Last week our 7 principals in the Kahukura Cluster ( that's not a cluster but a Community of Practice) met in Hanmer to discuss our aspirations and dreams for the children in our seven schools. Gavin Burn Cashmere Primary, Frank McManus Sacred Heart, Christine Harris Thorrington, Denise Torrey Somerfield, Trudy Heath Addington, Ross Hastings South Intermediate School and me have worked together for the past 4 years to ensure that our schools have consistent high expectations for all of the children across our cluster.
Our boards and staff have met together on several occasions for shared learning and the lead teachers of Maori, Depper Learning and Performing Arts work closely together on innovations to bring our schools together and maximise the talents and strengths across the seven schools.
We are competitive and each of us is determined to provide the best for our students; our bigger goal is to ensure that by working together we are ensuring that all children in our geographical area have the opportunity for the best quality education.
We like each other. We like each other's school values. Our lead teachers love working together. Our boards have the same hearts for children. Our community of practice us about distributed leadership and genuine collaboration for the benefit of all of the children in our schools.
Here we are working and thinking together. It's a tough life.
Last week our 7 principals in the Kahukura Cluster ( that's not a cluster but a Community of Practice) met in Hanmer to discuss our aspirations and dreams for the children in our seven schools. Gavin Burn Cashmere Primary, Frank McManus Sacred Heart, Christine Harris Thorrington, Denise Torrey Somerfield, Trudy Heath Addington, Ross Hastings South Intermediate School and me have worked together for the past 4 years to ensure that our schools have consistent high expectations for all of the children across our cluster.
Our boards and staff have met together on several occasions for shared learning and the lead teachers of Maori, Depper Learning and Performing Arts work closely together on innovations to bring our schools together and maximise the talents and strengths across the seven schools.
We are competitive and each of us is determined to provide the best for our students; our bigger goal is to ensure that by working together we are ensuring that all children in our geographical area have the opportunity for the best quality education.
We like each other. We like each other's school values. Our lead teachers love working together. Our boards have the same hearts for children. Our community of practice us about distributed leadership and genuine collaboration for the benefit of all of the children in our schools.
Here we are working and thinking together. It's a tough life.
Thank you to Rochelle and her team for the fantastic day of athletics. There was a glitch in the final communication and I know that that was disappointing for some and an oopsy from the staff. Thanks for bearing with the hitch and for turning up to support the children if you were able to.
We had so many parents and staff willing to take part in the parents v teachers v students relay! I was "afeared" that someone would rupture an achilles and that we would have staff and children on crutches.
It is magic to see children discover their strengths and there are some great little athletes amongst the children. Ethan Waller has fantastic form for high jump and long jump and it was a pleasure to watch him give his best on every round.
We have so many 5 year olds and they struggled to understand the routine and to copewith the changes. It was very funny that the teachers didn't know the names of the very new children and that the children didn't know their own names either! It's just like hearding cats. A few of our children are very talented athletes and they give everything to succeed. They are a pleasure to watch.
