School News NZ - Term 1 - 2015

Issue 28 | Term 1 - 2015 | $12 Inc GST

The Essential Management Guide for Education Industry Professionals

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Solar Energy Schools harnessing the power of the sun Dyslexia:

Engaging students for success Essential Reading for Principals • Department Heads • Property Managers • Professionals

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contents ISSN 1178-9964

sn inside | Term 1 - 2015

1 - 2015 Issue 28 | Term

ement Guide tial Manag The Essen

SUBSCRIPTION ENQUIRIES $42 for 12 Months $72 for 24 Months Phone (03) 365 5575 subscriptions@schoolnews.co.nz www.schoolnews.co.nz ADVERTISING Pip Casey (03) 974 1037 p.casey@schoolnews.co.nz EDITORIAL Christine de Felice editorial@schoolnews.co.nz PRODUCTION Richard McGill r.mcgill@schoolnews.co.nz CONTRIBUTORS Catherine Brill, Christine de Felice, Peter Ferris, Brent Leslie, Ros Lugg, Marci Powell and Ian Vickers.

School News is distributed quarterly to all primary, intermediate and secondary schools nationwide and selected tertiary education providers by Multimedia Publishing, publishers of leading industry and consumer titles.

Views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher or Multimedia Publishing Limited.

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05 Ministry News 06 News in Brief 10 Special Report – Child Obesity: Tackling childhood obesity – strategies for schools & communities

education 14 Principal Speaks 18 Learning Difficulties – Dyslexia:

18 18 19 20 20

Dyslexia – what’s in a name?

Engaging students for success Advocacy week to focus on improving student achievement Publishers dedicated to ‘cracking reading’ Early intervention can boost success

profiles 22 Endeavour School: No limits on learning at new Hamilton school 24 Southbridge School: Rural school offers ‘real-world’ learning

administration 26 Case Studies – Access-It: Vote of confidence for library management system

28 E-Commerce: Technology makes life easier for admin staff

teaching resources 30 Case Study – Northcross Intermediate: Focus on technology in Northcross Intermediate’s new MLE block

30 Book Reviews 33 E-Learning: 33 Video-based learning goes interactive with cutting-edge service 34 Case Study: New service impresses accounting faculty 34 Learning platform tailored to fit specific requirements 37 Video Collaboration: Video creates a collaborative culture

food & beverage 39 School Lunches: Online lunch services extend the choices 44 Drinking Water: A new era for drinking water

external learning 46 Camp Gallipoli: Camp Gallipoli a chance to commemorate WWI centenary

health & safety 48 Teacher Wellbeing: Is this what the future looks like in New Zealand

Please email to editorial@ schoolnews.co.nz. Images should be in high resolution (300dpi) JPEG or TIFF format. Editorial queries should be directed to the editorial department on (03) 365 5575.

52 Sports Grounds and Surfaces: Sporting success largely depends on good

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SCHOOLNEWS WELCOMES EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS AND IMAGES ON RELEVANT TOPICS FOR FEATURES, NEW PRODUCT PROFILES AND NEWS ITEMS.

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49 NZ Blood Service: Saving a friend’s life inspires blood drive 50 SunSmart: SunSmart in (and out of) the classroom

property surfaces 54 Case Study – Amesbury School: Dream learning environment at Amesbury School

58 Solar Energy: 58 Schools harnessing the power of the sun 66 Case Study: Solar meeting targets at Dilworth

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ng Schools harnessi sun the power of the Dyslexia: ts ing studen Engag for success

Reading Essential

for Principals

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Cover Photo: Henley School, courtesy of solarcity

Welcome to the first issue of School News for 2015.

Most of New Zealand has been enjoying plentiful bouts of sunshine this summer, so Issue timely 28 | Term - 2015 it seems that1we focus on solar systems in schools.

We look at how harnessing this powerful energy source can save on electricity costs for schools, while also helping combat climate change.

Obesity in children is an issue the experts say needs to be tackled urgently. In our Special Report we find out what schools and communities can do to help New Zealand children lead healthier lives through eating more nutritious food regularly.

Online lunch providers are playing their part too, as you will read in our Food & Beverage section.

Middle school education is also in the spotlight in our Principal Speaks column from Peter Ferris, principal of Ilminster Intermediate, as well as with a case study on the introduction of MLE at Northcross Intermediate.

We profile a brand-new school in Hamilton, where students have no limits on their learning, according to foundation principal Marcus Freke, and a South Island rural school where students get up close and personal with country life.

Technology continues to enhance and expand 21st-century education with innovative products and developments for teachers and students. Read about those in our Administration and Teaching Resources sections.

We also take a close look at dyslexia, and the many ways in which dyslexic students can be helped to get maximum benefit from their reading and education.

Have a happy and successful 2015 at school!

Education Amendment Bill passes third reading Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce and Education Minister Hekia Parata have welcomed the passing of the Education Amendment Bill (No 2).

The Bill establishes a new professional body for the education profession, the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand (EDUCANZ), and modernises and strengthens governance arrangements for universities and wananga.

“This legislation ensures our teachers and education leaders are in the best position to help our children and young people meet the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead,” Ms Parata says.

“EDUCANZ will provide strong leadership, further raise the status of teachers, and support quality teaching to ensure the profession is held in the high regard it deserves.”

The EDUCANZ governing council will have a majority of members who are registered teachers and hold current practising certificates.

“This means a strong core of teaching experience partnered with leadership, financial management, and governance skills to ensure EDUCANZ can carry out its leadership role effectively.

“This Bill strengthens the regulatory framework for teaching, which will ensure consistently high standards of entry into the profession and ongoing competence of teachers.”

Mr Joyce says the Bill modernises governance arrangements for universities and wananga by reducing council size, increasing membership flexibility and ensuring all members have relevant knowledge, skills or experience.

“Smaller, skills-based councils will enable universities and wananga to respond quickly and effectively to the modern day challenges of tertiary education,” he says.

“The changes will not affect institutional autonomy or academic freedom, which are guaranteed by section 161 of the Education Act

1989, nor will they lead to more Ministerial control over councils.

“Institutions will still have the freedom to decide who is represented on their councils, including students or staff members, and will be able to choose their own chair and deputy chair.”

The Bill also strengthens the Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students and introduces an independent contract disputes resolution scheme for international students.

It also strengthens quality assurance arrangements in the tertiary education sector.

“The Government has ambitious goals for growing our $2.85 billion international education sector. If we’re to do that, international students must have a positive, well-supported experience and a high quality education,” Mr Joyce says.

preferred site for the Christchurch City Council’s eastern recreation and sport centre.

“The schools will see many potential benefits from being located alongside the planned sports complex. This is another milestone in the Christchurch Schools Rebuild journey.”

The Ministry will now begin land acquisition negotiations with the Christchurch City Council and further discussions will occur over the coming months.

Design will begin on the two schools next year. Both schools are expected to be completed in 2018. The schools will continue to operate independently, maintaining their original character and focus.

In 2013 the Government announced a $1.137 billion investment in renewing, repairing and rebuilding 115 schools in greater Christchurch.

Significant milestone for Christchurch schools

Ministry chooses preferred bidder for building project

Education Minister Hekia Parata has announced that Queen Elizabeth II Park (QEII) is the preferred relocation and colocation site of Avonside Girls’ High School and Shirley Boys’ High School in Christchurch.

The Ministry of Education has chosen Future Schools Partners as the preferred bidder for a public private partnership (PPP) to build four schools.

“Co-locating the schools at this site will enable both to have access to modern learning environments, which support flexible teaching styles and provide comfortable, adaptable spaces for students to learn in,” Ms Parata says.

“This will further strengthen our network of quality secondary education providers in the east of Christchurch following the establishment of the Aranui Community Campus.”

The Ministry of Education looked at an extensive range of options and identified the QEII site as the best for the schools because of the size of the available land, access for transport and future flexibility and design potential.

In September 2014, it was announced that the QEII is also the

Ministry News

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The Ministry has entered into final contractual negotiations with Future Schools Partners, and if successful, the consortium will design, finance and construct the schools, as well as maintaining them for 25 years.

Ministry of Education Infrastructure Service head, Kim Shannon, says the land and buildings will be owned by the Ministry and all educational services will be the responsibility of school principals and boards of trustees.

“We have been working closely with the Establishment Boards of Trustees of all four schools over the last six months, and they have had considerable input to the future shapes of their schools,” she says.

Ms Shannon says three of the schools will be new – Ormiston Junior College (Auckland), Aranui Community Campus and Rolleston

Education Minister Hekia Parata Secondary School (both in Greater Christchurch). One replaces an existing school, which will be built in a new location – Wakatipu High School (Queenstown).

“We’ve already had new schools open in 2013 and 2014 under the first PPP. “PPPs offer an excellent alternative to what we’ve traditionally done because these contractors also think about how the buildings will be maintained. Having a professional facilities manager also removes the maintenance from school leaders so they can focus on student achievement.

“This has already been the case with Hobsonville Point Primary School and Hobsonville Point Secondary School. The designs of these schools have been extremely popular with students, teachers and the school community. They were also delivered on time and for a lower cost than could have been achieved using a traditional procurement method.

“I’m confident Future Schools Partners will also create world-class modern learning environments for all four of these schools.”

The three new schools are scheduled to open in 2017 and Wakatipu High School is due to open at the beginning of 2018.

Term 1 - 2015

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News in Brief

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Winning book designs to go to low decile schools time, subscribers of NZIX can deliver content directly to schools, increasing cost efficiency,” CityLink chief executive Nick Willis says.

Three New Zealand school students have created winning designs for exercise books that will be donated to students at low decile schools throughout the country.

The national Art for Books competition, run by Warehouse Stationery, invited primary, intermediate and secondary school students to design a new cover for Impact 1B5 books with iconic New Zealand artist Dick Frizzell judging the 500-plus entries.

Thousands of limited edition books bearing the three winning designs will be printed by Warehouse Stationery, and a total of 120,000 creatively covered books will be distributed to low decile schools in early February to coincide with pupils returning to school.

Phil Toomer, principal of Glenavon School in Blockhouse Bay, Auckland, says the donated books will be greatly appreciated by staff and students at his decile one school.

“We struggle to get well over half of our students set up with stationery at the start of the year,” he explains. “At a cost of $30 to $40 per child, and with some families having four or five children, the bills can really add up.

“Added to that, many families struggle to afford to replace items quickly if they get lost or damaged during the year, so sometimes the school has to provide stationery while the children wait a few days to buy a new book,” Mr Toomer says. “Donated resources like these books mean the students have what they need logisticswise, so we as staff can focus on the important job of teaching.”

Lilah Bowers, from Springlands Primary School, Blenheim took out the top prize for the primary school level with a colourful depiction of children painting a school-themed mural.

“Lilah’s design is original, clearly stated and remarkably well envisaged,” Mr Frizzell says. “It all came together and really stood out from other entries.”

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Term 1 - 2015

There are currently nearly 1300 schools on the Managed Network, with all schools to be connected by the end of 2016.

Celebrated author to headline festival programme Winner of the primary school level Impact exercise book design competition, Lilah Bowers, centre, with her mother, Heather, sisters Claire and Rosie, and store representative Kat Walters at The Warehouse in Blenheim.

Rangeview Intermediate student Alyssa Morgan, from Te Atatu, West Auckland, won the intermediate school category with a graphic pencil illustration that Mr Frizzell says stood out for its originality and contemporary treatment of an age-old school tool.

“It’s a great school metaphor, and she’s done it in a way that is consistent, clear and graphic.

I also liked that it referenced the relationship between pencils and exercise books.”

Angel Chen, from Whangaparaoa College, Auckland, impressed the judge with her conceptual thinking regarding the subject of school in her lightbulb-themed artwork.

“Angel has rendered the design with great care and attention. It definitely shows that something is going on – a lightbulb moment even,” Mr Frizzell says.

Each of the three winning students will receive an iPad and a $250 Warehouse Stationery voucher, and their schools will also receive a $1000 Warehouse Stationery voucher each.

Two highly commended illustrations were also given credit

by Mr Frizzell. These were Isabella Janssen of St Martins School in Christchurch, and Terri Morrison of Havelock North Intermediate school in the Hawke’s Bay. Warehouse Stationery CEO Pejman Okhovat says the campaign should instil pride in the young artists who have designed

the book covers. Impact 1B5 books are the biggest-selling school exercise books in New Zealand retail; they also display the S Mark for quality which shows they comply with all of the required quality standards as set out by the New Zealand Government.

Faster browsing for schools with NZIX The New Zealand Internet Exchange (NZIX) is welcoming a significant new member, New Zealand Schools.

Operated by CityLink, the NZIX has been running since 1998. It has a subscriber base of more than 80 ISPs, leading Content Delivery Networks (CDN), as well as media networks and education networks.

It offers multi-lateral and bi-lateral exchange of traffic between peers.

NZIX delivers an enhanced internet experience to New Zealand Schools, with connectivity to the government-funded Managed Network specifically designed and built for New Zealand’s 2500+ schools, by Network for Learning (N4L).

The goal of the Managed Network is to ensure that all schools have equitable access to fast internet running at predictable speeds, with uncapped data, web filtering, and network security services.

“By peering on NZIX, schools gain direct and shorter paths to internet content, resulting in reduced latency and an even faster internet experience. At the same

Globally renowned British author of Alex Rider fame, Anthony Horowitz, award-winning US young adult novelist Laurie Halse Anderson, best-selling Australian writer and national treasure Morris Gleitzman, internationally-acclaimed New Zealand singer/songwriter Hollie Fullbrook (aka TINY RUINS), multiaward-winning New Zealand young adult author Bernard Beckett and leading light of local spoken word poetry Grace Taylor are among the stellar line-up of writers taking part in the Auckland Writers Festival Schools’ Programme, on May 13 and 14 at the Aotea Centre.

Now in its seventh year, the schools’ programme sees students from all over Auckland filling the centre’s auditorium to capacity to hear some of the world’s biggest children’s and teenage literary stars.

Auckland Writers Festival associate director Eleanor Congreve developed this year’s schools programme and says she hopes it demonstrates the festival’s commitment to inspiring young writers and readers.

“The festival is delighted to offer two exciting days of presentations, workshops and discussions by leading local and international youth writers. Encouraging a lifelong love of reading by introducing writers to young readers is an important part of the festival’s mission,” Ms Congreve says.

The 2015 schools’ programme is sponsored for the first time by The Freemasons Foundation, a partnership which festival director Anne O’Brien says is a great fit.

08

News in Brief

news

06 “I am delighted to welcome The Freemasons Foundation into our sponsorship stable. Their generous support demonstrates the organisation’s active and ongoing work for the benefit of young people,” Ms O’Brien says.

Chairman of the Freemasons Foundation David Mace says The Freemasons are privileged to be partnering the Auckland Writers Festival Schools Programme and Family Day for 2015.

“The work of the Freemasons Foundation is focused wherever we can see a direct and lasting benefit to the community – from cutting-edge medical research in association with the University of Auckland, the Emerging and Resident Artists of NZ Opera, and now to supporting young, emerging writing talent,” Mr Mace says.

Other schools’ programme featured writers are British standup comedian, classicist and novelist Natalie Haynes, NZ Post Book Awards finalist Philippa Werry, author of a stunning sci-fi debut Rachael Craw, awardwinning designer and cult comics creator Ant Sang, teacher, animator and graphic artist Zak Waipara and playwright and novelist Whiti Hereaka.

Tickets, which are only open for purchase via schools, are now available. The events, catering for students from Year 5 to Year 13, have sold out in previous years, so schools are encouraged to book early.

For a full schools’ programme please go to www.writersfestival. co.nz.

To make enquiries, email schools@writersfestival.co.nz and for bookings go to groups@ ticketmaster.co.nz or call Ticketmaster on (09) 970 9745.

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Dan Carter visiting Carew Peel Forest School, Canterbury, which was the recipient of the sports gear package in last year's promotion.

Dan Carter to kick off sports gear promotion Healtheries is giving schools the chance to win $10,000 in new sports gear and meet a New Zealand rugby legend with a promotion kicking off in March.

The promotion is in partnership with Countdown supermarkets nationwide and gives customers the opportunity to nominate a school to win a sports gear package personally delivered by Healtheries brand ambassador, Dan Carter.

Day attendance (entry to four sessions) is $12 per student and must be booked through schools.

Workshops, which offer students an opportunity to learn from, and be inspired by, leading writers, are $15 per workshop per student.

The winner also gets a $1000 prize pack for themselves.

Schools can register online at https://www.surveymonkey. com/r/Healtheries to receive

Term 1 - 2015

Primary school students on a kiwi-saving mission

This is the second year Healtheries and Countdown are running the ‘Win $10,000 in sports gear delivered by Dan Carter to your school’ promotion, which was won by Rachael Linklater last year who nominated Carew Peel Forest School in the South Island to receive the prize.

To enter, simply swipe your ONECARD when any two Healtheries Supplements, Teas or Kidscare products are purchased between March 2-29 at Countdown supermarkets.

school news

posters to put up around their school and small flyers to send home with children. Dan Carter’s personal message about this promotion is online: http://www. healtheries.co.nz/countdowndan-carter-promotion. See countdown.co.nz for full terms and conditions.

Determined to help save our native kiwi a group of young Warkworth Primary School students designed a website and set about fundraising. The six and seven-year-olds filled the website with hand drawn pictures and letters and also made videos, all calling for donations to help save

New Zealand's kiwi. https://sites. google.com/a/warkworth.school. nz/room24kiwikids/home Teacher Jo Gormly says the kids have absolutely amazed her with their enthusiasm and passion.

"They've come up with some imaginative ideas along the way, including saving the kiwi from possum by putting rotten eggs in kiwi nests to trick them!"With a bit of investigating they then discovered that you can look after eggs in incubators and thought that sounded like a way better idea, so they set out to raise the $1200 it costs to look after a kiwi chick."

Ms Gormly previously worked at Rainbow Springs in Rotorua, where Kiwi Encounter, New Zealand's largest hatchery of brown kiwi, is housed, so she approached the park about the kids' idea. It was received with great enthusiasm and with fundraising complete the kids are now the proud sponsors of new arrival Cuddles.

Cuddles is from the Coromandel and is now in an outside aviary and steadily gaining weight. He/she now weighs 559g - stacking on an impressive 73g in a week!

To sponsor a kiwi, visit www. rainbowsprings.co.nz for details.

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Special Report – Child Obesity:

news

Tackling childhood obesity – strategies for schools & communities W

Q: It is estimated about one third of children in New Zealand are overweight or obese. What do you believe has caused this situation?

A: Our food environments have profoundly changed over the last decades. Currently, children are exposed to unhealthy food environments, which are dominated by energy-dense, nutrient-poor, highly processed food products. These food products are widely available, relatively inexpensive and heavily promoted by the food industry. These unhealthy food environments drive unhealthy diets and energy overconsumption, and thus population weight gain.

In order to reduce childhood obesity, there needs to be a central focus on creating ‘healthy food environments’, characterised by widely available, nutrient-rich, affordable healthy food products in schools, supermarkets, sport clubs, workplaces and food outlets. This will help to shift populations, especially socially disadvantaged populations, towards diets that meet dietary guidelines.

Q: You and your colleagues at the University of Auckland are keen to see a package of policies being implemented at national level to tackle the situation. What kind of policies would you envisage being included in the package?

A: There is wide agreement among the New Zealand public health community on the policies and actions that need to be implemented by the Government to reduce childhood obesity, and these mainly need to focus on changing the current food environments. Recently, an expert

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mandatory in two years if a voluntary approach does not achieve widespread uptake

ith New Zealand’s obesity rates in adults and children hitting the headlines, and health experts raising serious concerns about it, School News asked senior research fellow in Global Health and Food Policy at the University of Auckland, Dr Stefanie Vandevijvere, how the situation could be tackled.

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Term 1 - 2015

7. Introduce an excise tax of at least 20 per cent on sugarsweetened beverages.

These approaches, which focus on improving the healthiness of food environments, have the potential to produce equal or greater health benefits among children from lower socioeconomic groups.

