He mihi nui ki a koutou

Welcome to the new look CPPA Website.   I would like to thank Phil Harding for getting  the new site up and running.

We hope the site will be both informative and interactive.  I would like to take this opportunity to inform you about some of the work currently being undertaken by CPPA.  

Earlier this year the Executive spent a couple of days in retreat working on a strategic plan which is now on the website for you to view.   This plan is a filter for the huge number of requests that CPPA receives on a weekly basis.   The plan develops our mission of principals leading and supporting principals, and our vision of excellence and educational leadership.   

We have identified four values: 

• Hauora
• Integrity
• Respect
• Professionalism

Together with four principles of which we will operate under.   Those are: 

• Service
• Responsibility
• Collegiality
• Development.   

We have four main strategic goals and objectives.   These are: 

• Quality professional development
• Collegial support and fellowship
• Develop  a voice to advocate for principals on issues of concern
• Effective communication with our members 

We would like you to take a look at this website and give us some feedback.  

We have several other major projects we have been undertaking.  They are;

• Contract in supporting schools and curriculum development with UC Plus.
• Maori achievement research with Canterbury University 
• Greater Christchurch Schools Network.  

UC Plus Curriculum:

We have trained several mentors to work along schools who have opted into this.  The work of the mentors is to support the Principal and leadership team in implementing the New Zealand Curriculum.

The team leader for this project is Jeanette Shearer, Isleworth School, and the administrator for the project for CPPA is Paul Kennedy from Halswell

Residential School.

Maori Achievement:

The research undertaken last year, with a small sample of schools showed significantly lower overall mathematics and reading achievement for Maori compared to non-Maori students in a sample of Canterbury Primary Schools.   This difference was most evident in decile 7-10 schools.   This pattern cannot be explained in the study by the students self reporting level engagement in the schools because no significant difference relative to this variable emerged between Maori and non-Maori students.   The study highlights the need to repeat similar research for a bigger sample of New Zealand schools to look more closely at underlying factors influencing achievement across ethnic groups.  And further explore the influence of engagement as measured by NZCR on student’s learning.  

This initiative requested by schools in partnership with researchers from Canterbury University adds a growing understanding on Maori achievement engagement in schooling.  

A sub-committee has subsequently been set up with the Canterbury Forum and Professor Angus McFarlane from the University of Canterbury.   This group are now considering extending the Maori achievement research into best practice at several levels and investigating the impact of professional development programmes for teachers on Maori student achievement.   

Great Christchurch Schools Network:

A steering committee has been set up for this project and has applied for ICT PD funding.  Christine Houia, Paul Armitage and Paul Sibson are representing CPPA on this committee.   Many of you will be involved in this work.    

Of course, the major part of our work this year has been commenting on national standards.   We are well placed with three CPPA members on the NZPF. They keep us in close contact with what is happening at the national level.  Members of the executive also met with the Minister of Education on the 30^th of September to discuss this issue.  

The Minister appeared better informed than when many us heard her at the NZPF conference in Palmerston North. She accepted the sectors fears re the use of data by the media for league tables and offered to sit with all sector groups to work together re the data and its use. She has asked the Ministry of Education to decide what information they want and why. She will then respond. She also stated she had listened to the sector and pushed the timeline out by 12 months. 

Also at this meeting we discussed Ka Mahuri, which was a joint CPPA, Special Education pilot, for students aged 5 – 8years which severe behaviours. This pilot ran for three years and concluded in July through lack of funding. It was based on research, primarily by John Church and has a three pronged approach. The students attended a centre of extra support for ten weeks, with one day a week  back in their school, a parenting programme, “The Incredible Years” and a professional development programme.

The Minister referred to the sector working group plan, and said this plan is the only one they will fund and she acknowledged that Ka Mahuri had already been doing what was proposed in the initiative. She suggested looking at Ka Mahuri and adapting it to the sectors plan to make it eligible for funding.

We also asked the minister to clarify what she believes was the role of schools. She responded that she wants schools to “ educate kids to read, write, do maths and play sport. To service the community.” She identified that schools can’t solve all social problems and that teachers were not social workers! She also stated that schools can’t be blamed for children being violent. She is looking at a smaller number of initiatives and these will be fully funded. There may be a greater co-operation between social agencies and schools.

The minister will meet with the executive again in the near future and we will continue to highlight issues to her.

There is a lot happening with the Government and they move very quickly.   So it is a case of not being reactive to what is happening, but being proactive.  It is important that CPPA is vigilant on your behalf in anything that impacts on our schools. At the moment I am encouraging you to look at the work currently being undertaken with the Kiwi Leadership.   The BES on leadership is yet to be released but will need to be carefully scrutinised by us as leaders.

I’d like to thank CPPA members for their support of their executive and also acknowledge the work the executive undertakes on your behalf. The role of the organisation has certainly grown and therefore the work the executive does continues to grow in both complexity and quantity, very much like education in general!

Please feel free to ring or email me at anytime. 

Denise Torrey

CPPA President