A snapshot of lunchtime today

We all know how important movement and play is for children.  Well our children certainly don't lack in opportunities to move or play.  Here are some snaps captured today after a stroll around the playground.

This is a pen factory :)

Who We Are

We have spent the last ten years (or even more) working hard to build a culture in our school that is based on fun, learning, kindness, respect, acceptance and empathy. Children can be children and sometimes their behaviour is not always reflective of these things, but they are still learning and it is up to us as adults to role model the way we want them to behave. Mistakes, after all, are learning experiences for everyone. Last week each class had their say when reflecting about the essence of our school and who we are, what we stand behind. It is so rewarding to see that their words, reflect out ultimate aims for our culture. Lovely and heartwarming indeed. This will always be a work in progress and we will continue to be committed to developing the absolutely best culture we can for children to develop, learn and grow within. The gardens we create are to be a reflection of these ideas in some way, we are looking forward to creating spaces that make our place an even better place to be.

Capturing the Essence of Kaurihohore

Last term we asked for your contribution to our review around our values and motto.  

Our current statement is:

Enthusiasm and values for life through learning.

This fits us beautifully, but we also want to acknowledge the importance of Maori culture in our school by generating a proverb that is relevant to us and clearly shows we are a school in New Zealand.

The proverb will sit alongside our current statement.  Our pillars, Learning to learn, Learning to do, Learning to live together and Learning to be will also be kept, but combined with values that are relevant to Maori culture.  These values may include:

• Whanaungatanga (belonging)
• Manaakitanga (respect, empathy, extending kindness)
• Wånanga (communication, problem solving, innovation)
• Tuakana/Teina (older/younger relationships)
• Kaitiakitanga (guardianship of our natural resources)
• Aroha (love and kindness)
• Hiringa (perseverance and determination)Kotahitanga (oneness, togetherness) Mohiotanga (sharing of information, knowledge and understanding)
• Wairua (wellbeing and connectedness)

When our community was asked what made us special as a school we received these ideas:

Being kind to yourself and others

Community of learning - tuakana teina - support each other

Listening and reevaluating your actions

Respect for everyone and everything

Whakamana-Supporting our tamariki to be strong, proud and sure of themselves and their place.

Kotahitanga-Togetherness, working collaboration between tamaiti/kaiako/whãnau/hapori

The next step in this process was to ask the children, which we did yesterday.

They came up with these ideas:

We feel the children's responses have summed us up very well, it is great to know that they share our thoughts on our school and the culture we want to continue to foster and maintain.

Our next step is to use these ideas to generate ideas for a proverb/whakatauki

that captures these words as best we can.  If you would like to assist with this please contact Jo or I directly. Leslee (principal@kaurihohoreschool.co.nz) or Jo (rm6kauri@gmail.com) we would like to have a meeting of interested parties to share ideas and help us to come up with something that suits us.

Our ultimate aim is to turn this area into a garden that expresses who we are, what we stand for and includes the whakatauki, pillars and motto in various ways. We will be seeking ideas on how this garden might look, and what might be included as well. If you are interested in taking a leading role with this, we would love to hear from you. The idea is that this garden will then relate to the office entrance in some way, it is likely once we have a design, we will apply for grants to cover the cost.

Outdoor Classroom Day - 17th May 2018

This is a day that has become cherished by the children.  Our children are very lucky to be in a play-based environment and to enjoy a playground that embraces play and discarded rules a long time ago.  We have replaced these rules by embedding the values of kindness, empathy and respect.

We have an outdoor day to celebrate and honour the importance of play.  Play is the ultimate way of learning.  Play allows children to develop social and emotional skills in an environment based on experience.  Play encourages persistence, imagination, creativity, responsible risk taking and so much more.  These days are often messy and always filled with joy!

This is us and this is who we are!

Below are some photos captured today.   Children have driven all areas of learning on this day and have spent time planning their activities for the day in their own time.