Principals News

 The end of Term 1 is just about upon us. While it was a long 11-week term, it was great to have our students back to face-to-face lessons with their teachers. 

The staff have appreciated the way in which our students and community have adopted our COVID safety protocols; it has definitely made our job easier.

Next term, we look forward to getting back to all of the amazing activities that make Intermediate School such a fun and exciting place to be, including Central Zone Sports, Enrichment programmes, lunchtime clubs, and external groups visiting the school and undertaking activities in the local community.  Information about signing up for these activities will be available next term.

Have a very restful break and spend time relaxing with your family. We look forward to having a fantastic Term 2.

Student-Led Conferences Feedback

Thank you to everyone who filled in the survey in regards to reporting and student-led conferences at Pasadena. Overall, 97% of parents surveyed stated that the information shared at student-led conferences was relevant and effective. Other key areas that parents/caregivers identified as being enjoyable were:

• Students understanding what they are learning and what their next steps are
• Being able to meet with the teacher one on one, and having input from them
• The encouragement and guidance that was received from the teacher
• Students displaying confidence and ownership over the conference and their learning
• The sharing of the goals that have been set so parents/caregivers can support the student at home

An area that was identified as needing to be changed was holding the student led conferences online. Parents indicated that they prefer to hold the conference in person. This term they were held online due to our Covid-19 safety protocols, however our goal is to hold our next conferences in Term 3 in person if COVID 19 guidelines allow.

A reminder that teachers are always available to meet with whānau at any time to discuss student progress and wellbeing at any point during the year. If you would like to organise a time to do this, please email your child’s classroom teacher if needed. 

Christine Abercrombie - Assistant Principal 

School building project update

• Eight new teaching spaces
• A new Library
• Three new hard courts
• Additional car parking
• Outdoor learning spaces

• Watercare stormwater pipe redirection complete
• Footings underway, piles adjacent to existing Watercare pipe complete
• Lift shaft construction; lift pit reinforcing in place
• Structural Steel procurement underway
• Precast concrete procurement underway

Lateness

We would like to emphasise the importance of being at school on time.  School starts at 8.45 a.m. Monday to Thursday and 9am on Fridays. Children need to be in their class before the bell so that they can listen to the notices to know what events and meetings are occurring, such as Extension & Enrichment, sporting and cultural groups.  Children who arrive late are greatly disadvantaged because they miss starting the day with their peers and the beginning of lessons. 

Advantages to pupils arriving on time :

• Gets the day off to a good start with everyone in a positive frame of mind
• Helps young people make the most of their learning and sets positive patterns for the future
• Helps young people develop a sense of responsibility both for themselves and for others
• Helps your child make and keep friends
• Improves self-confidence
• Students can talk to their friends and teacher before school and settle into the school day with them
• Students are ready for learning, hear important notices, and make better academic progress

 Disadvantages linked to children arriving late :

• May lead to children missing vital instructions, information and news at the start of the day
• Can disrupt the learning for both themselves and other pupils
• Increased stress and anxiety
• Can create poor habits that may be hard to break in the future
• Students miss key learning time, which affects their academic progress

It is essential that you ensure that your child arrives at school on time to prevent disruption to your child’s own learning and that of others, it may seem like 10 minutes isn’t really that much, but for the typical school day of 6.5 hours, a student who is only 10 minutes late every day will miss 30 hours of school time that year. Punctuality is a life skill that we encourage students to develop to support success in later life.  We understand that there may be rare occasions when you are unavoidably late due to unforeseen circumstances. On these occasions please make sure that you contact the school office to inform us when you will arrive.
Mary Pretorius - Deputy Principal

Hero

One of our strategic initiatives over the past 2 years has been to use the Hero platform for real-time reporting. Real-time reporting involves using digital technology to help connect parents and whānau with their children in more timely and on-demand ways. It focuses on student successes as well as explaining next steps in a regular and up to date manner. Students have an active role in the process where posting and reflecting on their learning is integrated into classroom programmes.

This term you can view:

• Real-time reporting posts in Reading/Pānui, Writing/Tuhituhi, Maths/Pāngarau and the students current Specialist area e.g. Art, Technology, Food and Nutrition or the Performing Arts
• Samples of student work/evidence, student comments, teacher comments as well as next learning steps
• A Unit of Inquiry post (this will be published tomorrow, Thursday 14th April)

At the end of Term 2, you will also be able to view:

• Achievement measured Against End Of Year Curriculum Expectations in Reading/Pānui, Writing/Tuhituhi and Maths/Pāngarau
• A general comment written by the teacher
• Participation in school activities

Each time a post is available for you to view/comment on, you will receive a notification via the Hero mobile app (if you are logged in) or via an email if you log into Hero via web browser. We highly encourage parents/caregivers to interact with posts by writing a comment! You can do this by clicking on ‘write a comment’ under the specific post.

