Farewell

Today was marked by the weather, a torrential downpour to offset the 30degrees we had earlier in the week.

I was teaching all day again today and it was great to see the improvement in the classes skills as they worked on their goals from yesterday, some had obviously been putting in time after school. The interesting thing was that those who achieved their goal looked to push themselves by going even further with more difficult challenges.

After school I went to Cholmondeley House for an afternoon tea to say thank you to all of the people who had worked with them and helped them over the year. Then I came back to school for Sarah's farewell, which was very well attended. Sarah gave a wonderful speech, all 5 pages of it, and Warren and Moira gave accounts of the long history between them. It was a lovely occasion and a fitting farewell to a most valued member of staff who will be really missed.

Goal setting and Leadership

Sorry this didn't post last night. (Thursday) And it didn't post Friday either! Must be the end of the year.

This morning our Year 8s went to Hanmer for 2 days as a celebration of their time at the school. I worked with the Year 6s & 7s on leadership and goal setting. It was a valuable day and it was great watching the students set goals and go about achieving them. Even after numerous setbacks and failures, they persevered to achieve what they had set out to do. We hope to have a demonstration of their achievements at the final assembly next week.

Powhiri

This morning I attended a Powhiri for the French visitors involved in the Te Putake garden project. It was a good opportunity to find out more about the project and to meet those involved.
In the afternoon as the temperature soared the senior classes made for the pool while the juniors rehearsed their performance in readiness for next week.

Viva La France

Yesterday we had a visit from Mrs Sarra from a school in Laquenexy, France. We welcomed her with some songs and she told us about the area she comes from and what her school is like.  She has a school with 3 classrooms in a village with a population of around 1000 people. She gave us a book all about her village and its history; it's all in French of course, but has some great pictures. Pascal, who visited with her and is in charge of the French end of the garden project, gave us an artwork. But the piece de resistance was undoubtedly the mascot she gave us to take photos with and return in June for the opening of the gardens. Mrs Sarra loved our school and thought the teachers were doing a wonderful job. 'Calm' was the word she used to describe the children and the atmosphere and she remarked on how polite and friendly all of the students were.