End of Term 2

We have had an INCREDIBLE final week of term with so many neat things happening...

It started with an amazing Science fair Exhibition.  I was so proud of the students for persevering with their projects and demonstrating such fantastic scientific thinking, congratulations to all those who achieved awards.  We all felt honored to have so many friends and family come to view the Science Fair and share our learning with us.  It was a great night.

The following day was our Electives Showcase.  It was a great opportunity to share the huge range of activities children had been part of throughout the Term.  Big thanks must go to Mrs Evans for all her organisation to make the electives happen.  P.S. we love your dressing gown!

Next, our Year 5 Basketball team played in the finals of the Hutt Valley Basketball league and managed to win by just one goal.  It was a nail biting finish, and our boys played extremely well - what a privilege to be there to see it...

Finally, today we had Cath, Rugga and the two Rugby World Cups come to Maungaraki School.   it was very exciting to see these two beautiful trophys and to have our photos taken with them.  It was a very exciting way to finish the term:

All in all, it's been a fabulous end to the term... I hope everyone has a relaxing break, and look forward to seeing you all in 2 weeks time...

Follow Maungaraki School on Twitter...

I recently heard several principals from Christchurch, sharing their experiences following the earthquakes last year. They spoke about the difficulty of communicating with families when there was little power to run computers or land lines and the most reliable tool was the mobile networks. Schools that had already established Twitter connections with their families found they had a head start in that they were not dependent on power to send or receive emails or use bulk txt features on computers. Twitter proved to be the fastest and most reliable tool for some schools to communicate information with families immediately after and in the days and weeks following the quake.

They have found that since things have returned to 'normal' they have continued using Twitter for all sorts of quick updates and reminders... We would love to get Twitter up and running as a tool to communicate with you. Please register if you haven't already, and follow us:

@maungarakisch

NB: I've tried to embed a fancy "follow me on twitter" button into my blog... to make it easy for you, but technology is not working with me on this one ... Oh well - one step at  time! ... (and if you think you may be able to help me out, please pop in to give me a lesson).

Working Bee - THANK YOU!

It was an amazing effort at the working bee today...  I was astounded by the number of people that turned up, even if only for a n hour or two.  We managed to prove that the adage "many hands makes light work" is indeed true!

I know that Mrs Sutherland and the students in the Enviroteam will be thrilled with what was achieved today and I would like to thank them all for the effort that went into organising and coordinating the day.  It is great to continue to build our school environment into something we are all proud to learn and play in.

Thanks to the home and school group who funded the materials for the pergola, to lay the mosaics, and for compost and bark to tidy up the gardens.

Check out the Enviroteam's blog next week for photos of what was achieved on the day... in the meantime, here's a few that I took...

Class Size Policy Reversal

The Minister has announced that she is reversing the decision to cap the number of teachers in schools and to increase class sizes. It is a major U-turn and the Minister has said the Government decided to drop the policy after parents did not accept the change.

I want to congratulate and thank every one of you who publicly opposed this policy. It is parental response and lobbying that have been critical factors in the Government backing down.

As a profession, we now look forward to working WITH the Minister to improve student achievement and ensure quality teaching is in place across the country.