Kotahitanga What It Means At SRS

60 Nations represented by 
540 Children lead by 
44 Staff

A Board of Trustees, a dedicated staff, a Parent Support Group, some fantastically reliable relievers and a whole lot of respect for each other and the way we work together

KOTAHITANGA - is the feeling of UNITY we get when we work together to achieve great things.

If you scroll down our Stanhope Road School FACEBOOK page, you will see the wide variety of events and activities our children get to star in - and just look at those faces!

There is a wide range of events and activities that are planned within our delivery, that allows our children to shine in so many ways - but that all comes down to good teaching and the fact that everyone knows how to roll up their sleeves and pitch in to get the jobs done well.

We have just celebrated Tongan Language Week and Te Wiki O Te Reo Māori

Please look at our Facebook page to see our children shining in these events.

Gratitude and Hauora Happiness

 In Term 3, we are focusing our Inquiry Learning on Hauora - and what a timely focus amidst this changing fabric of education. 

In Term 3 there are Union meetings and impending strikes to negotiate terms for Teachers and Principals which are hoped to strengthen the conditions for our profession. Current work overload, shortage of teachers, and a general feeling of the profession being undervalued in our country have lead to this action. 

In Term 3, following a recent change of government, there are reviews taking place - in essence the biggest reform in 30 years!  The review of Tomorrow's Schools which resulted in our Boards of Trustees governing schools, taking the place of a centrally governing Education Board.

I began my teaching career as a 17 year old at North Shore Teachers' College in 1970. I have taught in country schools, city schools, primary schools, Intermediate schools then onto be a liaison support teacher with a Research and Development Centre and later to a Ministry of Education Schooling Improvement Co-ordinator position. In the past 13 years, I have been a Principal of two schools and currently am leading the Kāhui Ako for Maungakiekie cluster.

My career has enabled me to participate in the conversations that have influenced the direction of Education throughout the decades since 1970.
A career that has spanned 48 years - and in 2018, it feels like the right time to retire and observe the new changes from the sidelines. There are exciting changes ahead of us in Education - with many voices having been heard through the Education Conversations happening in the regions and across the sector groups across the country.

While we are busy operating within our individual School Development Plans and our Term Overviews, there are bigger picture developments happening in Aotearoa that will change the fabric of our schools in the long term.

With this in mind, there has never been a more important time to value the work of our teachers in classrooms. The teachers we have here at Stanhope Road School are absolutely fantastic in their positive commitment to excellence and equity. I honour them in their work and enjoy watching their career developments, and will forever remember the happiest times in a classroom, surrounded by children and not once forgetting who is the MOST important in all of the equations! YOUR CHILDREN! 

Thank you for supporting and showing you value our teachers. 
Have a happy and healthy  Hauora in Term 3 everyone!
Corinne Hansell

Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa

Talofa Lava Fānau!   

Today is the beginning of 

Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa Samoan Language Week

"Alofa atu nei, Alofa mai taeao”

“Kindness Given, Kindness Gained”

At SRS, we have 60 nations represented among our students and 

15 nations represented among our staff of 40 people.

As we go about our daily lives, being good
"Friends, Learners, Guardians"

we are always mindful of recognising each other for who we are and what we bring with us as part of our cultural 'kete' - our baskets of knowledge awareness.

During the past holidays, I spent time in Samoa as part of a group of adults who had all trained to be teachers 40 years ago and were in Samoa as part of their celebration reunion. 

My husband and I played tour guides to the group and showed them Samoa through the eyes of Samoans.

Celebrating our students' cultures is a part of our school's cultural responsive pedagogy - we try hard to ensure that the languages and cultures of our students are honoured and integrated into our programmes - and that our children can be confident that their language, culture and identity are valued and easily able to be used and shared.

We have a small population of Samoans at SRS but a wealth of enthusiasm and interest for learning about Samoan traditional practices, so for this week, we are celebrating through our theme...

Kindness Given; Kindness Gained

Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa - Samoan Language Week

Animals walk freely around the villages

One of the many misty waterfalls on a rainy day 

Return To Paradise verandah and ocean

Buying pawpaw for breakfast from a road-side stall

The view from our dwellings for the week

Lesson in weaving a basket to carry coconuts in

Lesson in Waka Ama - team paddling first thing in the morning

2017 - Where Has It Gone?

