Tūī Syndicate (Years 4 to 6)

Tūī Syndicate is our Year 4 to 6 syndicate. Composite year 4/5 classes are located in the lower area of the school. Year 6 classes are in the lower rooms of the two story block adjacent to the office. As students enter Tūī, they have an increasing range of roles and responsibilities within the school e.g. Sports Leaders, Peer Mediators, Road Patrollers and Ngā Rangatahi o Ngaio members, MacAttackers, Buddy Readers, Junior Journalists and the Enviro Team.

Tūī Syndicate has a Tuakana/Teina model based on developing relationships between our children and helping prepare them for future leadership roles within Tūī Syndicate.

Planned experiences through Education Outside the Classroom programmes (EOTC) help develop resilience and confidence in our learners. Our school’s ROCKET Values form a basis for these and are central to all our learning in Tūī. One highlight for our Year 6 students is Forest Lakes Camp. Pedal Ready is also an integral programme planned each year. These programmes help increase confidence and provide challenge.

Communication with Whanau and continually developing children’s well-being are essential to our core practice. As year 6 akōnga grow and venture off to intermediate, our teachers recognise that this is an essential time for support and guidance. It can be a time of apprehension and change. Our teachers liaise with families and contributing schools to help support transition of students to intermediate school.

Below you will find important information about our Tūī Syndicate Team.

Tūī Teachers

Chantal McKee

Ruma tekau (Room 10) Tui Team Leader

c.mckee@ngaio.school.nz

I teach in a year 6 class and am also the team leader of Tūī. I have been at Ngaio School for around 8 years and previous to that I was teaching in Christchurch. In my class I foster inclusiveness and teamwork. I love to tap into children’s interest and talents and put building relationships as a top priority in my classroom. I have 2 daughters, Jessie and Toni. You may know Jessie who was a teacher assistant at Ngaio, she has now embarked on a Masters of Teaching and my other daughter Toni is a pharmacist in Invercargill. Outside of school, my husband Phil and I love to spend time in our caravan and of course try to take Poppy with us when we can. I have a keen interest in sports and have coached and umpired netball for many years. Another passion of mine is rugby, I am a proud Matatū and Crusaders supporter. Throughout the year, I look forward to getting to know you and your child as we help prepare them for their future endeavours.

Poppy McKee

Poppy is a Canine and Friends Pet Therapy Dog. She has many talents, and often seeks out children that may need a cuddle or reassurance in their day. She is very placid and loves to lie with children on the floor. You will often see her at the school sports or around the playground walking with children. Poppy has been known to shake children’s hands at Year 6 graduation and is often a huge favourite in the Leavers Book. She is fondly referred to as Ngaio’s School Dog.

Sam Jenkins

Ruma Tekau mā rua (Room 12)

s.jenkins@ngaio.school,nz

I’m thrilled to once again be teaching year 6, this time in Room 12. I’ve been here at Ngaio since 2018 and love the school and wider community. I like to get involved in lots of different extracurricular activities like Enviro Club, Artsplash Dance, and Wearable Arts. I’ve lived in Wellington for a while now but home is down south in Dunedin, where I visit regularly and often do road trips through Central Otago with my dad. In my spare time I like getting out into nature, playing and watching football (Liverpool is my team), reading and writing, and playing games.

Hayden Trass

Rūma Rua tekau (Room 20)

h.trass@ngaio.school.nz

I have been teaching in the Tūī team at Ngaio School for a number of years now. I have a passion for teaching a variety of subjects. When I am not at school I love to spend time with family and friends, and to travel. I am interested in history, geography, art and architecture. I also love learning languages and enjoy practising Chinese, Thai and te reo Māori. I am a little bit famous for my dogs, three cavaliers called Frankie, August and Pippa.

Louisa Marks

Ruma Rua tekau mā tahi (Room 21)

l.marks@ngaio.school.nz

I'm delighted to be part of the Tūī Syndicate again this year teaching year 4/5. I have been at Ngaio School since 2021. I aim to foster a positive and encouraging learning environment where my students feel well supported. My husband and I live locally and we have three children, who are now almost all at Uni. In my spare time I enjoy immersing myself in my garden and I also love to walk, read and spend time with family and friends. I am looking forward to another fantastic year at Ngaio School and getting to know my new class.

