MAC Magazine 2019

P R I N C I P A L ' S
W E L C O M E
I runga i te whakaro ko tea mea nui o oa tenei
tangata kua mai ra koutou katoa
Greetings and welcome to our magazine
celebrating 2019. I have been reflecting on the
changes since I have been at the college and I
would like to share some of those reflections with
you. When I first arrived we had 350 students
compared to today’s roll of 1070. That increase has
told the story as, not only the college but also our
town and its surrounding communities have grown
and developed well beyond the expectations of
the 2020 plans that many of us were involved with.
What is the MAC story from my perspective?
• Mission statement:
Our mission is to provide a unique, exciting and holistic
learning adventure for individuals. We aim to provide a
happy, innovative, inclusive and respectful environment
in which to develop lifelong learners. In partnership
with our community, we will help individuals to
develop self-responsibility and confidence to strive for
personal and academic excellence in order to reach
their potential as global citizens.
• Learning vision
Our students will be creative, responsive, independent
and resilient, acting with kindness and respect.
Our curriculum will be broad, emphasising student
agency, critical thinking and collaborative approaches.
• SOAR VALUES - Self, Others, Attitude, Respect.
• We aim to help produce good people with a real
sense of community.
What remains important for me?
• Developing close relationships and knowing
our students - vertical whanau, extra-curricular
involvement, Team Up Conferences, passing on
information via KAMAR, Year 6 to 7 handover.
• Providing many opportunities - a broad, well
rounded educational experience, offering leadership
opportunities, making connections to our community
and further beyond.
• Celebrating and acknowledging success.
• Enjoying the journey.
• Students of all ages mixing successfully and feeling
safe in each other’s company.
• Learning is not restricted to the classroom -
appreciation for and experience of our environment.
• Having home and school working together in
harmony for the benefit of the student.
• Front office - recent discussions on restructure
identified the need to never place efficiency over
openness and welcome.
• Student voice and student leadership.
• Developing systems and strategies to acknowledge
individual progress - Data - academic, behavioural
(pastoral entries and fortnightly grades), notes
from KAMAR.
• NCEA and Junior School academic results.
• Supporting the wellbeing of students and staff.
• Without living in the past we wish to enhance the
features that allowed MAC to be a place where
students (and staff) are happy to come to the college
every day and work alongside each other.
2
What am I most proud of?
• I was asked this the other day by a visiting principal.
The simple answer was the students. They prove
over and over again that they value people and
support each other. I am very rarely let down when
the students and staff are in out of school contexts -
(relates to the good person being paramount).
• The breadth of experiences that are offered to our
students.
• The academic results that we do achieve, have
trended up over time.
• To work with a staff that may not agree with each
other but everyone of them interacts with students
as people first and will do everything they can to
support their students.
• The number of students who will always greet you
with a smile, a greeting.
• The spirit or wairua that is always evident in house
competitions.
• The willingness for our staff not to be risk averse
but more so prepared to ensure that EOTC activities
remain available for students.
• COTC Central Otago Teachers Conference.
• PDS Personal Development System.
• KAMAR is now familiar to all staff and more user friendly
than the previous student management system.
What have we improved on?
• Collecting and analysing data which narrows down
to the individual student or groups of students. This
includes academic data, well-being data, pedagogical
feedback, attendance, fortnightly grades.
• From above, developing strategies and supporting
individual needs.
• Including student voice to create change (we are
more adept at saying we know rather than we feel or
think as we have in the past).
• Creating class settings or courses to suit our learners
- Year 9, NCEA course changes.
• Change to Pastoral system to a vertical system in 2020.
• Pathways for students not focussed on university
education (Trades, Gateway, Tourism, OP, Pathways
course) - individualised learning.
• Literacy and numeracy support programmes in Years
7-9.
• Increased counselling resources to support students.
• Smaller class sizes in Years 7-9 to assist them to cope
with re-location and to recognize their large cohort size.
