Marriene Langton Principal/Tumuaki

Marriene Langton Principal/Tumuaki
Tēnā koutou e te whanau. This is my 16th year as tumuaki of our lovely kura. I am one-eyed when it comes to providing the very best education for all of our tamariki, strong connections to whanau and applying attachment theory so every child has a champion adult at our school who believes in them unconditionally. I just can’t see past it. Our kaiako and kaiawhina go the extra 50 miles to give our children the best chances to succeed. My family is number one. After 20 years of camping holidays in Kaiteriteri, Graham and I are recidivist “glampers “ and ready for new adventures in our latest caravan. It’s brilliant when our family joins us too.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Principal On the Road Again

KidsFirst and KiddiTech on PhotoPeach

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Margaret Smart: teacher aide, all round good sort and pianist.
ROOM 7 sings their song about being healthy inside and out.





















At the end of Room 7's inquiry learning about "Healthy Inside and Out" Mrs Williams and the students brainstormed all of the things they had learnt that they needed to do to ensure that they all stayed healthy. What a clever way to ascertain what students can apply to their own lives.
Suzanne wrote the ideas into verses and a song was about to be born.
That's where Mrs Smart comes in. She put the words to music. Margaret practiced playing a familiar tune so that the children could sing their song in assembly. "I'm a little Tea Pot" has never sounded so good.
It was a smash hit and reinforces our belief that learning should be about real life things and that it should be fun.

Healthy Inside and Out

Kahrn, Joe and Robbie receive their vertificates and kites from ASB.

I really enjoy  being able to give things away.
Molly receives her certificate and kite
Melissa and Alyshia set the tone for savings





ASB have a school banking scheme that operates in our school as part of their banking package. Last year Kylie and Dennis sold the banking scheme to us in and we now have a small group of children who regularly bank some of their pocket money. Learning to save a little is a healthy way to manage finances and habits learned now can have a very positive spin on for the future. This fits comfortably with last terms inquiry about Healthy Inside and Out and has made for a practical outcome that can be applied to life and living.
One of the littlies said in assembly tha tthe reason one has a savings account is "so you can give the money to your parents." Now there's a noble idea.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Westpac Presents $1000.00 to West Spreydon School.


 



It was a very exciting afternoon for us when Suzanne and Nina from Westpac came to school to present us with a very large cheque ( a little play on words) for $1000.00.
One of our dad's Justin entered a competition when he opened an account at West pac and he won our school the money and some money for his son Hamish's account. What a clever dad.



We are going to use the money to pay for the buses to transport  all of our students to Ferry Mead next term. This will be part of our inquiry topic called Intrepid Journeys where the children will discover what trials and adversity faced early settlers in New Zealand and the ways in which they overcame them. We want the children to understand that we face problems in all aspects of life and living and that we are incredibly creative and able to find solutions; sometimes not the solution we thought.  We just have to keep trying, rethinking, questioning and believing that we can do it.

Thank you Justin for thinking of us and to Westpac for the generous donation