Nicola Stevenson

Rūma Rua tekau mā toru (Room 23)

n.stevenson@ngaio.school.nz

I am excited to be a new member of the Tūī team. I have already been relieving at Ngaio School and worked in Kakapo in Term 4. I am originally from the UK. I have taught in London, Melbourne and Wellington for over 20 years. In my spare time I enjoy travelling, running, hiking and biking. I am passionate about meeting students where they are at and build on their strengths.

Dan Byrne

Ruma Rua tekau mā wha (Room 24)

d.byrne@ngaio.school.nz

I have been a part of Ngaio School since 2016 and both of my children have been here as students. Before moving to New Zealand, I taught in the UK for 6 years. My interests include playing and watching sports, especially football. Outside of school, you might spot me at the stadium supporting the Phoenix. It has been a pleasure to be part of the community here and I am excited to be teaching a classroom in 2025 as part of the Tui team!

Amy Hickling

h.hickling@ngaio.school.nz

I'm a proud member of team Tūī! I’ve lived in Wellington for the past ten years or so and originally hail from Taranaki/ New Plymouth, so I often pop up there during school holidays. I enjoy making the most of the walking trails around Wellington, as well as reading and a bit of tennis or the beach if the weather is nice.

Frances Grice

Ruma tekau mā rua (Room 12)

f.grice@ngaio.school.nz

I am thrilled to complete my placement for the Masters of Primary Teaching and Learning at Ngaio School. I will be observing and supporting Sam’s Year 6 class. I went to Ngaio School, and I couldn’t be more excited to return to a place that holds such special memories. I am originally from Wellington but spent several years (2012-17) living in Los Angeles where I learned to speak Spanish and travelled all over the United States with my family. In my spare time I enjoy dancing, knitting, crocheting, sewing, reading, and spending time with friends and whānau. I look forward to learning alongside the tamariki and staff! Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa.

Tūī Syndicate Information

Tūī Parent Evening Information Slideshow February 2025

Teacher Release

All New Zealand teachers (as of 2025) are entitled, as part of their Collective Agreement, to 25 hours per term (5 days).

Part time teachers are timetabled to work in the classrooms during this time.

Teachers are also released for various other work related reasons, for example attending professional development courses, attending meetings or supporting sports events.

Where possible we utilise our pool of part time teachers who are known to the children and familiar with Ngaio School’s routines and expectations. At times however, we employ relief teachers who may not be known to the children. This is most often for sick cover when our part time teachers are already booked, or if several teachers are being released at once.

Our team leaders also have regular release to carry out their syndicate leader responsibilities and some teachers with allocated responsibilities also have a small amount of release time to carry out their roles.

You can check out our part time teachers in the Our Team section.

Syndicate Dates

Please refer to website calendar

Syndicate Hui

Syndicate Huis

Tūī Hūī Celebrations will be held in Room 24: From 9.10-10am

Friday 28/2 Week 4 – Room 12 Sam’s Whanau hosting. Whanau of Room 12 akonga are invited to attend.

Friday 14/3 Week 6 – Room 12 Chantal’s Whanau hosting. Whanau of Room 10 akonga are invited to attend.

Friday 28/3 Week 8 Room 20 Hayden’s Whanau hosting. Whanau of Room 20 akonga are invited to attend.

Syndicate Programme - Termly Overview

Term 1 Overview

During term 1 our Year 4-6 students will be working on a unit “We are Ngaio Ākonga” through the technology and social science learning areas.

The learning outcomes from this unit will enable the students to work towards the achievement objectives of Technology and Social Science in the New Zealand Curriculum.

Visual Art Achievement Objectives:

Visual Art – Level 3 – Understanding the visual arts in context.

Investigate the purpose of objects and images from past and present cultures and identify the contexts in which they were or are made, viewed, and valued.

Visual Art – Level 3 – Communicating and interpreting.

Describe the ideas their own and others’ objects and images communicate.

