Email+Copies


 * Management Meeting Minutes from Principal Meeting 2, 2009

Tasks agreed to do by next Principals' Workshop (Tuesday September 1st) • Principals and Lead Teachers to share Ken Robinson video to whole staff and facilitate a discussions about the themes and ideas in this video reading. • Principals to try to find a video reading to share with the principals group at the next principals meeting. This could be individual or as a pair, team. • To prepare for the meeting Wed 3 June, please fill in the milestone template and email to Disa. These will be put together on a google document by Disa and made available to everyone, at or prior to the meeting.

One-on-One time** Disa and Dave have one spare Monday that we would like to offer to Principals for their own one-on-one time. Please let Disa know if you have a preferred time for one of them to visit you on Monday 15 June, otherwise we will be in touch with a time.


 * Issues Discussed

Milestone** Milestone needs to provide evidence that the cluster programme money has been well spent. It is also about planning and ensuring that the goals schools have for the programme are being met. Jill Hammond explains her points/ thoughts about reporting on cluster progress on her blog. Click here to read. Here are some things that came out of discussion about what sort of information should be included when completing milestone 3. This information was also included in the email that was received with the milestone template.

1. The milestone comments should record change that has happened in the school (not simply the things that have been done), however you should list the things that you think have contributed to that change. e.g. Three teachers are using blogs to communicate to families, previously teachers were using newsletters and much of what was happening in classrooms was not seen or communicated to parents who were unable to come into the school. This change is a result of a staff meeting at school on blogging and one-on-one sessions with the facilitator.

2. The milestone should be increasingly a collaborative task between Lead Teachers, Principals and the staff.

3. Examples of improved student outcomes and evidence of change, you might be able to communicate this through a case study- e.g. a child who was previously not engaged during maths lessons now engaging and on task during maths computer time. This would need to be information from classroom teachers, which is why more and more the staff should be discussing and communicating these changes for the milestone.


 * The milestone should be an opportunity for Lead Teachers, Principals and staff to review and refocus their efforts, to make sure they are clear about where they want to go next as a school and for all staff to recognise and articulate change and see that this is key to the contract.

Cluster Direction and Future Milestone Reporting** It was decided at the Principals' meeting that we should hold a short meeting to fine tune the cluster programme and the milestone reporting. This will be held on Wednesday 3rd June at DNI starting at 3pm, for all Lead Teachers and Principals who will be able to attend. Those people who will not be able to attend will be sent the minutes following the day and can email Disa if they would like to organise attending the meeting via Skype (especially Strath Taieri, Lee Stream) or if people unable to attend would like any issues bought up on their behalf by Disa and Dave.

• Future ways to collect data cluster wide on the progress made to report in milestones. Possibility of using the rubric for this, discussion about how this could be done. • The rubric has been restructured so it fits with our cluster goals correctly • Revisit term 3 and 4 programme so it meets the cluster needs, what do teachers/ schools need from the cluster? • Teachers not coming to workshops- Why? Concerns with the technology, don’t see the value to their programmes.
 * At the meeting we will discuss…**

Less emphasis on tech in workshops but part of the learning will be ICT. Focus workshops on the things that makes the biggest difference is children’s learning. Key messages for teachers, for everyone in the cluster. You don’t need to know how to do everything, Curriculum, Strategies, Let the children show them how to use things
 * Some of Jill’s ideas shared to raise interest in Workshops**

Trade show is still an idea that we may pursue during the cluster programme. Idea for a type of kids conference in the final year of the programme. Mini-conference at the end of this year for teachers to share their action research if they are comfortable to, this will be structured as the Virtual Syndicate so presentations would be to small groups of teachers who have chosen to hear the presentation. Common curriculum focus areas for PD workshop, e.g. vocabulary and ways ICT can enhance the teaching of vocabulary, rather than on the ICTs. Creating time for playing, reflecting etc after courses. Getting an inspirational speaker in, this could be incorporated with the mini-conference. Communication- getting message out. Do all teachers know what the cluster offers or the main aims of the cluster within schools? Virtual syndicate will start at 3 pm. Teachers to be released a little earlier. Meeting free weeks for virtual syndicates. This workshop should stay as an opportunity for the Lead Teachers to share and offer their expertise. Record expertise within the cluster on the wiki. This will be done by recording and sharing the action research projects on the wiki, when these have been completed.
 * Other Ideas/ Issues Discussed**



Hello to everyone who attended the Principals' Workshop last Monday, We know that principals' time is very important and appreciate you investing some of this time into the cluster programme.**

Sorry this has taken a week, we have been making sure everything which could be immediately followed up on was, before we sent this out. Now anything that interests you is linked into these minutes. A copy of these are also available on the wiki.

