School+Values

Term 2 Week 6 Keeping these strong and real for the children is very important here at St Dominics. Catholic school values provide the school with the tools to make the Catholic faith come alive and be lived here at school. If we are going to live our faith the children need actual real life indicator or criteria in order to help them at school. We needed  

I have started from the bottom and now working down.  Term 4 week 6 Making sure all children are aware and can verbalise the values is very important. We need our values to be lived and auctioned throughout the school day. St Dominic was a man of action and believed in living as Jesus lived. Our children at St Dominic’s need to be doing the same and having strong VALUES will help them do this. Values and Indicators are spoken about at school prayer assemblies on a Monday morning and then Teacher share these further throughout the week.  Term 4 week 1 Now that the values have been chosen we can now start to introducing them through the school community Each value will have a set of indicators that will go with them so that the children can actually see what they must act like in order to walk closer to Jesus.  Term 3 2010 After consulting and discussion throughout term 2 and 3 we have come to the point where we now have 4 strong and meaningful values. These have come from originally the 4 pillars of DOMINICAN life. From there 4 values dropped easily out of there.

We can now use these values to sort the tone for the next three years. It is important that schools are constantly up dating and reviewing their Value base so that all stakeholders feel as though they have had a say in them. This is especially true when it comes to values as they are something very special to a school especially a Catholic School.

These values will drop stright into the school's new startegic plan that will be reveiwed at the end of 2011.

TRUTH ||  ||   || The first letters of the 4 VALUES spell RAPU which means SEARCH in MAORI
 * ||  || VERITAS
 * RESPECT || AROHA ||  || PERSEVERANCE || UNITY ||

We are searching for the TRUTH in all that we do at St Dominics Catholic Primary School 

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Values <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Our school’s values are; <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Pono - <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Having integrity of heart <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Aroha - <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Showing concern, compassion and love in our interactions all people <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Tika - <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Conducting ourselves correctly, acting justly and responsibly in all areas <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Faith - <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Being community of Christian faith <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Self Worth - <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Fostering strength of character, self respect, a sense of self and confidence <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Personal Growth - <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Pursuing growth and excellence in all areas (spiritual, mental, emotional and physical) through inquiry, curiosity and reflection

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">These values were determined by a board and staff led consultation process with the wider school community and these values are weaved into the school’s day to day life.

Term 2 Week 10 <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 10pt; lineheight: 115%;">We are currently looking into up dating our school values. Do our parents and wider community know what these are and do they lead the special character of our school? It is vital that our new school values become part of all that is our school. They need to be referred to on a daily basis by teachers and children and be seen in the actions that the teachers and children display. Values need to be seen and lived everyday at our school. Nest term we will have an information evening where we get feedback from our parent community and from there we will redirect the school.

Term 2 Week 7 2010 After the recent parish jubilee it has become very obvious that we need to re think our whole school values and align them with the school's Charism. We need to be totally Dominican, that is in the way we learn, the way we engage with our friends and the way we engage with our community. St Dominic’s was a person that followed what was right and never shifted from this. He understood what it meant to be aware of a gaol and pushed for it every day.

This is what it means to be a Dominican student and teacher. As a school we need to rethnk our school values so that they become real and lived are are based on Dominican values.

[|Pope Benedict]

Term 3 2010 This term see the whole staff unpacking the 4 pillars with the children. It is all about making sure that the children take ownership for the new values and that the community is brought along aswell. Making VALUES that mean something to the school is very important and basing them on the Dominican life makes sense.



**<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 22.5pt;">Charism of St. Dominic **

<span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 155%; text-align: center;">Dominicans all over the world continue to draw upon the charism of St. Dominic in serving as preachers of the Gospel. To be a Dominican is to be part of a world-wide family that includes cloistered nuns, ordained and non-ordained friars, religious sisters, and laity. Dominicans are formed throughout their entire lives according to the four pillars established by St. Dominic: <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 155%; text-align: center;">Prayer, Study, Ministry and Community. <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 155%; text-align: center;">The Dominican tradition of spirituality is rooted in common life: liturgical prayer and meditation, study, and ministry of the Word. Dominican spirituality is meant to bear the fruit of an active apostolate - one that is very much involved in the world. <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 155%; text-align: left;"> ﻿As we unpack the pillars with the children we are getting some great feedback from them around what our values might look like at 'ground level' if you like. Values if they are to be alive and real to the children need to be able to be seen and learnt. <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 155%; text-align: left;"> How are they going to help our children when they make bad choices, when they are in social situations, when they are dealing with an arguement. <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 155%; text-align: left;"> Values are tools to get our children through life with Jesus as the focus  Prayer, Study, Ministry and Community. <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; lineheight: 155%; vertical-align: super;">What values can drop out of these 4 pillars that we then can break up into indicators which can be used in the classroom and schoolwide on a daily basis. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; lineheight: 155%; vertical-align: super;">﻿ <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; lineheight: 155%; vertical-align: super;">This form was sent out to the community so that feedback could back to the school from the parent community. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; lineheight: 155%; vertical-align: super;">Also held a parent eveningwith workshops.One of these was based on the changes regarding the school values. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; lineheight: 155%; vertical-align: super;"> ** Why are we reviewing them? **

The school values that we have at the moment are not known by the parent community or by the children. They know ‘Aroha’ very well however this is the only value they know. There is not a whole school approach on teaching of the values that pertain just to St Dominics. The 6 values that we have at the moment are not our own, not totally based on Dominican values.

** Does a school need Values? **

Yes every school needs to have a set of internalised beliefs or principals. These provide a direction on how that school thinks and acts. In a Catholic School we are able to make these Catholic Values because we are a special character school.

** What do we hope will happen when our new set of values is adopted? **

Children will be taught directly using the set of Values. They will lead the Behavioural Management system in the school and children from 5 to 11 will be asked to reflect on their actions and learning using the values. Each week a value will be promoted to the children and these will be taken into the classroom for further focus. Children will receive Values awards for showing excellent Values around the school. The children will be able to relate our values to Bible stories and see where the relationship is with Jesus. They will become known throughout the school and children will be able to recite them and what they mean. There will be visual representation of the school Values as you enter the school so that all that are welcomed here understand our Values and where they have come from.

** Who has had some say in writing the Values? **

All Stakeholders would have been given an opportunity to share their thoughts about what the values might be. Parents, Children, Staff, BOT, Parish

** Once decided upon, what then? ** Values need to have a set of indicators linked to them so that they can be taught to the children. For example AROHA – · Sharing equipment and classroom materials · Asking others to join in games in class and in the playground · Giving each other ‘Put Ups” · Letting others go first in lines and games · Offering to help adults and classmates <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Indicators will be the actions that will be encouraged and focused on to enforce the value. They need to be in ‘child-speak’ so that they can be understood  <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; lineheight: 155%; vertical-align: super;">