Dear Parents and Friends of our School Kia Ora/Hello/Kamusta

Kia ora koutou,

There has been a lot discussion in the media and online about the governments latest announcements about the maths curriculum, achievement levels and required maths assessments in New Zealand.

At our school we are always looking at ways to improve our teaching practice and monitor and track progress.

The assessment tools that the government are expecting schools to use from 2025 our school and the Kahui Ako are already familiar with, and use. At our most recent Board meeting Mrs Hancock shared our schools PAT Maths assessment data; how we analyse the data, use the data to inform next steps teaching and to track children across our school. The PAT Maths assessment is a standardised maths assessment and is one of many tools we use. Our mid year data anaylsis of this showed that we had 84% of all children from Year 3 - 8 achieving at or above expectation for their level.

As a staff we have reviewed the revised changes to the New Zealand Maths Curriculum and we will be providing feedback as requested by the Ministry of Education. There is a lot we are very happy with and some aspects that we are not infavour of and we will feed this back. A welcome addition to the revised curriculum is financial literacy.

We often hear parents say I wasn't good at maths. We want to challenge our community to refrain from staying this in front of their children so we can create a postive mindset about maths and maths learning.

We find one of the biggest barriers to children making progress in their maths learning is that they are not proficient in knowing their basic facts.

In Years 1 - 2 that is knowing and understanding with automaticity:

• numbers to 5 - addtion and subtraction facts
• numbers to 10 - addtion and subtraction facts
• numbers to 20 - addtion and subtraction facts
• skip counting in 2's, 5's and 10's

In Years 3 - 5 that is learning, understanding and knowing multiplication and division facts:

• to 10 (previously children had until Year 6 to learn this)

In Years 6 - 8 children need to know all of this with quick instant recall and this requires practice, practice, practice and revision, revision, revision.

Children need to practice their basic facts at home on a regular basis. You can help with this by:

• Making maths fun at home - make flash cards play card games that require number thinking - fish to 10, memory to 10, flip over 2 cards quickly work out the additon, subtraction, multiplication or division fact.
• Daily Practice - Encourage your child to spend a few minutes each day practicing basic facts. Consistency is key in reinforcing their learning and improving recall speed.
• Online maths games - Allowing your child time to engage with x tablesrockstars and mathletics, two online programmes our school pay for.
• Use Everyday Situations: Look for opportunities in daily life to practice maths. For example, while grocery shopping, ask your child to calculate the total cost or find the difference in prices.
  
• Praise Progress: Celebrate small victories to build confidence. Acknowledge when your child correctly answers questions or shows improvement, which motivates them to continue practicing.
• Set a Routine: Establish a regular time for home learning that includes reviewing basic facts. This routine helps create a habit and makes learning a part of your child’s daily life.
• Work Together: Sit down with your child to work through problems together. Your involvement shows support and can make learning feel less daunting.
• Be Patient: Learning takes time, so be patient and supportive. If your child struggles, offer encouragement and remind them that it's okay to make mistakes as long as they keep trying.

By incorporating these strategies into your daily life, you can help your child develop a strong foundation in basic math facts, setting them up for future success.

Nga mihi nui

Kim Waite

Principal

In the week of 2nd September, our whole school will be visiting the Stratford Library. This trip is a wonderful opportunity for students to explore the library and to encourage a love of reading. We will travel by bus leaving school at 9.15am and returning by 12pm. Two classes will go each day with Room 5 continuing on after Tech. While one class visits the library, the other class will go for a walk through the Dell and to the playground. We will have a wet weather plan if necessary. Parents are welcome to join us but would need to meet us there.

Details of the Visit:

Tuesday 3rd September - Room 1 and 4

Thursday 5th September - Room 2 and 3

Thursday 5th September - Room 5 (1.30-2.30pm)

If your child does not have a library card and you would like them to have one please complete the membership form that is coming home today and send it back to school. We will assist students in getting one.

We believe this experience will be both educational and enjoyable for the students.

Our chickens are now beginning to lay. Their eggs are for sale for $8 on our enviro stall. If anyone has empty egg cartons that we can use please drop these off to Room 3. We would also love more food scraps to be able to feed the chickens. These can also be dropped off into the basket in Room 3.

School Photos - Parents have been emailed their child’s unique Key Code to go online to view and purchase 2024 School Photos. ***FREE DELIVERY EXPIRES Midnight Sunday 25TH AUGUST *** You might need to keep an eye on your trash / spam folder.

