Chelsea School
ANNUAL REPORT
for the 2010 SCHOOL YEAR
I
It is with pleasure that we write the annual report for the 2010 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:
“How on earth could anything live 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 2010
Procedures were put into place to work with teachers to progress the teaching/learning steps. Focus lessons on sentence structure were a feature of English classes with children using correct terminology to describe the structure of their sentences and the use of conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions to turn their sentences for simple to compound to complex.
Rubrics were developed to assist both the students and the teachers to understand and recognize success criteria.
A lot of time was put into interpreting the national standards requirements, their alignment with the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC), and their alignment with the achievement expectations at this school. Our reading programme expectations are higher than those of National Standards and we will continue to aim for our expectations with our students. The writing standards fitted nicely into the work we were already doing, school wide, with writing. We have adjusted slightly our Multi Level Maths programme in order to be able to assess to the standard as well as to our expectations.
2010 National Standards results are as follows:
Reading
|
%age At or Above National Standard |
Writing
|
%age At or Above National Standard |
Maths
|
%age At or Above National Standard |
After 1 year at school
|
70% |
After 1 year at school
|
75% |
After 1 year at school
|
95% |
After 2 years at school
|
83% |
After 2 years at school
|
51% |
After 2 years at school
|
95% |
After 3 years at school
|
100% |
After 3 years at school
|
81% |
After 3 years at school
|
94% |
At the end of Year 4
|
100% |
At the end of Year 4
|
90% |
At the end of Year 4
|
98% |
At the end of Year 5
|
98% |
At the end of Year 5
|
91% |
At the end of Year 5
|
89% |
At the end of Year 6
|
100% |
At the end of Year 6
|
91% |
At the end of Year 6
|
98% |
Adjustment was needed for our reporting sequence to coincide with those dictated by the Minister of Education and the format was altered to include the National standards and ‘next steps’ for the students
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.
Our major target for 2010 was to introduce the Te Reo curriculum throughout the school. To enable this to happen effectively we sought the services of the Maori Advisor form the University of Auckland. The advisor coached the staff and engendered the confidence to proceed with the delivery of this curriculum. Great effort was put in by all staff who approached the new learning with enthusiasm, enjoying the experience of ‘ako’ – learning together with the students. Mr and Mrs Parangi started our new Kapa haka group with an enthusiastic group of students of all ages.
As part of our study on why anyone would want to live there or then or in those conditions, we chartered a train and the “Chelsea Express” with the whole school on board headed down to Hamilton to Mystery Creek. There the children were treated to an exposé of life and work during the early years of New Zealand. For a lot of children, it was their first time on a train. It was a big day and the children were wonderfully behaved and fascinated by what they saw and heard.
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, and our accountant.
With the Government’s initiative 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 again used this money to acquire access to a sports coordinator who organised and managed the many school teams that we have across basketball, netball, soccer, touch rugby and hockey. Through this funding we have been able to access sport for more children and are able to keep the community in touch with the efforts and success of our sports teams through regular newsletters written by the coordinator.
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, teachers, support staff; office staff and grounds staff 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 our students. Everyone pitches in and is involved with everything the children do.
Professional development
The staff undertook professional development in 2010 appropriate to the needs identified through the appraisal process and to our stated objectives of Communities of Thinking.
All teachers gave up two days of their holidays to attend professional development sessions.
This was followed up 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
At the beginning of the year we welcomed Tim Christie to the staff. Tim had been a student teacher here, so was familiar with the school. At the end of the year we fare welled Petita Cole whose amazing artistic ability will see her move further into new beginnings, Patrick Davis who left us for a full time position and a forthcoming marriage. Paul Milne, our caretaker relocated to Hawera to care for his mother.. We thanked them for their contribution to the school and wished them well for their future. Nelia Vanderwoude was granted leave of absence for the 2011 school year by the board of Trustees, to join her husband in Hawaii.
Student teacher training
During the year we hosted many teachers’ college students for their in-school training. Our able associate teachers modelled their teaching and assisted the students to practice their craft. This is a time consuming task for our teachers and they do it very well.
Property
Progress on the extension of the hall has been minimal during the year. It was decided to give it until August 2011 to secure funding. If this continues to be unsuccessful, then other priorities will be addressed.
A large slab of concrete was put down outside the hall using 5YP funds from the Ministry of Education. This will enable us to have more play areas in the winter months when the fields are unavailable due to water retention.
The school was re cabled for data at the end of the 2010 year to enable faster and more reliable access for technology. This was completed through the Ministry of Education’s SNUP funding.
Legislative
Strategic Planning
The strategic planning is a joint venture between the Board and the Staff where key areas are targeted for development. The 2011 - 2013 strategic planning draft was completed by the Board of Trustees and will be sent to the parent community for comment in early 2011. On receipt of responses, any necessary adjustments will be made and the plan put into operation.
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 one International student in 2010.
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.
The PTA held very successful fundraising events throughout the year which were well attended by the community. Many thanks are due the small band of parents who worked tirelessly and with great enthusiasm, for the school.
We continue to have the walking school bus, and now have three routes operating. In 2011 the school will become a full Travel Wise school.
We are working towards improved relations with the Maori Community through discussion and clarification of expectations. A Maori community group has been formed that addresses issues and communicates through a Maori representative on the Board of Trustees. Chelsea School welcomes initiatives and support from all our community groups .
Health and Safety
We had no major issues through the 2010 year.
Summary
The school had a very busy and productive year in 2010.
We have well behaved, receptive students who strive to surpass their last personal best in all areas. 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 wonderful PTA and a Board of Trustees who are committed to moving the school forward.
Sue Mulcahy
Principal
Ingrid van Rijn