And as we near the end of term, it is time for reflection of what we achieved and what is to celebrate. 

One thing that is entirely evident is that we have one of the hardest working staffs on the planet.
In the past two weeks, we have had so many amazing activities to enjoy - their planning and creativity and willingness to "go the extra mile" is to be recognised and appreciated publicly.

The children and whānau of SRS are truly Friends, Learners and Guardians in all they say and do!

Last weekend I signed over 500 reports from each class, and read every single general comment individually. There is a real depth of 
"KNOW THE LEARNERS" evident in each report, and I celebrate our incredible staff who make magic happen each week of the year. Rest well my 
wonder-beings and rest, relax, revive over January.
See you back in 2018 for more of the same!!!

So Much To Celebrate At SRS

What a fantastic job this is, when you can come to school each day and see happy children and happy teachers.

We are now into our second term of learning and there is so much to celebrate:-

• We have named each of our teams with a new "whanau" name which describes their stages of growth as they move through their classes:-
  
  - Whakatōtanga for our Year 1-2 team
  - Tupuranga      for our Year 3-4 team
  - Puāwaitanga   for our Year 5-6 team
  - Hautūtanga    for our Year 7-8 team
  
• We have grown our Inquiry Learning model and our Inquiry Learning programme delivery to the point where at the end of each term now, we have a COMMUNITY ACTIONS OUTCOME DAY. This is the part of our Inquiry where we present our ACTION to our community and students share how we plan to improve the world we live in.
  
• New Social Curriculum - we have developed a new plan for promoting positive behaviours in our school through our Social Curriculum strengthening our resolve to be good
  "Friends, Learners, Guardians." We believe that everyone has the right to come to school to be safe and happy - so living this on a daily basis is important to us.
  "Friends,Learners,Guardians in all we say and do!"

PEACE WEEK - SKILLS FOR THE FUTURE

WEEK 3 OF TERM 3 - a celebration of PEACE WEEK.

Every team designed activities which promoted peaceful interactions and an awareness of an individual's responsibility around creating and maintaining peaceful relationships in our world. Our Inquiry learning for Term 3 is based on a question of how we can create change to make a healthy community - and healthy relationships is a key focus of Week 3. Look at these wonderful students and their focused attention to their tasks. We had Tai Chi; Pilates; Yoga; Meditation to Music; Peace Banners; Random Acts of Kindness; and a whole lot of innovative recording of quality learning, shared with whanau and families.

GET THE ACTIVE WEAR OUT - WE'RE OFF!!!

So here we are in 2016 and entering the second half of our year. 

I hope everyone loved the mid-year reports they received at the end of Term 2. I know I thoroughly enjoyed reading them.

Our teachers write wonderful reports that show how much they REALLY know our children - and it is an absolute privilege to read and sign them all. We are now looking forward to seeing you all at the Home School Conferences in Week 2. 

We are looking forward to welcoming the ERO  (Education Review Office) team in Week 5 and are keen to showcase our "picture of progress" in all we have done to continually improve our school.

We are blessed with talented, dedicated Staff, Board of Trustees, Maori Whanau  and Parent Support Group - and together with our student leaders, are excitedly planning new areas of growth.

In Week 7 we are all doing the Adidas Fun Run - so I begin my training with a boot camp membership on Tuesday - never too old to rock the Active Wear I say!!! Our Inquiry is based on the Health and Physical Education curriculum - my absolute passion as a younger teacher - so read more about that on our website home page. 

I look very forward to seeing you all around the school again as our term begins.
Hei konei ra
Ms Hansell

LIFE LONG LEARNING IS ALIVE AND WELL AT SRS

Our NZ Curriculum Vision statement is that all students will be……………..
CONFIDENT, CONNECTED, ACTIVELY INVOLVED, LIFE-LONG LEARNERS.

At SRS, our teachers model that vision as adult learners, continuing their learning through ongoing PLD = Professional Learning and Development.

