First day of Term 1 2021

Kia ora everyone, 
A special nga mihi for people at my kura or school networks connecting with my principals blog. Still emerging in my blogging skills and really appreciate any comments or feedback. 

Like with all schools in Aotearoa, our kura has gone through alot in 2020 due to COVID19, so I was really hoping to start 2021 on a real positive note. Between 25th to 29th January our team of staff and educators alike got together to plan our year ahead. The SLT (Senior Leadership Team), worked with Owen Alexander from Evaluation Associates and Andy Crowe from Learning Architects to help set up for the year. We also covered the strategic goals and annual plan which has changed slightly to better accommodate the addition of the new school build. 

Our first day on 2 Feb, we opened again and it was so cool to see our kids and whanau again. Many happy and eager akomanga came to see me and I did miss them too. We also welcomed 10 new students who we are excited to have start on day one. 

The Eat My Lunch Healthy Kai programme started today as well, which provides a free meal for every kid, every day. The General Manager Kellie visited us today and we thanked her for this awesome service to our kura. If you want to know more about the programme visit - https://eatmylunch.nz/pages/school-portal
A special thanks to Shelley our DP for running this awesome initiative. 

This year, our kids were also lucky enough to get full sponsorship for all of their stationary costs which can be a barrier to ako in engaging and attending school straight away. James Barrett from Edwards Lifesciences and David Han Accounting donated the stationary as part of their organisation's philanthropy and goodwill. A huge thankyou to both groups for their manaakitanga and aroha for our ako. 
There are many changes happening this year, led by the new build and I am very excited to see new prototypes of how teachers can better practice collaboration to accelerate learning. Basically our teachers are no longer working in single cell classrooms and moving more towards planning in teams, sharing learning online and working across the available spaces that they have. An example I saw today was in the Kea team which has now three teachers and 3 contexts for using three classroom spaceship 
- A Fale (whole group), an Island (individual work spaces) and Waka spaces for group based self directed learning. Early days but great to see the learning practice visible to whanau and ako. 

Lastly our new school build has been accelerated to start in March, so we are eager to hold a sod turning ceremony and later next year a kawanga whare - opening ceremony. I have consulted with Maori Cultural Advisor Hari Pandora and Tanui/Manurewa Marae Elder Martin Cooper to awhina my team and I through the tikanga of our new build. 
Some preliminary detailed design work is underway, with paint colours and carpet the final things to sign off. 

More to post, in a few days. 

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