Teacher Trainees

Today was the last day of the placement for our teacher trainee from England. Gemma Simpson has been a great staff member over the last four weeks.

This was a very different trainee placement as it was unsolicited from Gemma herself who is a teacher trainee from Newman University College in Birmingham. Gemma contacted me late last year through her cousin who lives just around the corner from school. She outlined in an email what the International Alternative Placement programme was and I was immediately interested.

I then did some snooping via google and found the following link:

http://www.newmansu.org/content/162225/your_student_union/your_executive/school_of_education_officer/

This gave me a bit of knowledge about who this person was, and then I was able to correspond further.

We have certainly been fortunate to have Gemma here. She is a reliable, friendly and positive person who immediately engaged with children staff and parents. It was especially so, as the second day she arrived, she was part of the EOTC programme at the YMCA.

Thanks to Gemma for her positive impact on Wairakei School.

Children's Day at Wairakei

First a bit of a history lesson ...

The initial idea for Children's Day came from a suggestion by the first Children's Commissioner, Ian Hassall, in 1991. His suggestion was developed and progressed by the Rotary Club of Wellington. In conjunction with the following Children's Commissioner, Laurie O'Reilly, the idea was then mooted to Government. The third Children's Commissioner and former Minister of Youth Affairs, Roger McClay, then endorsed the concept along with several other Ministers. In 1999, the National Steering Group was established to progress the concept of Children's Day. Interested government and non-government agencies were represented on this group.

The inaugural Children's Day was held on Sunday 29 October 2000 with the intention that Children's Day would occur on the last Sunday of October every year. In 2007 the date for Children's Day was changed to the first Sunday in March. Many schools hold their own Children’s Day as an event on either the Friday before or the Monday following.

Wairakei School held it's Children's Day on Friday 5th March and what a day it was!

From 11:00am on, children were placed in buddy classes and participated with their "buddies" on fun cooperative activities, usually craft based. There was a sharing session after this was repeated and there were some absolutely brilliant creations. The interactions between the younger and older children were just awesome!

During lunchtime, the Purua team had organised a sausage sizzle, a cake stall, popcorn and iceblocks to sell as a fundraising activity for their upcoming camp at Living Springs. Over $900 was raised!

The afternoon was again a fantastic event. All children were in their house groups and mixed into 12 teams. Each team then participated in 7 different tabloid activities. It was great seeing the parents involved in these too.

Woohoo!!!!

A Follower!!

Thanks Kim

Family Picnic and together times

We had a great time yesterday at the Omaka Scout Camp just relaxing as a school family. I had spent the weekend over at Okains Bay with my family before coming back early to attend the school picnic. These times are so important to maintain the community / family feel which is so vital to the well-being (hauora) of the school. Informal interactions between parents, children, staff help develop and maintain connections - important healthy connections.

It was super special for me to spend time alone with Sam from the Friday night through to Saturday late afternoon by which time Sarah and Toby were joining us. It was the first time in a long time that we have spent that sort of time together without any other distractions. I found out about his sporting pursuits and what he likes best about his new school. He told me about his transition t0o High School and the differences he was feeling about Primary and secondary schooling. I had heard a lot of this second hand previously through Sarah. He has more time to chat with her after and before school but it was so important that he feel free to talk to me and I was able to listen.

This type of listening is so important also as a teacher. I remember something that has always stuck with me from listening to a speaker about engaging with boys. He said that you really need to get down to their level and discuss the nitty gritty of the weekend, the experiences had, the parallels you can come up with as a young boy, and being aware that boys do boy things occasionally.

Growing School Leaders

Having spent some time reading over the applications from our Year 6 children who wish to become Student Leaders, it reinforces to me the very Values and Principles we have here at Wairakei School.

Each child on the application form, has to give three reasons why they would like to be a student leader. The children all talk in their applications about the need to work hard, to think , to apply their knowledge or skills to tasks, and to respect others – children and adults! These children are role models in our school for others.

There is also an endorsement of the qualities described by each person given by the teacher and the parents. This partnership is of great importance and is certainly a meaningful connection between home and school.

I look forward to seeing the successful applicants grow in leadership throughout the year and to represent our school well at all times.

Swimming Sports

What a great morning we had at the Jellie Park Aquatic Centre.

The Wairere and Purua Learning Teams had their Swimming Sports this morning. I must congratulate Mike Lynch on his absolutely brilliant organisation of the event. The team all worked in unison to make the morning seem effortless!

The children were great, producing excellent results while showing off their abilities in both swimmer and non-swimmer events. The can do attitude shown by all children was yet another testament to the staff at Wairakei - the way they encourage children to achieve in anything they do.

I can't wait to be part of the Otakaro Learning Team's Swimming Fun Day.

Personal Commentary

Lots of people are aware of my non-pc attitude towards the "everyone's a winner" mentality that crept in to New Zealand society. Children who are good at something should actually relish in the fact that they are good at it and others should also share in that celebration!

We had a great number of children who are good at swimming on show today. They may be natural swimmers, or have parents who are able to get them to swimming lessons. Good on these children for being good at swimming!

There were also some children who were non-swimmers who took part. I was so proud of their achievements. One child came up to me after he had finished just half way across the pool in a non-swimmer event. He was so excited that this was the best he had ever done. He wanted to share this milestone with me. He was proud of his own achievement. He doesn't need a certificate to say he "participated" in the swimming sports. He did more than participate! He achieved a PB!!!! We high-fived!!!!

Sometimes by giving out these PC awards (Participation Certificates), we are actually belittling the personal achievements of those we think we are making feel better.

Creative and vibrant Learning Environments

Wairakei School certainly prides itself on the way we present our classrooms and other learning spaces. Each term, classes are given an area in which to display some artwork created by the children. I have enjoyed visiting the classrooms during both the motivation and the practical sessions where children have opportunity to practise their skills and then produce their final artwork to a level they are happy with.

Many different artworks are displayed and this comes from a variety of motivation tools used to encourage children in their artistic awareness. The teachers had used actual artworks, slideshows on the data projectors, tactile objects and works around the school for the motivators. What you get from this awesome planning, is awesome artwork.

Well done to all the children and all the teaching staff.

You are all absolutely brilliant!