Keeping Up with Mrs Faalili

After talks with our leadership team and fellow CoL colleagues, I have narrowed down my challenge of student learning for this year to this;  How can I successfully engage and support our whanau and Year 8 learners in the transitioning into high school next year?  At this point in time, there is no real transition program with local high schools and the only involvement we have with Tamaki College is through our Year 7/8 technology. We know that the first couple of weeks of any school year, particularly that in a new school has the potential to 'make or break' the experience. The end of the year is typically a manic rush in getting Year 8s enrolled at a high school. At school, we tend to talk to students about these conversations that they need to have with their whanau, or we play the waiting game to get them enrolled in a college. At the end of last year, I spent time with whanau online supporting them in a rushed enrollment - and it doesn't have to be like that. I want t...

fale; house fale o'o: a Samoan beach hut When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. When life gives you wood, you build a house. And that's what we're doing! Together with Dee, a Year 2/3 teacher, we are working together this year to provide an integrated curriculum for her wonderful students. The goal; to build a fale o'o. The purpose; to provide shelter for breaks but also, another cultural element to our school environment. This project requires community input so we are both excited to see this come to life.  Session 1 - talanoa about the what we want and the why. We both know that we want fale for our school. We shared ideas of our past experiences of a fale and shared how we want it to look like and be made. We both agree that we want fale and that we want the students and community to be involved as much as possible. We've been given the green light to make this happen. That's all we needed. It's much harder to build here than it is in Samoa. Lots...

  I think quite often we get a bit scared to dive into these documents that we have sitting in our schools. It's often pushed to the side as other things have importance but seriously, this document needs to be used and time is given to unpack it. In the current times, it may not seem like a priority, but if you have Pasifika learners and families and are struggling to engage with them - pick up this document and get cracking.  Each time I spend time on this I learn something new, have another 'AH HA' moment.  A year ago I attended a  Tapasa Workshop  through Senior Teacher. Together with a colleague we unpacked each turu and identified what we've done in our school that fell into that compentency.  If you're not sure where to start - this is a good place to. Take each turu, one by one and unpack. Identify what you do in your school that is evidence of this. The great thing with this document is that it identifies what it looks like at different phases of y...