Dr Stefanie Vandevijvere Panel of about 50 New Zealand public health experts, including representatives from medical associations and non-government organisations (NGOs), proposed seven priority actions to be implemented by the New Zealand Government. Many of these relate to schools. The actions are to: 1. Implement a comprehensive national action plan to reduce childhood obesity 2. Set priorities in Statements of Intent of the Government and set targets for: a) reducing childhood and adolescent obesity; b) reducing population salt, sugar and saturated fat intake c) salt and saturated fat content in key food groups 3. Increase funding for population nutrition promotion, doubling it to at least $70m/year 4. Reduce the promotion of unhealthy foods to children and adolescents by a) restricting the marketing of unhealthy foods to children and adolescents through broadcast and non-broadcast media; b) ensuring schools and early childhood education and care services are free of commercial promotion of unhealthy foods 5. Ensure that food provided in or sold by schools and early childhood education services meets dietary guidelines 6. Implement the Health Star Rating system, making it

This is particularly important in New Zealand, where inequalities in obesity are extremely high. The prevalence of childhood (two to 14 years) overweight and obesity is significantly higher among Maori (44 per cent) and Pacific (55 per cent), than New Zealand European (28 per cent) and Asian (27per cent) children. Current approaches, such as social marketing, are more beneficial for individuals from higher socioeconomic backgrounds.

Q: How can food environments such as school canteens and tuck shops contribute to solving the problem?

A: Schools can contribute to solving the childhood obesity problem by changing the types of foods provided and sold in canteens, tuck shops and vending machines. Instead of selling sugarsweetened beverages, which are widely recognised as contributors to childhood obesity, schools could sell products that are lower in sugar, saturated fat and sodium, and higher in other important nutrients.

Schools could also restrict unhealthy food marketing and/ or advertising to children on their premises, and, instead, promote the consumption of healthy food alternatives, such as fresh fruits and vegetables.

These changes should be supported and encouraged by the New Zealand Government. Ideally, the Government would put nutrition standards in place in schools across New Zealand, to indicate which foods can be provided and sold on school grounds, including in canteens, tuck shops and

vending machines.

Q: Bearing in mind principals and teachers already have a heavy workload, what other measures would you suggest schools could take to deal with the situation?

A: As educators ourselves, we completely understand how busy and demanding life in a school can be for teachers and for principals.

Therefore, we are proposing some simple solutions. Principals and teachers could develop written nutrition policies for the school to increase the availability of healthy foods, such as fruits and vegetables, on school grounds and reduce availability of unhealthy foods, such as sugar-sweetened beverages. Additionally, these policies could restrict any food marketing to children on school grounds. Schools can participate in existing programmes (Kickstart Breakfast, fruit in schools, health promoting schools, ....) or make use of existing resources, such as the Food and Beverage Classification System developed by the Ministry of Health in 2007.

If teachers have time, we would also encourage them to talk to their students about the importance of eating a healthy, balanced diet and to personally support healthy initiatives in schools.

Q: A national survey on food environments and policies in the world is now being organised in New Zealand. How do you think the results would contribute to dealing with childhood obesity?

A: Food environments in New Zealand are not comprehensively measured and monitored.

Organising the first national survey on food environments in New Zealand, including the assessment of the nutritional quality of foods provided and sold in schools, aims to increase accountability of governments and the private sector by providing, for the first time, the evidence on their levels of action/inaction and the state of healthiness of food environments.

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Special Report – Child Obesity:

news

10 Findings will be fed directly back to the government and the private sector along with recognition for areas of strong performance and recommendations for improvements in other areas.

The idea is for such a survey to be repeated every three years.

Comparative data (over time for New Zealand and between countries) will be presented to political leaders and CEOs as ‘performance assessment dashboards’ (e.g. league tables, report cards).

These are widely used to increase the accountability of decisionmakers in many areas, such as breastfeeding promotion, and alcohol and tobacco control, because this communication form has the highest chance of ‘cut through’ to decision-makers.

Q: You and your colleagues believe local data could be even more valuable. What methods would you suggest be used to collect that data?

A: We are suggesting that data on the healthiness of local community food environments could be collected by the New Zealand people using an online tool.

At this stage, we are considering the use of a smartphone application to collect data on outdoor food advertisements in the community, sponsorship of unhealthy foods in sport clubs and during sport events, the healthiness of foods in schools and supermarkets, and the density of fast-food outlets and convenience stores around schools.

The data would then be fed back to local stakeholders, such as Members of Parliament, council representatives, NGO branches, and schools, sport clubs and food retailers.

These data could be really valuable to generate local actions to improve the healthiness of community food environments, including school

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school news

Term 1 - 2015

food environments. To date, the pressure for action to reduce obesity has been predominantly elite (i.e. health professional driven), and not grass-roots (i.e. public driven) and, we believe, that this is part of the reason that there has been little policy action.

While most of the public are highly supportive of various policies to improve the healthiness of food environments, as shown in multiple studies in Australia, it is a quiet support, and strategies, tools and processes are needed to effectively convert that support into vocal demands for increased and stronger actions on food environments. Government action is more likely when there is strong, visible public pressure.

Collecting data through crowdsourcing by citizens would allow much more fine-grained data to be obtained (e.g. many more schools included in the assessment) than is the case for the national survey, which mainly assesses food environments at the national level, using a representative sample of schools and supermarkets. The local approach would allow for a very detailed and sustainable monitoring system for food environments in New Zealand, and would provide comprehensive data at the local level to inspire local actions by schools, retailers, sport clubs and communities as a whole.

Q: What outcomes would you hope to see from the analysis of such data?

A: The idea is to build an

interactive website platform where individuals from schools, retailers, takeaways, sport clubs and communities, in general, can access information about the healthiness of their community food environments. All of the settings, schools included, will be given a ‘healthiness’ rating and compared with other similar settings in their community and in New Zealand. The team is considering the use of a 5-star rating or traffic light systems for providing this feedback.

It is anticipated that this feedback will be provided to members of local and national government as well as to members of communities, schools, retailers and sports clubs. Hopefully these data will increase actions at the community and national level that contribute to the development of healthier environments, and eventually to a reduction in childhood obesity.

Local actions are very important, since the implementation of a comprehensive package of strong policies at the national level to reduce obesity typically takes time and is particularly difficult when the political climate for it is not optimal.

Q: How can local communities get involved in improving their food environments?

A: Local community members can get involved by contacting the research team to ask for more information about the project and potentially be involved in the development of the tool. They will be able to download the final data collection tool (likely a smartphone

app) and then use it to collect data on the healthiness of the food environments in their local schools, supermarkets, sport clubs, workplaces and food outlets.

It is anticipated that the proposed approach of crowdsourcing and feedback will strengthen the voice of the public for action on childhood obesity and ultimately motivate the national and local governments to take more action to reduce it.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any ideas, remarks or suggestions related to the local approach to improving New Zealand community food environments. We are currently looking to partner with five active communities around New Zealand who would like to be part of the development and testing of the tool to collect data on local food environments in New Zealand. We would love to hear from you!

Dr Stefanie Vandevijvere, s.vandevijvere@auckland.ac.nz Rachel Williams Erica D’Souza Professor Boyd Swinburn Dr Stefanie Vandevijvere is a senior research fellow in Global Health and Food Policy at the University of Auckland, and part of the leadership team of the International Network for Food and Obesity/noncommunicable diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support (INFORMAS), which aims to implement a new framework to monitor and benchmark food environments and policies globally in order to reduce obesity and diet-related chronic diseases.

Principal Speaks

education

Adolescent complexity a challenge for teachers

I

t is interesting that when one is asked to give one’s personal view on any subject it usually results in the need to take stock and reflect on what you are actually doing and what you firmly believe.

In 1974, under pressure from my parents to ‘find a job’ I embarked on my ‘teacher training’ journey, which I envisaged being a reasonably short one. Three years’ training, a couple of years to clear my bond and then I would cut loose into some other unknown field or occupation. I wasn’t driven – as many young teachers respond today – because of my desire to ‘make a difference’. Quite frankly, the option of selling insurance and wandering around in a suit fell short of the mark – and training to teach had the edge.

I have no doubt that I chose the best career and every change,

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challenge, teacher, student and whanau member from town and country has made it so. As the principal of Ilminster Intermediate for the past 21 years I have totally supported, seen the evidence of and believed in the ‘intermediate concept’ as did the father of the modern education system in the 1940s and 50s – Clarence Beeby. It was he who wrote the egalitarian creed espoused by Prime Minister Peter Fraser, and he dedicated his life to fulfilling it.

“Every person, whatever the level of their academic ability, whether they be rich or poor, whether they live in town or country, has the right, as a citizen, to a free education of a kind for which they are best suited and to the fullest extent of their powers.”

When you consider his words and look at why he established Intermediates, you have to

admire the man for his passion and vision. The unfortunate part is we haven’t always been graced with others in his position that had the understanding and beliefs that he had.

Likewise, intermediate-aged students were also very ready to broaden their horizons, and specialist areas like the tech arts were introduced along with specialisation teaching.

Like you I have observed many politicians and Ministry personnel, who think introducing or legislating change seals their status because they have left their mark. Sadly there have been more than marks left on education, some of them detrimental to the richness and reality of learning.

A challenge for every Intermediate is to ensure their teachers understand the complexity of young adolescent development. It is widely recognised that between the ages of 10 and 14 the young adolescent grows and develops more rapidly than during any other developmental stage except for infancy.

This means they can have an acute, sometimes painful, self-awareness of their growing process. These changes then have enormous implications for learning.

Beeby recognised that those students about to embark on the developmental stage of young adolescence faced a number of potential risks and that if they were grouped together then there was opportunity for each Intermediate to assist every student to navigate their way through the potential minefield!

This is one of the reasons why our school in 2002 introduced a ‘strength-based centre

Principal Speaks

education

Leading is more about 'doing it!' – Peter Ferris, principal of Ilminster Intermediate approach’. We needed to engage our students by building on what they were good at and interested in and provide them with lots of opportunities to learn to think for themselves.

Whilst Intermediates aren’t always flavour of the month with politicians and we have seen a number disappear over the past 10 years, I firmly believe my Intermediate colleagues around the country do a fantastic job providing rich learning environments for what I believe are the most exciting years.

I personally believe that Initial Teacher Education providers have for too long ignored preparing graduates for teaching young adolescents.

Understanding the five key areas for young adolescent development (intellectual, social, physical, emotional & psychological and moral) would

"True learning – learning that is permanent and useful, that leads to intelligent action and further learning – can arise only out of the experience, interests and concerns of the learner.”

– John Holt

provide a solid foundation for meeting the needs of these learners.

For the middle school student, daily life can be an emotional rollercoaster marked by unpredictable mood swings.

Teachers need to be highly skilled to manage these situations daily, plus ensure they differentiate the learning.

As a principal, one of the greatest challenges is to maintain a competitive edge.

Through the celebrations, challenges, successes and failures of my 39-year teaching journey I came to realise that ‘the unknown field’ I had been looking for came with the territory. It wasn’t just in the concept of education – but in

the students themselves. Their lives, views and responses to the world around them determined the direction of the school.

My one regret, if I have any, is that I didn’t listen and act soon enough. Nevertheless – being a principal is the Best Job in the World!

As John Holt wrote: “True learning – learning that is permanent and useful, that leads to intelligent action and further learning – can arise only out of the experience, interests and concerns of the learner.”

I would not be so presumptuous to speak on behalf of my Intermediate colleagues but I am sure they would agree, we certainly play an important role in the total New Zealand education system.

By Peter Ferris, Principal, Ilminster Intermediate

Term 1 - 2015

school news

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Learning Difficulties – Dyslexia

education

Dyslexia – what’s in a name?

Dyslexia is one of the main ‘conditions’ in the Specific Learning Disabilities category, others being dyspraxia, dysphasia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia and ADHD, which in fact often co-exist. The word itself quite literally means: Dys – problem, lexia – read (can’t read).

extremely severe and this can place a significant burden on a school’s resources.

Internationally, dyslexia is recognised as one of the key reasons for educational underachievement and it is well-documented that a significant proportion of prison populations are, in fact, dyslexic.

Percentages quoted in a variety of international studies range from 48 per cent to 80 per cent.

The Dyslexia Foundation in 2008 quoted New Zealand research, which showed that 90 per cent of prison inmates are not functionally literate.

Dyslexia itself is a life-long condition, usually inherited, which is generally considered to affect around 10 per cent of the population.

It is unrelated to intelligence, language, background or race.

In fact learners are often first identified as dyslexic when they fail to make expected progress despite at least average intellectual ability and satisfactory educational experience.

One of the complicating factors as far as understanding dyslexia is concerned is a lack of consensus about the criteria for diagnosis, and it is one of those conditions that attract a number of theories, not all of which are research-based. There are also differences in how dyslexia is viewed in different countries. However, there are generally accepted facts about the condition, and a number of useful definitions, which convey a broad understanding. The one below was approved by the British Dyslexia in 2007: “Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty that mainly affects the development of literacy and language-related skills. It is likely to be present at birth and be lifelong in its effects. It is characterised by difficulties with phonological processing, rapid naming, working memory, processing speed, and the automatic development of skills that may not match up to an individual’s other cognitive abilities.

It tends to be resistant to conventional teaching methods, but its effect can

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Interestingly, although there is currently no consensus about any differences between ethnic groups, there is strong evidence that English is a particularly challenging language for dyslexics, mainly because is orthographically more complex and irregular than most other languages.

Ros Lugg be mitigated by appropriately specific intervention including the application of information technology and supportive counselling.” http://www. bdadyslexia.org.uk/dyslexic/ definitions In New Zealand, one complicating factor is that dyslexia itself was only officially recognised in 2007. Prior to this, specialist assessment providers tended to avoid what they felt was a ‘contentious’ term and label children with the more umbrella term SLD (Specific Learning Disability). However, the Ministry of Education now provides resources and advice on dyslexia and its definition includes mention of ‘secondary characteristics’ that may be involved, including “difficulties

with auditory and/or visual perception; planning and organising; short-term memory; motor skills or social interaction”. http://literacyonline.tki.org. nz/Literacy-Online/Studentneeds/Learners-with-specialeducation-needs/Dyslexia What these definitions highlight, though, is that dyslexia is intrinsically complex. There is huge variability in both patterns of difficulties, and also in severity. Many learners with very mild signs of dyslexia are never formally diagnosed – and didn’t really need to be! Often a well-compensated and wellsupported learner will make good progress academically, despite mild signs of dyslexia.

However, at the other end of the spectrum, difficulties may be

So what, exactly, causes dyslexia? As stated before, it is recognised as being primarily an inherited condition, although there is also a condition known as ‘acquired dyslexia’, which is a similar pattern of difficulties caused by head injury or other brain trauma. Dyslexia is, in essence, a neurological condition, and recent advances in brain imaging technology are adding significantly to our understanding. There are, in fact, three main deficit theories on the causes of dyslexia: •

the phonological deficit theory – relating to the particular difficulties with phonological awareness and development of phonic knowledge;

•

the cerebellar deficit theory –relating to central processing difficulties, which cause problems with automaticity and information processing;

•

the magnocellular deficit theory – relating to visual and auditory deficits

education

In confirmation of the phonological deficit theory, there have been a number of fMRI (functional MRI) studies into differences in brain activation and they clearly show that dyslexics use different areas of the brain when reading. A leading US researcher, Sally Shaywitz (Overcoming Dyslexia, 2005) explains that, in fluent readers, an area in the occipitotemporal area of the brain is responsible for the instant visual recognition of a word. This area is often referred to as the ‘word form’ area. This is the area of the brain that recognises a word in a fraction of a second, as opposed to having to laboriously decode it as an early learner may need to do. In other words, it is crucial for reading fluency.

In dyslexics, fMRI scanning has shown that this occipitotemporal area is initially not activated, but some fascinating follow-on studies have indicated that, with correct remediation, brain activation patterns in dyslexic learners can change to the pattern seen in non-dyslexic learners.

The evidence reinforces the need for a structured, multisensory approach to literacy, which incorporates plenty of reinforcement, but also specific development of the underpinning perceptual skills, such as phonological awareness, sequencing, visual perception and memory. In practice, with learners with moderate-severe difficulties, reinforcement is often best provided through software reinforcement and hands-on teaching games.

So what should we look for, when identifying learners who may be dyslexic? In the school system, there are a number of possible indicators. These include: •

Unexpected and persisting difficulty with reading or spelling;

•

Poor or erratic handwriting;

•

Difficulties with shortterm memory, particularly with following verbal instructions;

•

Problems with organisation or planning;

•

Difficulties with sequences, particularly rote sequences or times tables;

•

Family history;

•

Poor concentration;

•

Inconsistency – good or poor days, with no apparent reason.

Conversely, however, there are often many strengths, particularly involved with ‘right hemisphere’ functions such as creativity or imagination.

Dyslexics are often visual thinkers and frequently perceive things differently and think laterally.

Many have excellent spatial abilities, which can be a particular asset in fields such as design, art or computing. There are many successful dyslexics, such as Andy Warhol, George Patton, John Lennon, Nigel Kennedy, Richard Branson and even Albert Einstein. A common story with many of them is that they struggled through school, but achieved success when they got into fields that suited or nurtured their abilities.

Many teachers in the dyslexia field quite rightly regard dyslexia as a ‘learning difference’, rather than a disability and recognise the need to cater for people who think and learn in different ways.

A key part of this is, of course, providing dyslexics with the opportunity to show their strengths, rather than confronting them only with aspects they struggle with.

Learning Difficulties – Dyslexia

All have varying amounts of scientific evidence behind them, although there is a particularly comprehensive body of evidence supporting the theory that phonological deficits are implicated in dyslexia.

Phonological awareness is, of course, a crucial component in early literacy development.

An important principle in this field is the need to treat learners as individuals, not concentrating on choosing the correct ‘label’, but assessing their individual learning needs and providing them with the right opportunities and support. Currently, far too many people leave the school system regarding themselves as ‘failures’ because they weren’t able to overcome their literacy difficulties and, tragically, many never overcome this image of themselves and realise their potential.

References: Moody, K, University of Texas in conjunction with Texas Department of Criminal Justice (2000).

Dyslexia in the Prison Population, Shaywitz, S, Yale Center for the Study of Learning and Attention, 2005.

Overcoming Dyslexia. Literature Review: An International Perspective on Dyslexia, Ministry of Education, Shaywitz, Mody & Shaywitz, 2006 Neural Mechanisms in Dyslexia, Snowling, M (1997).

Developmental dyslexia: an introduction and theoretical overview.

Ros Lugg is a Director at The Learning Staircase, OCR Diploma in Specific Learning Disability, NZCER Registered ‘C’ Grade Tester. She is an experienced assessor and dyslexia specialist.

She designed the Steps software programme, now in 700+ New Zealand schools and some of the top specialist dyslexia schools in the UK.

STEPS - THE LEADING NZ LITERACY SOFTWARE PROGRAMME

Research-based NZ literacy software programme Highly effective – see our Case Studies All ages – 5 to adult!

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Used by over 800 schools in NZ and internationally, including some of the top specialist dyslexia schools in the UK. the LEARNING STAIRCASE LTD

info@learningstaircase.co.nz | www.learningstaircase.co.nz

Term 1 - 2015

school news

17

Learning Difficulties – Dyslexia

education

Engaging students for success We receive calls on a daily basis from concerned parents, teachers and educational personnel asking for tools to assist with supporting writing, reading and interpretation of meaning.

Writing is a necessity for academic success and a basic requirement for participation in life. When any individual struggles to express their ideas, they often feel alienated and frustrated. Providing students with the tools they need to bridge the gap in communication can dramatically affect not only their ability to express themselves, but their overall outlook on learning.

Assistive Technology – what tools can assist?

Most of us are dependent on the spell checker and grammar checker in our word processing application. We make full use of the synonyms, vocab lists and thesaurus as standard tools to support our writing.

The appropriate use of assistive technology can remove barriers for struggling reluctant writers and those with developing language skills.

Text to speech It is no surprise that struggling students need more engagement with print. Having the computer highlight word by word and read back the text they have written provides a positive, rewarding experience.

The text begins to make sense when they can hear back what they are writing and viewing.

Editing and proofing work becomes a much easier task when they can listen to their written work being read aloud.

Any selectable text in any application – including the internet, worksheets and websites containing textbooks – can be read back. If the document contains pdf or graphic-based text, there is software to capture this and read back word by word.

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Word prediction As a student types, the software monitors the input letter-by-letter and produces a list of words, in a separate ‘prediction box’, that begin with that letter. Each time a letter is added, the list is updated giving the student a selection of words to support their writing.

