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