November Fono and Hui

What a great evening. We had just over 50 present including children. There was lots of chatter and laughter and people getting to know people. Our teachers acted as note takers as we asked our whanau several questions about their children and how well, or not, our school addresses the learning needs.
Parents were honest and helpful.
The food was gorgeous.
During the evening Maata shared the comparative achievement data  and I listened to lots of, "oohs, mmmm, goodness mes and that's greats."  Our Pasifika and Maori children do well. There is still a lot of room for improvement and as a teaching team we want to know how we can make that improvement for our children.
Thank you to everyone who came along.

Tug 'o War

Suzanne organized an inter house tug 'o war for the children. Talk about competitive and I don't mean the children! I can't remember who won because I was laughing too much to hear.
The children then took on the staff at 100 to 10 and dragged us across the grass with great glee.
Now, me being a fair player and never giving in to a loss, insisted that it had to be mano e mano; one on one, head for head.
The children chose 10 of the best and we matched them with the adults who quite frankly were disadvantaged in every area like strength, fitness, determination, skill and planning. HOWEVER, we beat them and triumphantly dragged them around the field. Youth and beauty will always come second to age and cunning.

Jared Fretwell Fully Registered Teacher

Jared graduated as a fully registered teacher  at an NZEI ceremony held at the Aurora Centre on Monday 18 November.
He is a talented and hard working teacher who has held a leadership position in his second year of teaching. That's quite unusual.
We were so happy for him and for his family. Even more so, we are happy to have him as a teacher on the West Spreydon School Team.
Donna, his first tutor teacher was there too and clearly couldn't resist photo bombing.
Congratulations Jared.

Addington Cup Day Staff Breakfast

In the midst of a busy term it is important that we take the time to have some fun. It sure was fun. Grown-ups love playing dress-ups.
The shoes, "frocks", gloves, fascinators and hats created the illusion of a day off at the famous local derby.
The breakfast was even better with an array of strawberries, bananas, waffles, bacon, maple syrup, coffee and tea.
I'm going to be doing surprise visits to the classrooms today as I suspect that the teachers will be fast asleep, tucked in under their desks after that big feed.

Angie's fascinator

Food glorious food

Let happiness reign

Fascinating fascinators

All dressed up and nowhere to go.

There is something odd about this photo.

Adam was told to look smouldering. Yeah right.

Science Staff Meeting

Can you imagine what it is like to try to control a group of teachers when they are fed snacks and have the opportunity to try out a whole range of fun science experiments?
Honestly it's like herding cats. The noise was phenomenal and the high jinks they got up to were worth recording.
Jude and Nicky led a session on classroom based science that covered chemistry, physics and a bit of anything else going. We have figured out that teachers need to be learners too if they are going to continue to be effective in their roles.
It's amazing how quickly chaos can reign when a naughty teacher changes just one variable in an experiment.
I guess that days like this are what makes it so great to be a part of this team.