Calf & lamb Day

The details for calf and lamb day are on the following documents which are saved on our schools website:

Calf & Lamb Day Guidelines 2024

Calf and Lamb Day Course Guidelines 2024

Each fortnight we will be sharing some kupu that we are using in our classrooms. You may want to learn along as well. We will provide the word, how to pronounce it and how to say it in a sentence.

Cross Country Practice -

All our classes will be training for cross country. Please ensure that your child has suitable gear for running (shoes are optional but recommended) and a change of clothes as the paddocks we run in are often wet and muddy.

Toko School Cross Country

Our school Cross Country is scheduled for Friday 30th August and will run alongside our daffodil day activities.

The event will begin at 11.30am and is run on the school grounds and into the O'Sullivans paddocks which runs on the far side of the school house.

Footwear is optional but is recommended. Please note that the course can be quite muddy if we have had wet weather prior to the event.

All children are asked to wear yellow, organe or green for Daffodil Day and we ask that if your child is going to be picked up from the event that we wait for all runners to have completed the course so that everyone is supported.

We will need parent volunteers to help marshall on the course. If you are able to help please let Shelley know by the end of this week.

Rural Cluster Cross Country will no longer be taking place. Runners will be selected from this event to attend the Central Cross Country ( Y3+) based on time rather than position.

Our student leadership team is keen to run a sausage sizzle during the cross country for tamariki and families to purchase during the cross country. Are there a couple of parents out there that might be able to cook and serve the sausages for us? All proceeds from this will be donated to the Stratford Daffodil Day collection. Sausage and bread $3.00. Children are encouraged to dress in yellow, orange or green.

There are several advantages to your child bringing their own device to school.

• It saves lots of time trying to log in to a different device everyday. With your own device you're logged in and good to go straight away, allowing more learning time.

• Your child learns to navigate and use the device effectively. They know what apps are on it, where to find certain folders and how to quickly get to what they need. Which also allows for more learning time.

• It's a great way to teach your child about responsibility for their belongings. Having their own device means they need to have it charged the night before and they have to remember to pack it each day and take it out of their bag as soon as they get to school.

• The parental controls are so good these days, that you are able to have control over when, what and how your child uses the device.

If you are considering buying a device we recommend iPads (not tablets) for Years 3 - 6 and Chromebooks or Netbooks for Year 7-8. Ipads are also fine at Year 7-8 but are not useful at high school.

Here are some links to places where you can get more information about BYOD and about what to buy.

Harvey Norman

Noel Lemming

PB Tech

The Warehouse

We are more than happy to chat with you about BYOD at any time.

Mrs Hancock

30 August - Daffodil Day

30 August - School Cross Country pp 2nd September

10 September - Friends of Toko School Mtg and AGM

12 September - Kahui Kapa Haka

16-20 September - Maori Language Week

17 September - BOT monthly meeting

20 September - Tatarikihi Festival Kapahaka

27 September - Term 3 Ends

14 October - Term 4 Starts

17 October - Calf and Lamb Day

If you are wanting to learn about First Aid, Life Skills, Communication, Caring, Safety, the St John Youth Programme might be for you!

Our group names and ages are as follows Korora Group years 0 to 3, Hoiho Group years 4 to 6, Blue Group 7 to 9 years.

Place: St John Complex, 8 Romeo St, Stratford.

Time: 6.30pm to 8.00pm, Tuesday's during school term

Cost $25.00 per term

Please contact Donna Millar donna.millar@stjohn.org.nz if you have any questions or would like to come along for a few nights to see what we are all abo

When: Thursday 29 August. Call in anytime between 5.30pm -7pm

Where: Whangamomona Hotel

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) is holding a drop-in session to discuss plans for sealing the remaining section of road through the Tāngarākau Gorge this summer and hear the community’s views on traffic management while this work is underway.

You can also find out more about a series of sculptures being erected along the Forgotten World Highway which will showcase the cultural significance and history of the area. The sculptures are expected to become a key attraction for visitors, bringing more tourism to the area.

NZTA will also visit schools on 29th and 30th August to share information about the sculptures with students.

Full Primary School - Year 1 - 8

Email: office@toko.school.nz
Website: www.toko.school.nz
Location: 1057 East Road, Toko, New Zealand
Phone: 06 7622849
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TokoSchool/?ref=bookmarks