As a Principal, I am very humbled that the BOT has approved my attendance at the International Congress of Principals who are meeting in Finland for a conference on LEADING EDUCATIONAL DESIGN. The global interactions of Principals from across the globe is an inspiring experience

I look forward to sharing our NZ context of education with other Principals, and am thankful that our BOT has vision in supporting Life Long Learning!

TUAKANA TEINA DAYS

What are Tuakana Teina Days.

An opportunity for our students to practice being  Friends, Learners, Guardians

Tuakana Teina Days happen at SRS to allow for some 

quality learning dynamics to occur.

• Classes are paired up older to younger (Tuakana/Teina)

• Teachers are paired up across teams, and this allows for experiences in teaching children of different age groups for the day

• The learning programme for the day is a Mini Unit of the current Inquiry Learning Topic (in this term it's Strengths in Diversity)

• As Teachers are paired up (with lots of Support Staff to help out!), this organisation allows for teams of teachers to be released to participate in uninterrupted, professional learning and development in a specific curriculum area.

• Tuakana / Teina Days are valuable for everyone - it is a WIN-WIN organisation and there is an authentic experience of being
  Friends, Learners and Guardians on these days!

 

 

 These photos are of Room 19 (Year 5/6) working with
        Room  8 (Year 2)

Our older students teach our younger students new things and everyone contributes to an outcome for the day.

2015 = TWO THOUSAND AND PRISTINE

What an exciting time to be 

Principal of Stanhope Road School.

The school is in a "rebranding stage" and having recently launched the school's new LOGO, it is now time to finalise the new school uniform as well.

The uniform committee is working collaboratively towards finalising the decision - there have been many extra meetings, and contacts with possible distributors for the uniform.  We have samples, and are finalising the combination of colours. When we have several agreed on samples, we will showcase them to families for input.

As well as the Logo and the Uniform changing, we will also be updating the buildings and the grounds of Stanhope Road School - there will be new colours for the buildings, and designs for the landscaping - over the next 2 years, we should see a completely NEW identity as a school - and we will look FLASH!!!! 

The School Charter Goals have been revised, and all learning and teaching systems are in full swing! 

We are blessed at SRS to be fully staffed - and ALL of our staff fit into the EXPERIENCED TEACHER category of the Registered Teachers' Criteria.

It is a great school to come to work in every day - there is always a lovely sense of "Whanau" and we are working hard to achieve our goals for good student outcomes.  

Hei konei ra,

Corinne Hansell (Principal)

WHANAU FUN NIGHT - FAMILIES TOGETHER

Rocking Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud"

Homai te pakipaki finalist

The Parent Support Group worked tirelessly to bring us another wonderful Whanau Fun Night. We had a huge turnout and families brought picnics, and relaxed together, enjoying each other and the entertainment that was organised. One thing is for sure.......there is an abundance of talent at SRS - we could have filled the stage items 3 times over.....and next year we WILL! Thank you Parent Support Group - you have worked some magic - we are thrilled!!!!

First Time Performers!

Thank You Ms Huntley 

Jaya's Indian Dance Group

Father and Daughter

Whanau Ara Mua - Family Pathway To The Future

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/102503489140804424528/albums/60838728...

Please look at our photos!

Congratulations to all the Mums who graduated on Tuesday at Waipuna Conference Centre. Our WAM group of learners, gained their qualification in Child Development and Family Learning - and have a quality reference to support their future goals of gaining employment. A fantastic night was held on Thursday with all family members - and the children read out accolades to their Mums - and how PROUD were they? Thank you to Vanya Huntley for her co-ordination of this group - and a special thanks to our Nadine (in house tutor). We would LOVE to run this programme again next year, so if you're interested in being a student for a year - please let us know!!!

HAPPY DIWALI!

HAPPY DIWALI TO ALL OUR SRS FAMILIES

We received this lovely message through the emails - it describes the essence of Diwali which contains some wonderful messages to all of us in terms of participating in our lives with goodness - I thought I would share these sentiments this week, given so many of our families are celebrating Diwali.