Word prediction is a superb empowering tool for the most reluctant writer – those students for whom the thought of writing a paragraph, even on a computer, is terrifying. In pre-writing brainstorming activities students can create content-specific Topic Dictionaries. The words in the Topic Dictionary will appear above any other predicted word, and the writing process becomes personalised.

Mind mapping Mind Maps are visual maps of connecting thoughts that span out in a radial way from one central idea. A Mind Map uses only keywords to prompt memory and association. With many mind maps the student can record their thoughts or information around the picture or image they have used. The recording can be played back within the outline

mode providing yet another means to assist the student when they begin the process of creating their written work.

Mind mapping applications can be used with the support of word prediction and text to speech.

With an application like WordQ, the Topic Dictionary can be brainstormed and the Topic Dictionary and word prediction used within the mind map, assisting the students' progress through the writing stages.

Speech to text With an application like Dragon Naturally Speaking, the user speaks and the software recognises what was said and types it into the computer.

Dyslexia affects different people in different ways. Some people with dyslexia will be able to use voice recognition software without any problems. Others may have difficulty with the initial voice training, dictation or correction.

Before starting to use a voice recognition program you have to read out a document that is presented on the screen. This can be an issue for people who are not fluent readers.

There are a number of ways to work through this. The voice recognition program offers a choice of texts. Some are easier to read than others, or can be read alongside a helper - the helper reads the text on the screen in small sections and the user repeats it a section at a time.

Smartpen The Livescribe Smartpen captures everything that you write and everything that is spoken.

Inside the pen is a camera that takes a picture of your notes as you write them. It also has a built-in microphone that lets you record what is being said.

Where to from here Ministry of Education-CAT have done a number of comparative reviews on applications across various platforms. The easiest way to access these resources is to search the internet for “ministry of education cat”. For lists of various applications, 30-day trials, evaluation equipment or training dates email atinfo@dtsl. co.nz or call 0800-370-198.

By Catherine Brill, Manager, DTSL - Assistive Technology

education

Dyslexia Advocacy Week (DAW) takes place this year from March 1622, with a key focus on improving the dyslexic student’s experience and achievements in the classroom.

Fundamental to this is the provision of NCEA Special Assessment Conditions (SACs) for students with learning differences as they sit NCEA level exams, and the provision of similar accommodations for those in the earlier, formative years as they move through the education system.

Run by Dyslexia Foundation of New Zealand (DFNZ), DAW 2015 is designed to empower and activate parents to advocate for their child’s legal rights in the classroom, which include access to SACs, and the provision of resources by schools and others such as RTLBs (Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour).

A focal point of the week will be the ‘Plus 20 in 2015’ initiative, aiming at lifting the numbers of students receiving NCEA SACs such as reader or writer assistance, computer use, or extra time. The target is to lift numbers by more than 20 per cent this year, with DFNZ working with Ministry of Education and NZQA to raise awareness of SAC requirements and the obligations of school partners.

SACs are core to the role and responsibilities of boards of trustees and principals, and SAC support is now part of RTLB job descriptions.

The ‘Plus 20 in 2015’ initiative will build on key recommendations from the NZQA and MoE’s 2014 review of the use of SACs in NCEA. Find out more about Dyslexia Advocacy Week at www. dyslexiafoundation.org.nz Join the conversation on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ dyslexiafoundationNZ

Learning Difficulties – Dyslexia

Advocacy week to focus on improving student achievement

Desktop Technology Services Ltd

DTSL Assistive Technology provide products, services, support and advice for people with specialist needs throughout New Zealand Notebooks, iPads, cases, communication devices, software, switches, mounts, keyboards, mice, adapted toys – whatever you need, let us know how we can help

DTSL Assistive Technology 112 Princess Street Palmerston North Phone 0800 864 382 or 0800 370 198 Email atinfo@dtsl.co.nz catherine.brill@dtsl.co.nz

Website: assistive.dtsl.co.nz

Term 1 - 2015

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Learning Difficulties – Dyslexia

education

Publishers dedicated to ‘cracking reading’ Barrington Stoke is an independent publisher dedicated to cracking reading.

They know that every parent wants their child to become a reader, and every teacher wants their students to make the jump from learning to read to loving to read.

Patience Thomson and Lucy Juckes founded Barrington Stoke in 1997, back when publishing output for struggling readers was virtually non-existent, and the concept of dyslexia-friendly literature seemed almost a bad joke. In the UK the National Literacy Trust was four years old and the National Literacy Strategy was not yet out of the box, but national testing showed that just 63 per cent of children reached expected levels of literacy by age 11. That year also saw the publication of Harry Potter, cementing a golden era of children’s

young people who couldn’t access the brilliant (and increasingly long and involved) texts their peers enjoyed.

Their idea was, on the face of it, a simple one. They planned to publish brilliant short books by well-known writers with special adaptations to ensure accessibility for dyslexic and less experienced readers. The books would be commissioned, edited and designed to break down the barriers to reading, from dyslexia and visual stress to simple reluctance.

literature.

But the Barrington Stoke founders were aware of a growing inequality.

While there were more and better books available for children to read than ever before, there was also a growing minority of children and

Making that vision a reality was rather more complex. Before the first books were published, they consulted a raft of experts in ophthalmology, reading theory and special educational needs, supplementing Ms Thompson’s dyslexia expertise and Ms Juckes’ publishing background.

Financial backing came via a loan from the bank and a band of private investors, many of whose children had been pupils of Ms Thomson, who had been a principal at a specialist school for children with specific learning difficulties.

Early intervention can boost success Specialised, early intervention can significantly boost success at school for a child with dyslexia, according to research. One-on-one, personalised tuition resulted in vast and surprising improvements in achievement skills, according to Dr Karen Waldie, Associate Professor of the School of Psychology at Auckland University.

SPELD NZ, in collaboration with school RTLBs (Resource Teachers of Learning and Behaviour), carried out a pilot study involving 42 sevenyear-old students struggling in the classroom as a result of dyslexia.

Dr Waldie analysed the resulting data and says she was taken by surprise.

“I knew that I would find that students would increase their

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reading skills after SPELD lessons.

What I didn’t realise, however, was just how successful the pilot programme would be.

“The children increased their predicted reading success by 20-44 per cent in areas of sound blending, phonemic awareness, verbal comprehension and reading fluency.

However. their general cognitive abilities also significantly improved.

We saw vast improvements in thinking ability, cognitive fluency and processing speed. I am truly impressed.”

The New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies published the research findings, noting the improvement of cognitive efficiency and processing speed was “testament to the ability of the brain to be modified, presumably via strengthened neural connectivity, following even a relatively brief (60

session) exposure to an enriched environment in the form of SPELD intervention”.

The students in the study came from a variety of schools, ranging from decile 1 to decile 10. They received 60, 45-minute sessions of one-on-one tuition, twice weekly, from SPELD NZ teachers. Each child had assessments of their academic and cognitive abilities before and after the 60 lessons using the Woodcock-Johnson III (WJIII) test battery. SPELD NZ’s chairperson Marion Fairbrass says although the sample size was small, it was a first step and the findings were very encouraging.

“They indicate that specialised teaching, built on solid foundations, can make a strong contribution to those with dyslexia and to the wider education sector.

“The pilot programme proves that by investing in our under-achieving seven-year-olds, we can help them achieve literacy and success at school. As dyslexia and other specific learning disorders can be hereditary, this could have a flow-on intergenerational effect. Can we afford NOT to help these children?”

The research findings will be used to develop and underpin similar studies planned for the future.

education

The company has also enjoyed “gobsmacking” support from authors, illustrators, agents, librarians, teachers, parents, booksellers and the trade press. The Bookseller says: “It is impossible to remember life before Barrington Stoke.”

“Thanks to enlightened booksellers the list is now on core stock at many UK retailers and bestselling Mr Gum author, Andy Stanton, once told an interviewer he knew he’d made it when we came knocking at his door,” Ms Thomson says.

35,000 words? The first Barrington Stoke word counts were an achievable 5000 – 10,000.

The count has since been taken down to 250 and up to 15,000 for different reading levels.

The books are typeset in the highly readable Barrington Stoke Roman typeface, with special spacing to support dyslexic readers. The books were printed on heavy cream paper to combat visual stress and eliminate problematic show-through.

Learning Difficulties – Dyslexia

Crucially, the authors were attracted to the idea and came on board – Michael Morpurgo and other top authors helped them launch the list then and have been writing for them ever since. So, what’s the difference between a ‘standard’ and a Barrington Stoke Morpurgo?

Nowadays they use a two-colour process to achieve the same effect.

They have never commissioned simplified books – from the beginning they asked authors to write the story they wanted to write. Language specialists become involved later on.

First and foremost, the list proved itself in the way that really mattered – parents, teachers and librarians found their children could read the books. Sixteen years later, and the postbag still brings tears to the eye, the publishers say: “I just wanted to let you know how much you have changed my son's life.”; “It has really boosted her confidence and she is so proud of herself.” “To hear my child reading out loud to herself without my assistance was the most wonderful thing ever.”

“There are many steps on the road to reading for book-deprived children – otherwise Harry Potter or the Hunger Games can prove just another dispiriting experience that confirms that reading really isn’t for them. “That’s what our books exist to do, and our biggest challenge is to continue to win the

hearts and minds of those who can help us reach all of those children who are not readers yet, but – with the right help – could be.”

Barrington Stoke books are distributed in New Zealand by South Pacific Book Distributors Ltd.

Specialist dyslexia friendly fiction for children, teens and young adults including Barrington Stoke and Ransom Publishing from the UK

– Top Authors – including Michael Morpurgo, Malorie Blackman, Cornelia Funke, Alexander McCall Smith, Jonathan Stroud and more...

SPELD NZ is a not-for-profit organisation providing specialised help for those with dyslexia and other specific learning disabilities: SPELD NZ Training: • • •

• • • •

Diagnostic WJIII assessments by qualified assessors with specialised SPELD NZ training One-to-one evidence based tuition by qualified teachers with specialised SPELD NZ training Support for families and whanau NZQA approved courses for parents, teachers, teacher aides and other interested professionals

Certificate Course in Specific Learning Disabilities (NZQA Level 5) – 400 hours delivered online or face-to-face Introductory Course in Specific Learning Disabilities (NZQA Level 3) – 2 days SPELD NZ Assessor Course (not NZQA approved)

For more information on services and training, see www.speld.org.nz or call 0800 773 536

– Graphic Novels – Fantastic range of top quality “safe” graphic novels

– Non-fiction –

Great range of high interest low reading age non fiction Our Educational Representative will visit your school with a selection of books for your perusal

Contact us for representative details in your area or to obtain catalogues

0508 772 665

Telephone: 09 448 1591 or Email: sales@spbooks.co.nz

Term 1 - 2015

school news

21

Endeavour School

profiles

No limits on learning at new Hamilton school

As the new school year got underway for thousands of excited students across the country, a group of primary students in Hamilton had the additional thrill of becoming the foundation students of a brand-new primary school in the city – Endeavour School, located in the suburb of Flaxmere.

learning for 21st-century learners.

I have a firm belief we need to transform how teaching and learning is carried out if we are to meet the needs of our children.

This is an opportunity to build a school from scratch to achieve this.

“As the founding principal my job was to create a ‘blueprint’ for teaching, and to organise the physical spaces that would lend themselves to the MLE approach.”

“The need for the new school was driven by the “huge growth” in the north-eastern suburbs of Hamilton,” principal Marcus Freke says.

“The two existing schools were well over their capacity and that meant there was a demand for an additional school to meet the needs of the growing residential community.”

In fact, the Ministry of Education had purchased land on which to build a school 18 years ago, but due to a range of economic and political reasons, nothing happened. Then, at the end of 2012, with the community raising their concerns and local MP David Bennett throwing his weight behind the cause, the Ministry recognised that

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Mr Freke says Endeavour is “not dissimilar” to the new Pegasus School in Canterbury, which opened in 2014. (Pegasus School was featured in Issue 26 of School News.) a new school had to be built.

It approved an establishment board, which included two exprincipals and the lead consultant from the Education Leadership Centre at Waikato University, Jeremy Kedian.

“We were very fortunate to have these people with an understanding of education on the foundation board,” Mr Freke says.

Applications for the position of

principal opened in March 2013, and Mr Freke, with 23 years’ experience in the teaching sector, began the process of applying.

One year later, he was appointed to the role, and took up the reins on May 5, 2014, with the aim of introducing a different approach to primary education.

“I saw this as a unique opportunity to be a foundation principal in a school which will lead the way in teaching and

“We have a similar philosophy for teaching and learning, the flexible spaces, the whole learning style and approach to education. We believe there has to be a lot more space for learning in the 21st century.”

Formerly the principal at Vardon School in Hamilton, where ICT is particularly strong, Mr Freke says he learnt a lot about the use of technology in teaching over the six years he was there.

Endeavour School

profiles

“Technology has driven a lot of the change in philosophy.

There isn’t a lot of research available, but I believe the social constructivist and highly collaborative approach is the key element that underpins this way of teaching and learning.”

Mr Freke says he was given guidance from the Ministry about what their expectations were, and worked with Jeremy Kedian from the Educational Leadership Centre to develop the teaching methods for Endeavour School. An Emerging Document comprising the Vision Statement and the Value Statement was also created.

“Endeavour School is the first new school in Hamilton to be built with large, flexible learning spaces, which aim to support

highly collaborative teaching and learning approaches,” Mr Freke says. “The learning communities will each cater for up to 100 students and four to five teachers, who will share the responsibility for the learning of all students.”

The recruitment process to find the right teachers for Endeavour School saw 220 packs being sent out to potential candidates, which resulted in 70 responses.

“We explained to the candidates that the students at Endeavour would be learning a lot differently from the traditional method, and it would be the teachers’ responsibility to find out what excited and interested the kids.

We used that as the criteria for the applicants and asked them how they would make it work.

“Our two deputy principals and myself appraised the applications and from there we interviewed 10 and selected five to be appointed.

We are very happy with the teachers we’ve selected. They are a mixture of ages and experience, and range from having one year in the MLE environment to teachers with 15 or 16 years’ experience.”

An induction programme held in December, gave Mr Freke and the new teachers an opportunity to test their thinking.

“Endeavour School’s motto is ‘Learning without limits’, and this underpins our approach.

Our signature practices are collaboration, ubiquity, thinking and our environment, which all support ‘Learning without limits’.

The school’s curriculum covers a full range of subjects, with a particular emphasis on music and languages, Mr Freke says.

“The students will not be limited by anything, and they will receive personalised learning, not a standard, one size fits all approach. It’s a child-centred approach designed to be holistic and develop the whole child.”

As at the start of term one 2015, the school roll stood at 140. When the roll reaches 400, additional buildings will be constructed giving Endeavour School the capacity to accommodate a total of 650 students.

By Christine de Felice, Staff Reporter

Term 1 - 2015

school news

23

Southbridge School

profiles

Rural school offers ‘real-world’ learning

Southbridge School, a rural primary school located in the township of Southbridge, 40 kilometres south of Christchurch, is “quite different from a town school” principal Susan Jennison says.

to Waihora (Lake Ellesmere).

Unlike their urban counterparts, who usually live within a few kilometres of school, Southbridge students come from a wide area, with about a third of them being transported to and from school on the school bus. Ms Jennison says.

Ms Jennison says SOL has an academic focus and she describes it as an “authentic context for learning”.

“In addition to the earthquakerelated influx of people over the last three years, our roll of 168 students includes a number of ESOL students from a migrant population.

We enjoy having children from different ethnic backgrounds; they bring our school to life.”

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school news

Term 1 - 2015

“The marae services a large number of schools and has formed strong relationships with them.

There is a diversity of iwi in the area and we want our children to understand the tikanga and history of the area and its people.”

Strengthening work on the school hall started at the end of 2014 to bring it up to Building Code standards and two new classrooms are to be built to cater for the increased roll. It is hoped work will start on these over the next month or so, Ms Jennison says.

The changes at the school prompted the introduction of a new initiative, called Seeds of Learning, or SOL.

“The school board used community feedback on an ‘Enterprise Education’ model to develop the programme, which is designed to give all of our students knowledge of the community they live in.”

Positive feedback saw the programme being launched in 2014. Even before its introduction, the school had a close relationship with the local marae, Ngati Moki, which is located at Taumutu, close

“It’s about real-world, hands-on learning. For example, last year the children gathered, bagged and sold walnuts and in doing so they learnt about the fundamentals of business.

“We have a strong focus on science, and late last year the years 5 and 6 children became involved in a project where we planted a grove of hazelnut trees.

Southbridge School

profiles “While we haven’t seen any specific academic benefits as yet, there has been a huge gain in children’s confidence when reading out loud and in their reading fluency.”

When the trees start producing the children will learn how to gather the nuts, then sell them, with the funds raised going back into the programme.

‘leavers’ fence’. When the year 6 children leave the school they paint a picture of themselves onto a fence paling, which is then nailed on to the fence.

“This year, we will be raising hens, and for this they will have to research breeds, find out the type of shelter the hens require, build the shelter and then they will have to run the programme. There will be adults supporting them but the children will lead every aspect of the programme. We hope to introduce sheep to the programme in 2016.

Not just students, but anyone who leaves the school is invited to paint themselves onto a paling.

“We have a media team, who gather stories and take photos of the various activities of the school. The gardening team takes care of our Enviro responsibilities and plants, weeds and waters the gardens. The arts team got involved by designing labels for our worm juice, which was produced in the worm farm.”

The year 6 students are the SOLdiers for the programme, with the leaders being referred to as ‘sergeants’. Every Friday, the SOLdiers carry out jobs around the school, and the sergeants hold a monthly meeting where they discuss what the focus will be for the coming month, Ms Jennison says.

“They might, for example, look at the funds and decide what they need to buy, such as more spades for the garden team.”

A unique feature of the SOL programme at Southbridge is the

“We have four ex-pupils painted on the fence: three All Blacks, and a Commonwealth Games gold medallist. Having them there helps to show the children that though they come from a small school they can achieve big things if they do their best and stick at it.”

The local business community has thrown its support behind the project by supplying the paint, posts and fence palings, Ms Jennison says.

Another special characteristic of Southbridge School is Levi the Reading Dog. Ms Jennison explains: “We had heard about a dog at a library in the North Island and knew about the positive results people have had with Reading Dog initiatives in Australia and the US, so we decided to give it a try. Levi comes three mornings a week and the children really look forward to working with him because he gives them the confidence to read out loud. He’s so popular that we have a waiting list for these reading times.

“While we haven’t seen any specific academic benefits as yet, there has been a huge gain in children’s confidence when reading out loud and in their reading fluency.”

The sessions are one-on-one and for safety reasons, there is always an adult present but they are not allowed to help with the reading. Twelve-year-old Levi was ‘temperament tested’ before being taken on, and he has proved to be a “one in a million dog”, Ms Jennison says.

“When Levi is wearing his bandanna, he is a working dog, but without it, he is ‘free for hugs’.”

The school hopes to introduce another Reading Dog, once Levi is fully settled in.

Ms Jennison has been in the teaching profession for almost 27 years. Prior to joining Southbridge School in 2013 she was at a school in eastern Christchurch, which was to be merged.

“I visited Southbridge School and was instantly attracted to the school’s environment, so I decided to apply for the position. I’m so glad that I did; working in a rural

school has brought challenges and highlights I’d never experienced before.

“The highlights for me have to include the local events that allow our students to showcase the skills they have outside of the classroom.

At EAST Club (the ‘pet day’ for Ellesmere schools) children don’t just bring a domestic pet, they bring the stock they’ve helped to raise and care for. ”At the Southbridge Flower Show they enter the huge variety of vegetables they’ve planted, tended and harvested. These are opportunities that a number of ‘town’ children don’t get to experience and help to make our Southbridge students well-rounded and knowledgeable and also to have a knowledge of their local community and what it means to live in Southbridge.”

By Christine de Felice, Staff Reporter

Term 1 - 2015

school news

25

Case Studies: Access-It

admin & management

Vote of confidence for library management system Access-It library and information management system is the most widely used software of its type in our schools, as well as being used in more than 30 other countries around the world.

School News spoke to the librarians at two New Zealand schools to find out why they like Access-It so much and how it offers solutions to their teachers and students.

Hornby High School, Christchurch Librarian Lynda Seaton says Access-It was one of the things she had been wanting for a considerable time and when the decision was made to get AccessIt, she was “ecstatic”.

“We had a system, but it wasn’t providing enough. We needed modern teaching and learning features that would encourage students with different learning styles to engage with the library in their environments like classrooms and at home.”

