Thank you

Yesterday's hand-held devices information session had a small turn out but it allowed for robust discussion and explanation. The wireless network has been ordered and should be installed in the next two weeks.  This is the first step in getting hand-held devices into the classroom. I would like to thank Kerry for her work in securing us a charity grant to enable us to purchase some hand-held devices for use in the class. We are awaiting the outcome of more grant applications and once we know the final total we have to spend, we will make our purchases.

Speaking of purchases, I trust everyone is ordering their t-shirts from http://www.mirandabrown.co.nz/Free_The_Sea.htm as these are not only great t-shirts but another way to support the school as Miranda has generously donated a portion of each sale to the school.

It is wonderful to have so many people putting their money, time and effort into making this fantastic school even better.  From netball to repairing the steps and everything in between, so many people in the community continue to give so much, and we are very appreciative of everything that is done.

With Lisa leaving at the end of last year, the board are in need of a treasurer and would be keen to have someone with book-keeping or accounting skills. If you are interested or know of someone in the community who might be, please contact the school office.

We win

Great to see our Year 4 and 5 netball team pick up a win in their first future ferns competition on Friday.  Thanks to Emily for her coaching and to Oscar for his umpiring and helping out with the warm up and team talks. A full report will be in this weeks newsletter.

This afternoon I am holding a parent information session in Kereru at 5:15pm. It is about hand-held devices in the classroom and everyone is welcome to come along and find out where we are going with this, why we are going there and what it might look like.

To put some people's minds at rest, it's not all about digital learning.  When I went in to Koromako this afternoon they were using atlases to locate the places mentioned in the book that Sarah was reading to them. While there is always the option of using Google maps or a myriad of other digital choices, for this activity the best option was an atlas, so that is what they used.  This philosophy won't change once there are hand-held devices in the class.  It will still be about choosing the best tool for the job, and in this case an atlas was the answer. 

Good to be back

The last two days at the Ministry of Education have been very valuable.  It's always good to spend time with like minded people discussing relevant topics.  With that in mind, I will be attending a three day course next week (Wed, Thur, Fri) with other teaching principals. This will help with areas such as getting the right balance of teaching and principalling and will be a good opportunity for me to compare our school and its current direction with other schools of a similar size and composition.

I'm pleased to say we had a successful fire drill today and everyone was out in a timely and orderly manner. It's always nice to know that we are prepared should a real event happen.

Not everything was as successful though, while skipping with some students at morning tea today I managed to drop my phone and break the glass on the back of it. That's what I get for not having the cover on it (Or maybe for not taking it out of my pocket before skipping!). It was much safer playing tag on the adventure playground, although there did seem to be a lot of people 'in' at times which made it difficult.

I would like to give a big thank you to David Templeman for not only the generous number of flowers donated to school today, but for the ongoing donation of flowers over the year. This is most appreciated and a great fundraiser for the school, not to mention very handy for grabbing flowers for my wife before I head home. I just hope no-one tells her what little effort I had to go to to get them.

On Monday at 5:15pm there is a parent information session in Kereru on hand held devices in the classroom.  We'll be talking about why we are introducing iPads and iPods into the classroom progamme and what it might look like.

Happy Mother's Day for Sunday! :-)

Responsibility

This morning there was a small turnout for our parent information session on students taking responsibility for their own learning. It was good to have the opportunity to not only share information but to listen to any ideas or issues that arose.

It is always good to talk about something with parents in the morning and then see it in in evidence around the school later in the day. Classes were engaged in everything from handwriting to hands-on practical measurement activities.  From this there was a range of examples of students taking responsibility for their own learning.  Some were choosing to take an activity further and investigate ideas of their own. A group was collaborating to make best use of the computers. Others were locating resources to improve their performance on a task they had been set. All of these demonstrate self responsibility and students making decisions for their learning.

For the next two days I will be attending information sessions for new principals. I will be back on Friday. 

Parent Information

I would like to welcome Macy, Lily and Ethan from Timaru, they joined us today in the senior classes and will be with us for the next few weeks. I know everyone here will make them feel welcome and also learn from them as well.

