From the Office of the Deputy Principal

2010-10-19T14:36:00.002+13:00

Well what an eventful time it has been. There is so much going on for our students, both in school and at various activities outside of school. Our students are very fortunate with the variety of opportunities they have to represent Breens in the wider community. I know that Brian has already highlighted a few of these but below are some updates on some other learning activities our brilliant Breens students have been involved in. BP Challenge Our student Problem Solving team are competing as I type this at the BP challenge at Villa Maria College. We look forward to reporting to you in the next newsletter about how they got on in the competition. Press Social Science Competition Our Social Science team will be travelling to the Town Hall on Thursday to compete in the Press Social Sciences Quiz. Next week, Breens will host the Otago Daily Times Social Sciences Quiz in our hall on Tuesday 26th October from 4-6pm for Year 5 & 6 and from 6.30-8pm for Year 7 & 8s. Best of luck to all those involved. Model United Nations Next Thursday (28th October) a group of delegates from Breens will represent our school at the Model United Nations General Assembly. We wish them the best of luck in their venture. Speech competition Last Friday, the finals of our Breens speech competition was held. It was a fantastic and entertaining afternoon with an impressive variety of speech topics and styles. Well done to all involved. Well done and good luck to our winners: Calvin Kruger, Caitlin Wright, Rebecca Hunter and Ashy Batchelor (all Year 7), Sam McMillan, Emily Fraser, Dainya Stevens and Laura McKeown (all Year 8) who will now go on to represent Breens at the inter-schools competition at Kendal.. Entrance testing At the moment, we are holding entrance tests for Year 6 students who will be coming to Breens next year. I am really enjoying meeting our new students and we will be sorting out classes for next year very soon. If you have a child in Year 6 who is planning to come to Breens next year but has yet to drop in enrolment forms, please contact the office and we will be happy to help you out with that.
Just a note to say that after typing this update, we had a wee shake up this morning. I can happily report that our students remained calm and sensible through this morning’s (long) aftershock. They knew exactly what to do and took all necessary safety precautions. Many thanks to our staff who managed the situation very well and it’s lovely to note the caring atmosphere around the school as everyone made sure everyone else was ok.

What are our students telling us?

2010-05-11T10:04:00.000+12:00

Well winter has finally made its arrival and we are well and truly into our school year with all of the challenges, activities and achievements the school year brings. I have been visiting classes and discussing their learning with them around the values that we have here at Breens. It was interesting for me to get the feedback from our students on what they value about learning by comparison to what they perceive the adults supporting them hold as valuable learning.
When I interviewed the students about what they feel we (students and staff) do well here at Breens, they told me:
“Students are good leaders at Breens”, “Our teachers do a very good job of keeping kids hungry to learn more”, “Making the learning interesting”, “There are lots of opportunities available”, “We are kept focussed on our learning” , “We are encouraged to show respect to our community”, “School spirit”.....and the list goes on and on!
I went on to ask about the adults who support their learning and it was clear that they can see and appreciate that as far as the staff and their families are concerned, their happiness and opportunities for effective learning are always a priority.
“The Breens tree”......”Giving us lots of opportunities to be successful”.....”Respect”.....”Students using the Breens values”....”Getting us ready for high school”.......”Our health”........”Coming home with a positive smile”.......”Concentrating on our learning”........ These were some of the comments students made about what they perceive the adults concerned with their learning held to be valuable.
Our students see that their ongoing development as lifelong learners is a team effort and we all have something to contribute to their success.

From our April Newsletter

2010-05-05T11:28:00.000+12:00

Term two is a busy term full of promise here at Breens. We have our teams training and practising Our extension programme has hit the ground running and our peer mediators will be sharing their leadership skills throughout the school.......all this before we even get into the learning-rich classrooms!
I went for a stroll around the classrooms the other day and the buzz of motivated learning was infectious! I was warmed to see so many students engaged in a cacophony of activities. The learning conversations around the school are interesting too. Students are leading their own learning, reflecting on their experiences and analysing their thinking.......I hope I was even half as engaged when I was at school!
Over the next few months, I am going to turn the focus of my newsletter pieces to our learning targets. I am going to report to you on what the students are telling me about their learning and I hope to relate some interesting ideas and results from around the school.
If there is a particular area of learning at Breens you would like to know more about or maybe, a question about the multitude of learning experiences that go on here please do feel free to contact me by phone at 3598108 or by email at corrina.bailey@breens.school.nz .