WISHING YOU A VERY HAPPY DIWALI
Diwali is celebrated as the Festival of Light and Peace
Diwali’s symbols and rituals, and the reasons for celebration are innumerable. The legends connected to the festival are different for different religions.  Sun delivers light and energy on which the very existence of life depends..
LIGHT IS THE SYMBOL OF POSITIVE ENERGY THAT SIGNIFIES THE VICTORY OF:LIGHT OVER DARKNESS,KNOWLEDGE OVER IGNORANCE,GOOD OVER EVIL,AND HOPE OVER DESPAIR.
On this DIWALI- the festival of lights, Let us distribute smiles that are free but very precious and valuable. Let our positive energy strengthen our determination and belief that: Failures will lead to success and War will lead to peace.  Sorrows will lead to happiness.  Unhealthy will lead to healthiness.  Anger will lead to kindness.  Enmity will lead to friendship

WE HAVE LIFT OFF!

Term 4 is UNDER WAY!  

We are fully IMMERSED in our Science Topic: What Makes The Living World Amazing?

WE Make The Living World Amazing!

We are Observing; We are Sorting; We are Classifying;  We are Listing; We are Describing; We are Explaining; We are ..........planning lots of activities for the term and while the Seniors are getting ready for Technology and Camp, the rest of us are going to the ZOO!!! I can't WAIT!!! We would like to introduce you  to Strawberry, the Pony, who came to school this week so we could observe, classify, describe and explain - finding out more about our World.Thank you to Mrs Pavletich for organising Strawberry's visit

            

We are planning this term's Activities which includes many AMAZING events.

We would like all children to be included in the authentic learning experiences planned

PLEASE could you pay your $30.00 Activity Fees for Term 4 to the Office ASAP so we can finalise our Activities.

If you think about it............ $30.00 per term = $3 per week = 60 cents per day

We can plan much more effectively to bring the outside world to enrich children's experiences if everyone pays early.

Happy days!It has been a wonderful first week as the new Acting Principal - what a lovely school SRS is!

Corinne Hansell

My week in Samoa

Talofa Lava Stanhope from my home land - beautiful Samoa.

This week I have the privilege of working from Samoa.  I am here attending the Teuila Festival 2013 - check out the link to look at all the events.  http://www.teuilafestival.com/

We watched the opening ceremony yesterday and performances that went well into the night.

The people I have meet already.....all the SRS students that went to code will remember OZ, well he is here with Wairangi Koopu covering the PaoPao events.

I was also on the plane with Te Puke Intermediate - they are here for a cultural education trip - WOW how about that SRS....maybe something we can work towards!

WHAM - BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Nandita who has successfully completed our POSTER and TICKETS.  Also to the Media Team for getting a great article in the local newspaper - great work team.

SIVA AFI - FIRE DANCE 

Last night was the Siva Afi competition - each dancer showed off their skills and fearlessness as they performed two siva each.  At the festival people can also take lessons with local people and learn to weave, dance and put down an umu.

Today we are going to watch the PaoPao races down at the wharf.  PaoPao is the name for canoes or waka ama.

GREAT PERFORMERS - EVEN BETTER CROWD!

WOW what a wonderful festival we have here in Samoa - yesterday was full-on day trying to see EVERYTHING.....we saw amazing performers and exhibitors....but what I noticed also was how amazing the crowd was....they are really really enjoying everything and I can't help but be swept up in their enthusiasm for my country and culture!

There was a very special KAVA WELCOME CEREMONY held to welcome all the paddlers from around the world - this is traditionally done in a FALE FONO, but because this was a paopao regatta, the kava came in on a paopao - it was very cool!!!  you can see the man in the photo with a coconut shell in his hand.....the cup is full of kava and he is taking it up to all the VIP to drink.

The proud Samoan Team watching the opening ceremony from the water.

They also has a celebrity race....and our friends from CODE and the MANU SAMOA great PETER FATIALOFA (known as FATS) were part of the team....their paopao capsized and OZ lost his lavalava...the whole crowd was laughing!!!!

TATAU SAMOA - in the exhibit tent, you could watch traditional hand tattooing..... some of us know this technique as "tap tap" because it is done by a very skillful continuous tapping over the needle - that is shaped like a comb with lots of sharp needles.....not by machine.  Tatau is a very important part of our culture that signifies status in our MATAI system.

Get your WHAM tattoos 

Yes - soon you can buy your own WHAM temporary tattoos.