Social Sciences – Level 2

Understanding how cultural practices reflect and express peoples’ customs, traditions, and values.

Through the Key Competency:

Relating to Others – we will be building relationships and get to know ourselves, others and build connections to our environment and our community.

Managing Self – students will develop self-motivation. They will also develop strategies for meeting challenges and knowing how to lead, when to follow and when to act independently.

Both of these key competencies help children to develop a connection to their place, and to others.

Writing & Reading Focus Term 1

Writing

This term, ākonga will be engaging in a range of authentic writing activities that support students to consider their audience and purpose. This includes descriptive writing, explanations, and poetry.

Students’ writing will also be developed through other areas of the curriculum including our topic and unplugged digital activities.

Daily writing covers the structural and language features of the above text types, and also covers the following skills:

Common spelling patterns, understanding syllables, looking at suffixes and prefixes and building an increased understanding of how these occur in a variety of words.
Punctuation – using capital letters, full stops, commas, question marks, and speech marks consistently, as well as exploring more sophisticated punctuation.
Grammatical conventions, e.g. correctly formed sentences, consistent use of tense, subject-verb agreement, consistent use of pronouns, and correct use of prepositions.

Reading

Our reading program provides opportunities for children to read to, with, and by themselves on a daily basis. The children participate in a guided reading program that may include instructional reading, focusing on aspects of comprehension, fluency, structure and vocabulary while building their understanding of the world around us. Children will discuss genres, structures, language features, meanings, and ideas across a range of texts. Where possible, texts are selected to align with learning in other curriculum areas.

Students also attend weekly library sessions, where they are encouraged to step out of their comfort zones and explore new types of texts.

Personal Reading: selecting and reading independently for enjoyment and information.

Instructional Reading: Ability based reading groups (Ra Hina – Ra Mare).

Shared Reading: teacher/student reading. Reading for information.

Developing Reading Comprehension: discussing genres, structions, language features, meanings and ideas in a range of texts.

Spelling / Phonological Awareness – Essential Lists, Spelling patterns, HFW, Word of the week, Dictionary skills.

Mathematics Focus Term 1

Ākonga participate in a structured mathematics programme Monday through Friday, where they have opportunities to work in both whole class and small group sessions with their teachers, engage in Maths Talks, problem solving and independent activities. Our maths teaching features a range of both explicit teaching and rich learning opportunities.

Number | Mātauranga tau

An essential part of our number system is place value. Students need to know that in our number system each place value is a power of 10, continuing indefinitely. To the right, our system continues past the ones column to create decimals (tenths, hundredths, thousandths); the decimal point marks the column immediately to the right as the tenths column.

Estimating and rounding are also key skills that we will focus on. This includes checking the reasonableness of solutions of operations involving whole numbers, fractions, and decimals (where appropriate).

Measurement | Ine

By the end of this phase, students know that, like our place-value number system, the metric measurement system is based on powers of 10 and that appropriate metric units are used to quantify length, area, volume, capacity, mass (weight), and temperature. Measurements can include whole units and parts of units. Different measurement tools and scales use different-sized units, and the unit must be recorded with the amount.

Te Reo & Kapa Haka Term 1

Classroom commands and greetings

Greet, farewell, and acknowledge people and respond to greetings and acknowledgments

Understand and use simple politeness conventions, for example, complimenting people.

Use and respond to simple classroom language.

Pūrākau (traditional Māori creation stories)

The Children of Rangi and Papa: The Battle of the Elements

Giving Instructions for movement around the school

(cross-curricular link to topics – digital and weather).

Kapa Haka

Strengthen use of waiata from Te Atiawa, e.g. Ngā Kete Wānanga with Hemi Prime

We will also read and discuss articles about Te Tiriti o Waitangi – The Treaty of Waitangi to help broaden understanding.

Digital Technology Focus Term 1

Digital Learning

Digital Curriculum

Internet Safety and device etiquette will be a major focus at the start of the term to ensure our students remain safe and responsible online and good digital citizens. Students will bring home a contract with rules around device and internet usage that both they and a parent/caregiver must sign.

