Another year draws to a close

Well, 2008 is nearly at an end and our Year Six children are preparing to say farewell. It has been a amazing final year for the children with a whole host of activities and learning adventures from camp to Kapa Haka. I'm constantly amazed by the amount that our children pack into their week, both in school and out. Good luck for 2009 to all our leavers. I hope that you keep fond memories of your time at Fendalton for many years to come.

On a personal note, I have had a very busy and fascinating first full year in the big chair! I have learned a tremendous amount, had a few frustrations along the way, but enjoyed every minute. The vagaries of the New Zealand funding model for schools have kept me on my toes and finding ways to fund all the learning experiences that we offer our children is a constant challenge. I have some exciting new ideas that I will be working on over the summer holidays and with the staff at the start of the year to try and make things even better in 2009.

Have a great Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

Paul

Read, Feed, Speed photos

It was great to see so many Dads and other significant males around the school today. We had a massive turnout. Here are some photos of the event for you to enjoy:



Here is the form for you to complete if you are able to help out:

We need your help

Today is the fabulous Read, Speed, Feed event at Fendalton. The school will be awash with dads, brothers, grandfathers and male family friends. They will all be reading, playing and eating with our children. It is a great day, the children love having their dads, or other significant men, in school.

I am using the event as a shameless opportunity to lock the men in a room and ask for their help. We will be meeting in the village at 12, before the sausages!

We have a couple of building projects coming up in 2009 and we really need some help running these projects. The school has been working hard on the playground seating and shade and the junior playhouse projects and now we need to break ground and start creating. So, this is an appeal to all the men connected to the school. If you have any building skills, contacts or even just a willingness to help, then please complete the form below so that we can get started.

Thank you!

Paul

How can we improve?

Following on from the success of the last question that I posted on my blog, here is a new question for the community to ponder on. I will be putting new questions up fairly regularly throughout the year so that we are gathering information and ideas from parents and families consistently, rather than just at the end of the year.

The previous question, asking for words which are important to you, garnered nearly 100 responses. All the words used were fed into wordle.com and the picture shown here was created. The bigger words were used more often!

Please take a moment to complete the simple form below. Thanks.

What a great day!

Yesterday was our Summer Carnival and what a great event it was. The weather was kind to us and it was fantastic to see so many children and their families having a great time together. The line of children waiting to dunk me in the drink was a bit worrying but I'm not taking it personally. ;-)

The event was held to raise money for our playground project and the early indications are that we have made a significant amount, hopefully enough to make our playground dream come true. The next step is for us to have the plans priced by some building firms and start the building process.

A huge thank you to everyone who attended on Sunday; those who donated their time, goods and services and especially to the carnival committee who worked so hard to make the day such a success.

THANK YOU!

The power of words

I have been working on our Charter for 2009 and I was reflecting on how to gather the views of the community more effectively. In the past we have always sent out an annual survey to the parent community but the return rate has been fairly low. So I am trying a slightly different approach. Over the next few weeks and months I am going to post short questions on my blog for anyone to respond to. I am hoping that by breaking the survey into small sections which only take a few seconds to respond to, we may increase the number of responses that we get. I will be including this in a newsletter for people who do not have access to a computer.

So here is the first question - (the words entered here will go towards making a "wordle" image, like the one shown above, that clearly shows what the priorities are for our community)

Well done boys!

Three boys from Team 14 had an amazing success today. They went to Auckland to attend the awards ceremony for the TVNZ Netguide Schools Web Challenge and they were awarded third place in the Primary category. To read more go to the Netguide website.

The boys produced a website called teamdyslexia. It is a fabulous site which Julius, Jack and Angus spent many hours working on, with some help from Sue and Rob. Great work boys, you should be very proud, we certainly are!