Hornby High underwent a significant change at the beginning of 2014, when nearby Branston Intermediate closed and many of the students chose to go to Hornby High School.

“There was a refocus of the way forward for the school as we move to MLP and MLE.” In terms of support, she says

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Access-It offers one of the best training systems she has come across.

“There is a wonderful series of training videos. Each one is beautifully narrated, and not too long. You are supported every step of the way and if you are not sure about something you can go back and play the video again. It’s stressfree. All aspects of the process, from data migration to technology integrations with the school’s IT infrastructure are dealt with professionally and collaboratively.”

Access-It also has a free mobile app and works well with the variety of devices students utilise, including tablets, she says.

“Then there are the timesaving features, like automatic cataloguing, quick scan for weeding and data replace for global changes. Access-It is both customised to what you need, and is customisable. Whatever bright idea I might have, can be realised with the system – that’s the part I love.

“On the promotional side, it has a graphic interface so students can make a visual search for a topic. This is especially helpful for students with dyslexia, or ESOL students.”

Ms Seaton says she has become even more pleased with AccessIt, the further she has got into it. “What I especially like is its efficiency – everything is in a logical sequence – I love that.”

A Raroa Normal Intermediate student issuing his own book with Access-it.

Raroa Normal Intermediate, Wellington This intermediate school has had Access-It for about five years, librarian Clare Forrest says.

“Our old system wasn’t internetbased, and when we were wanting to get a new system we heard a lot about Access-It, and that people liked it. I saw it demonstrated at an Access-It Road Show and I liked the look of it.

“We can do so much with it, and what I like is that it’s as userfriendly for the students as it is for the librarians. It’s called Access-It for a reason, and that’s because it’s accessible everywhere, in the daytime at school and at home in the evening, and that’s important.

“The Search functions are very good, and they are not just boring blank pages, they are visually attractive. And you can add videos and other types of digital resources.

“In terms of being online, having a library presence online allows you to showcase your library.

What we really like about it is that when students look up a book it has the facilities to show the video of a book trailer and a link to the author’s website. Kids are really digital now and they love the visual side of things.”

A student using Access-it at the Hornby High School library.

school news

Term 1 - 2015

how to research topics, we can add things to the search. They can type in the subject they want to research and find what books the library has on it. The library can also add databases so tabs come up and show them other places to go.

“One Search is so important for kids. It’s really good to make it easy for them and it helps the teachers because they want them to use a variety of resources, including books.”

The children are all learning how to issue their own books with AccessIt, Ms Forrest says.

“The Access-It system then emails them when their books are due back, it’s all automatic.

“The service has always been good,” she says, and they are always updating the system. The Road Show is good, too. They cater for two groups – beginners and those who are familiar with the system, and they always listen to people.”

Raroa Intermediate students come from about seven Wellington primary schools and many of them have the Access-It system too, which means the students are already familiar with it.

Another function Ms Forrest finds especially useful is One Search.

“I can’t speak highly enough of Access-It, and it’s real value for money.”

“It’s interactive and at this intermediate stage, for kids to learn

By Christine de Felice, Staff Reporter

E-Commerce

admin & management

Technology makes life easier for admin staff Ways to make the job easier are always going to be welcomed by busy administration staff, and as in many other areas of 21st-century schools in New Zealand, technology is providing the answers.

Sandra Finlay, founder of e-technology company Kindo, and online lunch service ezlunch, says she has been working with schools across the board – primary, intermediate and secondary, to help them streamline their administration, save time, and to bring more money in, faster.

“With kindo, it allows them to start using their school website to make transactions,” Ms Finlay says.

“Previously, this was expensive and difficult with specialised software and merchant accounts,

but with Kindo there are no big set-up costs.”

The Kindo system has a number of easy-to-use functions, with one of the most popular being the ‘permission slip’.

“Traditionally, schools would send home a paper form with a tear-off slip for parents to sign to give permission for their child to take part in a sporting activity, for example. They would then make the payment through internet banking. When the slip was returned to school, the admin person would have to reconcile the slips with the bank deposits, which was very time-consuming.”

The permission slip also includes a section where parents can indicate if they are willing to be involved as a sports coach, or by providing transport.

“With Kindo, everything can

Peter Pan's Tinkerbell plays to a full house at Campbells Bay School with ticket purchases managed through Kindo.

Photograph courtesy of available light ltd

be done online, all in the one package, such as fundraising, collecting donations, selling items, gathering information, and there is no data entry to be done.

“ICAS will no doubt be added in by the schools later this term as they update and change their listings according to what’s needed.”

“At this moment Kindo schools are running uniform and tuckshops, collecting camp and bus money, taking sports and music class registrations, collecting donations and fees, stationery orders and running fundraisers, including a community triathlon,” Ms Finlay says.

To date, Kindo has been taken up as a new product by 25 schools, including Campbells Bay School on Auckland’s North Shore.

“Our experience with Kindo has been a pleasant surprise with how easy it is to set up, personalised efficient reporting and definitely time saving,” the school’s

Making payments easy Freeing up your precious time and saving you money www.wrapitup.co.nz

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admin & management E-Commerce

Wrap it Up operators Rachel Ebbitt, left, Lucy MacGinley and Jane Bornholdt. executive officer Karen McNair says.

“Our community likes the flexibility it offers with online 24-hour access and quick, easy account management. Our administration team finds reconciling payments so much simpler and with the additional bonus of having the ability to collect information at the same time and report in a basic excel format, it really is a must for busy school offices with stretched resources.”

E-commerce system Wrap it Up has been developed by three working mothers. Business partners Jane Bornholdt, Rachel Ebbitt and Lucy MacGinley set up the system, which is “basically an online payment system for schools,” CEO Ms Bornholdt says.

“We’ve created a user-friendly system to help schools save time and money when dealing with payments coming into the school.

Everything can be paid in one go, the payment history is recorded and the school can access the system 24/7 to see who has paid and what has been paid for.

There’s no need for reconciling bank statements with payments, which is very time-consuming.

“All money is paid into a secure Trust Account where it’s safe, and each week Wrap it Up pays the money into the school bank accounts. She says schools that have the system installed find money comes in faster, which is another advantage. The weekly sausage sizzle is an example of how fundraising can run more efficiently. Parents can pay for all sausage sizzles up front in one payment for multiple children, which means the school doesn’t have to collect the money each week. This reduces cash handling

and cash being kept at the school, and avoids queues at the office with students coming to pay.”

Voluntary contributions, school excursions and sports fees are just a few examples of payments that can be made online with Wrap it Up. The system includes a ‘permission slip’, which again saves time and avoids paper slips being misplaced, Ms Bornholdt says.

“All these functions mean the admin staff can spend their time doing more interesting and productive activities. Fundraising committees also love the system because it lets them manage their stock such as lolly bags and glow sticks for school discos. By logging onto the system to see how many children will be going to the disco, they can pre-order so there’s less wastage.”

Wrap it Up operates throughout New Zealand and has so far had an enthusiastic response with lots of positive feedback from parents and office staff. Principal at Worser Bay School Jude Pentecost says: “The Wrap it Up team are great to work with and so professional.

We receive money in faster and the time saved by office staff in payment reconciliation has been greatly reduced. The fact that all payments are made into a Trust Account adds to the security of the system. It's brilliant and we love it.

“Wrap it Up is all about making life easier for both the parents and the school and we’re certainly achieving that.” Ms Bornholdt says.

By Christine de Felice, Staff Reporter

Term 1 - 2015

school news

29

Case Study – Northcross Intermediate

teaching resources

Focus on technology in Northcross Intermediate’s new MLE block In the latter part of 2014, Northcross Intermediate in Browns Bay on Auckland’s North Shore became part of the new Modern Learning Environment (MLE) with the opening of its purposebuilt MLE technology and teaching block.

The block incorporates seven teaching spaces upstairs and seven specialist areas on the ground floor: food and nutrition, media, hard materials, graphics and design, biotechnology, science, and structures and mechanisms.

The process of introducing MLE had started back in 2010 with concept drawings, principal Jonathon Tredray says, with teachers and the board of trustees being involved in the discussions on how the spaces would look and function right from the start. The school’s property manager Andrew Bolland initiated discussions with furniture supplier Distinction. During these discussions teachers put forward their ideas on how they wanted the furniture items to work, requesting subtle variations to some standard items to meet their specific requirements and students’ preferences.

“With seven specialist areas within our new MLE, ensuring these learning spaces function at a high level is a priority for us,” Mr Tredray says.

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“Research has shown that working collectively, and providing break-out spaces and having specific areas for quiet teaching in small groups, and sound-proof areas where ideas can be presented, enhances both teaching and learning.”

Murray McLeod from Distinction points out, the range of options in furniture styles goes hand in hand with the MLE concept.

“Not every child works to their fullest potential seated at a traditional desk. It’s about giving the students choices on how they learn best, and when you stand back and look at it, it actually works.”

For example, Northcross students who prefer working at high tables have been provided with gas-lift adjustable chairs so students of different ages and heights can use them.

Mr Tredray is delighted with how MLE has been incorporated into the Northcross Intermediate curriculum.

“This 21st-century way of teaching and learning involves working collaboratively, having discussions and problem solving. For us, with our focus on technology, we’ve taken the MLE philosophy and put it into the technology area. It’s not a completely separate curriculum, it ties in with classroom learning and activities.”

In the food and nutrition area, for example, the students learn about nutrition and healthy eating. A key part of that is the garden, where a variety of vegetables, herbs and spices are grown and harvested.

Five teachers were involved in

school news

Term 1 - 2015

establishing the garden, a project which ran over three terms, Mr Tredray says.

“The garden includes greenhouses and sheds where the students extract elements from the plants to make products such as soaps, hair gels, ginger beer and juices. What the students learn there relates to and reinforces what’s happening with their teaching and learning in the classroom.”

The media studies area focuses on visual media, with the students learning how to make movies. The design and build area teaches the students about how hard materials are used in production of equipment, and they learn how things like windmills and hydro dams work.

“This year we are increasing our numbers of 3D printers and in terms one and two the students will be designing water filters and wind turbines,” Mr Tredray says.

Furniture for phase two of the project is currently being manufactured.

“The head of department for science wanted the lab benches to be slightly wider than the standard to accommodate the work the students will be doing,” Mr McLeod says. “Cupboards for storing hard material tools are also being custom made according to that teacher’s requirements. It’s all about adaptability and listening to the teacher.”

Four of the proposed seven teaching MLE spaces at Northcross Intermediate are operating upstairs in the new building, while the other seven technology spaces are downstairs. The upstairs areas are “exceptionally quiet”, even though 120-plus students from the total roll of 1050 are based there, Mr Tredray says.

“The downstairs area is more challenging because of industrial noise, which can detract from teaching and learning. We are still investigating whether it is a problem, and if so how we can solve it with the teachers working collegially, or by making the rooms sound-proof.”

Mr Tredray is impressed with how his teachers have moved into MLE, considering it is a completely different way of teaching.

“In truth, I was a bit apprehensive.

Open-plan teaching in the ’80s was common in New Zealand, but didn’t fare too well, so they put the walls back up. It wasn’t really researched properly and maybe was introduced on a whim.”

The introduction of MLE at Northcross Intermediate has been more of a planned process backed by current research, he says, which has contributed to its success.

“Research has shown that working collectively, and providing break-out spaces and having specific areas for quiet teaching in small groups, and soundproof areas where ideas can be presented, enhances both teaching and learning.”

The calibre of the teachers is also an important factor, he notes, though he admits it can be a challenge for some teachers to change from the traditional teaching methods to the new pedagogy.

“To help the process, our teachers visited other MLE schools, and we also brought some of the new furniture into the rooms to see how it would work. Our teachers and staff have responded very

Case Study – Northcross Intermediate

teaching resources

well and are really making it work.

“MLE is really an extension of what we’ve been doing for a number of years at Northcross, but for which we needed the special rooms, the break-out spaces and the appropriate furniture.

“The Ministry of Education has been superb to work with in making the change to MLE. We enjoyed working with the Ministry’s property manager. And in terms of the curriculum, there is a definite change of psyche at the Ministry. There is greater co-ordination and a vision for leadership. I can see that change and it certainly makes our job easier.”

Mr Tredray has been in the teaching profession for 24 years, training in Wellington before starting his career in the rural sector. Contact with his sister’s flatmates, who were teacher trainees, had made him realise how much he enjoyed talking to people and he was inspired to take up the profession himself. He has been principal at Northcross Intermediate for 11 years, and says he joined the school because of his passion for middle school education.

“Northcross Intermediate provided me with the next challenge in my career, especially around curriculum development etc.

At intermediate level, having year 7 and 8 students provides an exciting challenge; it is a special age, with the students experiencing rapid growth both physically and emotionally.

“Puberty can be an emotional time for young people, it is a time when they are starting to question their parents and authority, developing their own abstract views on life.

“If we can help our students to define who they are through a challenging curriculum and explicit feedback they will go on to make positive contributions to our community.”

By Christine de Felice, Staff Reporter

TECHNOLOGY FURNITURE

ASK THE EXPERTS

DISTINCTION Visit our showroom at: 8 Couldry Street, Eden Terrace, Auckland P 09) 523 4092 F 09) 523 4093 W www.distinction.net.nz Term 1 - 2015

school news

31

Book Reviews

teaching resources First Week Blues

I was not having a good day.

Jesse Greenslade Self-published For ages 3-10

And so begins Suzanne Main’s highly entertaining, awardwinning story about the hapless Michael and his mate Elvis as they join forces with Mad Bill to save the Earth from impending alien invasion – facilitated by Michael’s grandma!

$10 wholesale to schools To order, email beyourhero@ outlook.co.nz

Little Red Riding Hood… Not Quite

An exciting new series from the creators of the best-selling Dinosaur Rescue books.

A captivating story for children aged three to 10, First Week Blues teaches children about possible challenges they may face starting something new.

In his foreword Chief Human Rights Commissioner David Rutherford says: “In First Week Blues Jesse Greenslade tells a story of a time in our lives when we are most likely to be excluded because we go to a new place where we do not know anybody and feel different from others. The story reminds us that everyone has fears to overcome and sometimes need support to do so.”

The story describes the first week of school for a little penguin called Blue.

Merek and his family are shape-shifting dragons, living in a human world. It is Merek’s heartfelt desire to become a knight, and when he gets chosen for Knight School, he thinks all his dreams have come true. But trying to keep his dragon identity secret – in an occupation that routinely sets out to vanquish dragons – proves a real test for the young trainee knight.

How I Alienated my Grandma Suzanne Main Illustrated by Fraser Williamson Scholastic For ages 9-11

Yvonne Morrison Illustrated by Donovan Bixley Scholastic For ages 3-7

Take one traditional fairy tale and one infuriatingly cheeky (albeit knowledgeable) child, and mix with the talented writing of Yvonne Morrison and the funny and creative illustrations of Donovan Bixley – and you have a recipe for fall-off-your-chair hilarity!

Robert Muchamore Imprint: Hodder Childrens For ages 14-18

Dragon Knight #1 Fire Kyle Mewburn llustrated by Donovan Bixley Scholastic For ages 7-10

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Term 1 - 2015

The Beginner’s Guide to Rugby

Aaron Cruden shares the highlights of his junior and professional rugby careers along with the skills and tricks you’ll need to become a rugby star.

How do you pass a rugby ball?

How do you take a drop kick?

How do you tackle a flying flanker?

First five-eighth Aaron Cruden brings you a beginner’s book of rugby for all ages. With his natural speed off the mark, agility and guile, Aaron’s step-by-step guide will help any keen player develop the basic skills required for success.

Through a social, emotional learning approach, the book promotes tolerance, vulnerability and acceptance, and celebrates diversity.

The book aims to boost a child's self-esteem and help them realise that being different is a positive trait.

Dylan is happiest lying on his bunk smoking, but his school rugby coach has other ideas, and Dylan reluctantly joins a band to avoid crunching tackles and icy mud. They're about to enter the biggest battle of their lives. And there's everything to play for.

Aaron Cruden Random House (NZ) Release date April 2, 2015 For all ages

Rock War

Blue is different from the other birds in his class. They think Blue is weird and do not accept him; they exclude and laugh at him.

As Blue's first week progresses the other birds' less visible vulnerabilities are exposed.

siblings and a terrible drummer.

Summer works hard at school, looks after her nan and has a one-in-a-million singing voice.

But can her talent triumph over her nerves?

Along with techniques and drills to learn basic passing, tackling, running, kicking, defensive and attacking play, it also features some of Aaron’s advanced moves, like the off-load and flick pass.

So what do you do if you unearth a strange gadget in your garden – with disastrous results?

At precisely 4.23 in the afternoon, my grandma turned into an alien.

Correction. At precisely 4.23 in the afternoon, I turned my grandma into an alien.

Meet Jay. Summer. And Dylan.

Jay plays guitar, writes songs and dreams of being a rock star. But his ambitions are stifled by seven

Aaron also provides some fun facts about rugby, as well as advice on how to play for your school, province or Super Rugby team, and the things you will need to do to become an All Black.

E-Learning

teaching resources

Video-based learning goes interactive with cutting-edge service Educational resource supplier eTV, the largest provider of New Zealand television video content to hundreds of schools around New Zealand, has just gone live with a cutting-edge, new service.

Designed to take video-based learning to a whole new level, Zaption is developed in San Francisco and is already sweeping the United Sates education sector, eTV general manager Gresham Bradley says. “eTV is the only organisation outside the US to have established a partnership with Zaption.”

He describes it as the “single biggest leap forward in user functionality eTV has ever taken”.

“Instead of just watching videos, Zaption makes video content completely interactive, giving teachers control over all aspects of the video, enabling them to deliver it to their students in a totally interactive and accessible way. Zaption is customisable, so teachers can add clips from all video material taken from eTV’s vast library, and from YouTube and Vimeo.

“They can also add text and images and links to websites, using all this material to build their own interactive video lessons.

These interactive videos are referred to as ‘tours’, which take the students on a journey of learning.

“The tours can be saved and shared with other teachers, who can then add their own material to create new tours, and personalise them by adding their photo and an introduction, with the original video still being saved. Nothing is locked, all material is open to be edited.”

Students can access Zaption tours made by their teachers when a teacher either embeds that tour into an LMS or “invites” the student to access it by email.

Student activity using Zaption is tracked so teachers get immediate, actionable assessment data enabling them to improve their instruction if needed and personalise learning for their students.

Zaption enables teachers to pose questions to students by inserting a graphic giving multi-choice

answers. Students enter the answers into their computer and the answers from each student are assembled and stored for the teacher to look at later.

Zaption also acts as an assessment tool, enabling the teacher to ascertain if the students have understood the questions.

Digital learning management systems such as Moodle and Blackboard, which some teachers use, can also be linked into Zaption, Mr Bradley says, and for teachers using Pond, eTV Zaption is the “perfect fit”. “eTV is fully integrated with Zaption, so users don’t have to re-register with Zaption once they are logged into eTV,” he says, “and all eTV subscribers get a free basic Zaption account, which has a high level of functionality, and it adds huge value to their eTV subscription.”

By Christine de Felice, Staff Reporter

Term 1 - 2015

school news

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E-Learning – Case Study

teaching resources

New service impresses accounting faculty Debbie Williams is the Faculty Co-ordinator for accounting for ACG NZIC (Academic Colleges Group - New Zealand International College). She is based at the ACG city campus in Auckland.

ACG is exclusively contracted to deliver The University of Auckland Certificate in Foundation Studies and the AUT University Certificate in Foundation Studies on behalf of the respective universities.

ACG is an eTV subscriber, and Mrs Williams’ first exposure to Zaption was at the end of last year when Campbell Downie from eTV did a presentation for PD (professional development) to

show the faculty staff what it was all about.

“We were all impressed by being able to add images, questions and discussions to the videos,” Mrs Williams says. “The trimming feature would also be great, as often you don't need the whole video, you just want a portion of it. The other feature that we liked was the analytics to track student progress.

“The obvious benefit was the interactivity of the learning – the students are not just watching the video, they will be involved and more engaged.

“As the faculty co-ordinator of accounting I have made videos of all of my PowerPoints,” Mrs

Williams says. “These are uploaded into the private ACG library on eTV, which saves storage space on our servers.

