Saturday 15 December 2007

Why we should teach philosophy to kids


Via the BPS Research Digest: A recent study on the long-term benefits of the Socratic method. In a study of 105 children, all around 10 years old, teachers spent an hour a week for 16 months teaching lessons based on philosophical inquiry.

The philosophy-based lessons encouraged a community approach to "inquiry" in the classroom, with children sharing their views on Socratic questions posed by the teacher.

The result? At the end of 16 months,

Compared with 72 control children, the philosophy children showed significant improvements on tests of their verbal, numerical and spatial abilities

And two years later, when the philosophy children were tested again, their higher scores persisted -- while the lower-scoring control group were, in some cases, declining further. Researchers Keith Topping and Steve Trickey point out that these gains persisted even though the kids had switched schools as well, from primary to secondary, showing that the influence of philosophical inquiry works across contexts and over time.

Or in the words of Socrates, "If this is the doctrine which corrupts the youth, my influence is ruinous indeed."

Socrates image from Wikimedia

Friday 7 December 2007

Read, Speed, Feed


Today I experienced my first Read, Speed, Feed!
What a fabulous event for our children. The opportunity for dads and other significant men to come into school for a couple of hours to read, eat and play with their children makes such a difference and is a wonderful innovation. The event has been running for 6 years now and is a credit to the school and the staff who organise it. Paul Norton takes a lead role in the organisation and all the staff take part, helping the smooth running of the day.
It was a great opportunity for me to meet some of the dads and join them and their kids in a game of football on the field. Thanks to all the men who came along and to the PTA for providing the sausages (even though I was too late and missed out on my feed!).

Read the article Paul Norton wrote for The Boys in Schools Bulletin about Read, Feed, Speed.

Thursday 29 November 2007

Kids teaching kids (and adults)

Our children are amazing! This week a group of our year six Tech Wizard's took part in a children's conference in Australia but they did it all from the comfort of the Village. 

The conference was being held in Victoria and our children were beamed in via Skype to teach some of the participants how to make their own blogs. They spent several hours working on laptops, video conferencing and emailing the Australian children. It was incredible to watch and hugely successful.

Earlier in the week we entertained a group of 35 teachers from around the South Island; Tech Wizards came to the fore again, this time teaching the adults. There is nothing so amazing as watching 11 year old children confidently talking to a large group of adults and teaching the teachers how to use new technologies.

Monday 19 November 2007

2008 School Survey

Download the Survey (if you are using a PC please right click on the link and choose "save as" from the menu. Mac users please control click and select "Save Link As" from the menu)

Your feedback on how we are doing as a school is really important to us. It helps us to plan for the future and ensure that we are offering the best possible education to our students. This form can be completed on your computer and emailed directly to me where all the forms will be collated. The survey is anonymous and ends on December 14th. At the bottom of the form there is a submit form button which you need to click and follow the instructions.

Next week I will have a table set up in the playground with a few laptops so that you can complete the survey with technical help from one of our student council members. Paper copies of the survey are also available in the office.

West Zone Athletics



Last Thursday I was able to make a quick visit to see some of our children compete in the West Zone Athletics championships. It was an amazing event with schools from all over Christchurch competing in all the major disciplines. I only managed to catch our relay teams in action and was delighted to see us come away victorious in all 5 of the races I saw. What impressed me most though was the support provided for the athletes by their peers and parents. It was great to see such impressive school spirit but also fair play towards the opposition. Congratulations to all our athletes but also all our supporters.

Tuesday 13 November 2007

Movember - the serious bit.


As you may have spotted in the playground I am sporting a new facial growth! However I do have a good excuse for my razorly challenged appearance.

Every year in New Zealand 2,656 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and about 600 die of the disease, making prostate cancer the second largest cause of male deaths, after lung cancer.

The average life expectancy of a man in New Zealand is 4 years less than a woman.

To sponsor my Mo please go to http://www.movember.com/nz/donate, enter my registration number which is 64713 and your credit card details. Or you can sponsor me by cheque made payable to the "Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand" clearly marking the donation as being for my Registration Number: 64713. Please mail cheques to: Movember, PO Box 87 150, Meadowbank 1742, Auckland. All donations over $5 are tax deductible.

All donations are made directly to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand who will use the funds to create awareness, increase support networks for those men who suffer from prostate cancer, fund research and scholarship programs.

Thursday 8 November 2007

New staff for 2008

The Board and I have been working through the process of appointing new staff for 2008. We have now made several appointments for the new year and we are extremely pleased with the high calibre of the teachers that we have awarded positions to. We are still working on the exact positioning of teachers for next year and I will add more details soon. The new appointments are as follows:

Carolyn Silby will be joining us as Junior Team Leader. She is coming to us from Southbridge School and is an outstanding teacher and leader.
Paulette Newton is returning from her maternity leave to become our new Transition to School leader.
Karen Brown and Louise Dennis have both won permanent positions at FOS.
Deborah Kennedy and Letesha Campbell will also be with us in 2008.
Joanne Murphy is re joining the school after a year in the UK. She taught a year 4 class at FOS in 2006.
Hazel Holland is joining us from Nottingham, UK. She is another outstanding teacher who comes to us with a glowing reference.
Marama Buck worked with us during her Graduate School training earlier this year, and we are delighted that she will be starting her teaching career with us.