ESOL Wiki

It has been a while since I explored the ESOL wiki that Glenys and June maintain, with the help of their children, so I thought I'd have a read and see what they are up to. It just goes to show the power of the Internet! The amazing progress being made by our children, for whom English is not their first language, is there for all to see.
Children's minds are truly remarkable. They are able to not only master the art of communicating in a new language but also distinguish between two, or sometimes more, languages. Reading through the children's pages on the wiki, you cannot fail to be impressed. The wiki's address is http://fendaltonesol.wetpaint.com/ and is well worth a visit.

A packed term ahead.

Two days in and already term 4 is shaping up to be a big one. Reports, class placements, interviewing for teaching positions and solving some of our property headaches just for starters. Should be good fun!

We are hoping to open the swimming pool in a few weeks time and, if the good weather continues, it should be nice and warm for the first few classes taking a dip.

We are working hard on plans for seating and shade areas in the playground and I am hoping that we will have something to display in the next couple of weeks. Then we can start to get feedback from the whole community on the ideas. The project is the focus of our Summer Carnival fundraising efforts so fingers crossed for plenty of sunshine on the 9th of November.

Summer's back

The sun joined us today as we ended Term 3 on a high. The children and staff love having the warm weather back and let's hope that it is a good omen for Term 4. I'm heading away to Australia during the 2 week break, which I'm very excited about.

Voting is now open for our Photography Competition and everyone and anyone is welcome to vote for their favourite snap. The children have been using their creative energies to take some inspired shots over the last few weeks and you can see the photos they have taken on the main school website. It is really simple to vote so please do!

Happy Holidays!

Arts Week

The real sun is back this week, but last week the school was lit up in other ways, by the children's art work!

Arts Week was an unqualified success. Highlights included the senior school performance at the Ngai Marsh theatre on the Monday; a magical night of musical talent on Thursday; buskers in the playground every day; and the marvellous art gallery created with the children's work in the village all week.

The focus of the week was dance, drama and music as well as the visual arts. A photography competition was held through the week and we have some children with an amazing eye for what makes a good picture.

The children in Room 19 have been reflecting on the week and you can
read their thoughts here.

Student Led Conferences

It is approaching a year since I started as Principal of Fendalton School and I am about to experience Student Led Conferences for the first time. I just missed these last year but I have been told that they are remarkable, a real insight into how our children learn. The idea behind the conference is that the children lead their parents or carers through their learning, explaining their successes and their goals while the teachers are present to add clarification on the very rare occasion where it is necessary.

I have spent time in the middle school this week, chatting with the children about Student Led Conferences and their preparations for them. It is great to witness how proud the children are of their work and how well some of them know what their next steps are. I look forward to seeing how the actual conferences run and talking to parents about the system.

Olympic Games and Elephant Birds

Last Thursday, we held our very own Olympic Games! All the children took part in an opening and closing ceremony and, sandwiched in between, they competed in a wide array of sports from Welly Wanging (gumboot throwing) to Synchronised Swimming on dry land. Everyone had a fab day and I even got to dress up as a Greek God for my role in the opening ceremony.

This week is book week and it started with a bang this morning as children performed scenes from their favourite books in assembly. Miranda, Rob and I then performed our unique take on the Dr Seuss story, Horton Hatches the Egg. As you can see from the photo I became an elephant bird for the climax of the story!

Book week is an opportunity for our children to read even more than usual, to try out new genres and to share their favourite stories with each other. The staff are swopping classes to read their favourite books and tomorrow we will all be dressing up as characters from some of those books. Other highights of the week will include several DEAR moments where we will all stop whatever we are doing to Drop Everything And Read.

Dragons, Lambs and an Enchanted Forest!

Last week was the first week that I was able to meet my new target of spending two days a week in the classrooms. I spent all day on Tuesday and Friday in the Junior team, working alongside the teachers and children, talking about their work and sharing in their successes. It was certainly an interesting week, which included meeting a couple of new born lambs with room 4, witnessing the creation of an enchanted forest in room 3 and learning all about the Olympic mascots in room 5.