At ACG we use the Blackboard Learn LMS. The students access the videos through links on Blackboard Learn. All of our students have iPads and we have produced e-texts, which are in PDF expert. The accounting e-texts include links to the Blackboard links. This means the students can access the videos while they are reading their e-text, or if they prefer, they can go onto Blackboard Learn and watch the video from there.

“The students watch the videos regularly and the main advantage of this is that they are listening to a teacher from their school and

so they know that the content is relevant to their course of study.

It is very difficult to find material on the internet for accounting that is the right level for our students in terms of language (we teach international students) and also in terms of relevant content. The videos have been used as part of the flipped classroom and for revision.

“Zaption will enhance the learning experience as I have described above. I will be able to update the videos by adding images and quizzes and make them interactive. Once we have Zaption I can gradually start to update the videos.”

By Christine de Felice, Staff Reporter

Learning platform tailored to fit specific requirements New Zealand built learning platform Ultranet is currently in use by over 250 schools across the country.

In a ‘one size does not fit all’ environment, modular functionality and flexible monthly licensing enables it to be tailored to the specific learning and communication requirements of schools from primary to secondary.

The core modules present a range of website, virtual classroom and personal learning tools through one cohesive portal and user provisioning system. The full suite is packed with features; however, most schools elect to identify a particular area that they wish to focus on as part of their wider objectives and start with a narrow subset of functionality.

The beauty of the platform is that taking the next step is then simply an extension of what has already been achieved.

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The following two examples illustrate how two schools are using Ultranet to support the achievement of defined learning outcomes. Lincoln Primary School in Canterbury has been actively developing its use of Ultranet since 2012.

“Over the last two years Lincoln Primary School has made significant progress in its strategic goal to “be recognised as a leader by demonstrating how eLearning best practice supports and enhances communication and educational outcomes,” deputy principal/ eLearning strategist. Cade Englefield says.

“At Lincoln Primary School we are actively using the Ultranet Learning Management System in a range of ways to support our realisation of our strategic goal: •

We are using the WebSpace as a repository of real time information for our community and

USpace and introduction of ePortfolios through the Ultranet Learning Management System has enabled our school to move from belief to action in this area and make authentic connections between students, teachers and parents/caregivers around learning,” Mr Englefield says.

as a first port of call for prospective families wishing to find out more about the culture and curriculum our school has to offer learners.

•

Our ClassSpaces enable students and teachers to showcase learning to the global community and connect with families around the implementation of ‘Our Curriculum’.

•

“At Lincoln Primary school we believe eLearning provides limitless opportunities for students to explore, create and share in personalised learning environments. The use of

•

“The Ultranet Learning Management system, including use of the Web Interface and Mobile Application has also played a significant supporting role in the successful 36

Turn online videos into interactive learning experiences that engage students, deepen understanding and track progress.

Only one service can give your School access to thousands of educational videos from TV and the Internet with Zaption Basic now free to all Subscribers.

(For less than the price of a coffee, per student, per year)

Go to www.etv.org.nz or call 09 300 6880 to find out more The Education Television and Video Communications Trust is a not-for-profit Trust approved by the Minister of Education as an Education Resource Supplier under the Copyright Act S.48.

E-Learning

teaching resources

need to complete for each of their learning areas;

34 •

implementation of our iPad based Bring Your Own Device programme and supported the principles of interdependence, agency and flexibility that are at the core of BYOD programme.”

Huanui College in Northland wanted a system that would: 1.

36

Assist students to manage the array of learning tasks and homework that they

2.

3.

Provide individual subject teachers with visibility of a year group’s total workload at any point in time; Provide parents with visibility of their child’s learning responsibilities.

Ultranet’s class pages and task activity dashboard provided an effective solution.

Using the virtual classroom

‘Tasks’ module teachers can set media-rich assignments and homework online. An associated messaging thread can be activated to enable students to post questions related to the task and progress can be monitored online via a class list.

Students can submit tasks electronically or simply mark the task as complete and hand in a hard copy.

Each student has an aggregated view of all tasks associated with each of their classes. These are displayed on their ‘My Tasks’ dashboard in due date order.

Clicking on a task tile opens the full description of the task. When

tasks are completed ahead of time, the due date changes colour from red to green to help the student keep track of progress.

By using a specially created ‘test student’ account, teachers can see all tasks and assignments that have been set in all subjects across a single year level.

This enables them to gauge the level of pressure that students may be under at any point in time.

When a parent logs in to the Ultranet parent portal they can see the tasks assigned to their child and the dates that these are due for completion.

As a student, I like Ultranet because it lets me...

Hand in work online and reminds me when each learning task is due.

Tfifikfi

Nfififififififififififi

Safely ask my teachers and school mates questions when I need to.

Ffirumfi

Mefififigefi

Share my learning journey and daily progress with my parents.

ePfirfiffilfififi

school news

Term 1 - 2015

Pfirefifi Pfirfifil

Find all my class materials in one place, no matter where I am.

Clfififi Pfigefi

Ofilfifie Ffilefi

Keep up to date with what’s going on around school and in my classes.

Nfifififiefi

Afififivfifiy Feedfi

Use my own device to capture learning experiences.

Web App

Mfibfile App

Video creates a collaborative culture

Video Collaboration

teaching resources

Marci Powell Global Director Education Industry Solutions, Polycom

In my last article I discussed the myriad of ways technology is changing the way teachers teach and students learn. Virtual learning using video collaboration allows us to create classrooms without walls while still delivering a personal face-to-face experience.

At Polycom, we are committed to helping educators transform and improve the way they work. This means designing the technology that empowers educators to create a workplace and learning environment of the future. One that delivers real-world benefits like helping schools retain bestof-breed teachers by being able to offer them flexible working arrangements. One that also provides the ability to break down barriers, allowing teachers to collaborate with other teachers throughout New Zealand, sharing ideas, best practice and resources.

I am often asked to explain the biggest issue schools face when introducing video and online learning for the first time. For me, this is the change-management process – the steps and planning required to ensure a successful integration of technology into a school’s curriculum.

Perhaps one of the best ways to address this question is to highlight a local example. I would now like to share a Q & A with Polycom customer, Carolyn Alexander-Bennett, E-Principal of FarNet. Carolyn provides insights into how video collaboration has been successfully introduced into the FarNet community of schools.

What is FarNet? Established 10 years ago, FarNet emerged out of a project funded by the NZ Ministry of Education, which through Asnet Technologies, provided Polycom video conferencing equipment to schools with the aim of sharing teacher resources in the senior curriculum. FarNet represents one geographic cluster of seven

online school communities located throughout New Zealand and this year there will be 24 schools within the FarNet community. All member schools belong to the New Zealand Virtual Learning Network Community, a charitable trust and our professional body.

We share teaching and resources so that within our smaller rural schools, students can remain at their school of choice for longer.

We deliver access to a wide range of learning opportunities ensuring students have more viable options for their future. This is important for our smaller FarNet schools as it has helped ensure their survival as they are no longer losing senior students, who previously relocated to city schools to continue their education.

Many of our schools are area schools, Year 1 through to Year 13, but the senior school Year 10-13 could only be 15 students, making it difficult to offer the range of subjects found in city schools. Our smallest school, Te Hapua, is located just 30km from Cape Reinga with 80 students from Year 1 through to Year 13 including nine college students.

Te Hapua Year 9 and 10 students are taught at school, while Year

11 students currently travel four hours (return) to Kaitaia every day for lessons. In 2015, our aim is for Year 11 students to remain in Te Hapua where they will study virtually, eliminating their commute.

Can you describe your role as an E-Principal?

For the last six years, FarNet has been self-funding, though the Ministry provides a number of services to support the video conferencing bridge, which allows multiple sites to connect, including online tools. My role is to lead this online community and like other e-Principals within the wider New Zealand network, we operate in a similar fashion working collaboratively with each other, while maintaining our unique cluster identity, reflective of the type of schools and needs in our respective communities.

How do you create a classroom without walls?

The core use of video in most schools is for our students to attend classes. This happens at a set time each week for an hour, and is supported with a further three to four hours of learning. We initially started with

senior subjects, NCEA Level 1-3, however we now offer courses at Year 9 & 10 and this year we will offer language courses at Year 7 & 8.

The e-teacher might have two or three of their own students with them while teaching. There will be up to 15 students from around the country joining the class and they can all see each other and their teacher. Students then continue their work collaboratively using social media and online learning management tools.

What type of Polycom solutions are you and the schools within the network using?

Many of our early adopter schools are still using their original Polycom VSX6000 video conferencing equipment. As new schools join FarNet they purchase the latest room-based models, which are fantastic to use.

We also use Polycom Real Presence Desktop, which has changed the way we work. We can now work anywhere, anytime and from any device including laptop, tablet or smartphone.

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Video Collaboration

teaching resources

37 This has transformed FarNet into a workplace of the future as we can offer employment opportunities for teachers wanting to work part-time or from home. Using video collaboration, teachers now have more choice and flexibility and this means we can keep good teachers within the education system for longer.

Has the rollout of the Government’s UltraFast Broadband made a difference?

Absolutely. When we first started teaching online through video collaboration we could only see the last person who spoke on camera, but now with additional bandwidth, we can use more advanced features of the solution to see all our students on screen at the same time, and they see themselves and each other.

This has been hugely beneficial for creating a real classroom environment. Students have been amazed at the changes made possible through ultra-fast broadband and schools moving to the Network for Learning initiative.

What is one really cool thing you have been able to achieve with video collaboration that you could not do before?

A few years ago I was teaching accounting using video and I looked out the window of my home office, which overlooks Tapuaetahi Bay and saw a pod of dolphins. I stopped the class, turned my camera around and zoomed in. Many of the students had never seen dolphins before and although it had nothing to do with our lesson, it was one of those “educational moments” you don’t forget. Breaking down barriers, engaging students and showing them the possibilities of the technology.

What benefits are you seeing from using video technology – for students, for teachers?

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Our e-teachers are initially challenged as to how to take what works best in the classroom and transfer this to an online environment. Once they have experienced online teaching we see them taking what works back into their face-to-face classes. This is where we are seeing truly powerful learning and collaboration as teachers stop seeing themselves as deliverers of information. They release this control, letting students learn in a more blended environment. Students and teachers are collaborating and learning together, which creates a higher trust environment. Video technology is fostering more informal communities of practice among teachers with collaboration and sharing through meetings to discuss common challenges.

What advice would you offer teachers starting out on their video collaboration journey?

I ask them to remember what it felt like to be a first-year teacher, as this is similar to how it will feel when they first start teaching online. It is also important for teachers to share with students that they are anxious about using technologies. Students will appreciate this. Although we refer to our current generation as “digital natives” this does not mean they know how to use these technology tools in an educational context either. Teachers also need to be prepared to take advice from their students as to what tools are best to communicate with them and share in the learning.

For example, students do not use email, they instant message, use Facebook and other forms of social media. It’s about understanding how students prefer to communicate online and being prepared to adapt and participate in the journey with the students.

Are you an advocate of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies for students in the digital learning environment?

There are huge advantages for BYOD, but it has to be based around pedagogy, student learning and engagement. Fifteen years ago my own children were required to bring their own devices to school, however it was a waste of time as the teachers were not prepared. It can’t just be replacing a pen with a tablet or laptop. It cannot be restricted to certain apps either, but it must be about what the apps allow you to do and how this transposes or assists in learning or collaboration.

I believe not one thing alone will make the difference, but that a range of tools are needed so I am a great believer in a blended approach. I also use a learning workbook because we still need to prepare students to sit and write for three hours at year-end exams. For me, it’s good for the soul to get away from my devices and read a book, so I believe it’s the same for students.

How do you use mobile devices like tablets and smartphones within the learning environment?

We have a one-hour weekly video conference with our online students, which doesn’t seem a great deal of teaching time, and in fact a lot of the teaching actually takes place outside our online environment. Using the flipped classroom approach, I use video conference time as the opportunity for students to share their learning and ask their questions from the previous week’s work or learning. It is also an opportunity for them to talk with each other, rather than being teacher driven.

Having access to devices during class time is a great learning tool as students can share digital content to show their work.

Unfortunately not all students have this resource, but I think it will rapidly increase, because we are using complementary online learning management tools as more and more students have smartphones. Most schools have wireless and instead of banning smartphones many schools are

seeing their educational benefit as a learning device.

How do you measure success / ROI for your investment in video collaboration technologies?

Success for us is not just measured by hard student achievement data but we look at student engagement leading to student achievement and therefore we are enabling students to have a voice about their enjoyment in their classes.

We are also measuring student retention during the year and through student surveys we are able to use their feedback for our e-teachers. We also measure success on how prepared we are making our e-students for future tertiary study and we informally receive lots of feedback from our past students on how this experience has helped them with university.

Is there anything else you would like to share?

I believe video collaboration has broken down the competitiveness of our schools, especially city schools, creating a collaborative and supportive community. New Zealand is too small to not be sharing teaching resources and we are seeing a real shift in our education culture towards more sharing without a fear of others judging. There is also a ripple effect happening from our online classes into our face-to-face classes. Over time I believe this will pave the way for dropping the e- from e-learning. It will just be referred to as learning and become our future way of working.

Marci Powell is Polycom’s global director for Education Industry Solutions and chair emerita and past president of the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA).

A former teacher, she has over 20 years’ experience in her field, with expertise in thought-leadership and strategic planning in the use of technology to address education needs.

food & beverage School Lunches

Online lunch services extend the choices While there are a number of ways for parents and schools to provide healthy lunches for students, more of them are embracing the concept of online lunch ordering for its convenience and ease of use. At the same time, providers of the service are also extending the options.

As David Chapman of Lunchonline points out, schools can run their own canteens, outsource from a third party, have a food provider come into the school, or use Lunchonline, which includes all three options or combinations of them.

“We can work with all these parties to make it easier for parents and the schools to provide lunches in whichever way they wish, and eliminate the administration involved. Our online service is like a ‘virtual’ food court.

“We are wanting to work with school canteens and we are currently doing a trial at two schools in Auckland to put school cafeterias online and give the people involved all the benefits of ordering online.

“For the parents, they can go online, they know what the kids are getting for lunch, and there are no cash transactions to worry about. The cafeteria staff no longer have to deal with money, so it avoids potential loss of cash.

“They don’t have to work out how much food they need each

day, avoiding the problems of not having enough or potential leftovers. They know exactly what to get ready for the students, and there are no queues – the students just go in and pick up their order.

“A trial was done at Paparoa School in Christchurch in term four 2014,” Mr Chapman says, “and as a result, sales increased, things were a lot more organised and there was no food waste.”

The Lunchonline service can be provided on as many days of the week the school wants, he says, and the number of days usually depends on the size of the school.

“For example, we have a school in Christchurch that uses our service four days a week, with a different food provider each day.”

Not all schools have a cafeteria or can afford the expense of their own cafeteria, but for the larger schools, running their own cafeteria is viable, Mr Chapman says.

“For that reason, we don’t target high schools, which are the larger schools. Our target is primary schools, where parents do the organising of lunches. For some of the smaller primary schools, which can be financially challenged, our service could help them by getting rid of administration and cash handling and reduce food waste.

It’s an opportunity we believe could fit in with any primary 40 school.”

“We are extremely happy with the Lunchonline service because it is efficient, streamlined, very well organised, offers a fantastic menu and most importantly the children love it.”

David O’Neill, Principal, St Mary’s School

Term 1 - 2015

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School Lunches

food & beverage

39 Sandra Finlay, director of the online lunch ordering service ezlunch (easy-lunch), says the convenience of the service is just one reason schools and parents find it so beneficial.

“Providing lunches in the traditional way can be a big hassle for schools. But online lunch ordering is very easy. For a lot of schools, they just like to know it’s there and they don’t need to do anything, it just happens.”

Having set up the service four years ago due to her own daughter’s food intolerance, and the “lack of good options” at her school tuckshop, Ms Finlay says ezlunch continues to have a strong focus on additive-free “real” food as well, quoting “convenience without compromise” as their motto.

“Schools that join the ezlunch service advise the parents that it’s available, and we find a food outlet in the area that has good-quality, fresh food. That’s important. Our work with the Heart Foundation Fuelled4Life initiative helps us manage this so schools can be confident they are creating a school environment that supports healthy eating.

“Most of our café suppliers offer hot and cold meals as well as snacks and drinks. These include popular items such as lasagne, spaghetti Bolognese and butter chicken. They also provide cold choices such as sushi, which is always a big seller and pitas

40

“We can customise the menus to suit each school’s preferences and choice of supplier, while at the same time putting the emphasis on real food options, and encouraging children to make healthier food choices.” and sandwiches. We believe it’s important to give students a really good lunch so they’re energised for the rest of the day.”

Ms Finlay says they also work with schools’ requirements, providing nut-free menus and even halal meals. The ezlunch service is continuing to grow, celebrating its 250,000th order late last year. It is available nationwide and schools are welcome to contact them to discuss setting it up, Ms Finlay says.

“We will find a local supplier, or if there is an outlet the school wants to work with, we will arrange it.”

The ease of online payment, and

no cash at school, is another key benefit for the schools and the parents. Ms Finlay hasn’t stopped with ezlunch, recently adding Kindo to her offering for schools, which enables schools to take sports registrations, sell uniforms and stationery, fundraise and collect donations through the same easy interface.

“We want to partner with our schools to help them get on with the more important tasks, keeping students and schools healthy.”

Online supplier thelunchboxclub is another company wanting to extend its lunch service for schools by working with onsite canteens as well as off-site suppliers, owner Janine Collins says.

“We can customise the menus to suit each school’s preferences and choice of supplier, while at the same time putting the emphasis on real food options, and encouraging children to make healthier food choices.”

Establishing thelunchboxclub to provide healthy food was the opportunity to let kids know that real food doesn’t come in packets, Ms Collins says.

| 0800 LUNCHBOX school news

Term 1 - 2015

“I’m passionate about making sure there are healthy food choices for children and helping them understand that the best thing they

can do for their bodies is to eat good food.”

Since establishing thelunchboxclub in mid-2013, Ms Collins has worked on making her website as user-friendly as possible, so parents and schools find it easy and convenient to use, while at the same time it is promoting the healthy eating message.

“We take a more holistic approach and work with trusted suppliers to create, prepare and supply quality food. On the website we use our Traffic Light Food Guide to categorise the foods. This was developed with the help of a nutritionist from Auckland, who created and consults on school meal services in Australia and the UK. “The green light foods are the fresh and most nutritious items, like items including vegetables, such as chicken wraps and pinwheel sandwiches, which can be eaten as often as children want. The orange light foods are the more occasional foods, such as mac n cheese, which is tasty but doesn’t offer as much nutrition, and the red light foods are the treat items, like pies and chocolate brownies.”

Ms Collins says theluncboxclub is “more than just a lunch service – it adds value”.

School Lunches

food & beverage

“We offer a regular email newsletter to our subscribers, which includes nutrition tips and ideas for healthy food preparation.”

The service is currently operating in Whangarei, Tauranga, Mt Maunganui and Rotorua, though it can work with schools anywhere in New Zealand, Ms Collins says.

Giving schools a head start in providing healthier foods is the Heart Foundation Fuelled4life, initiative, which is based on the Ministry of Health’s Food and Beverage Classification System (FBCS).

A free, practical tool it aims to increase access for young people to healthier food and beverages,

to inspire food services to provide tasty, nutritious products and to encourage the food industry to produce and supply healthier foods and beverages young people will want to consume.

Classification System nutrient criteria to food service businesses such as those who supply lunch to schools, without compromising the taste of the food and profit margins.

Food companies register products with Fuelled4life, they are classified into ‘everyday’ or ‘sometimes’ according to the FBCS nutrient criteria and they are listed in the Schools Buyers’ Guides. The nutrient criteria are based on levels of energy, fat, sugar, salt and fibre.

Fresh Made is aimed at customers and providers, so children have healthy food options and businesses continue to grow, the foundation says. If a school or ECE service wants to ensure their fresh-made food either prepared by themselves or from a catering company is of high nutrient value, Fresh Made has a compliance programme ensuring food consistently meets the nutrient criteria.

The foundation has now launched Fresh Made, a category of Fuelled4life, with the aim of providing nutrient guidelines for non-packaged foods. Fresh Made introduces the Food and Beverage

“It is an important step towards

creating healthier learners, as many schools use online lunch programmes or local food suppliers to provide meals for students and, as a consequence, have a large impact on child health and nutrition,” Fuelled4life manager, Larissa Beeby says.