I am very excited about all the new appointments and I look forward to working with them all next year.

Tuesday 6 November 2007

Library upgrade


The Board have been looking at the library blog and discussing the findings. They have agreed that we need to look into building a new library more closely. A sub-committee has been formed for this. The Library sub-committee met for the first time on Monday 29th September to look at ways to take the concept forward. They looked at funding options and possible locations for a new library.

The impact of the new government 1/18 ratio change for New Entrants and Year 1 children means that we will need more teaching spaces during 2008. It is our hope that we can free up the existing library for teaching spaces by building the new library and ESOL space together. However the reality is that this will take longer than a year, so we need to look at how we can find spaces for the new children at the end of 2008, when we will need to open more classes than we have in the past.

The current Library can house much of the computer and shelving needs of the completed library, and it seems sensible to buy those things now and then move them into the library when it is completed in a year or so. Therefore I would like to request that some of the money raised by the Spring Ball be spent on this. There are two main reasons for this:

1. The money raised by the Ball should be spent on today’s children.
2. The library needs to be improved for 2008 not just 2009 and beyond.

My report to the PTA

I would like to thank the PTA for providing tea, coffee and phenomenal Afghans after my talks at the start of term. Those nights were a really important opportunity for me to connect with lots of people and talk through ideas about education and the development of the school over the next few years and the refreshments helped greatly.

I would like the PTA to help promote my blog (fendalton-principal.blogspot.com) as a good source of information about what is happening in school and another way of keeping in contact with the school community and me. Rob has been working with some of the PTA on setting up their own blog.

Blogging is a very powerful tool which allows us to very quickly make web announcements and keep websites active and live. We need to look closely at how we are going to organise it in terms of moderation of comments and postings but at the moment it is a good start for the PTA to learn some of the possibilities.

The real power of blogging is in subscriptions as this allows the school community to be automatically notified of updates without having to go to the web to check. I will be putting some guides to making effective use of blogs onto my blog in the coming weeks.

Friday 2 November 2007

Movember




This month Mr Norton, Mr Clarke and I will all be growing moustaches for Movember!

The obvious question is why?

The answer is because men lack awareness about the very real health issue they face, have an attitude of "she'll be right" and are reluctant to see a doctor about an illness or to go for regular medical checks.

The aim of Movember is to change these attitudes, make male health fun by putting the Mo back on the face of New Zealand men and in the process raise some serious funds for the number one male health issue, prostate cancer.

We will be asking for sponsorship in honour of our sacrifice and at the end of the month we will be having a special "Mo day" where the children can get involved by wearing a moustache to school for the day!

So try not to laugh at our efforts when you see us around school, it is for a good cause!

Wednesday 24 October 2007

Class Placements 2008


In preparation for next year we are seeking feedback from parents and caregivers regarding class placement. Forms are available at the school office and also from your class teacher, or they can be Downloaded here

Many parents do not fill out forms, leaving the judgment to the classroom teacher. Please note that any comments written should refer to your child’s needs. It is not appropriate to request particular teachers (and these have not been finalised in any case) or to create a wish list! Forms should be returned to your child’s class teacher. Any forms that are not considered acceptable will be forwarded to me. 

Please note that information from parents is just one of the many sources of information we consider when placing children. The ultimate responsibility is the schools and we take this role very seriously. We do try to address the needs of all 500 children to the best of our abilities - it is a complex task!

About me

BA Hons PGCE MA NPQH

I am the Principal of Fendalton Open-air Primary School. I joined the school in August 2007 when I moved to New Zealand from the UK. My teaching career began in London, England where I trained at London University’s Institute of Education before taking up my first teaching post at Bruce Grove Primary School in Tottenham, North London.

My second teaching post was at Coleridge Primary School, also in North London, where I became firstly an Advanced Skills Teacher and then the Deputy Head teacher.

Web 2.0 tools to explore

Google Docs - spreadsheeting, word processing and presentations.
Picasa - photo sharing from your google account.
Mindmeister - mindmapping tool.
Delicious - bookmark sharing site.
Flickr - photo sharing site.
Bubbl.us - mindmapping tool.
Bubble Share - photo sharing.
Mosaickr - photo mosiacs.
Teacher Tube - videos with an educational slant.

Tuesday 23 October 2007

Our wonderful teachers


This Friday is World Teacher Day. This is a perfect opportunity for you to be extra specially nice to your wonderful teachers.

NZEI is asking New Zealanders to thank a teacher this World Teachers' Day. Get in touch with a teacher who helped you along the way, or take time to thank your children's teachers.

World Teachers’ Day (WTD) provides the opportunity to draw public attention to the important role of teachers within society.

