First Communities of Schools’ details released

First Communities of Schools’ details released

Communities of Schools in Auckland, Hawke’s Bay, Marlborough, Nelson, West Coast, Canterbury, and Southland will form in the new school year.

‘I’m pleased to release today the list of schools approved for the first 11 Communities of Schools,” says Katrina Casey, head of Sector Enablement and Support.

‘They will be the first to bring in changes which will improve education for almost 38,000 students.’

The new Communities of Schools include 83 schools and cover primary, intermediate, secondary and area schools, and include all decile groups.

‘In each Community, schools will work together to raise achievement through shared education goals. They will share and build teaching and leadership excellence.

‘Additional funding will be provided for new leadership and teacher roles within the Communities to enable sharing of knowledge while those teachers and leaders continue to lead and teach in their own schools.’

In the new school year each of the Communities will work together and with parents to identify its achievement challenges across a range of areas - which as an example could include matters such as student attendance and engagement, achievement, transitions between different levels or types of schools, and student wellbeing. The critical thing is that the challenges will be specific to the community and will reflect the particular needs of the students. They will also need to draw up a plan to meet those challenges.

Once this is done, funding will be released for new teacher and principal roles, and for paid time for teachers to learn from each other.

‘While these are the first 11 from the 71 Expressions of Interest we have so far received, we have another group of potential Communities very close for which we expect to be ready to seek approval in March, and another that should be ready before the middle of the year.

‘We are still very keen to keep receiving Expressions of Interest and to provide advice and support to any groups of schools that want to form Communities of Schools,’ says Katrina Casey.

For more information on Investing in Educational Success: www.education.govt.nz/ministry-of-education/specific-initiatives/investing-in-educational-success

ENDS

© Scoop Media