“It’s often challenging for busy canteens or caterers to get the right balance of taste and nutrition while still being affordable. Fresh Made aims to support school canteens and other local food suppliers in making foods they prepare healthier.”

By Christine de Felice, Staff Reporter

Term 1 - 2015

school news

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food & beverage Supplier Profile | Up&Go Vending Partnership Programme

Have a go with Up & Go: The Epsom Girls Grammar way!

Epsom Girls Grammar has a vision to be future ready!

in a sport whether it be competitive or non-competitive. The benefits of sports has a huge impact on many students at Epsom Girls Grammar because it teaches them lifelong skills.

Throughout 2014 many students found that the vending machines were a great asset to the school and provided a quick and cheap nutritional value to help with their busy school lives.

THE MOST STRIKING picture one takes away from the very first time you visit Epsom Girls Grammar School – is its strong values and tradition.

The partnership with Sanitarium through the Up&Go Vending Partnership Programme is all about participation - a vital cog in the life of each student, whether as an individual or as a member of a team, healthy choices plays an important role in the social, emotional and physical development of young girls.

Mrs Amanda Slade, Director of Sports, has a passion for girls achieving in sports and is a keen supporter of the Up & Go Vending Partnership Programme, she sees health and lifestyle choice start from an early age.

“Growing up I played many sports and was a National and International representative. I knew growing up that breakfast was the most important meal of the day but making time to eat in the mornings was not. The older I got, I realised some form of nutrition, first thing in the morning played a huge part in my education and early morning trainings.”

Successful sports experiences provide benefits – gains in social and interpersonal competence, fitness, healthy mind, and psychological wellbeing – that have been shown to last throughout life.

For a school that has one of the largest sports programmes in the country, Epsom Girls Grammar, focuses on developing skills as well as developing a love of the sport.

Girls are encouraged to participate in either competitive or non-competitive competitions. One of the school wide goals is to encourage students to participate in an extra co-curricular activities and by offering 45 sporting codes at Epsom Girls Grammar it gives the students a variety of options to excel in any sport.

Epsom Girls Grammar, saw an opportunity with the Up&Go Vending Partnership Programme, to earn Partner Proceeds to invest in their students but to also support the girls to model healthy lifestyles and make healthy choices each day.

Emma, Yr 13, is Sports Captain Prefect who leads a busy life with her

academic studies and sports. She is the captain of the running squad, a keen tennis player and plays netball.

To keep up with her busy schedule of school and sports she regularly sips on Up & Go especially after her morning training runs. Emma loves the convenience of two vending machines available to her as this enables her to quickly grab one on her way to her next class.

Katie, Yr 13, Deputy Sports Captain Prefect is a member of the Premier Netball team and the captain of the Senior Touch team. She trains every day, if not twice a day. Katie stays in the school hostel which means she has set times for her meals, especially morning breakfast. “Having the

vending machines next to the stadium gives me plenty of time to have a nutritional breakfast before I start school, even the teachers are happy for us to drink them in class.”

Bella Yr 11 student, plays Cricket for the 1st XI school team and is an Auckland Cricket representative. Her daily routine of items to take to school are books, phone, PE gear and $2.50 if not more for her Up & Go! “I will have one, even two Up & Go’s a day, cos they are nice and cold and they give me enough energy for my trainings and games.”

Mrs Slade, said, “…at Epsom Girls Grammar there is a huge emphasis on students to have a go and participate

Sanitarium is proud and excited to partner with Epsom Girls Grammar and the Up&Go Vending Partnership Programme! And through this partnership we share similar values of students being at their best physically, mentally and spiritually.

Epsom Girls is a supportive learning community which challenges young women to achieve personal excellence and to develop as confident, caring, life-long learners positively engaged in our world. Epsom Girls represents a personalised commitment to building well-rounded graduates and supporting high performance students across sports, creative and performing arts, leadership and academic endeavours.

Sanitarium enthusiastically supports the student mojo, ‘Have a Go with Up & Go’ and benefits gained from the Up&Go Vending Partnership Programme at Epsom Girls Grammar.

Supporting Local Communities Breakfast in Schools Partnership Vending Programme: Making a difference for our children, making a difference for our schools and paying dividends for life.

0800 UPANDGO | www.UPANDGOVENDING.co.nz

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UP&GO Breakfast in Schools Partnership Vending Programme:

No risks.

No costs.

Just partnership rebates.

Making a difference for our children, Making a difference for our schools and paying dividends for life.

For more information please contact: Fitu Ah-Young

National Key Account Manager - Schools Vending

021 864 836 fitu.ahyoung@sanitarium.co.nz

www.UPANDGOVENDING.co.nz

Drinking Water

food & beverage

A new era for drinking water It has been a hot, dry summer and students throughout the country have undoubtedly been imbibing untold litres of water to slake their thirst and try to keep themselves cool as temperatures reached high levels.

using materials resistant to vandalism and recessed bottle fillers.

He says that in parts of New Zealand, while the water may be safe to drink, it may not taste pleasant, and this is when filters are essential in the playground fountains if children are to use them.

So too would their teachers, although they have the advantage of being able to partake of regular cups of tea and coffee in the staffroom, or keep their own healthy, cool drinks in the fridge.

At such times, being able to rehydrate frequently is a necessity.

Thirst is not always a reliable guide of when one should drink water and it is important to provide facilities that encourage pupils to use them. While most schools have drinking fountains in the playground, they provide cool liquid at best and have often changed very little in decades.

They are not likely to be tempting to today’s generation of pupils who are reared on technology and will want their water ice cold in the summer heat.

There are also health factors to be considered. While New Zealand schools are largely free of the drinking water risks that affect schools in many other countries, because of our regular rainfall and stringent government and council health standards, some risks do remain – particularly in schools outside the main metropolitan areas. The Ministry of Health

44

“Young people these days like to drink from fountains that look clean, bright and colourful, not from fountains that are old and rusty.”

Modern water fountains make drinking both safer and more enjoyable. has regulations regarding the treatment of rural water supplies to meet the New Zealand Drinking Water Standards. While it happens only rarely here, water-borne infections might affect large numbers before the problem can be corrected, and the consequences can be severe.

The problem does not always emanate from the reticulated water supply but might be in outdated plumbing or even within the playground fountains themselves.

Expert assistance Schools concerned about the quality of their drinking water will find no shortage of companies that can provide everything from bottled water to a wide range of purification equipment. Mountain Fresh, Pure Water Products and

AREYOUR KIDS HYDRATED? • Under Bench Filters & Chillers • Water Coolers & Fountains

• Class & Staffroom Water Filters • Roof, Tank & Bore Water Treatment

0800 746 744 Email: info@purewater.co.nz 320 Barton St, HAMILTON

Courier Nationwide • www.purewater.co.nz school news

Term 1 - 2015

TapWaterWells are three of the main ones.

Mountain Fresh Ltd, for instance, has a range of domestic and commercial water purifiers available, also including UV sterilisation units, coolers and fountains.

Purewater Products are water filtration experts who can provide advice on the most cost-effective way to install and maintain a range of water-purifying systems so schools, students and teaching staff can all benefit from having access to pure water.

TapWaterWells started 15 years ago and managing director Ian McCormick says the company has frequently been an innovator in the development of ideas for drinking fountains, for example

Mr McCormick says school staff have told him that where stylish new fountains with filters have been introduced, children will actively fill the drink bottles they have brought to school and re-fill them throughout the day with filtered water.

“Children are influenced by the appearance of our new drinking fountains and refilling stations.

They look fresh and clean and the children like to drink from them. The more we can influence children in drinking clean fresh water, the better off they’ll be.”

Economic factors in controlling water usage in the future will be increasingly important to schools, he says.

“Pupils cannot always be relied upon to turn off the taps on olderstyle fountains, so we developed our fountains with a push-button.

When you let the button go, the water flow stops,” he says.

food & beverage Drinking Water

Concentration and health

playgrounds,” Mr McCarthy says.

Mountain Fresh director Grant McCarthy is trying to make schools realise that even simple solutions about water can be very helpful to students. He says many schools have not spent any money on ensuring their drinking fountains are robust, user-friendly, or making the water nice to taste.

Purewater Products co-owner Julie Cleaver agrees that adequate hydration is essential for learning.

He points out that teachers, as well as students, enjoy having fresh, filtered, cold water in staff rooms, “yet some of our children are still drinking water out of old outdated drinking fountains that their parents used when they were at school.

“Dehydration reduces concentration and a child’s memory as well as making them lethargic and drowsy – even more so after lunch when they’ve been active on the fields and

“It is widely accepted that drinking water is vital for maintaining good health and that drinking enough water to provide sufficient hydration of the body is paramount. Improved hydration of the body has multiple benefits as scientific research now shows that water is the solvent that regulates all functions of the body.

“For children, adequate hydration at school will improve their overall performance. Dehydration, resulting from not enough water, is now believed to affect cognitive function. Dehydration can lead to headaches, poor concentration, low energy and overall impact on their learning,” she says.

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Mr McCarthy says that while some parents provide sugar and glucose-based drinks to take to school, all these do is give children a sweet dehydrating liquid – not proper hydration.

“If you Google studies on not drinking enough water, you find concentration levels in children and their behaviour and general tiredness proves what most adults know – they need water and plenty of it.

“Drinking plenty of clean, fresh, filtered water helps with learning and remembering what you learnt. Most teachers are well aware of the importance of keeping their students hydrated.

Isn't it easier and more fulfilling for teachers to work with alert individuals that haven't got to be reminded every five minutes about what they have just been taught?”

Julie Cleaver says water has many benefits for improving and maintaining good health for all ages, and it is a school’s responsibility to provide water for its students.

“Schools have an obligation to provide good-quality, pure water without chlorine, chemicals and other contaminants. There are many options available, such as filtration to purify both town treated and rural water supplies including bore, spring and rainwater.

“There are also many options for schools that wish to provide chilled cooled water to their students. These include water coolers, fountains and under bench chiller units,” she says.

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Ph: 0800 473 487 | www.tapwaterwells.co.nz Term 1 - 2015

school news

45

Camp Gallipoli

external learning

Camp Gallipoli a chance to commemorate WWI centenary New Zealand schools are being encouraged to get behind the Camp Gallipoli event and School Programme as part of commemorations marking 100 years since the landing of New Zealand and Australian forces at Anzac Cove in 1915.

that are just as relevant today as they were 100 years ago. Teaching and encouraging our young people to incorporate ANZAC values into their everyday lives will prove to be an invaluable part of their education and development,” Mr Latta said.

Christopher Fox, Camp Gallipoli Foundation CEO, says Camp Gallipoli aims to provide a useful context for students to explore the concept of historical significance and develop their historical thinking.

Camp Gallipoli is to be held overnight on April 24, 2015 at Ellerslie Racecourse. It provides Kiwis of all ages the opportunity to sleep under the stars, just like our ANZAC soldiers did 100 years ago, and to wake to a dawn service on Anzac Day itself.

As part of Camp Gallipoli, schools are being given a unique opportunity through the School Programme to access one of the most comprehensive online databases in Australasia, focusing on New Zealand’s involvement in the Great War, including Gallipoli. The material includes interviews and transcripts with the last remaining ANZACs and WWI correspondents, ANZAC Diaries and major world speeches including American President Woodrow Wilson declaring war on Germany on April 6, 1917.

Nigel Latta, psychologist,

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“Camp Gallipoli is an essential event for all school children and their families. It provides young New Zealanders the opportunity to participate in the ANZAC centenary commemoration, the most significant commemoration to take place in our lifetime. author, host of The Politically Incorrect Parenting Show and a Camp Gallipoli ambassador, is encouraging school communities and parents to get behind both the Camp Gallipoli event and the School Programme to ensure the ANZAC spirit lives on.

“Bringing together our young New Zealanders to commemorate

and reflect on the campaigns undertaken by the ANZAC soldiers highlights the importance of what was achieved a century ago by those prepared to put their lives on the line for future generations.

“I believe there is enormous value in this opportunity to reinforce the ANZAC values of mateship, respect and camaraderie – values

“One hundred years ago thousands of our nation’s youngest and bravest would have gathered at similar campsites before embarking on their long journey to fight for New Zealand.

“Participation in Camp Gallipoli, will ensure the memory of WW1 and of the thousands who lost their lives will be kept alive for generations to come,” Mr Fox said.

external learning Supplier Profile | Spirit of Adventure Trust

Just add water and watch them grow Developing young people into future, well-grounded citizens and leaders is at the forefront of the Spirit of Adventure Trust’s programme. It’s what they’re passionate about and there are tens of thousands of people all over New Zealand who can personally vouch for the experience and the positive effects it had on their lives.

None more so than participating schools and teachers, and parents from all over the country who have seen their teenagers return from a Spirit of Adventure Trust 10-day youth development voyage motivated and excited about their future.

These voyages aren’t a holiday on a ship. They’re about 40 young people coming together from all over New Zealand and learning from each other skills in communication, leadership, self-discipline, resilience, co-operation, confidence and tolerance.

In a letter to the Trust about his students’ experiences, former Director of Sport at De La Salle College, Iain Simms says: “The environment in which the Spirit

subsidies to families facing financial hardship.

of New Zealand places students is so foreign that it’s difficult for them to initially comprehend. But this is where the true value of the voyage lies – Being dropped into this context strips them of dependence on others and creates a type of individual thinking and self-awareness that is new and positive for the student.”

Recent University research on the effects of a Spirit of Adventure Trust 10-day youth development voyage back up years of anecdotal evidence, with results indicating that students coming off the ship show a marked increase in selfesteem, resilience and social skills.

The Trust works closely with schools, building relationships and ensuring that all students, no matter what their background or financial situation, have equal opportunity to participate in these valuable voyages of discovery. “Whether they are the head girl/boy or struggling amongst their peers, as long as they meet the criteria set, anyone aged between 1518 years is welcome to apply,” says Kylie Sisley, School Co-ordinator at the Spirit.

If funding for the voyage is an issue for the family, Spirit has that covered too. They have a funding assistance programme and offer grants and

Beth Humphrey aged 17 from Te Atatu (pictured) completed her 10-Day voyage in May 2013. She loved the experience so much, she has since returned on a Student Trustee voyage as a participant and sailed twice as a Leading Hand (in a volunteer crew position). “My 10-day voyage was such an incredible experience. I learnt so much about myself and it gave me confidence in my ability to lead others. At the same time I discovered my love for the sea – that was pretty special.”

Beths comments are like the many thousands of other Trainees who have taken part in a 10-Day Youth Development Voyage. “If you get the opportunity to sail onboard Spirit of New Zealand, do it. You will have the best 10days of your life.”

For more information about the Spirit of Adventure Trust and how to get onboard, visit www.spiritofadventure.org.nz or call (09) 373 2060.

*The three-masted barquentine Spirit of New Zealand takes young people aged 15-18 to sea on 10-Day Youth Development Voyages. There are also five-day trips for school groups and public sailings.

Our playground changes daily.

A 10-Day Youth Development Voyage onboard Spirit of New Zealand is one of the most defining experiences you can have as a young person. Applications are open year-round and funding assistance is available. Contact us to find out more.

www.spiritofadventure.org.nz

|

0800 4 SAILING (472-454)

Term 1 - 2015

school news

47

Teacher Wellbeing

health & safety

Is this what the future looks like in New Zealand education?

Recent reports indicate 2014 was a grim year for the teaching profession in England. Social media was awash with posts from topquality teachers who had clearly had enough and were departing the profession for pastures new.

The despair was obvious from numerous colleagues, as they cited workload, stress and the unreasonable demands from their school leaders in the everchanging world of education.

The Minister of Education and government were also in the firing line for their constant flip-flops and undoing of the previous political regimes, which appeared to be change for change’s sake.

School principals up and down the country complained of their workload, examples of extreme levels of stress and burnout were well documented and record numbers were either taking early retirement or having to stand down for health reasons.

A national survey concluded that the deputy principals were well aware of the job requirements of the top job in a school and the vast majority had no interest or desire to become a principal. The teacher unions were also under attack from disgruntled teachers about their lack of focus on some constructive strategies to assist with workload, stress and constant change.

The union’s reply was the customary lots of talk and being very combative towards the Ministry but with no real progress made to address the real issues.

A regular cry from the majority of teachers, who work extremely hard, long hours and go that extra step every day, week and year, was ‘why don’t you do something for us? Show us you care and that you value everything we do’.

The unions were more focused on point-scoring against the government and spending millions defending the incompetent or barely competent people who

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somehow enter our profession.

The high-quality teachers were getting dumped on and needed some ‘tender loving care’. The sickness data nationwide is now horrendous as, on average, a teacher is away from school 14 days a year.

Add to this, absences to attend courses, conferences and other school-related activities and even a lay person would probably suggest the profession may have a major problem.

The icing on the cake comment from the Minster of Education was to flatly deny that there were any serious issues and the declaration was made that ‘all is well and that this is one of the best times ever to be entering the teaching profession’. In July, after four years in the post, the Minister of Education was reshuffled to another position and teachers rejoiced in his departure. All in all, last year was a year to forget.

Everything mentioned above was about the current state of things in the English education system, where teacher morale is rock bottom, quality has walked out the door and absences from school due to sickness are at record highs. Should we be worried here in New Zealand, particularly as we have a tendency to follow what happens in England and the UK? I would hope not, particularly as 2014 saw some positive verbal commitments from the various key players around marrying up the demand for ‘Excellence’ in all aspects of school life versus looking after the wellbeing, wellness and morale of the teachers. Talk is cheap, however, and it will be a very interesting year to see what concrete and sustainable actions follow.

Last year I was blessed with opportunities to visit a number of schools nationwide and attend conferences to talk about teacher wellbeing and present the story of my own school’s wellbeing journey over the past three years.

The vast majority of people have been incredibly positive, and I have

been encouraged by how many schools and teachers have been proactive in starting their own wellbeing programmes that suit their school’s ethos and culture.

Long may it continue.

However, I have had the odd concerning comment, many from educationalists who are no longer in the classroom teaching (and some haven’t been in a classroom for at least 20 years).

For example, the standard line was again highlighted to me by a senior official that all teachers have an employment contract and there is provision in this, plus support from the NZ Employment Act and Health and Safety provision, to look after the wellbeing, wellness and morale of the individual teacher.

Besides, I was again made aware that compared with all other professions, the holiday provision for teachers were extremely generous. Another senior official actually questioned whether there was a need to even look at strategies around teacher wellbeing. I replied that in 2013, $66 million was spent on relief cover for absent teachers in New Zealand schools, much of it for sick teachers. That is a lot of money and must be worthy of a strategic development to reduce this cost in the future.

The 20th-century workplace model was to wring every last bit of work and energy out of an employee and then replace them once their sell-by date was reached. Loyalty stood for nothing.

In the 21st century, the model is to invest in your people, train them, look after their wellbeing, wellness and morale and hopefully they will remain highly effective employees for many years.

There is still much to do in changing the attitudes and working practices in the teaching profession, so please join me in making this culture change.

At Sancta Maria College, Flat Bush, Auckland, we are now in our fourth year of developing our staff wellbeing programme and we

Ian Vickers Assistant Principal, Sancta Maria College, Auckland

make use of a resource called the ‘The Good New Habits Book’. This is free resource available to all, so you can customise it to suit the needs of the staff at your school.

Wellbeing Tips for Term 1 •

Drink water: This is a must at this time of the year.

Humidity levels are high and during the night, we perspire and so it is important to rehydrate from the beginning of the day. Take a chilled bottle with you to class and refill it at interval and lunch.

•

Nutritious morning tea and lunch: Fresh fruit, veggies and salads are in plentiful supply at this time of year so add some variety to your food intake during the hours at work. We are all different and whilst some colleagues are happy to eat lots of salad, some might just what to add an apple or banana to their regular work foods.

•

Have fun in your classroom: Is 2015 just another year of the same old, same old or is this the year you step outside your comfort zone? Be creative, innovative and try some new ideas in 2015. Bring more laughter and fun into your teaching and classroom. Give it a go!

•

Form a teacher wellbeing action group: Only eight per cent of schools in England have anything resembling a teacher wellbeing programme operating in their schools and look at the mess the profession is in there. Join the many schools here in New Zealand that have already started up a programme to look after teacher wellbeing, wellness and morale during the hours of work. Make a difference and start a programme in your school today!

Please contact me at i.vickers@ sanctamaria.school.nz for an electronic copy of the 2015 version.

