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......