Tomorrow morning 8:45 – 9:15 there is a parent information session to be held in the staffroom. The topic is ‘Students taking responsibility for their own learning.’  The world has changed since we were at school and it is important to understand that schooling has changed too.  The idea of students having any responsibility for their learning when I was at school was unheard of. These days learning is something done with the children, not to them.  If you’d like to know more, please come along and ask any questions you have or just listen and find out what it’s all about.

I recently heard from the Ministry of Education that our school charter has been approved for the year.  Our charter is the guiding document for our school and it is pleasing to know that the Ministry support our direction and the goals we have set.  These goals are as follows:

- To grow the roll to 78

- To enable the use of hand-held devices in the school

- To develop an environmental consciousness across the school

- To develop an understanding of what at Governors Bay School supports Maori learning

- To communicate and collaborate with other schools locally, nationally and internationally to develop an understanding of people who don’t live in our community.

These goals are, of course, over and above the basic academic rigour of everyday teaching and learning.

Over the course of the year I will keep you up to date with how these are progressing, but in the meantime if you have any questions about them, or indeed feel you could offer your ideas or support to any of them, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Our Yr 8s hosted Pieta and Luke this afternoon as part of a new initiative to have the community more involved with the school, and everyone had a wonderful time. It is great leadership experience for the Yr 8s and a lot of fun for the pre-school children as well as a chance for them to get to know the school.

Fashion night

Last night was the Miranda Brown conscious cloth fashion show in which the school was well represented by our models on the catwalk and we also benefitted from the portions of the funds from the night being generously donated to the school. Miranda is a very vibrant person with a passion for what she does and it was a real honour to have the school associated with this event. I would like to thank both Miranda and the organising committee for the work that has gone in behind the scenes to create what was a wonderful night.  I would also like to thank the many sponsors who generously donated prizes.

The lighting wasn't the best for photos but these give you an idea of just how good our models looked and also another look at the t-shirts that will be available from next week.  The great thing about the website is that it will give the opportunity to customise your t-shirt with selections of colour and print so I'm sure there will be something to suit everyone.

As always, buddy time this morning was a valuable time of sharing and discussion across the school, with everyone happily engaged.

Myths and Poetry

Piwakawaka were making the most of the sunshine to dry their artwork which they then used as a basis for the myths they are writing. There were a number of creative ideas coming from the inspiration of the works they had created.

In Kereru this afternoon some of the students presented multimedia poetry. After the rest of the presentations tomorrow the class will select one to be showcased to other schools in New Zealand and around the world during our iChat link up with them on Friday 18th from 1-3pm. This is the culmination of the work we have been doing with Rock Our World on garageband, poetry and skyping.  It will be streamed live across the internet and I will post the link here for anyone who would like to view it.  It will also be archived at that site for anyone who cannot view it live but would still like to see it.

Fashion Time

With tomorrow night being the big Miranda Brown conscious cloth fashion show, we were lucky enough to get a sneak preview in assembly today.  The new 'Free the Sea' eco t-shirt range was modelled by some students and of course yours truly (I told you there was always a variety of things happening).  Even if you aren't going to the show tomorrow night these t-shirts can still be purchased on the internet.  We'll put the link on our school web site for you.  The school receives a donation from the sale of every t-shirt, so there is an extra incentive to buy one, or two, or 10. I'm a large if you're looking for someone to buy for.  As you can see from the photo, there is a wide range of prints and colours, of which these are are just a selection, and they look wonderful.

The Spice of Life

If variety is the spice of life, then Governors Bay School is a veritable rack of opportunities.  On a walk around the 4 classes this morning I saw and talked to children working with metaphors, children identifying the important parts of a fairy tale, children coming up with analogies for autumn leaves, and children working on developing their skills of recount as they learnt the mechanics of writing. The juniors then headed off to swimming and the senior classrooms spent the afternoon listening to stories, working on multi-media poetry to share with the world, writing stories, training for cross-country and dabbling in some art. The days here are rich and rewarding and exciting to be a part of. No two days are alike but they're all a lot fun.