A warm welcome to our new students Levi Parkes, Mia-Lee Coetzee and Te-May Coetzee.

Kia ora koutou,

On Monday night, we held our Board of Trustees meeting and reviewed the school-wide mid-year data. The curriculum expectations are set for end-of-year achievement, so the mid-year data serves as a prediction of whether our tamariki are 'on track' to meet those expectations. This prediction is based on their current achievement within the New Zealand Curriculum and the progress they are making with their learning.

Here is a snapshot of our Mid-year data…

Reading 87% of children are predicted to meet or exceed the end-of-year expectation 

• 10% currently are expected to exceed the end-of-year expectation. 
• 77% are on track to succeed
• 10% are being monitored as there is a chance they will not meet the end-of-year expectations
• 2% require intervention and are unlikely to meet the End of Year's expectations. 

Writing 78% of children are predicted to meet or exceed the end-of-year expectation 

• 4% currently are expected to exceed the end-of-year expectation. 
• 74% are on track to succeed
• 16% are being monitored as there is a chance they will not meet the end-of-year expectations
• 6% require intervention and are unlikely to meet the End of Year's expectations. 

Mathematics 81% of children are predicted to meet or exceed the end-of-year expectation 

• 8% currently are expected to exceed the end-of-year expectation. 
• 73% are on track to succeed
• 13% are being monitored as there is a chance they will not meet the end-of-year expectations
• 6% require intervention and are unlikely to meet the End of Year's expectations. 

Overall General Statements

• Reading shows the highest overall performance with the highest percentage of children meeting or exceeding expectations (87%) and the least requiring intervention (2%).
• Mathematics has a strong performance with 81% meeting or exceeding expectations but has the same intervention requirement as writing (6%).
• Writing has the lowest percentage of children meeting or exceeding expectations (78%) and the highest need for monitoring (16%) and intervention (6%).
• Maaori Students' academic performance is consistent with the overall school data, reflecting similar trends across reading, writing, and mathematics.

How are we tracking towards our Writing 2024 Targets? 

• 80% of Year 2’s achieving At or Above in Writing 
• We are on track to meet this target with 89% (32/36) of our Year 2’s considered to be on track to succeed.
• 83% of Year 5’s achieving At or Above in Writing
• Currently, 77% (18/30) are considered to be on track to succeed or exceed the NZC Expectations.
• 17% (5/30) are being monitored. 
• 83% of Year 7’s achieving At or Above in Writing
• Currently, 79% (22/28) are considered to be on track to succeed or exceed the NZC Expectations.
• 14% (4/28) are being monitored. 
  
• 75% of Year 8’s achieving At or Above in Writing
• We are on track to meet this target with 77% (14/18) of our Year 8’s considered to be on track to succeed.
• 

Our school maintains an Intervention Register to monitor students who are identified as needing support or who require close monitoring. This system tracks their progress over time and records the interventions we've implemented for those at risk of not meeting end-of-year expectations. Interventions may include small group sessions with our Learning Support Coordinator, programmes run by support staff, assistance from outside agencies such as Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour (RTLBs), Reading Recovery, and in-class support from teacher aides. Teachers also have Target Action Plans in which they focus on a group of target learners and work collaboratively to brainstorm the most effective teaching strategies for them. Throughout the year, we aim to regularly connect with parents of children who we have identified as needing additional support and aim to work in partnership with whaanau with a student-centred approach.

Recently, you may have heard concerning reports from the government stating that only 22% of Year 8 students in 2023 were achieving in Mathematics. This puzzled many principals, myself included, as our Year 8 data in 2023 painted quite the opposite picture. 

The data presented in the media needs context. The National Monitoring of Student Achievement (NMSA) assesses a sample group of Year 8, with approximately 800 students and this study has been conducted for over ten years. The recent drop in reported achievement is due to these results being benchmarked against the yet-to-be-published Refreshed Curriculum Learning Progressions, rather than indicating a sudden decline in student performance. 

As Dr. Charles Darr, a study lead, explained, "What we are seeing in mathematics is a change in curriculum benchmarking, rather than a change in achievement."

Our current curriculum, published in 2007, includes curriculum levels with broad achievement objectives and curriculum levels can span over more than one year. The new Curriculum is set to have learning progressions for each year group. We are eagerly awaiting the refreshed curriculum, which once we see it we will reflect on what this means for our planning, teaching and learning, assessment, and reporting. While the implementation timeframe could be short, we will keep you informed. Rest assured, we won’t be discarding what works; we know our learners well and are continuously evaluating the impact of our teaching on student achievement.

We hope you enjoy the rest of your week,

Ngaa mihi,

Nyree Olliver

Sports Photos will be taken on the morning of Friday 16th August.

If your child is currently playing Netball, Basketball or Hockey they MUST bring their uniform and shoes to school. 

Summer sports and codes that have finished for the season will be provided with a shirt but please ensure children bring their shorts (and shoes if they wear them)

Coaches & managers are vey welcome to come along and be included in the team photo please inform the office to assist with planning.

The Puketaha School Board of Trustees has determined that there will be a single pre-enrolment period for applications for 2025. 

Applications are to be received at the school by Monday 23rd September with the ballot to be drawn on Wednesday 25th September.

The board has determined that there will be separate ballots held for different year levels with the following spaces. 

17 spaces for Year 0 Terms 2,3,4;  18 spaces for Year 1 Term 1, 4 spaces for Year 3 and 9 spaces in Year 6.

There are no spaces available in the following year levels - 2, 4, 5, 7 & 8

Puketaha School will hold its annual Agricultural day on Tuesday 15th October. 

If you have a lamb, kid goat or calf that you would like to enter please complete the Puketaha School Agricultural Day entry

You can also check out the information on the Waikato A & P show website Waikato Show Children's competition

Things are ticking along quite well in the organisation of this year’s Spring Fair. It would be great to lock in some sponsorship so we can cover the costs of all the things we are hiring before we start the day.

If you know of a company who I could approach let me know.  If you can spread the word, we have four tiers of support; Platinum $1,000, Gold $500, Silver $250 and Bronze $100. Sponsors are welcome to bring their banners or flags to place next to a stall/activity, plus their support will be acknowledged by the MC on the day plus in any pamphlets associated with this event.

There will be some new events this year that include a Chair-O-Plane, a Nerf Gun Alley , Blow Up Axe Throwing, and a Smash Zone plus a lot more attractions.

Another new thing this time will be a Boutique Market Stall Alley which will be positioned on the Netball Court area.  (See attached poster.) Please spread the word if you know of someone who may be interested. We are after a variety of stall holders.

Just a reminder to those green fingered people to start propagating plants, or growing seedlings for our Plant Sale. This was super popular last time and so we are bringing that back. We also will be having a Monster Garage Sale so when you are next having a clean-out keep things aside to donate to this.   We are always on the hunt for prizes for the Needle in The Haystack and other games so please keep us in mind if you have something to add to the prize pile!

We may require some extra gazebos and would love to hear from you if you have one and don’t mind us borrowing it for the day.

Kind regards,

Merynn Connors

Puketaha PTA Chairperson

E: pta@puketaha.school.nz  M: 027 629 6820

https://forms.gle/SDLzHsVWsf7w6hGD7

Please complete this entry by Thursday 15th August. We will ask to meet all entrants on Friday 16th at lunchtime. 

We have some generous community businesses that have kindly sponsored our Year 7 and 8 Sports Camp. Their support has helped keep the cost of the camp down for the students.