The story so far....

2010-03-30T15:37:00.001+13:00

Beannachtai La Feile Phadraig libh go leir! Happy Saint Patricks Day to you all. I sincerely hope the luck of the green is with you all this year! Today is a very special day for me and I feel like celebrating!! I want to share with you some of the wonderful reasons for celebrating that are going on all throughout Breens at the moment.
This year, we have a real buzz of proactive enterprise about the school. We have students participating in the governance of the school in a number of positive ways. Our students are leaders in our school and in our community. Our School Council, House Captains, Head leadership team, Jump Jam Leaders, Sports Council and Kapa Haka Leaders are some of our young leaders who are taking the initiative and leading the Breens way. It is an inspiration to watch your children participate in our community with such fervour and positivity. They are a credit to their families!
We are now adding to this extensive list of leadership opportunities with the development of our Peer Mediator programme. A group of students who have been elected to the role will participate in Leadership Camp next week. The central theme of this camp will be leadership as a peer mediator and will begin the training and support that these students will continue to get as they strive to make a difference at our school.
We are very proud of the efforts of our leaders within the Breens community. Later this year, our young leaders will extend their focus into the wider community and work with different groups to make a difference. If you have any suggestions or ideas for ways in which you would like to see our young people involved throughout the community, please do feel free to contact me to discuss it. I can be reached by phone at 3598108, ext 810 or by email at corrina.bailey@breens.school.nz We look forward to sharing our wonderful leaders and their inspirational attitude with our community. We can all benefit from their example!

Term One, Week One 2010

2010-03-30T15:35:00.000+13:00

Wecome to Breens 2010!
What a big year we have ahead. I had so much fun getting to meet up with all our new students again on day one, having met so many of you in your primary schools. I promise to do everything I can to remember ALL your names as quickly as possible!
As I was saying to the Year 7 students, this year is about forming those important habits. Belonging at Breens is about being the bubbly, reliable, resilient student who is innovative. It’s about communicating with all of us about your goals and achievements. It’s about making a positive contribution to the Breens Learning Community. How will you make your mark this year? How will we remember your first year at Breens? How will you contribute to your new school? I look forward to meeting with each of you individually as this term goes on to discuss your plans for a very successful year and how we can support you to be better every single time!
Year 8s.......you folks have shown us already what Brilliant students you are and we have high expectations for all of you. This is your year to shine. This is your year to show the Year 7s the Breens way. I know you are going to do a Brave and Beautiful job! I will also be meeting with you folks to discuss your transition to high school next year and how we can plan to make that as easy a transition as possible for each of you.
The fun starts here!

My Mihi

2010-03-13T19:39:00.003+13:00

Looking Forward

2009-09-23T11:50:00.001+12:00

Well, we’re three quarters of the way through the school year and time is slipping away very quickly. Term four promises to be yet another busy term with sporting and cultural as well as learning opportunities on offer for the students. It will also be a time of looking forward. Our Year 8 students will be thinking ahead to their move to high school while our Year 7 students can look forward to the opportunity of taking over the mantle of leadership for next year.
I strongly encourage our Year 7 students to have a think about the numerous opportunities for leadership that will be available to them; from head boy and girl, deputy head boy and girl, school council, house captains, PALs, peer mediators, sports team captains, Kapa Haka leaders, jump jam leaders.......the list goes on and on!! How will you contribute to the school next year? How can you step up to be a leader of yourself and others?
In term four, we will acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of our students at our Prize Giving ceremony for the end of the year. On offer are certificates, cups and shields aplenty. How have you made your mark this year? In what learning area have you achieved? These are questions that all our students need to think about. You can still make your mark so make it a positive one and then look forward and plan how you will continue to achieve next year.
Enjoy the break and see you in two weeks time!