Tuesday 16 October 2007

21st Century Fendalton



This video forms part of my presentation to parents and the community on Tuesday 16th, Wednesday 17th and Tuesday 23rd October. Please watch it and join the conversation by adding a comment below.

Another triumph for English Sport


This Tuesday we had a visit from Canterbury Cricket to give our children the opportunity to meet some famous cricketers, play some cricket and learn some new skills. This was a wonderful experience for all our learners and I would like to thank Shane Bond, Amandeep Singh and Andrew Shaw for their time and energy. On a personal note I had the chance to face some fast balls from Shane Bond and despite 5 airshots I did manage to clip one ball down to the boundary! One for the scrapbook.

Thursday 11 October 2007

Kapa Haka

Today I briefly joined some of our children taking part in a Kapa Haka session in the hall. As you can see I may need to do some work on my stance! The boys taking part were very impressive, quickly picking up the moves and putting me to shame.

Wednesday 10 October 2007

Principal's Diary

Kia Ora

Welcome back to a new term at school, I hope you all had a great holiday and managed to escape for a few days. I spent part of my holidays moving house and part up in Auckland at a conference about learning and ICT. It was a wonderful course that gave me a whole heap of new ideas about ways in which we can use the latest web technologies to improve the learning of all our children. Part of this involves the PTA and I would like to explore new ways for us to use the web to communicate the great work of the PTA to the community.

Just a quick reminder that I will be holding meetings next week to introduce myself to you all formally and to share with you my educational philosophy and vision for Fendalton School. I hope that you will be able to make it to one of the sessions.

Tuesday 16th October @ 8pm - Parents with children in the Junior School.
Wednesday 17th October @ 8pm - Parents with children in the Middle School.
Tuesday 23rd October @ 8pm - Parents with children in the Senior School.

All the sessions will be held in the Village and will involve some interactivity (I promise not to make you work too hard.)

Last week we put adverts into the education Gazette for new teachers to start in January 2008, this is partly to fill some of the long term relieving positions that we have had this year but also because of the news that Anne-Maree Tippen will be leaving us at the end of term 4. We are very sad that Anne-Maree will be leaving us but would like to congratulate her on her appointment as Associate Principal at Remuera Primary School in Auckland. Anne-Maree has taught at Fendalton School for nearly 10 years and has done a wonderful job, I would like to thank her for all her hard work and dedication and wish her the best of luck with her upcoming wedding to Tim and her new life in the North Island.

Congratulations to Kim and Jamie Wilson who had a baby boy during the holidays – mother and baby are doing well and we are all looking forward to meeting Max over the next few weeks.

I am also trying to finalise numbers for next year so I can work on class organisation. Thank you to those who have let us know that they will not be back next year - if you have not yet informed us please do so now! Likewise, if you know of children moving in zone who have not yet enrolled please let us know. We are not looking at class placements yet and we do not know which teachers will be teaching at particular levels. You will receive information about this as it becomes available.

Sadly we had a series of incidences of vandalism over the holidays, including several broken windows, if you see any suspicious behaviour around school please let us know and report it to the police.


Paul Sibson

Tuesday 9 October 2007

Report to the PTA - October 2007


Welcome back to a new term at school. I hope you all had a great holiday and managed to escape for a few days with your children. I spent part of my holidays moving house and part up in Auckland at a conference about learning and ICT. It was a wonderful course which gave me a whole heap of new ideas, that I will be sharing with the staff, about ways in which we can use the latest web technologies to improve the learning of all our children. Part of this involves the PTA and I would like to explore new ways for us to use the web to communicate the great work of the PTA to the community. I would like to set up a small group of interested PTA members to pursue some of these ideas. Any volunteers?

In April next year the Ministry is implementing a new 1-18 staffing ratio for New Entrant and Year 1 students, and this will impact our current teaching spaces. At the most recent Board of Trustees meeting we discussed this and the future of our school library and what developments we would like to see. We talked about combining any monies that may come into the school from the Ministry to help with junior staffing ratios to the building of a new library and ESOL block to free up new teaching spaces. A small group of staff on our Library QLC (Quality Learning Circles) has been carrying out a review of the Library and information systems that we currently have in place. This staff group will report back very soon so that we can make some decisions about the way forward. We would like to request that the money raised from the Spring Ball be put towards this library project.

Next week I will be holding the first of three meetings to formally introduce myself to the parents of the school. The meetings will be on the following dates:

Tuesday 16th October @ 8pm - Parents with children in the Junior School.
Wednesday 17th October @ 8pm - Parents with children in the Middle School.
Tuesday 23rd October @ 8pm - Parents with children in the Senior School.

All parents are welcome to attend and I would like as many people as possible to come so please spread the word! I will be using the meeting as a chance to meet lots (hopefully) of parents and to share with you my background, educational philosophy and vision for Fendalton. I am keen to gather people’s views and opinions during the evening so I hope people will come with lots of ideas.

Visitors