Kia ora koutou,
RTLB Cluster Vision: To ensure success for all ākonga through collaboration and inclusive education. He waka eke noa
RTLB Cluster Mission: We strengthen and empower kaiako to enhance educational outcomes.
Values: Whanaungatanga, Manaakitanga, Rangatiratanga & Kotahitanga
Welcome back to a slightly different New Year.
Our team is business as usual and we are looking forward to supporting you again. This might be kanohi ki te kanohi or this may be online, whichever way, we will do our best to continue delivering our high quality service.
Overview of newsletter content:- Chatham and Pitt Islands
- COVID & Staffing
- New Appointments
- Te Paeroa Strategic Focus
- Dates for Allocation
- PLD
- Compliments & Complaints
Chatham & Pitt Islands
Myself and 2 RTLB colleagues, Sarah Gordon and Tanya Keeling are currently on the Chatham & Pitt Islands visiting our three schools. A massive thank you to the three Principals; Owen Carson, Philip Graydon, Mel Sutton and their staff for hosting us for the week.
COVID & Staffing
As mentioned above, our team is business as usual. We have our own risk management plan to mitigate transmitting the virus and to ensure we can provide your kura, kaiako and mokopuna an ongoing service.
Your liaison RTLB will have checked in with you or your SENCo/LSC regarding your school’s preferences for how we work in your environment. Thank you to those who have already responded. It is compulsory for our team to wear surgical face masks when they are working in your school and they will follow all your health & safety guidelines.
Like your staff, our team are all registered teachers, so we are all double vaccinated and now getting boosters. We are also required to collect and retain the vaccination status of our RTLB. We can reassure all principals that by the 1st January, all of our staff have been fully vaccinated or they will not be employed as an RTLB or on site at your school. Please contact John Bangma or myself if you would like any further clarification.
MOE has asked the RTLB service nationally to be available to support schools if staffing is affected past the point of management staff and relievers. We will of course be balancing our team and how many we have isolating and how many are available to work. So if you find yourself in a situation where you have no other options, you could get in touch with John Bangma or myself to arrange for one of our team to step into the learning space for a short term. We look forward to supporting you in a different way.
New Appointments
We would like to welcome our newest appointments for 2022. Sam Mano, liaison for Mairehau High School & Catholic Cathedral College and Nick Shimasaki liaison for St Annes. They are a real asset to our team, especially with their recent school experience and cultural backgrounds.
Our Priority Areas are:
- Bi-cultural Sustainability
- Inclusion
- Systemic Sustainable Practice
Dates for Allocation
Due to schools/kura all beginning the year on different dates we have decided on the following for allocation of cases. The next allocation is the 18th February, 11th March and 1st April. Your Liaison RTLB will be in touch the week prior to each allocation week to meet with you and discuss the potential requests and provide support.
Professional Learning & Development for Teacher Aides/Learning Assistants
As you know, we made the decision to cancel our teacher aide PLD kanohi ki te kanohi and will be posting them on our website so that you can access them at any time. We will notify you soon when they are available.
We are aware that some teacher aides are highly skilled and we may not be meeting their needs in this way. Another suggestion could be that our team can come to you and deliver a more personalised workshop. This has been particularly useful on Staff Only Days. Please discuss a possible individual school request for support with your liaison RTLB.
SENCO Professional Learning & Development:
We know you all will be busy in your schools right now so we will be in touch soon with a plan for the year.
RTLB Professional Learning & Development:
We began our year immersed in whakawhanaungatanga and our cultural narrative. We were supported by Kahu Collective to create a beautiful harakeke artwork to represent our team being woven together in our cultural narrative. This will now be displayed in our office space.
We have also created our Risk Management Plan and reviewed Our Code, Our Standards.
Compliments & Complaints
A reminder, if you have any concerns or complaints about our RTLB working in your school, please do not discuss this with other RTLB in your school. This places them in a very uncomfortable position. Addressing any issues with the RTLB concerned would be the first step, and then, contacting me if you feel it is not resolved.
We are always looking at areas we can improve upon and your feedback is incredibly valuable. In the meantime, our Liaison RTLB is the person you can speak to about any of your schools/kura needs. You are always welcome to phone or email me at any time.
Ngā mihi nui
Michelle Maule
Cluster Manager, RTLB34
Te Paeroa
clustermanager@rtlb34.school.nz
Cellphone: 0272766713
Te Paeroa website