Below are some notes on some of the thinking and ideas that came from discussions yesterday.

Action Points.... Schools survey own school to identify what they need and can cluster if suitable (for workshops and Fac time) First in first served, the more information we have the better we can meet your needs. LT have been asked to send a list of Teachers and Action Research topics so the Fac time can be well used and prepared for.
 * Notes from Principals Workshop Day 1**
 * Discussion about Milestone feedback**

Discussion - do teachers need to teach (ICT) skills - what do teachers expect at each level? What should we focus on in anything. Look at Lianne's Action ResearchAll of the Lead Teachers' Action Research from last year is there if you haven't had time to read it, it's worthwhile.

Put options for 'typing practice' on the wikiThis has been done

Looking to ICT as part of the forward thinking to dealing with issues (teaching and learning) - how can ICT be used to help with this? Ways of developing personal (relationships) links across cluster teachers? Leading into virtual connections? Facilitators/Principals suggesting connections (and doing the cold call) Is there a leadership role to play in developing these relationships?

What other ways we can meet instead of face to face? (how can we - or are we prepared to commit to alternative methods.......) (video conference?) Audio Conference(Investigate web based video conference (multi-point)) MIX technologies eg beam some participants in via video/we/audio

Sharing an online blog Importance of relevance to the virtual activities? but personal connection (face to face) is still important Regional meetings - open to anybody from the cluster, future meetings will be advised and feedback from these meetings will be given. Greg has a hold on hotel rooms for uLearn Choose between uLearn or ILT (Disa and Dave have put this on the wiki in the communications area, under conferences) ILT is still to be added sorry, it's coming.

Possibility of visiting other clusters? (for next year)

Blog address - [|http://otepotiprincipals. blogspot.com/] Please go into this blog and post a comment about our workshop on Monday went for you. For those of you who are not familiar with blogging, instructions on how to do this are attached.

Wiki see principals page (For any information covered at the workshop, appraisal, action research etc, it is all linked from this page so you don't have to waste time searching the site. https://otepoti.wikispaces. com/


 * Notes from Management Meeting**

Programme Variation has been sent to everyone. Success indicators and cluster goals e-learning focus, schools will implement these, this table from the variation document is an attachment. This is the table Greg was going over at the meeting. E-learning emphasis is our focus.

Bus trips will have a focus to help build connections. Action Research is part of our appraisal. Report on this how this process is going in the next milestone. Can download the swell document. Linked on Principals’ Workshop page. If you are interested in the way this cluster viewed the roles of principal, LT and Teachers. Our page is now on the wiki under from our work yesterday. Can find information on AR and appraisal on Principals’ page on wiki.

Went over the budget spending so far this year, L@S, food for workshops and salaries. Claiming release Reimbursement is easier to manage term by term for release. Once the milestone has been done and the money has been paid to Outram, then schools can be reimbursed.

First **Milestone** is due 5th of June, so it will need to be sent by **Friday the 15 May**. A template or framework for the milestone will be sent to schools by copying the **Success Indicators-** We will experiment writing some of the milestone as a google doc but individual schools will still need to include their own parts. **The Success Indicators have been added as an attachment.**

Tuesdays would be better for future Principal Meetings. Revised Dates will be sent to you.
 * In reporting in milestone- The focus should be what has changed not just what has been done.**

Could we organize a trade show, gold coin donation from other schools. Disa and Dave will follow this up.

Buying resources together. It would be helpful to learn/ know about new equipment and technology, especially cost effective options. (Will discuss whiteboards software/ hardware and price at next Principals meeting and look at the Wiimote. Will add this to the Wiki in Principals section. An area on the wiki has been added but will be a work in progress.

Can get discount from Telecom who will match a quote of another company for phone connection. Round about at the back of the railway station, is Radcliffs who sell a lot of techie stuff for affordable prices. Especially cords. Greg has been getting projectors cheap on trade me. Remote buddy can be use to programme a remote for your projector Blue tooth mouse and keyboard. Download the software for free? Monitor arm, to move tv. Mojo software to download other peoples itunes etc.