The variety of learning experiences that our youngest children are being exposed to is truly remarkable. Our children were able to show me how they use laptops in class, how phonics work for them and they even explained what a unicorn's horn is for (apparently it is a bit like a steering wheel). Rooms 1 and 2 showed me how their topic based approach to literacy was making a difference to them and room 21 shared their impressive letter recognition and reading progress.

It was great to see how quickly our youngest children have adopted the Key Competencies as their own. I witnessed children being great team players as they shared the excitement of two lambs being fed; communicators as they taught each other how to use sign language in room 13; great thinkers in room 12 shared their peer assessments of each other's work; dream makers in room 6 told about their ideas for improving the junior play areas.

There was sparkle everywhere!

It's on to the middle team next for me and I can't wait to find out what they will teach me!

New Learning for me!

Since I started in the position of Principal at Fendalton School nearly a year ago I have had one frustration that I have been unable to overcome. My mentor would tell you that I have consistantly complained about one thing in our sessions, that he has offered several very good solutions to this disatisfaction, but that I have still not been able to shake it. One single question, which seems simple enough, remains unanswered after 11 months in the job.

How can I spend less time in the office and more time where the real action is, in the classrooms?

I may have found an answer......

At the end of last term, Miranda, Rob and I attended the New Zealand Principals' Federation Annual conference here in Christchurch. It proved to be a breakthrough experience which may well change the way that I work.

One of the Keynote speakers at the conference was Malachi Pancoast from a consulting firm in the US called "The Breakthrough Coach." He spoke three times at the conference about how to apply effective management practice to the running of school front offices – practices that free Principals up from technical front office work and instead allow them to spend two full days a week in classrooms. It was as if he had felt my frustrations and flown over to answer them directly!

Much of what Malachi had to say was common sense and obvious when you think about it but he was able to clarify ideas in a way which made me question the way I work and the kind of jobs that I have been doing. It is little wonder that I haven't been able to get into the classrooms.

So I will be making some changes to the way I work. These changes may well take a while to fully implement and probably a year or two to perfect but they will have an impact and put me where I need to be, where the learning is! These changes will mean that it becomes harder to make an immediate meeting with me but we will work hard on the system to make sure that it works for everyone.

Marvellous Music

Last night our school choir performed in front of a packed audience at Burnside High School's Aurora Centre. The event was the North West Schools Music Festival and was outstanding. Our children were up first but showed no signs of any nerves as they performed two pieces. The choir were buzzing all day in anticipation and they certainly worked incredibly hard in the days and weeks leading up to the big event.

Speaking as someone with zero musical talent, I was hugely impressed by the talent on show, not only from the children but from the teachers who helped bring it all together and accompany the choir. Special thanks to Maggie, Letesha and Kirsty for making it such a special occasion for our children, one I'm sure they will never forget.

Terrifying Tuesday

Today was Terrifying Tuesday at Fendalton School. All the children came to school in mufti to raise money for Marchar Sarita, an Indian girl who the school sponsors.

We had everything from witches and pirates through to mummies and the grim reaper as the children attempted to find the most imaginative way to live up to the name "Terrifying Tuesday". More photos are available here...

Dyslexia Awareness Week

This week is Dyslexia Awareness Week, this also marks the high point of Team 14's inquiry on dyslexia.
The children in room 14 have spent the last few weeks researching dyslexia, talking with the dyslexic children in their own class and putting together a roadshow for this week.

All week the children are presenting their roadshow to groups from all across the school, explaining about dyslexia and making suggestions as to how we can all help to make a difference. Not only is their work helping to remove some of the stigma attached to dyslexia, it is also helping us teachers to understand more about what life is like for these children. The dyslexic children from room 14 were able to, very eloquently, explain what it is like, but also what helps to make reading and writing easier for them.
The message from room 14 is:
"It's not a disease, it's a different way of thinking!"
Well done room 14.

