hear him say that.” Victoria, Host Mum
"Hosting Kirstine has brought our family closer together. We’re doing things we used to do when our kids were little, like boiling the billy, having a BBQ and baking apples up the paddock. She’s helped us remember how to have fun when we’re working and take time out for adventures.” Sharon, Host Mum
"Being the youngest and the only one left at home I was looking forward to having another teenager in the house. While Charlotte helps me with my French I help her with her English lessons and I have taught her many Aussie words and sayings. We both love to shop and shop and shop..." Grace, Host Sister
If you have any questions about hosting an exchange student or would like to view profiles of students arriving from other countries, you can either respond to this email or call our office on 0800 440 079. No obligation.
Nick Lorentzen
National Director
Suite 2590, PO Box 83000, Wellington 6440 New Zealand
Tel: 0800-440079
Fax: 0800-440079
Web: www.studentexchange.org.nz
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Election links for education
The past three years have been trying for education as we have watched much of what so dear to us come under fire. Our NZC is seen as the jewel in our education system’s crown and we are just beginning to see the benefits of all the hard work schools and communities have put into developing a world class curriculum.
Our system is excellent and up with the very best in the world. We sit alongside Singapore, Finland and Shanghai, all countries which invest significantly more in education than our own government does. Everything about the new curriculum is about ensuring every single child, regardless of their abilities or capabilities will have an education best suited to their needs. The curriculum is premised on the belief that every child is unique, learning does not progress in a straight line and every child will learn in their own way and at their own pace. Of course we assess and monitor progress along the way and of course children’s progress is reported to you as parents regularly.
The logical next step to complement our excellent NZC is better and more effective ways to bring more children into our achievement statistics. It deeply concerns NZPF that NZ has too many of some groups of children not achieving well and we want to improve teaching methods for any children who find learning a challenge. Rather than funding professional development for excellent strategies like Ka Hikitia and Te Kotahitanga for primary schools which could make a significant difference for achievement this government has spent millions on the policy of National Standards.
As we proceed into the election campaign, we see the National Party’s position. As all other political parties launch their education policies we are seeing the views of the real public of New Zealand coming through.
This link http://www.interest.co.nz/news/54199/election-2011-party-policies-education gives a brief summary of education policies of all the parties currently in government, you can also access full education policies through the party website links. I suggest you check it out!
Party website links to education policies:
- National Party http://www.national.org.nz/PDF_General/21st_Century_Schools_policy.pdf
- Labour Party http://www.ownourfuture.co.nz/achieving-school
- Green Party http://www.greens.org.nz/policy/education
- Maori Party http://www.maoriparty.org/index.php?pag=cms&id=193&p=policy-2011---kawanatanga-page.html
- ACT Party http://www.act.org.nz/policies
- United Future http://www.unitedfuture.org.nz/education/
- Mana Party http://mana.net.nz/policy/
Monday, 14 November 2011
Keeping Ourselves Safe Parent Seminar 10 Nov
Dear whānau,
On Thursday we had 13 parents attend the seminar about our Keeping Ourselves Safe programme. This is a national programme run in conjunction wth schools and NZ Police. We hope you found it useful and interesting in your role of supporting the staff to help our children learn to be more safe as they learn and grow. Here is the presentation for those who were unable to make it:
Thanks to Chris Thurlow for supporting this important topic for our parents and children. Meg Moynihan, our community constable, begins the programme today.
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Burnham School - Intentions 2012 (correct link)
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