What a busy time it is at Redwood School. Term 4 is always jam packed with events, reporting, trips away for the tamariki, athletic sports and more… and the term is only nine weeks this long.
The Redwood Rock Stars….
AMAZING! That has been the response from tamariki, teachers and parents/whanau regarding their trip to Auckland and the National Jump Jam Championships. The Redwood Rock Stars, coached by teachers Emma Titulaer, Ashley Pearce and Allyce Devereux did Redwood School proud. Although not placed the team gave their best performance and did us proud! Thank you to all the girls in the team (see the photo later in our newsletter), Emma, Ashley, Allyce and all the parents/whanau who assisted or made the trip north to Auckland. This type of event builds great memories for our tamariki.
The Redwood School Board of Trustees
I work closely with the Redwood School Board of Trustees. Ana Connor (Chairperson), Emma Gee, Chris Bealing, Phil Hale and Paul Rivett (recently co-opted) all do work behind the scenes to support the school and get the best for our tamariki.
Phil has spent a lot of time in the past two weeks helping with staff interviews and aspects of school rebuild, along with Chris. Emma is finance committee and liaises with Gabe McIntyre (Finance Manager) and myself, especially at this time of year, as we set budgets for 2018. Paul has been brought on board to especially assist with the planning towards school redevelopment. Ana Connor, who has stepped in as Board chairperson, meets regularly with me to keep in tune with what is going on at Redwood School. Five busy people whose support we appreciate.
School Roll and Redevelopment
The school has grown to 356 this year. Next year the school will end with a roll of around 370. We have a waiting list of out of zone children who would like to attend Redwood next year but the Ministry of Education’s maximum roll number and our unchangeable zone mean we do not have the ability to take some local tamariki living only a couple of minutes by car from Redwood School.
The master plan for school redevelopment has now gone to the Ministry of Education for costing purposes. Once this is done we will be coming back to our community as we develop more detailed planning in the next stage. We will keep you posted as things develop.
Respect our neighbours and their gardens
A number of our neighbours take pride in their gardens and the berms (frontage) by the road. They spend time planting and beautifying our environment. Please reinforce with the tamariki to leave neighbours’ gardens alone, not to damage plants or pull flowers out of their gardens/frontages... instead, admire and enjoy, don't destroy! RESPECT for self, others and property is one of our three Reddie Learner values.
No neighbours have complained but I am aware one or two are having to supervise as our children come to school in the morning and leave in the afternoon so that their gardens are not damaged. This is disappointing.
John Stackhouse
Tumuaki/Principal
Fair Enough!
The Redwood School Fair was alive on Sunday with crowds of people from our Redwood community and further afield. It was a lovely atmosphere to go with the lovely weather,
First and foremost our amazing PTA organising team, led by Jacqui Carter, were determined to have a great community fair that brought people together. We spoke about the success of past fairs in bringing the community in and this fair certainly did not disappoint! Additionally the fair raised many thousands of dollars for the school and our tamariki, our Reddie Learners!
A hugely successful White Elephant Stall in the Hillary Hall was very quickly crawling with bargain hunters. In fact when the gates opened I had to side-step the ‘charge of the Light Brigade’ as the front-runners dashed for the hall. This stall was surrounded by food stalls, cakes and sweets, games, face painting, steam punk and Star Wars characters, used clothing, chocolate wheel, pony rides, bouncy castles, horizontal bungy, silent auction, raffle and much, much more. A live band, our energetic and very successful jump jam team and our amazing kapahaka tamariki entertained... I was very proud of our tamariki and their efforts.
I thoroughly enjoyed my day meeting many people, including people newly arrived in our community and also some very familiar faces of ex-pupils and their families. Thank you to everyone who made this day the amazing success it was... tamariki, whanau and especially our PTA team of wonder organisers.
At the end of the day, as we packed things away, one comment from the daughter of a PTA organiser stood and chatted with me. She said, “You know Mr Stackhouse, most people wouldn’t have an idea of how much work it takes to have a school fair”. I wholeheartedly agreed. But that hard work produced a great day for so many people!
Our small school zone excludes local children from attending Redwood School
Our school Board of Trustees and I have a commitment to serve the children of our local Redwood community. This is difficult to do as our school zone is a very small one. The Ministry of Education has effectively vetoed Redwood School from expanding its zone in any way to allow more of our local tamariki to attend their local school. Children as close as two minutes away by car do not have the right to attend Redwood School, instead their parents/whanau must apply for entry at New Entrant level through our annual enrolment ballot. Children in the Norrie Street/Wingate Street area, for example, are designated as in zone for Papanui Primary School, but out of zone for Redwood. The Board of Trustees and I have approached the Ministry of Education on a number of occasions but have not made progress to change this situation. We will keep trying. Similarly children in the Barnes Road/Regents Park area have Redwood School as their most local school but are out of zone, they therefore have no automatic right to attend their closest school.