GSNS will have an extra LT at the meetings to make the workload more manageable for the original Lead Teacher. There are over 20 teachers doing and Action research project there.

Thank you again for a great day. Disa and Dave.

If you are happy for your skype name to be added to the bottom of the principals page on the wiki add it to the bottom of the page or you can email it to Disa to do this for you. Greg's Disa's and Dave's are there already.

—

Hello Principals,

Monday 9th of March is our first Principals' Workshop for 2009. We are currently planning for this day.

Below is our proposed agenda for the day. We would appreciate any feedback or requests from you prior to the day, so the time we have together is worthwhile for everyone.

9:00- Greetings Programme for the year- Where are we going? Review the feedback from the milestone. How have we planned to meet these suggestions. 9:30 Getting connected, make your computer work for you. -Using online calendars -Sharing documents, collaborating online. -Organising ad syncing calendars. -RSS feeds and emailed updates.

Blog

10:30 Morning Tea

11:00 Goals and Roles for 2009. Examine what responsibilities/ support we need to give to the different roles in the cluster. Conversation about how to use time in schools.

11:45 Curriculum- Teaching as Inquiry Appraisal conversation

12:30 Lunch

1:00 Management Meeting this will end our workshop.

Please email any suggestions/feedback to Disa regarding this or any future Principal Workshops.

The calendar on the Otepoti Cluster wiki has been updated with all Lead Teacher and Principal workshops. In case anyone has had difficulty accessing this, the dates are below. It was requested last year that more details were added to the calendar, by clicking on the event a box will appear which has these details, including a map of the venue.

Monday 9 March Monday 18 May Monday 31 August

Looking forward to seeing you all on the Monday 9 March at the [|Mornington Presbyterian Community Centre.](This link is a map). 9:00 until the Management Meeting is finished in the afternoon.

Regards Disa and Dave

___ Kia ora Principals and Lead Teachers of Otepoti Cluster

Woohoo 2009! Hope you all had a good break and are well rested for the year ahead.

We are now into year 2 of the Otepoti cluster programme and we are currently working through organisational matters. ICT Facilitators for 2009 are Dave Young, who continues from 2008 and Disa McLean. Disa was the Lead Teacher for George Street Normal School in 2008 and will be the new Jane. Dave will be doing one day a week (Monday) and Disa will be doing three (Monday- Wednesday).

Disa is wanting to make contact with all schools and arrange a time to visit. During this visit she would like to meet with teachers and have some informal discussions to get a good idea of what each school wants to get out of their participation in the cluster this year. She would like to make the best use of her time by visiting schools which are geographically close to one another. Relievers do not need to be arranged and you do not need to do anything in preparation for her visit. She is happy to work around you and does not want to cause any disruption at this important time of year. Suggested days for a visit are written below, these would suit our timetable but if they do not suit your school please let Disa know and she will rearrange her plans. Could Lead Teachers advise the best time of day for a visit.

Lead Teachers - Disa would love to speak to you during her visit and spend sometime in your classrooms if your happy for her to be there, let Disa know if this is possible without interrupting your classroom teaching. It would be really helpful if we could have the email addresses of each teacher in your school so we can contact them during the year.

Lead Teachers - please confirm the time and day for a visit as soon as it is possible and could please send an updated staff list for your school. Attached is the first e-newsletter for 2009, to be distributed to all teachers in your school individually via email. Please include Disa's email address in your email in your newsletter distribution. This will give us a copy of all teachers email address. (please ask if this does not make sense!!)

Proposed dates for visits

Strath Taieri and Lee Stream- Tuesday 10 February Ravensbourne and St Leonards- Wednesday 11 February Liberton, North East Valley and Sacred Heart- Tuesday 17 February Outram- Tuesday 3 March George Street Normal School- Completed

Tasks from above (Lead Teachers) Confirm visit date (to Disa) Distribute E-Newsletter (include Disa's email address) Send updated staff list to Disa

Sorry about the wordy email.

Looking forward to working with you all this year.

Thanks

Disa McLean David Young

Note- When Lead Teacher was confirmed for 2009, DNI's proposed visit date Wednesday 18 February.