NZ Blood Service

health & safety

Saving a friend’s life inspires blood drive Children are our future – in more ways than one. The students at Christchurch Boys High School rallied their fellow students and school staff, showing maturity and responsibility beyond their years, to raise the profile of New Zealand Blood Service (NZBS) and the importance of donating blood.

Giving others a future, one would say, before even realising their own.

Their mission started with a business class assignment to raise money for charity. But outsideof-the-box thinking led them to NZBS instead. They were strongly motivated by a close friend, Jock, who had needed an emergency bone marrow transplant and multiple blood transfusions to save his life.

The challenge the boys set was to lift NZBS’ profile, encourage a new generation of blood donors, and get people to donate on a regular basis by holding a blood drive at the school.

A challenge considering the school already holds an annual blood donation day, which meant they would need to work extra hard to ensure a target number of donations would be collected at this additional blood drive.

Scott Burnett, one of the students involved says, “We think donating blood is really important – as you never know who is going to need it. You or a family member could be in Jock’s shoes one day. Your blood saves lives like Jock’s.

Without it, his outcome would have been very different.”

In the lead-up to the blood drive, the donor recruiter, Jane Condell,

“really inspired everyone,” teacher, Craig Dunnett says.

donors – a result they are really proud of.

“She visited the school and explained exactly what happened to donated blood and its components. We then held a registration straight afterwards.

Once they knew the impact they can have on someone else’s future, it was easy to get students to sign up.”

NZBS says the students of Christchurch Boys High School set an outstanding example and can’t say thank you enough to all the donors who took part.

To find out more about becoming a blood donor, call 0800 GIVE BLOOD.

An ambitious goal of 60 donations was set. On the day, they beat their goal by three donations. The 63 donations also included 43 new

To access the NZBS educational material and resources for teachers, please email education@ nzblood.co.nz

Term 1 - 2015

school news

49

SunSmart

health & safety

SunSmart in (and out of) the classroom It’s Term 1 and the SLIP, SLOP, SLAP and WRAP message is being taught at schools all around the country through new online SunSmart resources.

The SunSmart Schools’ curriculum resources teach about and encourage behaviours that will protect their skin from harmful ultraviolet radiation (UVR) and getting sunburned.

For students at Sylvia Park School in Auckland it’s learning by doing – they recently featured in the Cancer Society’s YouTube clip using these new resources.

Two SunSmart Schools health promoters, Aliki Weststrate and Camilla Gould, organised the video with input from one of its authors, Ivor Franke (Cognition Education), and the staff and students at Sylvia Park School.

Ms Weststrate, who produced the video, says: “We wanted to show the resources in action, and Sylvia Park School was a great opportunity to do that as they were using them for their Term 4 work.

And the feedback was great – the teacher found the resources really flexible and easy to use and the kids were really engaged.”

The video follows a Year 5/6 class as they do a hands-on experiment from the resources teaching them about UV and how it affects our skin. “ “They gave me the confidence to teach in a science area that I may not have thought of before,” teacher Emma Alaalatoa-Dale says.

“They provide a relevant and meaningful basis for telling kids to wear hats and sunscreen – they’re actually going to find out why.”

To watch the video go to the website www.sunsmartschools. org.nz or YouTube https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=z0naBhJfY8#action=share The resources were designed to cover many curriculum areas so they can be used as individual lessons, or for a whole term: science, health, Te Reo, maths and literacy. There are four PDFs available for free online covering Level 1 to 4 of the NZ Curriculum.

The SunSmart resources: •

develop numeracy and literacy skills

•

provide opportunities to assess National Standards

•

follow an inquiry approach.

Schools don’t have to be SunSmart accredited schools to use them. They do help with teaching Sunsmart knowledge

and behaviours, though, and the Cancer Society hopes they will give teachers the confidence and tools to do this.

If you or your school would like more information about the SunSmart Schools programme and the resources please visit the website: www.sunsmartschools. org.nz

Why is it so important to be SunSmart?

With continual sunny weather it is important that students are protected from the sun’s UVR rays, which cause sunburn and can result in skin cancer. New Zealand has the highest rate of melanoma in the world, and a high level of other skin cancers. Too much sun exposure in childhood greatly increases the risk of developing skin cancer later in life.

BECOME A SUNSMART SCHOOL Apply online at www.sunsmartschools.org.nz

Our health promoters are available to work with schools to help them become SunSmart

Being a SunSmart School shows that your school:

• Is committed to protecting students, staff and parents from the risks of UV radiation • Wants to raise awareness about the importance of skin protection among parents and students • Promotes the school within the community as one that is committed to the health of its students • Has a sun protection policy that follows Cancer Society recommendations in schools . such as hat wearing • Promotes and supports positive sun protection behaviours • Is developing and maintaining a ‘sun safe’ environment

For more information and to apply online visit www.sunsmartschools.org.nz

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sports & recreation Supplier Profile | Hart Sport

For the love of sports

HART Sport knows you can never be too careful when it comes to student safety during play – from soft foam balls to instil confidence in young children learning to catch to mats and pads used for the prevention of injuries or falls.

The ever-popular HART gym mats have passed the New Zealand Standard, which details the usage of impact absorbing materials in children’s playgrounds. The HART gym mats have achieved certification to a fall height of 1.6m. HART Sport manager, Greg Aldous says, “Certification such as this provides our customers with terrific peace of mind, especially in situations where student safety is critically important.”

In football, the new HART ‘Elite Series’ impact absorption equipment was developed in consultation with a number of professional football organisations to ensure the products will stand the test of continual rigorous use.

2015 Catalogue NOW AVAILABLE Thousands of Sport, Fitness, Active Play Equipment & Teamwear Products

They are often thrown, dragged and hit pretty hard. We have to produce superior-quality products to ensure they can withstand this kind of treatment.”

However, if you are on a tight budget, the HART Sport ‘Club Series’ is perfect for local sporting clubs and schools that require hard-wearing, quality training equipment.

HART Sport has been supplying post pads for sporting fields for many years.

However, school play areas often contain posts that are quite unique and odd shaped. In the past, schools relied on custom pads, which meant taking lots of measurements and waiting weeks for pads to arrive.

Both these series include training aids such as the new Breakdown Trainer or last year’s standout product, the Trysaver Tackle Ring. They are designed to minimise the risks when teaching students tackling techniques whilst simulating realistic impact situations.

The solution was the Adjustable Post Pad. Developed as a universal post pad, it is suited to poles that are oversized or have attachments such as drainpipes or winches. It comes in three heights, the UV stabilised vinyl makes it perfect for use outdoors, and they are in stock.

Manufacturing manager, Jason Anthonisz says, “Our products undergo some pretty tough usage conditions.

So whatever your sporting equipment needs, play it safe and contact the team at HART Sport.

ORDER YOUR FREE COPY TODAY!

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Check out the full range in the 2015 Catalogue or online at www.hartsport.co.nz. – Play it Safe and Play On with HART Sport

Term 1 - 2015

school news

51

Sports Grounds and Surfaces

property

Sporting success largely depends on good surfaces New Zealand has a sporting record we can be justly proud of, covering a wide range of activities that not only help keep us fit and healthy but can also provide years of enjoyment long after school days are over.

Sporting success can also have a big financial payoff for our country in general. It is our top sportspeople who, more than any of us, carry New Zealand’s name out into the wider world and help lure tourists here in increasing droves.

Our tourism industry aims to achieve international earnings worth $41 billion by 2025.

When you consider that the ICC World Cricket Cup this year was predicted to be followed by about two billion people, the FIFA Under-20 World Cup is coming up in late May and the pulling power of the All Blacks is internationally recognised, these three sports alone will have a massive payoff in terms of tourist dollars.

Lydia Ko might not have honed her golf on a school playing surface but school sports in general may well have kindled her desire to make golf her career.

While it may be less spectacular, the health benefits of lifelong sporting activities are still gaining recognition. Obesity is growing rapidly throughout the Western world and associated problems, such as diabetes and heart disease, are predicted to bring crippling costs to New Zealand’s health system in the years ahead.

Those who developed a love of sporting activities in their school days are considerably less likely to be part of those statistics.

Weather drawbacks While we have a physical environment that encourages outdoor activities in general, and a prosperity level that allows most to pursue some leisure activities, the weather is a different story.

While the summers may be very dry, they can also be short, and all too soon our school sports

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“The real revolution has been to transform the dust bowls and mud pits where generations of children learned their football skills into high performance, heavily used sports arenas.”

fields become greasy, as well as grassy. Outside sports become less attractive, slips and falls bring increased injury hazards, while in winter, some sports fixtures often have to be cancelled several weeks in a row.

More than in many countries, New Zealand schools have to find an alternative to grass if their outdoors sporting programmes are not to be severely disrupted.

The late start and frequent interruption of the cricket season is perhaps the most annoying example.

While the ubiquitous asphalt still provides a solid footing in many schools for some activities, it retains pools of water, punishes slips and falls severely, is really unsuitable for sports such as tennis, and hardly provides an aesthetically pleasing experience.

Thankfully, the development of synthetic grass sporting surfaces more than three decades ago has greatly alleviated the problem and New Zealand is a major beneficiary. As knowledge and techniques of manufacturing these surfaces has grown, they

have become very sophisticated – able to provide a wide variety of textures, bounces and speeds.

Apart from their serviceability, these surfaces provide a wide range of brilliant colours that are pleasing to the eye, making the sporting experience much more enjoyable and helping persuade some of the less enthusiastic students to at least give it a go.

And with the shock-insulating properties of such surfaces now an essential part of their make-up, immediate injuries from falls are likely to be less severe, while the long-term toll on knees and other joints will certainly be reduced.

New Zealand schools are well served by companies that can offer them a professional service.

Auckland-based Tiger Turf is a well-known, locally based manufacturer of all-weather surfaces for schools.

Sports Grounds and Surfaces

property

More play time, rain or shine...

“Tiger pioneered the first allweather multi-use courts for schools in 1989 – St Cuthbert’s College was the first,” the company’s business development manager – schools, Adam Cherrie says.

He believes there are many reasons why a school might consider synthetic sports fields or multi-sports surfaces over the traditional natural grass and asphalt playgrounds.

“Cracked, puddled and closed school grounds, unsafe and unforgiving courts and muddy grass pitches are a thing of the past with synthetic turf. Synthetic playgrounds transform school campuses, lift participation and skill levels, significantly reduce cancellations and maintenance (in both playgrounds and classrooms), and provide a more consistent playing surface, meaning fewer injuries,” Mr Cherrie says.

“Synthetic sports surfaces have come a long way since the first grass was laid over old asphalt bases. The technology is continually improving and many surfaces are now accredited by international sporting bodies.

“For instance, football can now be played on advanced artificial grass turfs, which have been approved by the governing body, FIFA, for all match levels below World Cup Finals. But the real revolution has been to transform the dust bowls and mud pits where generations of children learned their football skills into high-performance, heavily used sports arenas.”

He says different systems of synthetic sport turfs are available to schools, depending on their sports curriculum and needs. It is important then, that the most appropriate system is selected for a school’s requirements.

Relaxation areas Mr Cherrie points out that it is not just for sports that synthetic sports surfaces bring advantages to schools.

“As classrooms and other buildings encroach on what was once a school’s green spaces, it becomes harder for schools to provide welcoming and relaxing areas for students to chill out in.

Synthetic landscape grass is so realistic these days that we have even heard stories of grounds people trying to mow it.

“Incorporating synthetic grass areas within a school’s campus is a growing trend, allowing schools to provide more appealing spaces while reducing costs spent on maintaining these areas.

“Some schools have found that even previously unused and unpopular areas have been transformed into popular zones with the addition of a synthetic grass surface, enhancing the area while harmonising with the natural environment around the campus,” Mr Cherrie says.

Here at TigerTurf we continue to transform wet, unforgiving courts, and muddy grass pitches, into multi-use all weather facilities – utilised by all students!

From one multi-sport court to full size hockey and football pitches, as well as landscaped areas, the school will be enhanced, skill levels are lifted, cancellations disappear and maintenance goes!

Cracked?

Puddled?

Closed?

Over 1,000 schools surfaced throughout Australasia

And there are also advantages when it comes to playgrounds:

Summerland School - After

“It’s well known that playground games help keep kids active as well as providing learning opportunities. With Tiger Turf’s colourful play surfaces schools can create fantastic outdoor play areas where children can have fun and adventures while they learn.

“Synthetic grass play surfaces are a safe, soft, durable and inviting option in schools. These colourful playground turfs are useable all year round, require virtually no maintenance and remain colourful and inviting for many years.”

By Brent Leslie, Staff Reporter

before

TigerTurf New Zealand Ltd Freephone 0800 804 134 E NZinfo@tigerturf.com | tigerturf.com

TT School Sports Ad_ Harf Vert_03.indd 1

Term 1 - 2015

school news 2/02/15

53 10:09 am

Case Study – Amesbury School

property

Dream learning environment at Amesbury School For staff and the 150 pupils at Amesbury School, the learning environment could be regarded as a dream come true.

Their school is the first state primary school to be built in Wellington for more than 25 years and reflects the great changes that have occurred in education in that time.

Amesbury School opened at the beginning of 2012 to meet the educational needs of the growing suburb. The only local Churton Park primary school at that time had became oversubscribed and could no longer keep up with demand.

Principal Lesley Murrihy is well aware of the advantages that come with teaching in a purposebuilt 21st Century facility. Having cut her teeth on 21st century learning in decile 1, Manunui School, Taumarunui, she was ready for the challenge of opening a new, purpose-built facility.

“We’re very fortunate that our school is a flexible learning environment with strong indoor/ outdoor flow, connecting the school buildings with the outdoor learning environment, thereby emphasising the important point that learning happens everywhere.

“We have a hall, library, large meeting room, teachers’ workrooms, and parents’ area with coffee making facilities to support the five open plan learning suites.

Our grounds include a playground, two courts, a three quarter length soccer pitch, a wetlands area with bridge and viewing platform and a newly planted native tree area.

We’re considering developing other outdoor facilities. Currently the planning and fundraising for a second, more senior playground is underway. The hall has a half size basketball court and hoop, and is marked out for two badminton courts,” Dr Murrihy said.

“The hall is used by the community for community activities outside of school hours. Churton Park has been a dormitory suburb for so long and it is exciting to see our

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school facilities bringing people together and assisting in the development of community.

“Our modern environment enables staff to work flexibly to ensure all children’s learning is engaging, meaningful, personalised, joyful and empowering.”

Flexible learning The school has been built initially with five suites of rooms with each suite being the equivalent space of two traditional classrooms. Each suite contains several spaces where a variety of learning activities can take place or it can be opened up into larger open spaces. The buildings are designed to ensure these reconfigurations of the spaces can occur very easily and naturally – providing a range of flexible learning spaces that allow teachers to meet a wide range of learning needs.

Amesbury School currently consists of two learning hubs and an admin block. The senior hub (Harakeke) comprises two suites and the junior hub (Koru) is made up of three suites. The administration block houses the library, parent area, reception area and hall.

Each hub (which has several spaces and a range of possible configurations) is furnished to accommodate learners in a variety of contexts across the space, utilising a range of furniture. There is a mix of more traditional table and chair furnishings as well as soft furnished stools, ottomans, bean chairs and other soft seating to facilitate the different configurations of learning. The floor is also significantly used due to the water-conducted underfloor heating that runs throughout the school.

Bringing the whole project team together was a design and build consortium led by Maycroft Construction, creating the new school on a site that had previously been quite swampy, but used as a play area for children and a place to walk dogs by others.

The site presented several opportunities which were included in the original master plan by McKenzie and Higham Architecture. The buildings are orientated in the north/south direction to allow sun into all spaces while forming a central sheltered courtyard. Their location allows for planting, extensive

playing fields and playgrounds to the east of the site, within the south facing basin.

All classroom groupings are able to access the outdoors to both the southern sports field and sunny northern sides of the buildings, onto spaces formed as outdoor learning courts encouraging teaching and learning to permeate outside.

Showing concern for the wider environment, in line with modern best practice, Amesbury School was built with a 5-Green Star rating, a comprehensive, national, voluntary environmental rating scheme that evaluates a building's environmental impact based on site selection, design, construction and maintenance.

In line with this, Amesbury School has recently installed a 4 kilowatt array of solar panels.

“The establishment board began with big ideas of a school which produced its own power, but the funding did not allow for this to happen. We are so grateful to Schoolgen (Genesis Energy and Wellington City council) for enabling us to at least partially fulfil this dream of the initial board,” Dr Murrihy commented.

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ORIGINAL

SAFETY

REBOUND

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Case Study – Amesbury School

property

54 Maycroft Construction commercial manager Grant Gunn says that it is the modern design of the school by McKenzie Higham Architects that made the project really stand out.

“Small wooden desks have been replaced by low tables and high swivel chairs and there are quiet areas complete with bean bags. Every child has access to a complete range of technology from Apple Mac computers and iPads to PCs, Android tablets, iPods and even large flat touch screen TVs that show the timetable for the day and enable students to check in, thereby avoiding time wasted taking the roll,” he explained.

With learning at Amesbury School becoming increasingly cloud-based for anywhere, anytime access, all students year 2 – 6 now have their own allocated Chromebook provided by the school as well as access to the above. This tool is assisting us towards the deep personalisation of learning for all students,” said Dr Murrihy.

The project required close liaison with the Ministry of Education and Wellington City Council.

The council partially funded the school hall build which was expanded from the original concept to provide a community hall facility. “Building this school was a wonderful collaboration, with all partners committed to developing an environment which

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is built around the learner, rather than the learner having to fit the system or environment. We are so appreciative of all the efforts made by the whole consortium to provide us with the best possible modern learning environment for our students,” said Dr Murrihy.

Safe chessboard playground Among the modern features is a Play Matta safety surfacing area, installed as an outdoor chess board, and a three-tone blue area of Play Matta that forms a transition area between indoor and outdoor space to provide the children with a safe, year around playing surface. The surface protects children from critical height related fall injury and is slip and fire resistant.

As the system is made from interlocking modular mats, it allows for the entire system to be lifted and re-laid on a new site if required. The product comes with a six-year warranty.

The Play Matta surface fits in well with the school’s ‘green’ credentials as it is made from recycled materials – 100 per cent recycled PVC and rubber feedstock.

Matta Products Ltd was founded in 1992 to turn waste plastics and rubber into a range of safety surfacing for playgrounds and industrial applications. In turn, the company’s products can be recycled at the end of their life.

The Play Matta tiles and the shock pads used in the Amesbury School project hold Recycled Plastic Products and Recycled Rubber Products licensing.

Environmental Choice New Zealand accreditation held by Matta Products Ltd was part of the reason the company’s products were chosen for the Amesbury School project, says Pauline Harris, research and development manager for Matta Products Ltd. Mrs Harris says that Play Matta is the most specified modular playground surfacing in New Zealand. Play Matta tiles and ramped edging, properly installed and maintained, also provide an even, stable surface accessible to disabled students, she said.

So, with so much going for it in modern pedagogy, design and

materials, has Amesbury School lived up to its promise with pupils, staff and parents?

Principal Lesley Murrihy is/says, “Entering our fourth year, our school still looks wonderfully fresh and new. There is little that we would change if we started again. However, the building is really the easy part; the road to developing and implementing a modern, future-focused pedagogy across a whole school system is pioneering work and is more fraught with difficulty. There are no models. We have recently made some really big strides forward in our understanding of this. Our students already amaze us. I can only shake my head in wonder as I imagine what we will see in our students as we continue to implement our emerging thinking. Such an exciting journey!”

By Brent Leslie, Staff Reporter

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Solar Energy

property

Schools harnessing the power of the sun

As the effects of climate change are increasingly having a serious impact across the world, the need to adopt a more sustainable way of living becomes ever more crucial.

With the use of solar energy seen as one way of helping the planet survive, a number of companies are helping New Zealand schools become more energy-efficient and kind to our environment.

Solar King Auckland-based company SolarKing has been involved in quoting schools around the country for solar installation over the last two years, director Roy Maddox says.

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“Solar energy is ideal for schools, because it uses the source of power that’s available during the day.”

Schools with swimming pools that are solar heated often keep their pools open during the school holidays, so in that way solar power also provides a benefit to the community, Mr Maddox says.

Many schools are still trying to get funding to have solar power installed and SolarKing is currently investigating options for assisting schools with funding, he says.

“Schools are starting to get government funding and we are helping some of them to put a funding package together to have their solar power system

supplied and installed. We are happy to discuss this with any principals who are interested.”