The Ministry of Education has dictated that Redwood School will be redeveloped in the next couple of years to be a school of 330. The Board of Trustees has committed to pproviding an extra classroom to boost places to 350-360. This is smaller than Redwood School has been. Our roll for next year will end at about 370 but the Ministry of Education expects us to reduce this to 350. Our new entrant places available this year were over-subscribed and we held a ballot. We now have the unfortunte situation where children on our waiting list wanting to attend Redwood School, their local school, are unable to do so. It is fabulous to have a Board willing to fund an extra building as a commitment to providing for our local tamariki, but it should be the Ministry of Education providing teaching space in the rebuild and not down to school boards to supplememt teaching space. We will keep you 'briefed' regarding any future development regarding this. We will keep trying!
John Stackhouse
Tumuaki/Principal
Redwood School.
Kia ora Parents/Whanau
18 August 2017
3 August 2017
It is great to be back! After a term of study leave/sabbatical I realise how much I missed the tamariki and their cheerful greetings... thank you to staff and parents who have welcomed me back as well.
28 June 2017
I cannot believe how fast this term has flown by and that we are in our second to last week of term. With the whole school production in the last week and all the classes performing, it will be a great way to end the term off.
I attended a Digital Technology summit in Auckland on Monday andTuesday with the key focus on how we could utilise digital technolgy within schools. I was amazed at what the future holds for our tamariki and that 65% of jobs have apparently not yet been created for our children. The keynote speakers were also challenging us to really think about how we can fully engage our learners and allow for student led learning, with the child having ownership thereof.
We were successful in obtaining a community grant and therefore have purchased a number of chromebooks to support our tamariki in Paerangi. This will afford more students an opportunity to use technology and share their learning through these digital tools.
I want to congratulate both Nikau and Ava for doing so well at the Canterbury Cross Country, they can be very proud of their efforts. Well done to both of you, Ka pai!
I hope all the children have a great holiday break, and if you're fortunate to have time off as a family, enjoy the holiday period together.
Nga mihi
Chris Els – Deputy Principal
14 June 2017
I am enjoying the role as acting principal, discovering the extra duties required that need to be done in order for a school to function on a daily basis. I want to take this opportunity to thank both Pauline and Gabe for supporting me in the office, ensuring that I am on top of things.
I attended a Whakatipu assembly recently and was so impressed with the students. The confidence shown by our young tamariki in hosting and the rest of the students showing beautiful manners while in the hall. I looked around and saw a community that was just as proud as I was.
I have also been very impressed with how a number of our senior children have been supporting our juniors, it’s great to see our Redwood values are taking shape. We still have a long way to go, having qualified for tier two of this programme will allow us to further grow the programme which is very exciting.
I also want to thank our PTA and the group of parents that are working tirelesly behind the scenes gearing up for the school fair. Your efforts are truly appreciated.
It’s not long now before Nikau N and Ava R represent our zone. later this month at Canterbury’s Cross Country. GOOD LUCK!!
The Ministry is still busy with the architects regarding our school redevelopment, looking at the concept plan. Hopefully I will be meeting with them soon.
I also want to encourage you to look and use the school website as a source of reference, this will mean we get the best use out of our website.
Nga mihi
Chris Els – Deputy Principal
1 June 2017
We have had quite a busy fortnight at Redwood School. We had four students represent us at the Epro8 challenge (technology) for the first time at Belfast Primary. These young men accounted well for themselves, gaining valuable lessons on how to problem solve and collaborate in order to achieve an end product.
We had the Ministry visit to assess our Positive Behaviour Programme and we have done very well, allowing us to move to the next tier of this programme. Well done to both students and staff involved in this audit.
I thoroughly enjoyed last Friday night at the School Disco, seeing all the children dancing and enjoying themselves. It was fantastic. I also enjoyed chatting with parents from both the senior and junior ends of the school. Thank you to the PTA for organising this and all those who helped behind the scenes.
I want to wish both Nikau N and Ava R all the very best of luck when they represent our zones later this month at Canterbury’s Cross Country.
On a final note, regarding our school redevelopment, we are waiting upon the architects to finalise the master plan so we can move into the detailing of how this buildings and spaces will look.
Nga mihi, Chris Els Deputy Principal
18 May 2017
I cannot believe how fast this year seems to be going, and looking at the school calendar we still have a busy few weeks ahead.
I want to congratulate all our Cross Country athletes who ran yesterday in the North Zone cross country. You can be very proud of both your efforts and behaviour. In particular I want to congratulate Nikau N (1st) and Ava R (2nd) in doing so well in their year level races. I heard some very positive comments from parents of other schools about how well the day was organised, so thank to those teachers involved for doing a great job.
I also want to thank our PTA and all their efforts to raise funds for our tamariki throughout the year, your efforts are appreciated.
