Dear Parents, Caregivers & Students,

Yesterday I was fortunate to be a part of the Waikato Principal's Association Connections Day where we hosted Nigel Latta as our guest speaker. Nigel's address covered a range of domains, but was mainly centred around Neuroscience 'The future and you'. I am not sure how many have had a chance to listen to Nigel live? A way to describe it, is that it's a bit like going to a live 7 days show, unfiltered and laugh out loud, very different to the TV version.

In saying that amongst all the humour were some interesting pockets of information and ideas that closely aligns with the learning we have had and continue to do so through Nathan Mikaere Wallis (Kiwi Neuroscientist). First idea I want to share and hopefully ignite some discussion / thinking about, is the Hebb's Principle. Simply it is a way of describing how neuronal activities influence the connection between neurons (how the brain wires together responses). Added to this is the notion of working/learning together, "Brains that wire together - fire together" and an understanding that we are wired to work in social settings, it stems back to our survival mode. Of course I possibly used my own lens and bias to make a connect between our spaces and this thinking. I write with confidence that our spaces and programme design considers this idea to a large degree. How do we ensure we are activating the minds of our children and how do we foster a learning environment and culture where our children activate each others minds?

Secondly is the idea of loneliness. Nigel spoke about the health risk associated with feeling alone and connected it to the same health risks associated with smoking and alcohol abuse. A really interesting but brutal comparison. He mentioned that physically feeling hurt while grieving is real as it uses the same triggers in your brain to when you break a bone, graze a knee etc. The ongoing goal for us is ensuring our school culture is centred around inclusion. Inclusion of ideas, personalities, beliefs, strengths, talents etc. We know that when a child is feeling alone and/or not included, their ability to learn drops by 25%. In my view an answer to this is our school culture, a culture that we must all own and take responsibility for. Again my bias leans towards our learning environments and that they are less about being innovative but more importantly about being inclusive. 

On this note, I would like to take the time to remind you all that our doors are always open and we welcome your visit and chance to chat if you have any celebrations or concerns you would like to share. 

Warm regards

Geoff