2012 Programme

We are in the throws of putting together a comprehensive and challenging Outdoor Education Programme for our year 8 students.  I firmly believe we need to challenge the PC society we live in and start giving our young people real challenges so as to test their resilence and perserverance.

We are hoping to involve all the students in kayaking, sailing, overnight and day tramps and a number of other activities that they will organise themselves.  We also need to be aware that our year 8 students do need something different from the rest of the students at school.  If what we put together can inspire our students to continue with activities outside the 4 walls, I will be happy.

How well are we preparing our children to start school?

Do you talk at the dinner table?  Do you have a dinner table?

Before playstations and sky, we all used to have dinner as a family at the table and we all talked.  It might not have always been productive or positive talk but as a family we talked.
In my twenty years of teaching, one of the most notable changes I have noticed is the decline in the oral language skills of 5 year olds. We can then translate this into a decline in the written language skills our young people bring to school.
The more we talk to our children at a young age (or at any age) the more skills they develop, the better prepared they are, the greater their vocabulary etc.
I realise our lives are busier now than they were 20 years ago, which makes it even more important that we make the time to talk.  Those years before our children start school are the formative years, we cannot get them back either.

Challenging Our Students

Yesterday we took over 50 students to the top of Mt Thomas in the North Canterbury foothills. Despite the marginal conditions, we persisted with the tramp and I am sure all who participated feel we made the correct decision. This does not mean to say that we put children's safety at risk.  At various time during the walk we stopped, consulted and made decisions as to the next step. 
Maybe too often we make decisions that err too much on the side of caution, when really we should be giving our children challenging (not risky) situations where they are pushed.
As a school leader these decisions are even harder because we are dealing with other peoples children and the ramifications of getting it wrong are potentially dangerous.  However, those in education are also charged with trying to bring about the best in our children academically, physically, emotionally and socially.  I am proud of what our children achieved yesterday. What are your thoughts?
Cheers
Stuart

Bullying

There has been a lot of discussion around the topic of bullying lately.  To be honest all schools will have issues around bullying at various stages of the year, most of it is around verbal bullying and a lot of it happens when teachers and adults and not around.

As teachers we have too make judgement calls when children come to us and complain that they have been bullied or that another child has spoken disrespectfully to them. We will take actions we think are necessary to punish the bullies, but we also try to teach the victim how to react if someone is not talking respectfully to them.

I as a parent I know we won't always get it right.  Especially when it is one child's word against another.  it is the same with teaching.  We do however treat those that do bully seriously.

February 22nd. After the earthquake.

I would love to hear your thoughts on how well we communicated to you after the earthquake.  I know for a lot of parents it was a stressful time, especially if you were in town when the earthquake occurred.
Stuart