We have a group of students from year 5/6 who are off to an EPRo8 challenge next week to represent our school in a technology event, Mr van der Schaaf will be supporting them.
Our whole school production will be taking place at the end of this term and classes will soon be getting under way with their items to present.
Chris Els Deputy Principal
4 May
As you know Mr Stackhouse is on sabbatical/study leave this term, he is taking time to do research regarding collaborative learning spaces. He will be looking in particular at how these spaces affect children with learning difficulties, we wish him all the very best with this research.
We would also like to welcome the following new staff members to the Redwood Team who started this term. They are Miss Marian McCashin, Miss Sarah Burt and Mrs Victoria Hurley. Marian started another New Entrant class this term, Sarah replaces Genevieve Rae who has a new daughter, and Victoria replaces Kenya McConnell who left us at the end of last term.
The school rebuild is moving forward and the masterplan is close to finalisation. We will then be moving into the next phase of the build, over the course of this term. We will attempt to keep you updated on the ongoing developments.
Parents of Year 3-6 students will be receiving school reports later this term, letting you know how your child is tracking for the year. This report will focus on the key learning areas (reading, writing and maths). The reporting process benefits both tamariki and whanau by giving them feedback and next steps. It also benefits teachers in getting to know tamariki better and developing stronger links with home.
Redwood school will also be hosting the Zone cross country on the 17 of May and we have a number of children participating, we wish them the best of luck for their races.
Thank you for your continued support and willingness to be part of the Redwood School community.
Regards Chris Els, Acting Principal
Redwood School Redevelopment...
Collaborative Teaching and Learning: What is happening?
History of buildings and development at Redwood School:
- Opened 1969, both brick blocks from this period (Canterbury Blocks)
- Prefabs added 1970s for roll growth, up to 950 chn
- Hall and admin added mid 2000s
- Computer cabling and heat pumps 2007-2008
- Earthquake Sept 2010… repairs late 2010 but all school property money frozen… still frozen
- Library redeveloped 2010-11 (completion of pre-earthquake contracted work)
- Earthquakes Feb 2011-2014, buildings damaged, only emergency repairs possible
- Collaborative teaching implemented and developed
- 2014-16 assessment and scoping of buildings and land
- Whole of Christchurch ‘Education Renewal’ strategy developed by Ministry of Education
Ministry of Education’s stance regarding Redwood School redevelopment:
- All New Zealand schools will be redeveloped with flexible/collaborative learning spaces
- Christchurch is the first whole area to undergo this change
- Although Redwood School has the smallest school zone in Christchurch the Ministry of Education will not support an expansion of the Redwood School zone so that we can have more places available for our traditional catchment/community
- The Board is opting to fund/retain a Board owned teaching space to allow 20-30 extra spaces to cater for our community because of our restrictive zone
- All Teachers/kaiako and tamariki/children will teach and learn collaboratively in flexible learning spaces
- Schools being redeveloped will be upgraded re:
- Repair of earthquake damage
- Upgrade of earthquake rating
- Insulation and heating
- Lighting, acoustics and ventilation
- Weather tightness
- Collaborative and flexible teaching spaces
- Schools in Christchurch will be redeveloped to a maximum current roll and have concept planning for a future predicted roll to account for population and network change across Christchurch. For Redwood School this means:
- Redwood School is to be built to a roll of 330 with an additional Board owned teaching space allowing maximum intake to 350-360
- Future roll growth is predicted to 550 over next twenty years
- The redevelopment budget for Redwood School is $3.5m
From our discussions with the Ministry of Education and our Master Planners (architects Fulton Ross) it seems that:
- Redwood School will become a mix of refurbished (gutted and redeveloped) buildings, repaired and new (from geotech/engineer’s reports)
- More solid ground is to the north- west of the school, it is more cost effective to build new buildings in this area
- The two brick clad teaching blocks can be redeveloped
- Nearly all of the prefabs will be removed
- The admin/office area will be removed and developed elsewhere
- The library will be developed elsewhere, current library to be a learning space
- All learning spaces will be flexible, collaborative learning spaces
- The hall will be retained and repaired (new cladding)
- All masonry will be reduced to 1.2m maximum height
- The main courts will be retained
- The staffroom will be demolished
- The playground will be redeveloped
- The car park and entrance to the school will be redesigned
- A new block of learning spaces will be developed
- There will most likely be 16 learning spaces in the redeveloped school
Where to next?
- The Master Planners will present a concept plan to the Board of Trustees from the information and discussions we have had
- The plan will be shared with the community and critiqued
- Once the concept plan is agreed to tenders will be let for architects (Term 3 2017)
- A tender will be accepted and architects engaged
- Architects will develop detailed plans in consultation with Board, staff, tamariki and community
- Detailed plans will be finalised
- Tenders will be let for construction
- Construction planned to begin start of 2018