Kidnapped by Pirates

Last Friday I was kidnapped by pirates!
There I was, working away in my office, quietly, not bothering anyone, when I was jumped on by a large gang of enormous pirates and dragged away. I tried to fight them off but they were just too strong for me.
As it turned out these vicious pirates were part of a gang calling themselves the Fendalton Junior School. They had a wicked plan to turn me into a pirate too and set about training me in their pirate ways. They taught me how to make treasure, sing sea shanties and use a treasure map. I had a fantastic time and by the end of the day I was transformed into Captain Sibson.
Thank you to all the pirate trainers (teachers) and the Junior team for all their hard work on Friday, it was certainly an experience. It took me most of the long weekend to get my voice back but it was well worth it!

The joy of teaching

Ah, the smell of the wet grass, the sound of leather on leather and the joy of a goal.
It's winter sports season and today I was out on the field, in the rain, with our year 5 and 6 children to help them prepare for the games ahead. Friday sport is an institution at Fendalton school at I'm very excited to be taking the A and B football teams to Hagley every Friday this term. It is great to be working directly with the children again.
This Principalship lark is all very well but there is nothing like being with the kids! It reminds me why I became a teacher in the first place, watching children have fun, learn and work together as a team. It is very easy in my job to find yourself knee deep in paper work, finances and systems and lose touch with what it is really all about, the children.
So roll on next Friday and the start of the season!

Well done girls.

Congratulations to the blue Milo cricket team who are now officially the best girl's cricket team in Canterbury. A match report of yesterday's victory in the final is online at Canterbury Cricket.org.

Perhaps we have a few White Ferns in the making! Well done girls.

Turning up the heat

As we prepare for the installation of our new heat pumps in rooms 1- 11 over the school holidays it is interesting to note how much times have changed. The following advice is from the New Zealand Journal of Education in April 1908.

Teacher's Mutual Help
Soon we shall have the cold weather upon us. It is certainly a time when all our energies are called forth, but how often do we see children working and shivering with cold? Such will be the case as long as our classrooms are heated, by the primitive and extravagant open grate. Especially do the children feel the cold on clear, frosty mornings. No teacher who has the interests of his pupils at heart should allow them to work under such conditions. Take them outside, and let them run two or three times around the playground. When they come back they will attack their work with added energy and comfort.

Musings on the new Curriculum

Yesterday Miranda, Rob and I attended a seminar entitled The New Zealand Curriculum held at Riccarton Racecourse. I left the day feeling genuinely excited about the future of education in New Zealand. It is refreshing to see a system that is willing to listen to the education community and to trust the professionals working in our schools. I have come from an educational system which demands that schools conform to a rigid and over-full curriculum that limits possibilities for teachers and children. In contrast, the new draft curriculum in Aotearoa is flexible, manageable and child focussed.

The greatest triumph of the new curriculum is that it allows schools to create their own curriculum, for the children in that school. Fendalton has a well established and creative curriculum in place and the advent of new national guidance is not a time for us to throw out what we already do or try to reinvent the wheel, rather it is an opportunity for us to reflect and renew. We need to reiterate our beliefs and fundamental values and make sure that how and what we teach is inline with those values. It is vital that we make our values explicit so that we have a shared understanding of our vision for Fendalton school.

Therefore, I would like to share my own educational values and I invite the community of parents, staff and children to add their own comments to this.

I believe that learning should be fun and challenging for all children. We should seek out the gifts and talents in all our children and look for ways to extend them. We should celebrate diversity and offer opportunities to everyone so that we create a sense of wonder in our children.

I believe that we should question everything that we do and ask whether it will make a difference. Learning should be relevant and purposeful as we seek to prepare our children for the unknown future. Learning and progress is a personal journey and children will grow, develop and progress at different rates. Our job, as educators, is to make sure that the challenge and expectations we set push children to stretch their own limits. We have to create an environment that allows children to take risks and explore new worlds in a safe and supported way.

All this is only possible with excellent relationships that engender trust, co-operation and collaboration.

Everyone has an opinion about education. Please add your opinion by clicking on the comments link below.

