8 November 2020
Community Letter Dec 2024
KTS Board Message to the Community
Tēnā koutou e te whānau o te kura o Kohia Terrace.
Another full, fun, and productive year at our wonderful kura is coming to a close. As our minds turn to the holiday season, it falls to me on behalf of the KTS Board to attempt to summarise the wonderful and noteworthy achievements across our diverse curriculum, by students and the staff who support them. I find every KTS newsletter a delight as the successes and exploits of our tamariki are celebrated throughout the year.
I will focus on the key business of the School Board: raising student achievement, creating inclusive learning environments to enable all students to learn effectively, and supporting learning via teacher excellence. All were discussed at our final Board meeting for the year, which was held on Wednesday.
The Strategic Goals set by the KTS Board for our School Charter 2024-2025, relate to:
1) Quality Practice: Strengthening capability in literacy and numeracy across the curriculum to extend and enable all ākonga to be the best they can be.
2) Te ao Māori: Creating culturally inclusive teaching environments that support the achievement of all learners and build collective bicultural understanding.
3) Hauora (wellbeing): Enhancing well-being (mental and physical health), and encouraging inclusion and respect for diversity.
Relating to Literacy and numeracy: KTS are well prepared to implement the new Maths curriculum in 2025. The Board is grateful to KTS leadership and staff, as we know that many schools are a year or more behind where KTS is at with our ability to implement the new curricula, particularly in structured literacy. In term 1 2025 we will have another Staff Curriculum day (a Teacher only day), and will later hold a parent information session, on the revised maths curriculum and new maths resources.
Assessment to measure student progress and achievement is collected and analysed mid-year and at the end of the year. This comes from PAT tests, other formal testing methods, and teacher judgement (eg using Hero goals). The KTS Leadership team report this to the Board in detail, along with their recommendations for lifting achievement even higher.Of note, 2025 has seen a higher turnover of students than in past years, with years 2-8 at KTS having 13% of students new to the school during 2024. The majority of students arriving at KTS through the year have been new speakers of English. This has implications for our Achievement data.
For Reading, including all 406 KTS students, 80% are achieving “at, above, or well above” the expected standard. If we disregard the students who arrived at KTS during 2024, we see this lifts to 85% of students achieving “at/above/well above” the expected level.
Our writing achievement data tells a similar story, with 75% achieving “at/above/well above” the expected level for their year, and data adjusted to exclude KTS’s newest students showing 80% “at/above/well above”.
For maths, 86% of KTS students achieve “at/above/well above”, rising to 90% if our newest KTS students are disregarded from analysis.
For any KTS child who is not progressing as expected, staff look into why, with a view to optimising learning. The Board funds an Inclusive Practice Leader at KTS to support this mahi. The acceleration and extension classes on offer at KTS have delivered pleasing results in 2024, and we are glad to have these continuing in 2025. The Board also funds additional Teacher Aide time. Thank you to those who have paid your school donation, and to those supporting PTA-led fundraising efforts. Without locally-raised funds, we would be unable to offer extra teaching staff to run programmes such as these.
We already have a dedicated and focused ESOL (English-as-a-Second Language) programme across the school and our continuing challenge is to find ways to accelerate reading and writing skills with this group.
Regarding our Te Ao Māori strategic goal, the Board is delighted to have met the targets we set for this goal in 2024. It is pleasing to see from our Taku Reo survey results (years 3-8) that we have had continual growth and improvement in te reo use across the kura during 2024. Our Kapa haka group is going from strength to strength, and make us so proud! Alison’s Sabbatical and her excellent sabbatical report enhanced her understanding of tikanga and the role it plays within our kura. Her goal is for there to be meaningful integration of te reo Māori and tikanga Māori into learning and teaching to empower our ākonga.
Once again, Alison Spence’s external and internal performance reviews have been glowing this year. I also wish to acknowledge Catherine Palmer and Kerry Hales for their fabulous mahi in leading the school asActing Principal and Acting Deputy Principal. We are so grateful for allthat you do for KTS.
Regarding Hauora/Wellbeing, thanks to Sheryl McEwan for her work on a Physical Literacy programme, being rolled out school wide from 2025 to track and to teach fundamental physical skills. We will be continuing with Kohia Kōrero, student coaching, and our other initiatives to support self-esteem and resilience in ākonga. I know from our parent’s responses to the KTS Community Survey this year that the caring KTS environment is highly valued by whānau, so thank you to all staff who live our school values, and encourage our tamariki to do the same.
We are incredibly fortunate to have teachers and support staff of such vocation and skill. That said, we are sad to see high quality people leave us this year, including Katie Gilbert, Gaylene Hewlett, Philippa Jackson, Anna Hartley, and Sapphire Swann. A huge thanks to you all for your effort and dedication to our kura. Gaylene, after 19 years of service to the school we wish you well in your well-deserved retirement.
We are excited to welcome onboard some amazing new staff, with a variety and depth of experience; Vanessa Sharplin (Harakeke Team Leader), Mary Cameron (Koru Team Leader), Anabelle Ali, Reney Kahui (Kapa Haka Kaiako), Trisha Finlayson (sports leader) and Mohsin Iqbal (assistant manager at KKZ).
The high quality of people wanting to join the Kohia Terrace team is a testament to Alison, Catherine, and the KTS team.
A big THANK YOU to Erica Carey for leading the PTA this year, ably supported by Tim Sharp. Our KTS community is what we make it, and parental involvement in school life is so important for community spirit and our sense of belonging. Thank you to parents who have helped at PTA events and those who have put their hand up to attend school camps and other activities. This “spirit of support” is vital for the wellbeing and success of our Tamariki.
Another way that whānau can contribute to school life is as a School Board member. At the end of this year the Board farewell Willie Rickards, who has contributed significantly during his time with us. Willie has great judgement, and great passion for te ao Māori and for all things sporting. Willie we will miss you, but we understand that it’s hard to say “no” when the All Blacks call!In 2025 we will be holding our triennial School Board elections, so please consider whether you are interested in a Governance role at KTS. I have personally found it very rewarding. If you are interested, please discuss with me, or with Alison. Whānau are encouraged to attend our meetings if interested in being a Board member.
To all our year 6’s and 8’s and other families moving on from KTS, we are very proud of you and hope you continue to live the Kohia Kaitiaki throughout your future endeavours: care and respect; persevere to achieve; and lead with integrity. We wish you all the very best, and hope you keep fond memories of KTS close to your heart. Kohia te wānanga e tū ki te ao Mārama: Gather the knowledge of those around us to stand up and face the world.
All that remains is to wish you and your loved-ones safe and happy holidays wherever you may be. We look forward to the new challenges and excitement that 2025 will bring.
Meri Kirihimete me ngā mihi o te Tau Hou
Kathleen Mistry, on behalf of the Kohia Terrace School Board