Tūturu Practising Certificate

 

Achieving Full Certification is a significant step for all teachers and at ACCoS we have traditionally celebrated this with fun, food and colleagues.  This is unable to happen in 2021. 

ACCoS would like to acknowledge the achievements of these teachers, along with the mentors and school colleagues who are part of the team that have contributed to their success. 

Whakatauki Mā te whiritahi, ka whakatutuki ai ngā pūmanawa ā tāngata. 

Together weaving the realisation of potential.

Best wishes to all these teachers as they move on in their careers, whether with ACCoS or in other school settings, countries and roles. 

Kei ōu ringaringa te ao

The world is yours.

Collaborative Practice PLD July 2021

On Friday the 2nd of July 2021 Across School Leaders (Lisa Murphy, Sue Spencer, Suzanne Parkinson, Ajita Goh and Alix Osbaldiston) attended the Growth Culture, Collaborative Leadership Day at Ellerslie Events Centre. This was a valuable day and timely reminder of some important messages that can help us make collaborations across the ACCoS positive and productive.

   

The first presenter Marshall Diggs challenged us from the outset about our definition of collaboration. Real collaboration involves thinking and doing together, as opposed to individuals contributing separate elements to a combined project. In this view, collaboration is when people combine their brain power and actions to create something more powerful than any individual contribution. Creating quality collaboration is something that takes time and real commitment. There is no ‘silver bullet’ in collaboration. Rather, humility and a slow, steady approach is what is needed to build the trust that leads to great collaborative practice. Humility, the importance of time and playing the ‘long’ game was emphasised as more valuable than rushing decisions without true consensus from those involved in the process.

The important messages that came from the first session are the importance of these five principles in collaborative work.

1. Trust (your main currency)
2. Humility
3. Emotional Intelligence
4. Positive Intent
5. Communication

“The most valuable resource that teachers have is each other. Without collaboration, our growth is limited to our own perspectives.” - Robert John Meehan. No one of us is smarter than all of us.

 

The second session focused on culturally responsive collaboration with presenter Sue Baker. She engaged the audience with her humour, stories, and warm compassionate approach, so much so that we were all captivated and forgot to take notes!

Sue’s main messages were:

• The importance of Whānau-type relationships that demonstrate we care for our learners and have high expectations for their learning (if you don’t know the heart of the child, you can’t teach the child)
• Understanding whakapapa and knowing who our learners are; their cultural experiences and prior knowledge are foundational to their identity as learners. Engage in Ako.
• Promoting a common vision or kaupapa that is focused on the potential of ‘all’ learners to thrive in the education system without compromising who they are.

I found the sessions from trained counsellor Aaron Ironside highly valuable. His first session was about how to communicate with colleagues to build the trust relationships that are needed for good quality collaboration. Listening, reflection and empathy are key. 

He provided two frameworks for building trust in difficult conversations with colleagues: 

Three aspects of empathy

• Naming: Name the feeling. Which shows the listener understands. E.g. “I can see how frustrating it is that we have had to cancel some things due to lockdown”
• Validating: “I can see a connection between your feeling and the issue/problem.”
• Normalising: Showing understanding, i.e. “Your feeling is human and it is okay to feel that way”

A framework for addressing difficulties: Using trust building language...e.g.

• I appreciate…
• I don’t appreciate (I’m struggling with)
• I would appreciate.(make a suggestion about how things could be better)

Aaron’s second session was about looking after our wellbeing as individuals, so that we have the mindset and energy to collaborate well with others. This session was a timely reminder after a very busy term two! 

He explained the how the parasympathetic and sympathetic nerve systems work. When we are too busy and stressed for too long, we move from the balance of our parasympathetic system into our sympathetic system (stressed – symptomatic, in flight/fight/freeze/’fawn’ mode). We literally have a ‘tank’ of adrenaline and energy and when this gets low over time, negative thoughts can set in, and emotional regulation can fail leading to stressed outbursts or withdrawal or others – all of which are human, but neither of which are conducive to positive collaboration!

