week 4 term 3 2024
Tena koutou katou
Kia ora Whānau,
What a fantastic week we've had at Maeroa Intermediate! Last week, our team made us incredibly proud by finishing second overall at the Sports Camp. The effort, teamwork, and sportsmanship displayed by our students were outstanding. A special mention goes to the coaches and supporters who contributed to this great achievement.
We were also privileged to have the National Monitoring Team visit our school. They were full of praise for the warm and welcoming atmosphere here at Maeroa, commenting particularly on how friendly and helpful our students were. It is wonderful to see our values in action and our school community being recognized in such a positive light.
The National Monitoring Team visits many schools each year. The Curriculum Insights and Progress Study is an independent, large-scale assessment study. We visit around 160 schools and work with more than 6,000 students yearly to build a reliable picture of progress and achievement nationwide. The government, schools, and teachers use our information to improve education.
Our boys represented us admirably at the Rugby 7s tournament. Their hard work, determination, and sportsmanship were commendable, and we’re incredibly proud of their efforts.
This week, our teams have all visited the marae, an important part of our school’s commitment to honouring and understanding Te Ao Māori. These visits provide valuable opportunities for our students to deepen their connection to our country’s traditions, learn local stories, and gain insights into our community's rich cultural heritage. We thank Ngaati Maahanga for letting us visit Oomaeroa Pa. It has been a wonderful experience for our students and teaching staff.
Lastly, we are excited to welcome prospective parents and students for our Open Night this week. This is a great opportunity for families considering Maeroa Intermediate for 2025 to get a taste of what makes our school special. We look forward to meeting you and sharing all that Maeroa offers.
Thank you for your continued support of our school and your child’s education.
Ngā mihi,
Susan Wood - Principal
Oomaeroa Pa
At Oomaeroa Pa in Whatawhata, all Maeroa students have been growing their knowledge of te ao Māori by learning about marae protocol, powhiri, waiata, haka, crafts and kēmu/games from Te Puaawaitanga with the guidance of Whaea Ree.
Oamaeroa Pa
WIMS Cross Country
On Tuesday, August 13th, our cross-country team headed to Tokoroa to compete in the Waikato Intermediate Schools Cross-Country event. Our year 7s ran 3km, and our year 8s ran 3.5km on a very tough course. All students who participated showed true Maeroa spirit and exemplified the values of participation, teamwork, and sportsmanship. Congratulations to Marli, who ran 3rd in the Year 7 girls' race, which was a huge achievement.
Koru Badges
These students have earned their koru badges over the last few weeks. Congratulations to them and their efforts.
Bronze Badges: Blake Kensington, Phoenix Kelly-Morrison, Xander Higgins, Tommy Selwyn, Lily Harvey, Sara Danish, Mohammed Sharween, Janela Carlos, Skyla Seager, Dilyn Rapson, Shaelym Berry, Prince Patel, Daniel Laulaupea'alu, Mikayla Boswell, Blake Lorigan, Thomas Kneebone, Alex Hong, Esther Sawiri, Jayden Frost, Kingston Hardie, Iana Alibarbar, Fhiownah Sacriz, Bella Fouglas, Theo Fowlie, Oceana Graham, Sophie Cordiner, Isabella Vann, Isla Ly, Sophie Sicely, Coby Bosson, Kiele Tongatania-Napia, Kiana Davis, Madison Cusiel, Tanuka Parata, Quest Prime, Tavita Mataoa, Imeleta Vaka, Edie Long, Indie Harnett.
Silver: Xander Higgins, Xavier Hitchens, Dallas Edmonds-Thomson, Cleave Hall, Ariel Dixon, Layne Gardner, Skyla Seager, Emma Chalkley, Caitlin Siterson, Azaria Woods, Logan Fredrickson, Morné Haarhoff, Tevita Lile, Isaac Hapi,
Gold: Rion Weston-Arnold, Kayden Marsden, Ayesha Bombales, Isabel Whittaker, Taylor Fothergill, Jeevika Gounder, Michael Hotene, Prince Tomar, Jade Henderson, Noah Hickman, Savanna Botha, Layne Gardner, James Neal, Esther Pormatagi,
Platinum: Jacob Hodges, Tanisha Yerupalli, Jayden Burt, Mila Faithet, Shanaya Chand, Prince Tomar, Annabell Hardie, Arya Harish, Nevaeh Murray, James Neal, Belle Baker, Michael Hotene-Wilson, Aaliyah Bisschops, Phoenix Baird, Esther Pormatagi,
Star: Tyrone Jonson, Jacob Hodges, Keira Wright-St Clair, Jamilla Ganas, Chelsea Hattingh, Arya Harish, Ella Hugill, Tanisha Yerupalli, Eden Kaire Karauna,
Super Star: Boston Singh, Joshua Stevens, Stanley Murray, Lydia Waldron, Keira Wright-St Clair, Amberli Siolealifano,
Uniform
Maeroa has a school uniform, which we expect all students to wear.
We understand that sometimes a child's shoe or sandal may be wet or broken, but generally, there is an expectation that your child will wear the correct uniform to school every day.