Happy Campers

Our youngest learners had their very own camp today! Whilst our year 5 and 6's have been preparing or recovering from their camp experience in Wainui the four year 0/1 classes had fun in the sun today as they established a camping ground on the field at Fendalton School. The children had a sausage sizzle, played parachute games, relays and had special reading time in their tents. It was fabulous to see learning happening outside the classroom and it was a day that the children will remember for years to come. Special thanks to all the teachers and parents who organised the day and made it so much fun for the children.

Team Paul were super

Team Triathlon took place in school yesterday and it was great fun. Loads of children and adults took part in the swim, cycle and run event including the much anticipated first appearance of Team Paul. We won't dwell on the unceremonious dismount from my bike or the fact that we came last in the men's event. Instead let's celebrate the fact we were the top teachers' team and that falling off my bike at the end was entirely intentional and well practised....honest.

The Team triathlon was another example of the Fendalton community coming together to support the school and our children. Once again Paul Norton did an outstanding job of organising the day and making sure that everyone had a fun and safe day. Thank you Paul.

Future Knowledge

This morning I attended a fascinating breakfast conference called 'Future Knowledge'. Richard Millwood from Core Education talked about a project that he has been working on with UNESCO to find out what the world's children think about education, learning and their experiences of learning. The youtube playlist below shows some of the interviews that have already been recorded.
Richard talked about how the education world needs to adjust to meet the new expectations of the world in the 21st century.

Children having a voice is such an important part of education and one which we must not lose sight of.

This morning served to further my own determination to ensure that Fendalton children have a say in their school and their learning so that they remain central to everything that we do. One only has to watch the videos of our year 6 from 2007 reflecting on their time at Fendalton to see how sophisticated and knowledgeable children can be about their own learning, we just have to remember to listen.

Triathlon

Last Wednesday 150+ children took part in the individual triathlon at school. This amazing event demonstrated the incredible resilience and self motivation that our children posses. Children overcame fear of the water, the lack of their own bike or simply the challenge of making it all the way round. All those who started the event managed to complete the course on water, bike and foot and they were cheered the whole way round by parents impressed by their determination.

This week the team triathlon takes centre stage with both adults and children taking part. I will be cycling for "Team Paul" (Paul Norton, Paul Page and myself) so come along and cheer us and the children along from 9am on Thursday.

Former Fendalton student is still a dream maker

Former Fendalton pupil, Tyla Johnson appeared in the Christchurch Press today. It is fabulous to see our children continuing to embody the Key Competencies that we teach. Tyla is a real dream maker and was a very successful sportsman throughout his time here, it seems nothing is going to stop him in his pursuit of his dream!

Fendalton Male Teachers hit top 14!

Amazingly the youtube video of last year's Movember shave off is the 14th most watched youtube video for New Zealand Education! The video has been watched an incredible 3,697 times.

Not quite sure what that says about our moustaches but lets see if we can break into the top 10!

Interesting links

Class room blogging - Moderation and Protection
Top New Zealand Teachers Blogs
Out of the mouths of children

Welcome back

Happy New Year and welcome back to another year at Fendalton Open-air School!

We have undergone a bit of a transformation over the summer with a fresh new paint job. The staff and I spent a lot of time looking at colours and choosing nice, bright, child friendly colours for our school and we are very pleased with the result.

Last week all the staff went away for a couple of days at Pudding Hill for a retreat. This was a very successful experience. We had lots of fun and welcomed our new staff in style. The strong relationships between all staff, parents and children are one of the key factors in the success of our school and long may that continue. This year we will be exploring more ways to strengthen those relationships even more and further improve the communication from the school to the community.

I would like to formally welcome our new teachers, Paul Page (New Entrants), Carolyn Silby (Junior Team leader and year 2), Hazel Holland (year 3), Jo Murphy (year 4), Marama Buck (year 5)and Paulette Newton who has returned from maternity leave. We know that they will be fabulous teachers and make a real difference to the children.

My own summer holiday was a great success with lots of sunshine and relaxing as well as a visit from my parents all the way from Yorkshire back home. It is great to be back at school though and wonderful to see all the children smiling and happy, ready to learn.

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