• Development of HQ - providing a setting for
students with high and complex needs that allows
their individual learning needs to be met.
• Personal Development System (PDS)/Appraisal this
has been developed since the last ERO visit and is
now embedded. It is now an online digital version
where teachers can access and add evidence when
appropriate across the year.
• Increased understanding of Te Ao Māori through
professional learning groups and accessing Te
Wananga Tikanga Māori course. Normalising use
of mihi and the ability to run haka, powhiri etc very
naturally are indications of the growth.
• Increasing opportunities for student leadership,
inaugural leaders 2014 and developed to include
leadership committees and student executive who also
in turn mentor the next year groups through the process.
• Curriculum Structure - HOLA - (future proofing -
for growth - understanding and appreciation of
curriculum change on the whole school.
• Change of behaviour management system to
incorporate PB4L Tier 1 and 2 strategies.
• Staff wellbeing - Professional confidential free
counselling available to all staff along with raising
awareness of wellness through full staff meetings.
• BYOD - student use of technology and improved stability
of access via upgraded AP’s and network infrastructure.
• Access of equity devices such as Chromebooks.
These are now deployed first thing each morning
from one place and students ‘self issue and return’.
• WIFI Network architecture upgraded/redesigned to
allow for more control over groups of users.
• Health and Safety improvements, including
procedure updates. We do not pay lip service to
Health and Safety. We take it seriously.
• Property is a continuing growth area and has been
so for 15 years. MAC Staff Info site set up as “the one
stop shop” for staff.
• Website reviewed and improved.
• Meeting structure improved.
• Use of Google G-suite has become embedded in
everyday practice.
• Introduction of Blues Awards to recognise
achievement in academia, sport, culture and service
for Year 12 and 13 students.
• Visit from Qtopia to raise awareness around
diversity within the student body which included
a full staff session and a specialised pastoral
session for deans - employment contracts,
enrolment forms, building plans are examples of
changes as a result.
What are we working on?
• Developing strategies that embrace growth as an
opportunity to allow students to flourish.
• Remaining one school but functioning in a way where
no-one is ever lost. People will always override systems.
• Identifying and resourcing individual student needs.
• Developing learning spaces which enhance learning,
not determine it - Flexibility - not preordained style
for the most current fad in education.
• Providing a safe environment in the face of external
pressures, increased levels of anxiety, social media
and instant gratification.
• Developing/building collective leadership capacity
within staff particularly middle leaders. We have
found a professional consultant with a proven
track record that understands the intricacies and
personalities within an organisation and navigates
their way through delivery of a particular message
in a manner which is respectful and well received
by the target audience. (Responsive Consultants)
Although early in the piece, this has been fantastic
in terms of helping senior leaders develop middle
leaders leadership capacity. We have had one of
four sessions so far.
• Building collaborative relationships with colleagues
in the Central Otago region (COTC).
• How do we describe and measure the wellroundedness
of our students?
• Developing report layouts that are visual, easy to
understand for parents with less teacher speak.
• Working on developing understanding and knowledge
of HR within the SLT group through various conferences
and sessions with an employment law firm.
• Using data to make informed decisions for our
learners - we are starting to know what is happening,
now what do we do with it?
• Developing a business manager role to take a
strategic approach to finances and human resources.
• Buildings/spaces created with architects will give us
the flexibility to put people first.
• Teacher wellbeing via the workload survey.
• Level of student voice asked for, listened to and actioned.
• Vertical Deans and increase in number of deans.
• Context of rapid growth (student and staff numbers
in 2015 - present - future) Student roll 2015 - 789,
2019 - 1079 (36.7% increase), Staff roll 2015 - 117
(Teaching staff 75) 2019 - 132 (Teaching staff 90).
Many years ago my dad told me that you must enjoy
what you do. I continue to love my job, although some
of the challenges differ from those I experienced earlier
in my career but the joy of working alongside young
people never changes.
Enjoy your summer and stay safe.
WAYNE BOSLEY