Whānau Hui - Survey

Kia Ora Tatou,

As you  can see from the post below, we are thrilled with the input we have had during last week's Whānau hui… we know that some of you will have left the hui and come up with new ideas, and some of you may not have been able to attend the hui, but have some ideas you would like us to consider.  You do not have to be Māori to contribute to the survey we value everybody's input about Tikanga and Te Reo Māori at Maungaraki school!

Whānau Hui

Last week we held our first Whānau Hui for the year.  We were thrilled to have so many parents there representing many cultural backgrounds.  We have a very diverse cultural mix that makes up our school and acknowledge that the one thing we all have in common as New Zealanders is the cultural heritage of the country in which we live.  I was very proud to see children of all nationalities perform with enthusiasm in our Kapahaka group on the night.  We also shared some of the things that we are doing / have been doing as a school to celebrate our national heritage and to acknowledge the unique place of Tangata Whenua in New Zealand society.

During our hui we asked the parents and the students present a few key questions to help guide and direct us in terms of actions we can take to continue along this path.  The information has been summarised in this google doc:

Whānau Hui - Summary Responses - 18 August 2014

NB: An online survey will be posted for families to contribute to and add to the discussion sometime in the next couple of days.

Here's a quick clip of our Kapa Haka treasures performing a short medley to kick off our hui...

Unfortunately our kapa haka tutor is no longer able to support us for the remainder of the year, so we once again find ourselves on the lookout for someone who can help with this role.  If you know of anyone with a passion for kapa haka and things Māori, who is prepared to give us an hour a week, we would love to hear from you.

1-1 Device - Student Voice Video

We have now had 1 month with Chromebooks in our Year 5 & 6 classrooms - I thought it would be a great opportunity to hear how things are going from the students themselves…

Nigel Latta: School Report - What's going on?

It was so refreshing to watch a positive education story in the media last night.

As adults we remember our own schooling, we know it was successful for us, and we can't understand why the system of schooling needs to change so radically.  The reality is that education WAS successful for us… to prepare us for life in the 70s, 80s and 90s… but children today are leaving school to enter a very different workforce and society to the one we left school to join.   Our relationship to knowledge and the way we access it has fundamentally changed with the advent of the world wide web and the introduction of mobile devices… and schools need to change with it.

Last night's documentary demonstrated the changes in education, outlining the shift away from replicating knowledge and ideas, towards thinking creatively and innovatively.  It showed us how new ways of teaching and learning are not only engaging and motivating students, but are enabling learners to gain much deeper understandings of curriculum content, than if they had rote learnt vast quantities of factual knowledge.

If you didn't get a chance to see the documentary, you can watch it on demand here:

Nigel Latta: School Report - What's going on?

It's well worth 45 minutes of your life!

Passionate Teachers and Enthusiastic Learners Lead the Way!