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.