Step Up To Success

2009-09-17T08:29:00.000+12:00

At the beginning of this year, we kicked off the Step Up To Success programme at Breens to recognise the achievements of our students. The programme rewards those students who have improved their level of ability and understanding in different curriculum areas.
Throughout the year, we have cheered students’ achievements in the fields of reading, spelling, addition/subtraction, multiplication/division and persuasive writing as they have succeeded in surpassing their own expectations. Students who improve by at least one full level of ability receive a Step Up To Success certificates to mark their achievements.
So far 117 certificates have been handed out (not bad in a school of 175 students!) and 92 students have shown significant improvements in a number of curriculum areas. Throughout the school, we have seen achievements that everyone can be proud of. To be acknowledged in the Step Up To Success programme takes something special.
This is a very exciting week for our learners at Breens. They have just come to the end of their Fractional Knowledge programme and are taking their post-unit assessments this week. We set a school-wide target of 100% improvement in this learning area. I hope to report back to you in our next newsletter with great news!

Fractions......eugh!! How can you help your child?

2009-08-17T13:49:00.000+12:00

Fractions……..a lot of us remember them with dread from our own school days. At Breens, fractions are currently the focus of our numeracy programme and it’s amazing to visit the classes and see the variety of approaches being used to understand the concept of fractional thinking! Pizza cutting, compass turns, groups sharing, problem solving, speed challenges……the list goes on and on. The students are tackling fractions from all angles and a visit to any numeracy room is an exciting experience. The buzz of learning is thick in the air.
At home, why not add your support to their learning by bringing fractions into conversations and questions as much as you can. Fractions of time and measurements, fractions of a turn and of food. There are many ways to get your child thinking about fractions. This is a big target for us this term and we are determined to see the success in our numeracy programme continue to grow. So give it a go at home. Another area that is always popular with our students is quick fire mental math. It is so useful for our students going onto high school that they can confidently work out simple (and sometimes more tricky) calculations in their heads. They enjoy the healthy competition of beating a calculator and their own personal best times with mental computations. Ask your child’s teacher for resources or worksheets that might help further their learning at home.
On another topic, this Friday, we would like to invite you to join us for our Celebration Assembly. These assemblies take place once a month on a Friday to celebrate the varied and wonderful learning that goes on all around Breens. At the assembly this month, we will have presentations from each class and displays of learning from a number of groups throughout the school. There will also be presentations to mark the achievements of many of our students; so do please come along and join us as we celebrate the achievements and enjoyment of your children on Friday at 2pm in the Breens school hall.

Numeracy update

2009-08-17T13:48:00.000+12:00

The heads are down, the brains are switched on and all around the school, students are busy learning new strategies in Numeracy.
We finished last term with an astounding result from the Multiplication and Division unit and we had a record number of students receiving certificates for the Step Up To Success programme (so many, in fact, that some were given at last week’s assembly and some will be given out this week). We saw a 98% improvement in test scores school-wide at the end of the unit which is a very encouraging result.
Congratulations to the students receiving Step Up To Success certificates for their work in Multiplication and Division. They are:
Room 9: Ahmad, Ben, Brayden, Brendon, Brianna, Ishbel, Jae, Matt, Zhantel, Conor, Dakota, Jessica, Steph
Room 10: Ashleigh, Chris, Christina, Dion, Dylan, Imogen, Natasha, Rhiannon, Joshua,
Room 11: Christopher, Dee, Jamil, Leah, Marcus, Staci,
Room 12: Jake, Jesse, Jezmine, Mikayla, Sean, TeAhu,
Room 20: An, Dylan, Erin, Grace, Jakob, Libby, Michell, Ryan, Steph,
Room 21: Brittany, Dainya, Malama, Nicholas, Vanessa
To earn a certificate, students need to have improved their learning level by at least 3 sub-levels.
This term, it’s all about Fractions, Decimals and Percentages. So far, the students have completed their pre-unit assessments and have highlighted the strategies that each of them will be learning. We are going for a 100% improvement school-wide this time so if you can think of ways in which you can help your child to focus on fractions at home over the next few weeks, please do. If you would like any advice or suggestions for ways in which you can support your child’s numeracy at home, feel free to talk to their teacher or to myself. We are happy to help.

