Morning Tea With The Boss

At each full school assembly we celebrate the best of the best. Trophies are awarded for excellence in academic, social, environmental and attitude achievement.
The following Monday the students are invited to my office for some orange juice and chocolate bikkies. This system was in place before I arrived and it is a tradition that is a privilege to keep going.

I get to chat to the children about their learning, their pets and weekends and ways in which they think we can do things better at our school. Children are very perceptive and can often figure out very quickly what needs to be improved. That's called "student voice."

How can you not love this job? There's something very special about having the time to meet with the children and have a good goss and laugh.
It's just another reason why our school is such a special place and why I am very blessed to have the job as Boss.

Numeracy in Action

Math at West Spreydon School on PhotoPeach

Joshua Foundation Leadership Training

Joshua Foundation Leadership Training on PhotoPeach

Joshua Foundation Leadership Training

Learning how to be a leader is a tricky business.

We asked Chris Alan to take our year 6 students through the Joshua Foundation Leadership training programme.
The children are learning about the art and science of leadership.
They are discovering about leadership and team work the hard way through practical challenges and problem solving.
In some groups everyone wants to be a leader and instead of evaluating the best solutions, the loudest voice is getting to choose. The results range from frustrating to very funny!
Knowing your own strenghts and weaknesses and encouraging the strengths in others is not as easy as it seems.
Today there were opportunities to learn to plan and strategise-tomorrow the fun begins with challenges in the pool as well as tasks to be completed off the ground.

Our first few sessions of Jump Jam have been a laugh and a great success. One hundred and
seventy three students and their teachers join together to stay active and have fun. The only down side is that I catch myself humming and singing the songs for the rest of the day.

West Spreydon School Board Meeting- The Engine Room

Once a month we meet to "chew the fat." Our board meetings are the "think tank" aspect of the school and its' future development.
This is the time when we examine the progress we have made towards achieving our strategic goals and have the opportunity to look at student data, curriculum development, board audits, policies and procedures.



This year in May a new Board of Trustees will be elected. Robin Vincent has been our Board Chair person over the past three year term. He has been a loyal support for me and a great listening ear. Robin has been passionate about making our school a shining star amongst the schools in our area. Sadly both he and Louise will not be standing again after May and I shall miss them personally. Amidst the work we have had a lot of laughs.
Duane Major and Rosemary Goodyear will be co Board Chairs until at least after the next Board election. Double trouble for me, but also double thinking and support!!!

Together we have had regular training and we are always looking for ways to improve our school.
This year we have refined our strategic goals to three:
Encourage innovation in teaching and learning

Revitalise the physical environment

Strengthen our profile in the community and create stronger ties with our Maori and Pacifika families

We are in the process of working out what that means in detail for us by including the ideas and dreams of our staff, students and community.
We know it will include a continued commitment to teacher and support staff professional learning, refurbishing the swimming pools, fundraising and planning for a new exciting playground, revisiting the school uniform, designing new school signs and letter heads, keeping the edge on ICT development and pedagaogy, completing our school curriculum and ensuring that all of our school families have a genuine sense of belonging to something special. We decided together with the staff and children that our motto of

Attitude, Adventure, Achievement

pretty much said it all.
Being a Board of Trustees member at our school is never boring! We are all highly motivated, opinionated, dedicated, irrepressible,creative, high-spirited and humorous.

Our qualifications and experiences represent a wide spectrum of our community.

• Robin Vincent; electrician
• Duane Major;Youth Pastor
• Dr Rosemary Goodyear; statistician:
• Louise Russell; Quality manager
• Charmaine Satchy-Galvin; lawyer:
• Dave Mathieson; accountant
• Janice Krammer: teacher

• and then there's me, Marriene Langton, Principal and very proud to lead the team at West Spreydon School.

Dave was absent from this meeting as he was riding in a cycle event around the South Island to raise awareness and funds for the Heart Foundation. A just cause for wearing lycra.

West Spreydon School Pools Live! on PhotoPeach