BOT/PTA

PTA (Parent Teacher Association) AGM

Tuesday 1 March 2011, 7.30 pm

School Staff Room

The Parent Teacher Association (PTA) is an enthusiastic, energetic group of parents who support Riverdale School in it’s day-to-day activities throughout the year.  The PTA is an excellent medium for parents or caregivers to meet others, particularly those who are new in the school or the area, and who have an interest in the activities of their children inside and outside of school. Some of the many activities the PTA is involved include: Fundraising; Duathlon; Quiz Evenings; Sausage Sizzles, School Discos…

The Officers of the PTA (Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, Secretary, and Treasurer) and General Committee Members are elected at the AGM.

Everything we do helps your child, so come along and become involved.  If you are curious and would like to see what it is all about – we would love to see you there!  There will be a light supper and this will be followed by a committee meeting.

If you have any queries feel free to contact either the Chairperson:  Nicola Budden (buddenn@xtra.co.nz) or Secretary Tracey Royds (troyds@xtra.co.nz).

Board of Trustees

Dear Parents / Caregivers and Community of Riverdale School,

On 20 November 2010 the Board had a meeting to plan the school’s strategic direction for the next 3 years, our beliefs and values, and what we want from the school in terms of an education for our children. We then had a special meeting to discuss the school’s position in relation to National Standards.

As you will have seen in the media, a number of commentators have voiced concerns about implementation of the Standards.

Since November 2009 the Board, Principal and Staff have been attempting to interpret and implement the Government’s policy in relation to the Standards. Members of the Board have been to meetings, liaised with our Principal and staff and read widely in relation to all sides of the debate. We have also consulted, and will continue to consult with, our community.

We need to make it clear at the outset that the Board is not opposed to National Standards. The Government’s aim to lift achievement so that the 20% of children that it identifies as being at risk is commendable, but the question for us is whether the implementation of National Standards is going to address the problem.

Some of our concerns as a Board are as follows:

(a) The “one size fits all” approach to National Standards across all schools does not take into account that children learn at different rates and have different backgrounds, interests and abilities upon entering the school.

(b) The lack of recognition that a child’s learning is significantly impacted by their background, including social, health and welfare issues which are beyond both their control and ours.

(c) That a significant majority of primary school Principals are saying that National Standards don’t make sense and will harm children and schools, will confuse, not inform parents, and will be demoralising to those students who most need help.

(d) The vast majority of our teachers at Riverdale are voicing either concern or serious concern about the implementation of National Standards and whether the information being reported is valid and reliable as there is no process for moderation between schools and districts.

(e) The “aspirational” nature of the Standards, which according to Ministry of Education data means that 50% of children after one year at school are expected to be “below standard” in reading. Do we really want a significant number of our children labelled as “below standard” from the outset of their schooling career, even if many of them (especially boys) are reading normally for their age?

(f) That standards have been hastily prepared and introduced without consultation with educationalists, teachers and Principals and without being trialled.

(g) That the implementation of standards will result in the narrowing of the rich curriculum our children currently enjoy. That league tables will appear in the media, ranking schools on their results against National Standards which relate only to reading, writing, and maths. If a school’s ranking, if not survival, depends upon its performance in relation to only 3 areas, will schools teach to the tests at the expense of other areas such as ICT, science, PE, arts and culture and all the other things that enrich our children’s educational experience and motivate them to come to school?

(h) While we expect that the children at Riverdale School will perform very well when measured against the Standards in comparison to other schools, what are the implications for our school if future resourcing continues to weigh heavily in favour of those schools with higher levels of underachievement. Will our parents be expected to pick up the balance of the resourcing our school needs?

(i) Whether there is realistic planning and resourcing to address underachievement where it is identified. Simply identifying underachievement in itself, which we believe our school does very effectively already, does nothing to assist those children who are underachieving.

Riverdale School already has robust assessment and reporting in place to identify those students who require extra assistance. Those systems were the subject of scrutiny by ERO when they visited the school earlier in the year. Following the ERO visit Riverdale was placed on an extended 5 year review and we subsequently received a personal letter from the Minister congratulating the school on its performance. The question our Board has asked itself is whether the implementation of National Standards adds or detracts from what the school is doing successfully already.

We are concerned that the Minister and the Ministry do not appear to be listening to the growing numbers of Principals, teachers and other educationalists who are expressing serious concerns about where National Standards are taking us when it is recognised that New Zealand already has a world-class education system. Against that background the Board has thought carefully about its position and at our meeting on 20 November 2010 passed the following resolution:

‘That the Board expresses ‘no confidence’ in the Standards and urges the Minister to engage in rebuilding the Standards in partnership with the sector and to work towards an outcome widely endorsed by the sector.

The Board also wishes to make its position quite clear that the school is not ‘boycotting’ National Standards, nor do we wish to be needlessly dragged into any political debate. We intend to comply with the legal requirements placed on us as a Board to implement the Standards. For us, our business is about teaching and learning, but we have real concern that implementing National Standards could be a significant step in the wrong direction for our children’s education and that we need to register those misgivings now.

I continue to encourage all parents and caregivers to familiarise themselves with and become better informed about the debate around National Standards. There is a huge amount of information and opinion available in the media including the internet. The NZ Principal’s site is www.ourprincipals.co.nz. The Ministry of Education’s site is www.minedu.govt.nz.

The Board at Riverdale School remains committed to providing our children with the very best education possible. If you have any views, questions or feedback in relation to the Standards please feel free to raise these with any member of the Board.

Yours faithfully

Russell Walker

Chairperson

Riverdale School Board of Trustees