Make sure your family gets their tickets FAST!

Hi back ROOM 14....thanks for your comments - I love hearing from you.

Thirsty Thursday - This is me and BrothaD chilling in a village sipping on fresh coconut (niu) water.  We spent a day visiting some of our families at their villages.

NOT FAR UNTIL FRIDAY......I am really looking forward to this day....I will be visiting a school for a really special event!!! 

WATER TANKS FOR SCHOOLS IN SAMOA.....

Today we visited St Josephs School to donate a water tank that will provide all the students fresh, clean water all day.  This is a project I am involved in back in NZ...called My Alofas.

This was easily the HIGHLIGHT of the whole week....the beautiful students performed for us, presented us with ula and fresh niu to drink.

In the first photo you can see the water tank in the back ground, Swiss in the middle and BrothaD and Peter Fatialofa at the front.

TOFA MY BEAUTIFUL SAMOA......

Week 5 we are alive!!!!

Magnificent Monday....

Introducing the Personal Trainers (PTs) - these group of amazing senior students are in training to help a group of junior students develop their oral language.  They are all studying their activities for the week with their little buddies....I am super excited about our BIG TALKERS PROJECT and will look forward to giving you updates.  

The branding group are hard at work designing merchandise for our big WHAM (We Have A Message) night.   Tickets go on sale next week and posters will go up around the community - all work that this group has done to brand and promote the concert.

Room 19s model artist is the infamous NZ Poet SAM HUNT..... I really like this one from Patrick Tan, it truly captures the simple but vivid style Sam is known for.

Terrific Tuesday coming next......

What a great surprise for Stanhope.....SWISS & Charlie putting on a live show at our breakfast club....XOX thank you our lovely ladies that do this every week for us.

Then SWISS hung out with us for a while....visiting classes, playing touch & basketball and signing lots of bags!!!!  

Whats happening in week 4?

Competition Time....

Had a super Sunday watching the WaRrIOrS... keep watching our fb page and tell me who else we met at the game to win the prizes.

Keep scrolling down to see the week as it happens!!!!

Monday Talented staff @ Stanhope...

Mrs Burrell a talented photographer...showing off her photo that has been published in GULF NEWS...congratulations.

Room 11 at Tu Tuhi...we get to do pretty cool stuff there!

http://www.tetuhi.org.nz/

 Creative Stories we will learn about the various ways a story can be told and why storytelling is important. We will explore our own chosen story through role play and creating our own poster. 

In the art studio will use bold colours, shape and imagery to design a poster that visually tells our story.  As a class we will become creative story telling artists.

Tuesday  - ACTION PACTT (Parent and Child Time Together)

Peter is showing off how he can use symbols to express his culture & identity.... guess where Peters parents comes from?

Teachers and Parents....learning and planning for PACTT in classes this week.....the focus this term is maths.  These parents are attending the WAM class - Level 2 in Family Literacy & Child Development...and each week they spend precious time in their children's classes, so they can better understand how to support their child's learning.

Staff vrs Students Game....YESAH staff won !!!...and WOW you can tell Ms Salesa use to play for Samoa....what a gun!!! + we had four parents playing in our team.

 

 After school down the road at Sylvia Park School is where all the action was...our Mighty Middle School Rippa Rugby Team showing off their skills against Bailey Road & Sylvia Park.... we had parents, pompoms and even half time oranges.... so kiwi!

Where are you Wednesday? ...we are ready for you!!!

BIG PLANS AHEAD.......   we are looking at the school plans as we start to discuss the modernisation of the senior school.

Teachers in their professional learning session playing with shapes & rods....learning more about RATIOS & PROPORTIONS.    Take a look at the strategy on Mr G's ipad....Impressive!

Thursday and Captain Patrick is back.........

Room 9 really enjoyed their class with Patrick today. They had a lot of fun pretending to be 'fast like a cat' and 'slow like a pig'. I also liked their group work, particularly when they made sky towers.

Neat netball skills happening on the courts with our coach.

YAY - Caught looking at our SRS blogs.....ohhh look it my blog!!!

Check out the website next week for the winners of this weeks competition!

FRIDAY already !!!!