There is a buzz of learning happening around the school and excitement is growing for Sports Camp next week, Camp Raglan as well as the Spring Fair organisations hyping up. In every little nook of the school, small groups of Year 5-8 students have been practising their speeches, in hopes of making it through to the upcoming EWCS Speech compeition.  

Last week I had the pleasure of sitting in on one of our Shine Girls lessons. Shine Girls is a personal development and group mentoring programme we offer our Year 8 girls. The lesson was around “Powerful” and “Powerless” behaviours people may show and the effect of each. 

You could see on the children’s faces that there was some thoughtful self reflection going on and, as an adult I was also deep in thought.

For years, we have used the term “Puketaha Powerful Learning”. As I listened, I was making connections to how we use the word “powerful'' and how it was being used in this context. The traits listed are things we do try and develop in our learners and they are interwoven into our School Values and 6 C’s. The concept of ‘taking responsibility’ is linked to our Self Determined Learner profile as well as our School Value of ‘Integrity’. Another connection I made was with being ‘comfortable with the unknown’ and how that links to having a Growth Mindset, as well as our 6 C of being ‘Curious’. 

It reminded me of a similar infographic which has come in handy over the years when supporting tamariki to reflect on their behaviour, the role they played in the situation, what they might do to fix it up and the learning that happened for them along the way. 

On Tuesday night we held a Spring Fair P.T.A meeting. This is the school's major fundraiser and a ‘powerful’ way that we can come together as a community. You will start hearing of ways you can get involved such as putting your name forward to help run a stall or be rostered on to help at a stall. The Cake Stall is very popular and we will be asking for baking from each family if possible please, as this often sells out early. You can also be collecting up items to donate to the garage sale and your children might be interested in entering The Wearable Arts Competitions. Make sure you mark ‘September 24th’ in your calendar!

Ngā manaakitanga,

Nyree Olliver