Thursday already

Another great day at the office. Met with Grant Stedman, the principal of Opawa School, and spoke to Eddie Norgate, the principal of Diamond Harbour.  It's great making these connections and they will be invaluable for support and the sharing of ideas.

We're making the most of using the pool and every time we go over the sun seems to come out really hot. So I may spend the day over there tomorrow.

Tech today

I went on the bus to the Phillipstown Technology Centre with the Yr 7 & 8s this morning. I got the grand tour there and it was very interesting.  They run a great programme and I even got to have a quesadilla for morning tea.

This afternoon I developed with the class an idea to rival Edward de Bono's 6 thinking hats, although to be fair, I don't think the class were quite as impressed with it as I was. I did, however, inform them that if I wasn't here tomorrow they should watch the news because I would probably be on it, famous with my new thinking and planning template. Needless to say, none of them are expecting to have to watch the news.

Another short week

I hope you all had a enjoyable long weekend. I went to my brother-in-laws wedding in Wanaka and had a great time. The weather there was amazing although I hear it wasn't the same here. It was good enough today for a swim though so we have started to look at who might like to be involved in a squad to try out for zones.

I am pleased to say that I scored 100% in the spelling test I sat with year 4 and 5 today and I look forward to working with other classes over the coming days and weeks.

In our staff meeting we sorted the date for 'Meet the Teacher' night. It is now Monday Feb 20th. I will give an address in the library at 6pm Moira and Sarah will talk to their parents at 6:30pm Val and Karen will talk to their parents at 7:00pm
If anyone needs to get to 2 classes and has a clash because they are on at the same time, please feel free to visit the teacher after their session has finished to either talk with them then or to arrange a trime to meet.

Tomorrow I am going with the Yr 7&8 students to technology at Phillipstown, so I am looking forward to that. These students need to be at school at 8:40 to ensure they are on time for the bus.

And, just like that, the week is over.

And what a week it has been, lovely parents, supportive staff, friendly pupils, great environment, who could ask fo anything more. It's hard to believe so much has happened in such a short space of time.

Thank you to the parents who have approached me with the top idea of emailing the newsletter, I'll work with Rebecca on that one on Tuesday to see if we can put it in place for the next newsletter.  Thank you also for all of the positive feedback, it has been very affirming.

Tomorrow I fly to Queenstown for a wedding in Wanaka so it will be nice to get down there for a short break. I hope everyone enjoys their long weekend and we'll see you back here bright and refreshed on Tuesday.

Taking Responsibility

It's always exciting to see and hear children taking responsibility for their own learning and I'm seeing a hearing that a lot currently.  The examples range from students using of success criteria to measure themselves against, to them talking about how they have made the effort to be colourful, to the Kereru class making decisions on how they want the school to be and how they can get input from others to help make this happen.  This afternoon they identified areas for improvement in the library and started to put some of these ideas into place by changing the physical space.  The result was a real feeling of satisfaction and ownership.

Newsletter, assembly et al.

Today marked the first newsletter home and my first assembly. Rebecca puts a great deal of time and effort into the newsletter and I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for that amongst everything else she is doing.  While we are on thank-yous I would like to mention all of the staff, who have made my transition here very easy. They are a great bunch to work with and a very dedicated team of professionals. The last, but not least, thanks goes to the parents and pupils, who are all very kind and friendly.  It really is a privilege to be a part of this community.

Assembly was fun and hopefully you are reaping the rewards of this at home.  If not, it might pay to ask  your child about the challenge they were given. Their peers will be checking up tomorrow.

If you have read the notices you will see that "Meet the teacher" night has inadvertently been put on Valentine's Day.  I've heard Governors Bay is a community full of romantics and 'meeting the teacher' is possibly not the best way for you to spend the evening of the 14th. With that in mind we will look to an alternative.  I will post details on my blog once the decision has been made.

I will be marshaling at the Surf 'n' Turf again tonight, thank you to those parents who are planning to put their name on the roster for subsequent weeks, it is a great event and a valuable fundraiser for the school.

The pictures throughout this post are representative of our first two days.

And so endeth the day

The first day has come and gone, and it has been a huge success on all fronts.  It was nice to get around the classes this morning and meet everyone.  There was a lot of enthusiasm in the classroom and a range of interesting activities to engage the students on their first day.  I enjoyed teaching this afternoon and the class responded positively to a variety of tasks.  They can be seen here choosing the fastest car based on looks alone. They soon learnt that looks can be deceiving and then furthered that with the understanding that everyone has a different perspective.

This car might look fast, but it's actually a clock radio!

And here we are!

So the planning, preparation, waiting and organisation have finally come to fruition and the first day is upon us.  It was great to meet so many parents and students as they arrived this morning.  Everyone is very friendly and enthusiastic. I'm about to visit the classrooms for the first time to get to know everyone and I'm really looking forward to it.

Not long now!

Only just over a week to go and school will be back.  It's been a hectic time of late.  I've been meeting with the staff, organising my office, planning, getting familiar with the computer network, talking to a few parents and students...
It's been busy but very enjoyable as it is all leading up to the first day of what promises to be a very exciting year.  It has been great talking to parents and students in the playground over the last couple of weeks, everyone is so friendly and positive.
I took some time out today and the family all went to the see the buskers for the children, they were very talented, Bradley and Olivia enjoyed the performers, had a swim in the gardens pool, a play on the playground, got their faces painted and then we all went to New Brighton and had a look at the sandcastles, which were impressive. This of course led to a play on the very large bouncy castle there.  I talked to the guy about having it over at school some time as I'm sure it would be a big hit!

Happy New Year

So this is 2012.  It's started busy and I'm sure it will continue that way.  I've set up my new office and it's a great space to work in.  I've been doing a lot of reading and having a few meetings to compliment my myriad of emails and texts.  My son gets his casts off today, so that's all done and dusted.  And it's also my wife's birthday, so Happy Birthday to her.  Then it's back in to school mode and full steam ahead. It was wonderful to have a break down South over Christmas and New Year and it's nice to be able to take some time out and enjoy the sun during these days.  But the start of term is fast approaching and I'm really looking forward to it.