Chelsea School

ANNUAL REPORT

for the 2009 SCHOOL YEAR

It is with pleasure that we write the annual report for the 2009 school year. The school is driven by a vision for excellence shared by us all, and is worked for with a passion by staff, children and parents, Board of Trustees and the PTA.

Our children are motivated, well behaved and full of the joys of living. Our parent body is supportive with a vested interest in their children’s education.

Curriculum

The main topic for school wide study this year was:“Is there anyone out there?” The children showed in depth knowledge of their topics and came up with interesting results and conclusions to their research questions. The older children especially enjoyed the scientific aspect of the study and became very involved.

Written Expression continued as the area for improvement for 2009

Procedures were put into place to work with teachers to progress the teaching/learning steps.

Rubrics were developed to assist both the students and the teachers.

Much time was spent in staff meetings finalising our delivery of the new curriculum. This was in place and documented by the end of the year. In 2010, this will be available in booklet form.

Senior Management began the preparatory work ready for the implementation of National Standards. These assessments will begin, nationally, in 2010.

The staff is committed to the practice of self review, and this is an ongoing process. In this way, we highlight the strengths of our programmes, and isolate the areas for improvement, which are then acted upon to further enhance student learning and achievement.

During the year, we accessed the services of the RTLBs, Public Health Nurse and the Ministry of Education’s Special Education personnel where necessary. These external resources assist us to achieve the best possible outcomes for our students.

Finance

The school again received an unqualified audit and were found to have the required checks and balances in place. Our thanks go to the Treasurer, Alec Warner and our accountants. We had a change of accountant during the year, due to Dorothy Kun falling ill. We now use Top Class Accounting to fulfil this roll.

With the Government’s emphasis in 2009 on enabling children to access team sports, each school was allocated an amount of money to facilitate this. In our case, we have used this money to acquire access to a sports coordinator who will organise and manage the many school teams that we have across basketball, netball, soccer, touch rugby and hockey. We are also attempting to procure the sports of table tennis and badminton for our children.

Personnel

Staff participated in various extra curricular activities throughout the year. This started with a joint board/staff dinner the night before school started for the year, and continued at regular intervals throughout the year.

The wonderful staff we have here at Chelsea School is our biggest and most valuable resource, and I am grateful for the cohesive and accelerated manner in which we are able to operate in the best interests of the children. When I say ‘staff’, I am including the support staff; office, Post Grads and grounds staff as well. Everyone pitches in and is involved with everything the children do.

Professional development

The staff undertook professional development in 2009 appropriate to the needs identified through the appraisal process and to our stated objectives of Communities of Thinking.

All teachers gave up 3 days of their holidays to attend an in depth and intense seminar in Hamilton. At this time, we were exposed to some of the great minds in thinking from all over the world.

This exposure was followed up back at school by in depth staff meetings where the ideas and theories we had been exposed to, were translated into our environment where possible. The staff worked together on this and as a result we continue to have a cohesive programme happening throughout the school.

Changes of staff

During the year we welcomed back Rosemary Neads who taught with us earlier in her career. Rosemary began the 6 th Yr0/1 class in the Undergrads.

At the end of the year, we farewelled Christine Buckland and Wayne Widdowson from the school. We thanked them for their contribution to the school and wished them well for their future.

Property

We had a minimal amount of graffiti or other damage to the school during the year.

The felling of our pine trees opened the bush up and this has now become a favourite play area for the children. They have set up a whole economy in there, using cones, twigs and other ‘gems’ as currency! So many children are choosing to play in there, utilising their imaginations, that we have a dedicated duty teacher in the bush. It is likely that we will close the bush during the winter wet.

We had an artist come in and work with the PhDs to create new murals on the lunch courtyard block walls. The children enjoyed the task and were very eloquent when explaining the mural.

The Board and the PTA have worked together to establish priorities for the school, and have agreed to extend the hall to provide a stage and supporting areas. This is a most needed extension. The hall is in daily use and the extra space is much needed. To build a stage for the production is costing almost $5000 each time. This is now the main focus for fundraising. To date, we have had the initial drawings done for the extension and have applied to the ASB Trust for a grant. Unfortunately, our application to seek leave to apply for a grant was turned down by the Trust.

Strategic Planning

The strategic planning is a joint venture between the Board and the Staff where key areas are targeted for development. The 2007 - 2010 strategic planning draft was completed by the Board of Trustees and was sent to the parent community for comment. On receipt of responses, any necessary adjustments were made and the plan put into operation.

A section of the strategic plan was reviewed at each Board meeting. A new plan will be due to be constructed with the new Board in 2010.

Enrolment Scheme

Again we applied to the MOE for the abandonment of our Enrolment Scheme, due to the threat of overcrowding having been removed by the addition of extra classroom accommodation. This was again refused.

Code of Ethics

The school continues to hold a Certificate of Practice for International Students. We had no International students in 2009.

Consultation with Maori

The school consults with the Maori community each year. This was done by way of a personal invitation to a meeting. This year we had a rewarding turn out of parents and much listening and discussion took place. This is an ongoing process and we will work in 2010 with the University of Auckland to put a more sequential programme of te reo and tikanga Maori in place throughout the school.

Community

Parent interviews were extremely well attended twice in the year, as were any functions the school had.

The parental support for the school was again superb.

We had a most successful production, “The Time Machine” which involved all children. This was a massive undertaking which was most rewarding. Children flourish when encouraged to use their imaginations and showmanship. The production increases confidence and instils a real sense of achievement in every child. The show went for 4 nights in Term 2. Parental help for these productions is essential, and again a wonderful band of parents pitched in and assisted with scenery, props, costuming, building of sets, hair and makeup and any other odd jobs that needed to be done. This is also a time where all staff are hands on and work long hours to ensure the children have a memorable experience.

The PTA held very successful fundraising events throughout the year which were well attended by the community. The annual fair was a resounding success, raising $15000 more for the hall extension. Many thanks are due the small band of parents who worked tirelessly and with great enthusiasm for the school.

A community survey was sent to all parents early in the 2009 school year. We received a 29% response. The analysis of community responses has seen the school acting already upon several of the suggestions. The most notable one is the alleviation of our shocking parking/traffic problem in front of the school, before and after school by the introduction of a “drop off/pick up” zone in the staff carpark. This is monitored by the Principal and Deputy Principal each day and is increasing in patronage daily.

We continue to have the walking school bus, and now have three routes operating.

Health and Safety

We had no major issues through the 2009 year.

Summary

The school had a very busy and productive year in 2009.

We have well behaved, receptive students who strive for excellence. The staff of the school are committed, talented and highly able people who ensure that the children are receiving the very best education available.

The parent body is fully behind their children and the efforts the school makes for them. We have a committed PTA with a wonderful attitude and a Board of Trustees who are clear thinking and progressive and this is much appreciated by the staff and Principal.

Sue Mulcahy

Principal

Angeline Alexander

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