We are noticing some students wearing incorrect footwear on a regular basis, and this is not okay. Our school shoes/sandals are completely black with black soles, not white, and no other colour on them. We do have brand-new shoes that we can give your child if they do not have the correct footwear.
We have school uniform tracksuit pants for terms 2 and 3; we do not expect to see other track pants being worn at school.
Ensure your child is wearing the correct school uniform each day. If there is a problem, you must send a note with your child for one of our DPs to give a uniform dispensation for one day. If we have a spare uniform at school, we will give your child a uniform for the day.
Students may wear one pair of studs in their ears, but no other body piercings are allowed.
Next week, we will check uniforms to ensure that all students wear the correct school uniform.
Maths in the spotlight
Last week, there was an announcement from the Prime Minister about the recent decline of Year 8 maths achievement. The announcement stated that 22% of year 8 students achieved at or above the curriculum expectation. This was followed up by a media discussion about how this figure was put together and the data used. Accuracy is important in maths after all! Without being defensive, it must be acknowledged that this data was formed on a very small sample size in (42 schools and 833 children) based on assessments against the newly refreshed curriculum which is still in draft form and has a different metric. The students hadn’t been taught from this curriculum. There was other data that the PM could have used which would have been a better representation to Y8 maths achievement.
The most accurate tool for countrywide assessment is NMMSA which assesses a bigger sample size from a mix of schools. This was last done for Maths in 2022. The NMMSA report showed little to no decline in Y8 maths achievement from 2013 to 2022. PISA is often held up as a measure of achievement analysis as it ranks our students against their peers across the OECD nations. In Maths NZ ranks in the top quarter of these countries, and the last findings stated - “After several cycles of stable performance, Aotearoa New Zealand's mean mathematics score dropped 15 points, from 494 in 2018 to 479 in 2022. The OECD mean also dropped by 15 points over the same time period, meaning Aotearoa New Zealand's mean score continues to be higher.
What I would like to say is that we would all love all children to be achieving at the right level. Is there more work to be done - yes! Would we like more resourcing for professional learning - always! Like all curriculum areas, for some tamariki they find maths easier to grasp than others. We are definitely working hard to support those students who are struggling. At our student conferences our teachers would have made you aware if your child was below the expected level in maths or literacy.
68% of our year 8 students at Maeroa Intermediate are at or above the expected standard in maths currently.
Over the last two years we have been moving our classes onto the Prime Maths programme. This is a foundational and coherent maths programme for years 0 - 8. It is grounded in the science of learning and based on Bruner's spiral curriculum. 14 of our classroom teachers are using this with their classes. Depending on the resources that the government are rolling out for 2025, we will be increasing this programme to include more classes in 2025.
Seeing the view from the end of the bench with fresh eyes
It is one of the undeniable truths about sports. Not everybody plays.
When kids first start in youth sports, particularly at the recreation levels, equity is the rule. Splitting playing time, making sure that everybody gets out on to the field or the court or the pitch, it's as standard as orange slices at halftime.
But it doesn't take long before all of that sporting socialism is out the window in favor of competitive teams, travel rosters, school sports and there's simply nothing equitable about any of it.
The most talented kids play. The coaches' kids play. The manager's kid plays. There are starters and benchwarmers, role players and garbage time players. The playing field becomes thoroughly uneven.
The view from the end of the bench isn't a particularly pleasant one. The kids can feel disappointment, isolation, and frustration as they watch while others play. Their parents can experience their own frustration, sometimes taking an understandable urge to advocate for their child and turning it into damaging interactions with coaches, other parents, and even their young athletes.
Sports psychologist Sheriece Sadberry said the issue is often about expectations.
"Parents and athletes believe they have worked hard and are still working hard and they deserve to play," Sadberry said. "There's a lot of 'I deserve this' intertwined in it.
"But really, it's about getting to a place of acceptance of the situation and sometimes that acceptance is really hard to swallow."
So many of us have had this experience with our kids, and it hasn't always lead to our best parenting moments, whether it's the phone call to the coach you aren't sure you should have made, or your kid begging you not to say anything lest it lead to even less playing time. Sometimes we've listened, sometimes we haven't. Sometimes it makes things better and sometimes it really, really doesn't.
It's so much harder to make a conscious effort to gulp back our own feelings while trying to encourage them to continue to work hard, to be positive, and to be good teammates even when they aren't playing a lot.
But I would argue that these are some of the most valuable and important lessons of the sports experience your kids will ever have.
This is, very often, your child's first experience with adversity, at least as it pertains to their experience with sports. It is where they learn that hard work doesn't always come with a reward -- or at least an obvious one. It is where they learn that not everyone is treated the same. That things aren't inherently "fair." Just like in life.
But the lessons only stick if we believe them, too. The definition of success only expands for our kids if we expand our own definition.
"How a parent reacts can bleed over to their child," Sadberry said. "Parents can make it better for a child. Or they can make it worse. And it's hard when they don't get what they expect in return for what they've put in.
"But as a parent, you can step back from viewing this experience for your child as an investment and focus on what other things your child can get from being an athlete, the benefits for playing a role, being part of a team dynamic, helping the team even if you aren't a starter or a star. It's worth asking, what's the big picture as they get older and grown and develop?"
The big picture can often take a while to reveal itself.
Michelle Smith ESPN