Learning Interviews

2009-08-17T13:45:00.000+12:00

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to carry out Learning Interviews with some of our students. We have been talking about what they are learning and, very importantly, how they are learning. It has been very interesting for me to hear the feedback from the students and to look at how they assess themselves and their learning. Often they base their self assessments on feedback from their teacher and from their peers but most often, they base their assessments of their learning on the difference they see before and after a lesson or a unit of lessons.
Let’s be realistic, the score in a test, itself, is not the main focus for any of us……it’s how that score compares with our previous scores that makes the difference. “Have I improved?” “Am I learning new strategies?” are questions that are important to answer for oneself but it is also vital to reflect on, “How have I improved?” “How can I use new strategies further in my learning?”
It has also been very rewarding to feedback to students about the assessments that they have carried out in class. It is important for our students to know how they are doing so that they can develop realistic and constructive learning goals to aim for.
As we approach the half –way mark this year, our students will be looking forward and developing their learning goals further. At Breens, we try to ensure that the students understand, not only where there learning is at, but also what the next steps for their learning are. From there, we work with the students to develop and action plan for achievement so that our students understand what they need to do to reach their goals.
We are also coming to the end of the Multiplication and Division unit in Numeracy and students will soon complete their post-unit assessment so that we can see how their learning in this area has moved. Some exciting times ahead. Some of our students have already been practicing for their assessment and testing their new strategies. The feedback from those students in the interviews has been that they are very impressed and amazed by their own achievements. So here’s to some more Step Up to Success certificates to come!

Some Assessment Feedback

2009-03-26T14:01:00.001+13:00

It’s been Assessment Time here at Breens for the past while. The assessments that our students have been doing have been extremely helpful in identifying strengths and areas for support in their learning.
The students have carried out assessments in reading, spelling and maths. They are now armed with a lot of information and feedback from their teachers about their assessments with which to attack their learning!
Teachers are also using the data to have conversations with their students around learning and achievement. Knowing where each student is at with their learning, as well as their personal learning styles and interests makes it possible for our teachers to design programmes to meet the needs of each student in the class.
I have also started doing some personalised learning conversations with our Year 8 students. I will eventually meet with each student in the school which is quite an undertaking but is proving to be very interesting and rewarding.
So far, a lot of the feedback that I have gotten from the Year 8 students I’ve spoken to has been around their reflections on their achievements in Year 7. The next step for us now is to look at working towards Year 9. I have been working with the students to analyse the data around their assessments and each of them has said that they enjoy knowing where they are at and having an input in planning their next steps of learning.
Reading has also been mentioned at these meetings. A lot of the Year 8 students identified reading as an area they want to develop. Reading is a strong learning focus this year at Breens and it good to hear from the students themselves that we’ve identified an area where they can see they want to work.
The students are doing a lot of talking about their learning and the next steps they want to take. They are identifying and debating the success criteria for what they are learning and we are seeing an ever-increasing input from our students in leading their learning. Long may it continue!

Silent Reading In Class

2009-02-19T13:06:00.000+13:00

What about the reluctant readers who need encouragement to read and wont do it at home?

Welcome to the office of the Deputy Principal

2009-02-18T14:03:00.000+13:00

"Failte gach duine chuig an Blog seo. Taim ag tnu le alan diospoireacht siumiula libh!!"
Basically what I've said in Irish is Welcome to this Blog. I look forward to plenty of interesting conversations with you!

As you may have gathered, I'm the Irish connection here at Breens. This is my fourth year at Breens and my first as Deputy Principal. Over the next while, I will be using this Blog to chat to you about all that's going on with student achievement at Breens and I welcome and look forward to your comments and questions.