If you are yet to log in to Hero, please follow the step by step instructions found here

Christine Abercrombie - Assistant Principal

PB4L/Wellbeing at Pasadena

At Pasadena, we have 4 Values (PASA Values). These are:

Proud - We are proud, and show respect for ourselves, each other and our school
Active - We are active in our learning and our communities
Safe - We are safe in what we do and the choices we make
Achievers - We are achievers who aim high and work towards our goals.

Tokens 

Tokens are given out when students have displayed a PASA value in the classroom or out in the playground. Each coloured token relates a value - PROUD - blue, ACTIVE - green, SAFE - red and ACHIEVER - yellow. 

When a student receives a token, they will put it into their class token jar. Once this jar is full, their class will receive a class reward during one class block. Students help choose this reward. This jar will be emptied into the PASA token jars in the office. Once each of these jars have been filled twice, there will be a whole school reward. This will be communicated to staff, students and whānau when reached.

Here is an update of our school PASA jars:

Honours System

During their two years at Pasadena, students will have the opportunity to receive their Honours. To receive this, a student will need to have a total of 15 certificates across the School Values - 3 of each Value (Proud, Active, Safe and Achiever) and then 3 extra certificates from any Value. These certificates can include class certificates, sports certificates, academic awards etc.

The Principal’s award is awarded by Mr Hughes or Ms Pretorius at assembly for students who have shown exceptional effort/achievement in one or multiple School Values and can be used for any school Value when applying for Honours. 

When applying for their Honours, a student will then have to identify how they show pride, demonstrate being active and safe, and achieve in a range of areas across the school. This is then followed up with a conversation with Mr Hughes who will ask the student questions about their involvement and commitment to the culture and life of Pasadena Intermediate School.

PB4L/Wellbeing lessons

Each week we complete a PB4L/Wellbeing lesson as a school. In Term 1, we were focussing on our PASA Values as well as an introduction to Wellbeing. Next term we will focus on The Five Ways to Wellbeing. This is a toolkit of actions we can use to further improve our wellbeing.
Alica King

Student Leadership Groups - Year 8

There was an outstanding response to the Student Strategic Leadership positions with over 90 Year 8 students applying. The 7 different groups (Students, Future Focus, Wellbeing, Community, Bilingual Pathways, Pasifika, Sports) provide greater opportunities for student leadership, enabling them to pursue their passions and interests as well as creating and implementing new initiatives across the school and community. We wanted to make sure that the process was rigorous and that all students had a chance to talk through their applications. 

The process undertaken so far:

Step 1: The application

• Students filled out an application form to identify which area/s they wanted to apply for. This involved students expressing why the area interested them, what new ideas/initiatives they want to implement across the school, how they show the PASA values on a daily basis as well as explaining what leadership means to them, how they have shown leadership in the past and what leadership qualities they can bring to the group.

Step 2: Staff Feedback

• Staff had the opportunity to endorse and comment on applications using their observations and knowledge of what they see of the students leadership suitability both inside and outside the classroom

Step 3: Interviews

• Small group interviews occurred with the lead teacher of the Student Strategic Group as well as a member of the Senior Leadership Team. Interviewing the students allowed them to explain more in depth their initiatives and ideas related to their chosen area, as well as elaborating on their leadership skills

Step 4: Selection

• The lead teachers of each Student Strategic Group and the Senior Leadership Team met to discuss their selected leaders of each group. They took into consideration the students application, interview, teacher feedback as well as their knowledge of the student over their time at Pasadena

Step 5: Staff Feedback

• The successful student leaders were shared with staff for feedback 

Step 6: Leaders are finalised

• The Student Strategic Leadership Groups are finalised with successful candidates being announced during assembly on Thursday 14th April (parents/caregivers of these students will be informed prior). 

For students that were unsuccessful, there are other leadership opportunities available throughout the year such as being a Librarian, PE monitor or Office Assistant.

Year 7 students will have the chance to apply at the end of Term 2 where a small group will be selected to work alongside the Year 8 students. 
Christine Abercrombie - Assistant Principal

Bike Safety

If your child rides their bike to school please talk with them about riding safely, as we have had a number of students cycling in a way that puts themselves and others at risk.  Students must wear a helmet, with the strap done up under their chin.

Our key message is to Be Seen, Be Predictable, Be in Control:

• Look carefully for cars before manouvering
• Clearly signal with their hands when turning
• Don’t wear headphones or use a phone while riding
• Safely share roads and the pavement with other road users, pedestrians and cyclists
• Give way to pedestrians, be especially mindful of our local primary school students
• Ride single file on the road or when near pedestrians or other cyclists
• Ride at a safe speed, in a controlled manner

Sports

BurgerFuel Pasadena 2 for 1 burgers for the whole school holidays!

Our mates at BurgerFuel are giving us here at Pasadena a very special treat these school holidays (and only us!!) 2 for 1 burgers all holidays long! You can order in store by letting the awesome staff their know you’re with Pasadena, or use this special code matesofptchev online! Share it with your friends or if the Grandparents are babysitting one night! Offer expires 10pm Sunday 1^st. Normal conditions apply, like the cheaper burger will be the freebie.

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