The important thing is remembering to ‘add to our rivers’ as educators by prioritising time to do the things that make us feel happy, calm, balanced. Laughing and having a positive attitude, exercise, meditation, hobbies, friends, family. The reminder is that the time you make to look after yourself will be worth it for you and everyone else in the long run, even if it means less speed in the short term.

https://www.growthculture.co.nz/collaborative-practice

Building connections and strengthening links

Recently Auckland Normal Intermediate School hosted a teacher only day for some schools in our ACCoS Community. There were five schools involved. These were Auckland Normal Intermediate School, Cornwall Park District School. Maungawhau School, Epsom Normal Primary School and Newmarket School.

The day was coordinated by the deputy principals in the schools. In total approximately 160 teachers attended. There were 16 Sessions offered over two time timeframes and these were created by our In School and Across School Leaders.

Here is the link to their presentation slides.

Here is the link to the official photos taken on the day.

The day began with coffee and registration by 8.30am. Then Jill Farquharson introduced the day and together with attending school principals, set the scene for the day.

First up our plenary speaker was Tim O’Connor, Headteacher of Auckland Grammar School and one of his Associate headmasters Sam MacNaughton.

Tim spoke about Building Connections and Strengthening LInks. He shared a little about the school’s 150 year history. He spoke passionately about the importance of resiliency and connections to Mental health.

Some takeaways from his session included the importance of having:

• a values based environment. 
  
• Starting everyday with a school wide assembly
  

The School Assembly

• Philosophy hooks into well being
  
• Come together as a school and provide opportunities for children to come together. This provides well being support. 
  
• Humour, existed have fun because the structure
  

Student Support

Link head and heart service.

Normilises the idea that speaking to a councillor is a good idea.

There is a greater display of resilience.

Rainbow ticked organisation

Provided an opportunity for boys to have conversations around gender identity 

Courageous conversations.

https://schooltv.me/

MIOMO - Making it on my own by Yvonne Godfrey

Growing good teenagers which provides young people with advice and guidance in these years

Harmful Impact of Pornography by Maree Crab

Many young men had ready access to pornography and the school needed to front it and address the dangers/harm of this. Run a programme with the Year 10’s every year for the past few - discussing how this could impact relationships.

This comes back to the transparency we operate on.

Character Education Programmes

Whakapapa - who am I?

Turangawaewae - where do I belong/fit in?

Whanaungatanga - how do I serve or how do I contribute?

This builds upon the acceptance of who we are and the tools to converse with those who don’t accept it.

This program is layered with a health education that occurs throughout all of the year levels.

EOTC in Ohakune

This occurs via Hillary for the Year 10’s, among other year levels.

Teaching Framework

Put together a framework using deliberate decisions based on feedback.

Sheer distraction of social media.

• 5 hours less time so no mobile devices are allowed in school.
  
• Vaping is also harmful and seductive.
  
• Vape detectors into bathrooms
  

Lesson Objectives are really clear

The boys are clear on: What do I have to do?

After the opening speaker the teachers were given the opportunity to have morning tea and make connections with others from other schools.

Then we moved into our break out sessions hosted by our ISL and ASL break out sessions. 

Finally we convened back to the library to collect our pre ordered lunch and used the opportunity to catch up with colleagues and share some of our learnings.

Overall the day was successful. The teachers from within  our schools had the chance to see ACCoS in  action

Resilience Masterclass Christchurch

Some of the Hauora initiative attended the “Resilience Master class” course in Christchurch run by the New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing and Resilience earlier this term. 

There were many key ideas and gems that came out of the event, plenty that validated our current work and it was a great opportunity to network with other professionals who are passionate about the Hauora space. 

The one day course included opportunities to hear from resilience gurus, researchers and staff from corporate organisations such as Beca and Aurecon. It’s not often that educators attend courses that include professionals from a range of occupations and it was refreshing to hear that all places of work are making conscious efforts and changes to better enhance the wellbeing of their staff and clients. 

The main message of the day was of course resilience. Lucy Hone and Denise Quinlan did an excellent job recapping some of their key research and findings. 

