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.