Harrisville School Newsletter Issue 5 Term 1 2025

Kia ora Harrisville School Whānau,

This is the last newsletter of the term. I would like to start by thanking those in our community who have come in and helped in so many ways. Thank you to those who have gone on trips or attended sports days or helped at school. Also, a big thank you to all the staff for their efforts in what has been a very busy term.
Sharing Learning with You – Through HERO!

Over the next few days you will receive exciting updates about your child’s progress and learning journey.

Harrisville School now uses Linc-Ed Hero as our platform for reporting on student learning and next steps. This means there are no longer paper reports sent home twice a year. Instead, you can view your childs' learning goals, reflections, progress updates, and work samples in real time.

Over the coming year, staff and students will be posting rich content to HERO and we’re excited to include you in this journey. Learning posts will build year-on-year, forming an online report.

A huge thank you to our teachers for the work they’ve done to make this possible. We’re proud of the learning being shared.

If you haven’t already, you’ll need to log in to HERO:
Visit https://www.linc-ed.com/parents/
Click "Log In" and then "New User" to set up your account. Your login is linked to the email address we have on file at school, so please make sure this is up to date. Each parent can have their own account with access to learning information for all children enrolled at Harrisville School.

We appreciate your ongoing support and look forward to sharing your child’s learning progress with you in this exciting new way!

Ngā mihi nui,
Jonathan Salisbury

At Harrisville School reading, writing, and mathematics remain a top priority in our teaching and learning programmes. The new Ministry of Education Guidelines require schools to ensure an average of one hour per day is dedicated to each of these core learning areas—and we’re proud to say this has always been part of our approach.

This doesn’t mean students are expected to sit still and write continuously for an hour. Our teaching looks different across year levels, and learning is carefully tailored to suit the age, stage and interests of our tamariki. For example, maths concepts might be reinforced during PE through games involving positioning and direction. Our goal is to make learning meaningful, engaging, and fun—empowering our learners every step of the way.

INTRODUCING PRIME MATHS AND WRITING TOOLBOX (Years 4–6)

We’re excited to share that this year we’ve introduced Prime Maths and the Writing Toolbox in Years 4 to 6.

Prime Maths provides structured, sequential maths learning with a strong focus on problem-solving and real-world application. It complements our existing Numicon approach and offers clear progressions to support students at different levels.
Writing Toolbox is an innovative programme that helps students build confidence and skill in different writing genres, with clear models and engaging strategies that support strong writing foundations.

STRUCTURED LITERACY

Our Structured Literacy journey continues to go from strength to strength with the full support of our Board of Trustees who,since 2022, have invested in high-quality professional development and resources to ensure our teachers are equipped with the knowledge and tools they need.

Structured Literacy is an evidence-based approach grounded in the Science of Reading, focusing on explicit, systematic teaching in reading, writing and spelling. We're already seeing positive outcomes in student achievement across the school. To learn more about the Science of Reading, we recommend this short video: Watch here.

NUMICON MATHS YEAR 1-3

Numicon remains a core part of our mathematics programme in our juniors, providing hands-on tools and visual representations that help learners develop a deep understanding of numbers and their relationships. We have been using the Numicon program at Harrisville School since 2014 and it is great to have this program recognised by the Government as an approved structured Maths approach. Over the past year, our teaching team took part in collaborative lesson observations and co-teaching using Numicon, which further strengthened our shared understanding of effective maths instruction.