International Community Newsletter 7 May 2021

Coming Up

Our Message – Our Director

Kia ora CBS Whanau,

It was great to see everyone back at school this week, settling into their class programme and reconnecting with friends and teachers. The school has been a hive of activity with students working alongside their teachers discussing next steps. This includes a range of celebrations from Term 1 and learning goals for term 2. During the parent interviews, your child’s teacher will provide a sheet with specific learning areas linked to a curriculum level. The green highlighted statements are what your child has achieved and the yellow highlights are what they are working on.

What do the Curriculum levels mean?

The diagram below shows the curriculum levels typically related to years at school. It is important to note, students learning from non-English-speaking backgrounds do not necessarily fit this pattern and are unlikely to follow the suggested progression. We have a number of skills ESOL learners must achieve first, you can find information about the English Language Learning Progressions here: https://esolonline.tki.org.nz/ESOL-Online/Planning-for-my-students-needs/Professional-support-for-teachers-and-teacher-aides/English-Language-Learning-Progressions Therefore, Level 1 is the entry level for students with no prior knowledge of language being learned, regardless of school year.

Levels span across multiple years, there is a lot to achieve within each level. Typical progress could look like:

Yr 1-3: Level 1, Yr 2-6: Level 2, Yr 4-8: Level 3.

We look forward to welcoming parents to our parent interviews to celebrate the children’s success. If you would like more information about your child’s next steps and the curriculum levels, please feel free to contact me and make an appointment.

As a reminder, our values are:

Whakaute – Respect, a way of treating or thinking about something or someone and to act in a way which shows that you are aware of someone’s rights, wishes or differences.

Atawhai – Kindness, is the way you care about the wellbeing of yourself and others.

Manawanui – Resilience, is the ability to do your best even with challenges in your way or when things go wrong.

It is always great to see our students display the school values throughout the school, in the classroom and playground.

Thank you for your endless support

neke atu i te kapa – We are more than just a team

Ngā mihi nui,

Nathan Janes
Associate Principal

Our Message – Our ESOL Lead Teacher

Welcome back everyone – so great to see our students ready and excited for term 2!

This term the language focus will be largely around science, supporting the classroom inquiries.

Next step interviews are currently underway, but please remember that if you want to chat about your child’s learning in ESOL, send me an email or pop in, and we can organise a time to meet.

Chris Mashlan
ESOL Lead Teacher

Our Message – Our International Administrator

Welcome back to Term 2 international whanau.

It was great meeting most of you on our MOTAT trip day. We look forward to another great term with you.

Please email or visit me if there is anything I can help with.

Michelle Squire
International Student Administrator

Motat Visit Term 1

Thank you to our whanau who was able to attend our term 1 international trip to MOTAT. It was wonderful to see all our international students working together through tuakana teina – building strong relationships with our younger and older children, teaching and learning together.

During the day, we took part in an educational workshop, learning about the history of New Zealand and visiting a range of exhibitions as part of our time at the museum. We also had a ride on an historic tram together which was fun! Images of these rich learning opportunities can be accessed on our international photo gallery on the school website.