Students will also develop their digital skills through unplugged coding activities (activities that don’t require devices). Using directional instructions, students will learn about algorithms and how to debug them when things don’t go as planned.

MacAttack

Children are continuing to develop their digital fluency by using a range of creative apps and outputs. They are doing this while working with our external provider (Danny). MacAttackers are also brilliant leaders for our younger year levels.

Junior Journalists

After a busy start to the Junior Journalists, we are getting ready to begin our own news reports. The journalists will be creating their own scripts, forming questions, developing voice overs and interviewing students throughout the school.

Physical Education Focus Term 1

Physical Education

Swimming lessons (begin week 2) -weekly lessons delivered by Easyswim instructors

Timetable

Harakeke

Room 10 (Chantal) Thursday 11.30-12.30

Room 12 (Sam) Wednesday 11.30-12.30

Rātā

Room 20 (Hayden) Wednesday 10.05-11.05

Room 21 (Louisa) Wednesday 9.05-10.05

Room 23 (Nicola) Thursday 9.05-10.05

Room 24 (Dan) Thursday 10.05-11.05

Year 4-5 Gymnastics

1) Combine actions and movements while maintaining the quality of our performance

2) Perform our movement at different heights, speeds and directions using precision, fluency and control

3) Use appropriate apparatus in a safe and controlled way

Year 6 gymnastics

Improve our fitness in order to perform combinations of actions consistently and fluently.
Create and perform a sequence with a partner following a theme
Create and perform a group sequence which incorporates partner balances and changes in level and direction

Cross country and running fitness training – end of Term 1

EOTC Week – Triathlon Year ⅘, Pedal Ready, Tennis and Camp

Key Competencies Focus Term 1

Relating to Others (Aroha, Respect, Honesty)

Relating to others is about interacting effectively with a diverse range of people in a variety of contexts. This competency includes the ability to listen actively, recognise different points of view, negotiate and share ideas. Students who relate well to others are open to new learning and able to take different roles in different situations. They are aware of how their words and actions affect others. They know when it is appropriate to compete and when it is appropriate to cooperate. By working effectively together, they can come up with new approaches, ideas and ways of thinking

Managing Self (Initiative, Perseverance)

This competency is associated with self-motivation, a “can do” attitude, and with students seeing themselves as capable learners. It is integral to self-assessment. Students who manage themselves are enterprising, resourceful, reliable, and resilient. They establish personal goals, make plans, manage projects, and set high standards. They have strategies for meeting challenges. They know when to lead, when to follow, and when and how to act independently.

Library Visits

Each week we visit the library and children are able to choose 1-2 library books to take home and enjoy. The books are then returned the following week.

Harakeke

Room 10 (Chantal) Wednesday 10-11am

Room 12 (Sam) Tuesday 9.15-10am

Rātā

Room 20 (Hayden) Tuesday 10.15-11.00

Room 21 (Louisa) Friday 1.45-2.30pm

Room 23 (Nicola) Wednesday 11.20 – 12.30

Room 24 (Dan) Wednesday 11.20 – 12.30

Enviro Club

Enviro Club is an opportunity for students to learn about the environment and their role within it through both information and hands-on sessions.

Children are invited to opt in to the sessions they find interesting.

Enviro Club also offers leadership roles within the school, such as recycling, composting, and running sessions with younger students.

Throughout the year we will be focusing on the Arb and how the students, as kaitiaki, have a responsibility to look after our environment. We will also be working to improve our composting system across the school with the aim to reduce and reuse organic waste.

The Arb is closed on Tuesdays and Thursdays to encourage growth, and to allow students to monitor the impact they may have on the environment. The Enviro Team endeavours to try to balance access and the impact children may have on our taonga.

Home Learning

The ROCKET Challenge is an optional home learning programme.

The purpose of the Tūī ROCKET Challenge is to:

recognise the learning children already do outside of school, and to encourage them to extend themselves in these areas
challenge children to try new things
encourage children to contribute to your family, school and community
enable children to discover, develop and showcase their talents.

You can find out more about the ROCKET challenge here. Please note we will be updating this resource during Term 1 2025.

The Rocket Challenges close Friday 21st November (week 7)