We then heard from several professionals who were involved in wellbeing initiatives in their workplaces. They shared the experiences they had creating a culture that made employees feel valued, supported and motivated at work. One unique approach used by Aurecon was ‘mental health first aid’. Members of their workplace were trained in mental health first aid to better notice and respond to staff struggling with mental health at work. Those in the workplace knew who were trained so they could check in if they needed to. I thought that provided workspaces with both physical first aid training and mental health training seemed to be a big step forward for viewing mental health as important as physical. 

What all these corporations had in common was the importance of taking time in the working day to establish an agreed set of values, goals and actions that will support their employees. 

Each section of the day was filled with valuable insight that we intend to take forward into our communities. We would thoroughly recommend anyone, no matter your profession, to have a look through the New Zealand Institute of wellbeing and resilience’s website, where they offer ample training and resources for individuals, groups, education and corporate.  

We are looking forward to spreading some of this mahi back to the Hauora initiative to celebrate the work our schools are doing and to help support their pathway moving forward. If anyone is interested in hearing more about what we gained then please get in touch, we would love to connect with you.

ACCoS Provisionally Registered Teachers afternoon.

 Welcome to Teaching in the ACCoS Kāhui Ako .  

On Thursday afternoon, 20th of May, 25 Provisionally Certified Teachers, along with other staff from across the ACCoS Kāhui Ako came together to make connections and be encouraged and inspired as teachers, as they start their journey in this important and rewarding profession. 

The lead principal, Jill Farquharson, welcomed teachers and outlined what the Kāhui Ako is and how it connects across the schools of all the teachers present.

Colin Dale spoke of the privilege and challenges of teaching. His stories covering many aspects of his experiences as as a teacher and principal, even a precious one from today. These inspired us to think about how we view learning, teaching and wellbeing and the ways we interact with the families and students in our communities. 

His anecdotes about meeting students whom he taught in the past reinforced the impact that each teacher have on those we teach and gave us much to look forward to. 

We hope that this opportunity to meet teachers from other schools is the first step in making connections across the schools and the education sectors within the ACCoS community. These connections will lead to further interactions, visits and the sharing of learning that will support PCT’s in their teaching journey. 

Thank you ANI for hosting this event and to Colin for the love of the profession, inspiration and laughter that you shared with us all. 

We look forward to the next event.

First ASL meet 2021

 

Last week all of our Across School Leaders got together for the first time in 2021. Responding to the current climate, we had the option to attend the meeting physically or online. The ASL meeting provided the opportunity to meet and discuss how work was getting off the ground across the initiatives and also take some time to delve into the Leadership framework and reflect on what we had been reading and applying.

There was lots of content covered throughout the day and also time to check in with each other and build connections with newer members of the group. 

Overall 3 main ideas/topics stood out as we drew the meeting to a close. 

Firstly, Covid was on top of everyone’s radar because of Auckland school’s experiencing 2 lockdowns before week six of term one.The session was to reflect on how our roles change and adapt and so do all the roles within a school. Jill reminded us that responses will vary across all of our schools and this highlighted the importance of spending time at the beginning of the year to understand the context of each of the schools we are working in. Opening up understandings will impact the way that we approach initiative meetings and whole ACCoS events. Making things accessible remotely will mean that we remain connected. 

Secondly, we spent time discussing how to have conversations that bring problems from below the line to above the line. Focusing on moving forward when faced with a challenge and to focus on strengths and what will help us improve rather than ruminating on the problem. Alison guided our coaching session and we explored the types of questions that might be useful for making this move above the line.

Lastly, a term that stood out was ‘adaptable leadership’. Understanding that there is not a one size fits all approach to leadership. We had a big focus on leadership with Madeline and after working through examples of practice we discussed ways in which we could be flexible, drawing on different leadership styles as we work with different individuals in different contexts. 

A great start to 2021 that had us thinking about how our roles and leadership styles will adapt to suit the current climate and contexts of all schools in the ACCoS for the year ahead.