Welcome to Room 11 2010 to 'Excel in 11!'

Dear Parents and Students of Room 11
We take this opportunity to welcome you all to Room 11 in 2010!

We appreciate the confidence you have in our school being able to provide a high quality education for your child. We know that there can be pressure on you in year 6 to look elsewhere for your child’s Intermediate year’s education but we firmly believe and are soundly backed, not only by past parents and students, but by professionals within the wider Dunedin educational circle, that Abbotsford School is held in high regard!
We very frequently have principals and teachers coming to visit us at Abbotsford to view how we teach various aspects of our curriculum.
This year, as in past years in the senior school, we teach some subjects as modules and share our teaching expertise across Year 6, 7 & 8 so that your child receives the maximum benefits of our combined teaching strengths: such as The Arts and P.E. We continue to develop our schools excellent ‘ICT’ programme which has a major emphasis on Inquiry Learning, encouraging the students to think about how and where to locate information themselves. (This is very important at Yr 9 and beyond).
We also feel that this team approach will be of huge benefit to your child in the form of preparation for possibly up to 5 or 6 teachers per week in Year 9!
As Mrs McGregor is also involved in the management of the school, we are very pleased to inform you that Mrs Morton will be job sharing in Room 11 on Thursdays and Fridays. We feel very confident that we are providing our year 7/8’s with a wide range of educational, sporting, cultural as well as social opportunities to mix with other students of their own age, especially with our neighbouring full primary schools. (Referred to as the Greater Green Island Cluster or GGI).
We have both taught in this area for several years now and each year only reinforces our belief that Abbotsford School as a full primary, is unique in its position to be able to provide special opportunities for the year 7 and 8’s in which to develop their leadership and decision making skills.
Many children return to visit and are delighted at how well prepared they were for secondary school (as are their parents!) We constantly hear them say how much they enjoyed and appreciated their years at Abbotsford which is reinforced by the large numbers of them attending the likes of our end of year assemblies and returning on their secondary school days ‘off!’

We feel that your child’s social development is very important at this stage and as a staff encourage them to be able to express themselves confidently and appropriately within their peer group.
We also focus on having the children accept the consequences of their own actions at school, which of course parallels the ‘real world’. They are constantly encouraged to ‘think through’ their decisions, actions and the consequences. We insist on responsible behaviour from them and hope that as their parents and caregivers you will understand and support the importance of this approach!
Homework is important but the real emphasis of homework is to develop a habit of revision as well as most importantly- recreational reading. Homework is the responsibility of your child and they are accountable for quality of work and completion dates. We, as teachers and you, as parents can encourage these obligations but ultimately the responsibility at this age, is with them. You will be informed if your child does not comply with homework requirements via a phone call or at parent interviews.
Our aim is to work hard, definitely have fun and really enjoy our time here at Abbotsford School!
We look forward to getting to know your child and having them settle quickly and comfortably into class routines. Please encourage your child to ask if anything is unclear to them or if you have any concerns or queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Below you will see some of the various activities our year 7&8 students will have the opportunity to participate in during the year. We would really appreciate your assistance with some of them and if required, notes will be sent home asking for parent help and/or the inevitable money! Please be aware also, that often our senior students (your children), are expected to take on many leadership roles and activities (listed below). These roles are really important and give them a huge sense of responsibility!

With regards to you all and looking forward to a really enjoyable and productive year!

Jill McGregor & Sheryl Morton
Classroom Teachers