Mr Maddox says the biggest benefit for schools having solar power installed is the savings they can make on their energy costs.

“Some of the larger schools have energy bills of $150,000plus and with solar energy that can be reduced by $100,000.”

Even smaller schools can reduce their power bills significantly.

For example, Peria School, a primary school in the Far North where SolarKing has installed a 10 kwt solar power system, has saved $700 on its annual energy costs, Mr Maddox says.

The company has installed a

33kwt system at Auckland’s Dilworth School, one of the largest private schools in the country.

“Dilworth was the first private school in New Zealand to invest in solar energy,” Mr Maddox says. (See Case Study.)

Part of the company’s ethos is also to help community organisations move to renewable energy and reduce their energy costs. Organisations it has worked with include the Cancer Society, the New Zealand Playcentre Association, and Hospice Mid-Northland.

It also acted as an advisor to the Green Party in the development of its Solar in Schools Policy, Mr Maddox adds.

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To protect our environment, the smart choice is solar energy.

With solarZeroSchools, your school can benefit from solar without the standard upfront cost. The panels will be installed at no cost and we will monitor and maintain the panels on your behalf. You simply pay a low solar fee, which we’ve fixed for the next 20 years.

Help us set a positive example for our future generations.

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Solar Energy

property

Solar panels installed at Peachgrove Intermediate, Hamilton, by Solar Group Ltd. 58

Solar Group Ltd Just over five years ago, the EECA (Energy Efficiency Conservation Association) launched a ‘warm pools for schools’ programme in which schools were encouraged to install solar heating to heat their school pools.

As Roy Netzer, engineer and managing director of Solar Group Ltd points out, it was recognised that solar energy was the most cost-effective way for schools to heat their swimming pools, and was a way of saving a lot of power.

“It also meant that schools could use their asset, the pool, in both term one and term four,” Mr Netzer says. “For some schools in the more southern areas of New Zealand, the water in their unheated pool was still freezing in term one when they went back to school.”

The cost of installing the solar panels ranges from about $10,000, and Solar Group can assist schools with a sponsorship programme as well as facilitating an EECA five-year Crown Loan.

“To qualify for involvement with EECA, we needed to establish a business case whereby what was proposed was environmentally friendly, economically viable and doable. We were approved, and so were able to use that to help schools with solar heating.

“The Crown pays for the solar installation and the school repays

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Students from Henley School in Richmond, Nelson, with principal John Armstrong, who holds one of the 60, 250W panels installed at the school by solarcity. the cost over five years at a low interest rate, which is actually close to interest free. The cost to the schools to pay it off is $500 a quarter, which isn’t too much of a burden.”

Mr Netzer says that due to the running costs of heating their pool, many schools, especially

in colder areas, had filled in their pools, thus removing the opportunity for students to learn to swim.

“These pools need to be heated – that’s why solar makes perfect sense. Once the pool is heated, the heat will last for three or four days. A pool cover will minimise

heat loss at night, and even if there are two or three days without sun, one sunny day will bring the heat back. Solar heating means the pool is useable throughout the whole season.”

Solar Group has installed solar heating in about 80 schools between 2009 and 2014,

Solar Energy

property

with systems ranging in size from 36 square metres to 388 square metres, and in price from around $10,000 to $85,000. Most projects were below $20,000, with many of the schools combining it with other upgrades to pool infrastructure, such as the filtration system or changing sheds.

Five more have been completed already this year, with another five scheduled to be installed by year-end.

solarcity The CEO of solarcity, Andrew Booth, says when the business was first established, they wanted to be different.

“We wanted to operate with a social conscience and provide solar energy for social and environmental good,” Mr Booth explains.

“The first thing we did was to develop and fund an education programme for schools across New Zealand on energy use and climate change and make them aware of the scale of the challenge we face – a challenge our children will spend much of their lives sorting out.”

The company then set out to

“It’s important for schools to find a way to go solar without using their capital and draining their educational resources and they can do this by locking in the fixed price for their solar energy use without the cost of the panels and installation.”

develop an easy way to go solar for schools that did not impact on the schools’ operating budget and delivered power at a price that was more affordable than buying power from current providers.

“If a school seeks to educate the next generation of Kiwis so they can achieve the brightest possible futures, what does it mean for that school to buy power from sources which impact on that very future?

Using our new SolarZero programme, schools can now install solar and buy clean power for little or no upfront cost and buy power that is more affordable longer term than their current provider.”

The company has developed an innovative approach to

– solarcity CEO, Andy Booth

financing first pioneered in the US whereby schools pay for the power generated by the solar system and not the panels.

Using this approach schools can have solar panels installed by solarcity and pay a fixed monthly price for the power they generate power for the next 20 years, power which will be clean and green, Mr Booth says.

“Schools commit to a contract to buy the power from the panels but we supply and install the solar panels. This has a positive impact on their operating costs and gives them certainty, locking in a fixed price for a portion of their power for 20 years.

“It’s important for schools to find a way to go solar without using their capital and draining their educational resources and they

can do this by locking in the fixed price for their solar energy use without the cost of the panels and installation.”

Bringing technology into the learning spaces also makes a positive contribution to students’ education, Mr Booth says.

With this technology, students and teachers can track the performance of the solar energy system, the school’s energy use and the carbon reduction.

“They log in to see this information. It’s an active, hands-on way of educating kids about renewable energy.” solarcity partners with the Nelson Environment Centre where a group of teachers, working alongside schools, have put together curriculum support material to help educate students on climate change and energy efficiency, in schools where it has installed solar energy.

To date, 22 schools around the country have had solar panels installed by solarcity. Long-term funding for the initiative has been put in place with the help of Sir Stephen Tindall’s K1W1 investment fund, and equity from the government’s super fund through Pencarrow PE. 64

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Solar Energy

property Supplier Profile | Genesis Energy

Schoolgen – Solar Energy and Energy Efficiency: Preparing children for their tomorrow SCHOOLGEN is a programme developed by Genesis Energy (one of New Zealand’s largest power companies) to bring solar energy and energy efficiency to life for children across New Zealand.

For example, the data on how much solar electricity is being generated, at any time, from any Schoolgen school can be compared against other schools using the Compare Data graphs (accessed from the Schools section).

Why? Because young people are our future leaders and decision makers, and it’s important that they understand the role renewable energy will play in their future. Schoolgen leads the way in bringing free photovoltaic solar panels to schools across New Zealand and provides schools with free educational resources and the on-going support of the Schoolgen educators that can benefit students from all levels (Year 1 to 13).

Many suggestions for how to use the data and what questions can be investigated can be found on the Schoolgen website.

Solar panels benefit schools financially by helping to reduce the amount of electrical energy that needs to be bought from the grid; however the greatest benefit of Schoolgen is the educational leverage that can be gained from them for students and teachers. Even a small array of solar panels on each Schoolgen school enables students to see electricity being generated from a renewable energy source - sustainability which links to a key part of today’s curriculum!

Schoolgen is now into its 9th year with 71 schools across New Zealand with free solar panels (and counting). The programme is now on target to reach 100 schools. There is an increasing awareness in our schools about energy efficiency and solar energy that reflects what is happening in our lives and the lives of our students.

Growing Aotearoa Solar

Vauxhall School’s 15 kilowatt solar PV array.

energy-efficiency, and allows them to find out all about it.

Solar Maths & Science A key aspect of Schoolgen is the solar data which leads to great Maths and Science as students learn about solar generation in different parts of the country. Each school’s solar array communicates its generation with the Schoolgen website. A quick overview of how each school is performing right

now can be gained from the colourful Schoolgen map of New Zealand on the home page www.schoolgen.co.nz.

Because we now have a range of sizes of solar arrays (from to 2 to 15 kilowatts) the students can compare the performance of different capacities of generation.

Students are able to explore the extensive database with the handy tools and widgets provided on the Schoolgen website.

SOLAR ENERGY

New Schoolgen schools are now given an option to enhance the array to 4 kW or larger. Genesis Energy is funding a larger inverter to assist schools to increase the amount of solar generation on the roof of their school. Vauxhall School in Devonport installed a sharefunded 15 kW array of photovoltaic solar panels in 2014.

At the time of installation this was the largest solar array on a school in the North Island.

Community Connections The Schoolgen programme has embraced new partnerships. Wellington City Council and Genesis Energy have created a very successful partnership which has enabled more schools in Wellington City to become Schoolgen schools with free solar panels being share-funded in 2014. Under this collaboration, 14 new Schoolgen schools have been formed in Wellington City, with more to come this year.

Becoming a Schoolgen school is an exciting journey. The schools that are lucky enough to be selected are also supported to integrate the learning about solar energy and energy efficiency into their Curriculum Delivery Plan.

Schoolgen makes it easy for students to get excited about solar energy and

Many schools have a 2 kilowatt (kW) array, but as panel prices have fallen dramatically in price in recent years, it has become attractive to expand the array with more panels.

2014 Energy Day at Forest Lake School in Hamilton.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

SOLAR ENERGY

The other new partnership is with the Geraldine/Temuka Rotary Club which has share funded a 4 kW array on to the roof of two schools in their area with four more schools to be added this year.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

These books have now been translated into Te Reo Maori, providing a very valuable resource for Maori language immersion in schools.

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property Solar Energy

The Story With Solar (Bilingual) Few things engage younger students as much as a good story. Year 1 – 8 students are provided with engaging stories that weave in key learning about solar energy and energy efficiency.

Every school can link to the e-books with the character voices for students to listen to, or read along with, allowing the younger students who cannot read at this level to still hear the stories and their messages.

There are two e-books on Solar Energy and two e-books on Energy Efficiency.

These books have now been translated into Te Reo Maori, providing a very valuable resource for Maori language immersion in schools.

The e-book character voices really bring the language to life for the children who are learning Te Reo Maori, both in school and at home.

Winning entry in Yr7/8 section 2014 - Raroa Intermediate School.

Schoolgen Competition The very popular “Schoolgen Mean Green House Competition” inspires students to complete a major research project on sustainable houses and to then apply their own learning and creative design skills to build a scale model of their dream house.

The student team must showcase their work in a 5 minute video clip which is submitted along with their portfolio.

Check out last year’s impressive winners on the Schoolgen website. Schoolgen continues to expand as each year more schools are supported with free solar panels to become Schoolgen schools. The extra bonus with the Schoolgen schools is

the Schoolgen educators that support the teachers to integrate the learning.

Schools near to Schoolgen schools are also included in special ‘Energy Cluster Days.’

This enables students and teachers from neighbouring schools to experience an extension science programme with a focus on solar energy.

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Solar Energy

property

Solar panels installed at Te Hihi School, Auckland, by Solar Group Ltd. improve the next generation’s understanding of solar energy and energy efficiency,” Ms Twaddle says.

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Genesis Energy It is an exciting time in New Zealand in the world of solar energy. More schools want to link into the teaching and learning about solar energy and energy efficiency, Genesis Energy - Schoolgen Team Leader Maggie Twaddle says.

The Schoolgen programme has a comprehensive website www.schoolgen.co.nz, which embraces all aspects of learning for all age groups. It offers online resources and live solar data. Which is the sunniest Schoolgen school now? The icons on the map of New Zealand show where the Schoolgen schools are located.

Both students and teachers are fascinated by being able to click on the icons and find the data.

Ms Twaddle says.

“The colour coding gives them a clue but they always want

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...By providing the schools and specifically the teachers with curriculum-based resources, we are helping to improve the next generation’s understanding of solar energy and energy efficiency...

to know how much electricity various schools are generating.

This is real time solar data from across New Zealand, which is a very valuable resource not only for schools but for our country.

Each Schoolgen school can generate a large portion of its electricity. Schools now want to benefit from the improved economies of scale that come with installing a larger solar array

and are looking to add to the free solar array which is part of the Schoolgen package. This links into exploring how to create an energy-efficient school.

“As a company Genesis Energy is keen to support schools in bringing the concept of solar energy to life. By providing the schools and specifically the teachers with curriculum-based resources, we are helping to

“Sustainability is at the heart of creating a school that prepares students for their tomorrow.

Teachers are taking on this new learning with the students. What is a photovoltaic solar panel?

This is new learning for many teachers.

“With 71 Schoolgen schools and more to come with free solar panels we are creating schools that want to have a model of renewable energy on the roof of their school to show their students that their school is helping New Zealand with the bigger goal. This supports the goal for New Zealand to be able to generate 90 per cent of our electricity from renewable sources.”

By Christine de Felice, Staff Reporter

property Solar Energy

Supplier Profile | Solar King

Freeing up resources for the “ important stuff” FOR ROY MADDOX, of SolarKing solar systems, the installation of solar power on schools makes perfect sense. In fact he sees it as a ‘nobrainer’, as it frees up dollars spent on power to go towards valuable learning and teaching resources.

To date he has been instrumental in the installation of solar power on Peria School, a small decile 2 school with only 32 pupils, situated inland from Taipa in the Far North, and Dilworth School in Auckland.

With Peria School in particular, the savings have been significant – up to $6,000 a year.

The school had been paying a premium for its power, but the solar system has saved around 70% of the bill per month to go towards important educational tools.

Roy and his team were also instrumental in helping to raise funds for Peria School by donating the first 10 panels to ensure the system got off the ground.

For a small school like Peria for example, the $6,000 saved is an enormous amount of money to go towards ‘the important stuff’ – teaching aids, equipment, computers... I’m proud that we can make a difference.”

– Roy Maddox, SolarKing Solar Systems One of the big pluses of solar power is that schools draw the greatest energy during the day when a solar system is working to its maximum potential.

Perhaps more important is that up front purchase and installation cost will be offset in 5 to 10 years (depending on the size of the system installed).

All the power generated is actively supporting the school’s operation and saving power therefore dollars. Even on cloudy days the system still generates power.

Yet each SolarKing system is guaranteed to continue to generate power savings for at least 25 years.

Excess power generated through the week, after school hours and during holiday periods and weekends goes back to the grid and results in power credits for the school.

With the ever increasing cost of power, each system becomes more and more valuable. SolarKing only supplies quality Tier 1 panels and inverters – the brains behind an installation, and their own team of qualified electricians complete

all installations to ensure every system works to its full capacity.

Maddox is a huge fan of the impact of solar within any community project.

Schools are a top priority for him, but his company SolarKing is also involved in assisting the Mid-Northland Hospice to install a solar system as well as working with the Cancer Society to put solar on the Society’s Grafton Lodge through its Power Up the Cancer Society programme.

“I am passionate about the power of solar energy. For me, it’s all about directing resources to the most valuable work required, not having to spend it on those operational costs such as power which are dead money.

For a small school like Peria for example, the $6,000 saved is an enormous amount of money to go towards ‘the important stuff’ – teaching aids, equipment, computers... I’m proud that we can make a difference.”

-

you can tell the school’s that have installed a solarking solar power system

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Solar Energy Case Study â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Dilworth

property

Solar meeting targets at Dilworth The Dilworth Trust operates three private boys' school campuses in the Auckland area.

These are the Junior School in Remuera, which was opened in 1993 and accommodates 192 boys in Years 5 to 8, the Rural Campus, located on the site of a former winery, which was purchased by the Dilworth Trust Board in 2009 to expand the school and the Senior Campus, which opened in 1906 on the site of the original Dilworth farm and homestead in Remuera and operates as a boarding establishment for 350 boys. The total school roll is 650.

Information gathered by the trust board to ascertain the school's power usage between 2009 and 2014 showed that electricity was a large expense with the cost increasing at a rate almost double that of inflation. For example, at year-end February 2013 the combined electricity charges for all campuses was $343,150.

The trust's asset manager Chris Plimmer realised that with its potential to significantly reduce power costs, solar made sense for the school, and the trust

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board asked management to investigate solar with lines company, Vector. However, as Vector was not undertaking commercial installations, management approached two other companies to provide advice and a quotation for the installation of solar power

in the school. One of these companies was SolarKing. Its proposal, showing that return on investment, warranties and the quality of equipment, was the better of the two, and management recommended having the company install solar equipment.

Following a board meeting in April 2014 SolarKing returned to the Senior Campus to complete a detailed investigation of the solar installation process, likely outputs from the installation and to accurately calculate the business case for the senior campus and residential housing.

Solar Energy Case Study – Dilworth

property

They then provided revised figures to management, which they believed would accurately reflect the savings the board would experience from a solar installation.

Management believed that the following points put forward by SolarKing made for a compelling case for the installation of solar arrays at the senior campus and residential houses: •

•

Considering the low level of maintenance and a combined annual return of 9.76 per cent per annum, solar installation has a significant return when compared against most common low-risk investments available; The fact that the school will not move for a long time and the level of warranties

on the hardware means that payback will be realised; •

As power is produced and used during the daytime it would be an extremely efficient system;

•

The proposed system will not cover the baseline of power and therefore all production will be realised.

As a result the board approved installation of solar panels to one staff house and one school

building in the interim to ensure targeted results were met. After discussions with SolarKing, management selected the main school building and the staff house at Mt St Johns Avenue to have solar panels installed and the work was completed in the school holidays last September.

The system is being monitored through the internet using "splash" monitoring, and will be reviewed after a year, Mr Plimmer says.

"The system is currently meeting output targets, and we anticipate a saving of $2288 per annum at the residential house and a saving of $5800 per annum at the main school building."

If results prove satisfactory, it is likely SolarKing will be contracted to install solar panels on the other Dilworth school buildings, Mr Plimmer says.

By Christine de Felice, Staff Reporter

Supplier Profile | Shedline

Instant marquees the proven popular choice

S

hedline Instant Marquees have been providing portable shade and shelter in schools for over 20 years.

The exceptional design of the frame allows it to collapse down to a very compact cluster and can be fully deployed by one or preferably two people in about two minutes.

and delivered freight free within New Zealand.

The Shedline Instant Marquee range is available in a range of sizes, from the smaller 2.4 x 2.4-metre unit to the popular 3m x 6m size, up to the largest 4m x 8m model. There is a choice of a wide variety of colours. The quality roof material is waterproof, fireretardant and UV stabilized to minimise breakdown in the harsh New Zealand weather conditions. The material has been rated “Excellent” protection by a recognized Australian laboratory with an ultra-violet protection factor (UPF) rating of 50+. Cancer Societies and SunSmart organizations around New Zealand use Shedline Instant Marquees to help promote their “sun-awareness” programmes.

The exceptional service, product quality and range that Shedline offers has been built up and refined over many years to ensure their products will cope with the demands of NZ conditions.

With the additional ability to custom brand the marquees with your name and logo, Shedline can quickly provide you with the benefit of a very effective weather protection shelter that also assists in enhancing your image wherever it may be deployed.

The robust, industrial-grade frame is essentially free-standing, but guy ropes and ground pegs are included with each unit to provide additional support and stability in adverse weather conditions.

Since all the frame parts remain connected when collapsed, there is not the common problem as with standard tent and gazebo designs of losing parts.

A full back-up service is provided with an extended frame warranty of up to 8 years (conditions apply), and an entire range of spare parts are carried in stock and readily available to ensure continued functionality after extended use.

These shelters are very versatile and can be set up on virtually any ground surface – flat, uneven or terraced – given that every leg is height adjustable. Being so simple to erect and collapse, they can be shifted to provide shade wherever it is needed throughout the day. They need very little space for storage and transportation and also have the option of side walls which provide even more shade and protection when attached.

With Shedline, you have the immediate advantage of the largest selection of Instant Marquees (a wide choice of colours, sizes, frame types and accessories), readily available ex-stock

Having over 20 years experience specializing in the Instant Marquee industry, Shedline offers you professional expertise to carefully assess your particular requirements with the purpose of providing you with an appropriate product that will last and perform to your expectations.

For more information please contact: Shedline on 0800 144 155, email info@shedline.co.nz or visit www.shedline.co.nz

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TRANSFORM YOUR SCHOOL GYM IN JUST ONE WEEK PULASTIC SHOCK ABSORBING SPORTS FLOORS

Sika: 1286

Over 25 million square metres of Pulastic Sports Floors have now been installed worldwide. Many of these floors are in school gyms. Not only are they extremely durable – their life expectancy exceeds wooden gym floors – they instantly absorb the shock of sudden impacts, reducing sports injuries. And they can be installed directly over existing timber or concrete floors in just one week. For a no obligation quote, contact Sika. www.sika.co.nz

Scan for more info and a list of the many NZ schools with Pulastic Sports Floors.

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