Claire Amos

Kia ora lovely students of New Zealand, Well, today marks the day that many of you will have experienced the first high stakes external exam of the 2018 NCEA exam season and whilst I do wish you all the best, I also want you to know that you are bigger than any NCEA exam. An exam is defined by the Collins Dictionary as a formal test that you take to show your knowledge or ability in a particular subject, or to obtain a qualification.  I would rather focus on what an exam is not: It is not a measure of if you are bright. It is not a measure of your potential. It is not a measure of your worth, either now or in the future. It is not a measure of your ability to learn, unlearn and relearn. It is not a measure of your ability to communicate. It is not a measure of your ability to collaborate. It is not a measure of your ability to research. It is not a measure of your creativity. It is not a measure of your curiosity. It is not a measure of your wil...

Well, the first term has felt like something of a whirlwind. It has been a case of of hitting the ground running and any other whirling/high speed metaphors you can think of. Partly this was due to the time of year - being a senior school, the third term ends up feeling like the (nearly) end of the year, with Impact Projects coming to an end this marked a flurry of exhibition, performance and celebratory evenings. The other reason that it has barreled along so quickly is that I was determined to act quickly so as to ensure plans were well and truly in place for 2019. As I reflected earlier in the term, I am determinedly approaching first-time Principalship as a leader of learning and have tried to be transparent in that leadership (and leading of change) from day one. In my second week I shared with my staff my lens on powerful learning which informed my approach to observing learning across the curriculum and school. After many weeks of digging into school data (attendance and a...

When I applied for the role of Principal of Albany Senior High School, one of the points I covered in my pitch at the interview was my ability and desire to build powerful partnerships and networks for ASHS students: And finally, I am leader who can build powerful partnerships and networks.  I have experience in developing productive and warm relationships with local schools to establish a highly effective Kāhui Ako. I bring in depth experience gained as a Projects Pathways and Partnerships Leader and as an Impact Project Guide, having worked with the community and business sector to create rich and authentic learning partnerships for our students. As Education Advisor for the 21st Century Skills Lab and as a board member of NetSafeNZ I have experience that spans across the education and business landscape. I have fostered a vast education, community, innovation and business network that will support the growth and expansion of powerful partnerships for this school and it’s...

Dear Minister Hipkins,  Too often the narrative around why we need a pay rise can become focused on how hard the job is. The act of teaching is hard, however, be assured, a career in teaching is a privilege. That said, each and every teacher in this country deserves a generous pay rise, not because it's a tough job, but because it is a bloody important and complex one.  Here are my 13 reasons why... 1) What we do is important! There is no question. Being a teacher is one of the most important roles in our community. We are not only fantastic (low-cost) caretakers and babysitters for much of the year, we are also trusted to provide young people with the knowledge and skills they need to survive and thrive, whilst also addressing community concerns and government priorities - we are miracle workers (and hence we deserve the pay to go with it. What we do is seriously important work on many levels. “One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.”  ...

If there is one thing I am pretty adamant about, it is that the Principal's primary role is to be the 'leader of learning'. To that end one of my real focus areas in my first term as Principal is to observe as much learning as I can in action. As many of you will know, at Albany Senior High School (ASHS) we have three strands to our curriculum - Tutorials, Specialist Subjects and Impact Projects. You can read explanations of each part of the curriculum here: Tutorials:  http://ashs.school.nz/curriculum/tutorials Specialist Subjects:  http://ashs.school.nz/curriculum/specialist-subjects Impact Projects:  http://ashs.school.nz/curriculum/impact-projects I came into the school knowing that I loved the curriculum design and the way that the time allocations clearly signalled the value of each element. What I did not know was how well each element (in their current form) was meeting the needs of each and every learner. And as in every school there is often a bit of a di...

Today marks the end of my first week as Principal at Albany Senior High School. The week began with a stunning powhiri to mark the hand over from Hobsonville Point Secondary School to Albany Senior High School and a beautiful way to mark my transition from Deputy Principal to Principal. It was genuinely touching to have my HPSS whanau, my family and friends to support me on my journey to the "other side". My whaikorero from the powhiri probably sums it up best: Firstly I would like to thank and acknowledge my Hobsonville Point Secondary School whanau for getting me to this point. I really can’t overstate the impact that working at Hobsonville Point Secondary School over these last five and a half years has had on me as a person, as an educator and as a leader. I have often acknowledged that starting a school is a less than a once in a lifetime opportunity. Working collaboratively to flesh out a vision, develop a set of guiding principles and designing and developing a...

HPSS has prioritised project learning from day one. Inspired by the likes of The Met School, High Tech High and Albany Senior High School we decided very early on that projects would be an important part of our curriculum design and to that end Learning Projects became one third of the HPSS curriculum story. HPSS Curriculum Learning Projects evolved over the last five years (first led by Sarah Wakeford and more recently overseen by Liz, Jayne, Rebecca and Cairan) to become a differentiated range of offerings including Big Projects (more teacher led projects aimed at Years 9-10), Impact Projects (more student led projects based on the ASHS model) and Pathways Projects (aimed at Years 12-13 with a focus on pathways beyond schools such as gateway, work experience and tertiary studies). Whilst the focus may change there is a common learning design model and framework that underpins them all, with students going through a kick off phase, planning, action, review and finally showt...

2013 - De-schooling and re-schooling 2013 was a year that many educators do not get to experience. It was a year of "de-schooling" and "re-schooling". Maurie, Lea, Di and myself were given the most phenomenal gift of time and space to plan and prepare for the opening of Hobsonville Point Secondary School. In those first six months we spent time fleshing out our school vision, developing a set of guiding principles and establishing (with our community) what was to become our Hobsonville Habits. In that time we visited a wide range of schools here (Ormiston Senior, Albany Senior, Unlimited and Hagley) and several schools in Canada and the USA on our grand Edu-tour.  Our first stop was Providence, Rhode Island to visit the founding Big Picture School, Dennis Littky's Met School.  The second group of schools we visited was all part of the Canadian Coalition of Self-Directed Schools, including Westmount, Mary Ward (Toronto), Bishop Carroll School (Calgary) an...

These recent months have seen a number of groups start putting their stake in the ground around the NCEA Review. It has been interesting seeing people reveal their cards, and often exposing some odd assumptions about what is actually being reviewed and who is shaping the review within the Labour/Green/NZ First camp. For the sake of "joining the conversation" I thought I might share some my personal thoughts about the NCEA Review and it's proposed "Big Opportunities". Note - the parts in italics are taken from this document:  Download the Big Opportunities discussion document  which can be found here .  For what it's worth I actually think NCEA is pretty cool as it is. I like it's flexibility and that it already let's "you do you". If anything I think it is our mindsets that needs to be reviewed first before we get to the actual framework. Here is my pondering about that perspective:  NCEA - we need to review our mindset first But t...