Senior Syndicate
Once again e-Portfolios were overhauled and assigned to a subsection of OneNote, which was much more successful. Establishing routines for student work samples in e-Portfolios will again be a focus for 2018. OneNote teacher use and structure was standardised across Year 8 during 2017, which proved effective for students, particularly when they engaged interchanged classes. OneNote was used more widely amongst the staff as the creative possibilities were explored. Stephen Graham returned to run another workshop this year entitled: ‘The Explicit Teaching of Writing’. His structural approach to writing has enabled students, and staff, to better understand writing genre and to correctly apply the relative protocols. Kapa Haka continued into Year 7 but at a lower engagement level – consideration needs to be given for any involvement in the Year 8 programme for 2018.
were built into the one-to-one Year 8 laptop program. Mathematics learning in the Senior Syndicate benefited from the Secondary collaboration, particularly in terms of formative assessment and shared competition preparation. New Mathematics texts at Years 7–8 are still under consideration but no decision has been determined at this juncture. Coding across Years 7–8 was successfully incorporated into the learning programmes. The students enjoyed this focus and stimulus and a number of students were involved in other technology groups as a consequence. The Year 8 Leadership Training Day was successful this year and, as a consequence, is being used with all Year 8 students for 2018 as a means of identifying the most suitable leaders for the positions available. The Senior Syndicate is in good heart as we close 2017.
Inquiry search protocols and procedures floundered a little with the winding up of the PLG Inquiry Group, however, there were individual gains during the year. Templates were established, and some of the search procedures 27