Sir Ken Robinson - Bring on the Learning Revolution

In 2006 Sir Ken Robinson shook the educational world with his talk at the TED conference which outlined 'how schools can kill creativity'. In this poignant, funny follow-up to his fabled 2006 talk, Sir Ken makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning -- creating conditions where kids' natural talents can flourish.

Using a large amount of humour, a series of poignant quotes and references, Sir Ken delivers another powerful session which challenges the process of current education reform. His reference to the general idea that 'successful' educational system is all about getting to 'university' resonates for NZ. His challenge is understanding the way that education feeds and promotes our human community.

Watch out for the bit about about Kindergarten.....

National Standards

National Standards were introduced last week. Sadly the teaching profession was absent from the celebrations, not because they weren't invited, but more to do with their frustration at the process and based on the empirical evidence that they won't improve student achievement. While the process around the excellent new curriculum has seen it richly embedded into schools, through a lengthy consultation and implementation process, National Standards are being introduced on a much quicker scale. For us at Muritai, I feel very calm about things. We are self-managing, have good processes, our kids achieve well, they are well resourced, and we report to parents in writing about student achievement in regards to below, at or above twice a year. Any change? Well yes - and it is all to do with creating a them and us atmosphere between government and parents and the teachers. It will be a test of leadership to keep a handle on this potentially difficult situation which has changed the education landscape that was progressing so nicely under Labour on the back of John Hattie's and Helen Timperley, BES and others excellent research. The focus on developing quality teaching environments, on the back of assessment for learning, has now shifted to accountability processes based on assessment of learning. While we are currently highly regarded internationally for our education processes we seem to have adopted systems that most mid-ranked countries employ which only serve to achieve longevity of politicians careers.

I particularly enjoyed reading this article from the New Zealand Herald; one of the very few media articles to reflect on the school's side of the fence.

New Zealand Herald editorial

Wordle - The words of Muritai School.

I love using wordle. Here is a wordle image which displays all the key words in our Charter and Strategic Plan. Lots of these words were reinforced through our recent community survey and when we asked the children what was great about Muritai School. It covers a lot

Eastbourne Village Carnival

Once again the Muritai School Eastbourne Village Carnival was a huge success. Developed 7 years ago as part of our commitment to our community the carnival is principally a fundraiser for the school but the size of the event must also have huge spin offs for the community of Eastbourne. About 10,000 people came to our little village to see what was on offer and experienced various forms of entertainment from music, stalls, fun for the kids and wholesome food. An amazing group of parents put together a wonderful event and we raised around $60,000 for an upgrade of our school library. We managed to get 150 stalls into the surrounding streets which was a real achievement. Almost every school parent became involved in some way or another from donating gear, baking or making, running a stall or setting up or cleaning up. Our children were heavily involved as well with all our senior students contributing in some way or another. Thank you carnival team. You have done us proud.

Armistice Day - 11.11.08

We were pleased to be able to be part of the Armistice Day celebrations at the Eastbourne War Memorial last week. The Eastbourne RSA invited the senior students to be part of the procedings and we chimed in with haka and waiata to show our appreciation of the contribution our armed services have made to our countries history. Feedback from the RSA has been hugely positive and it is nice to be able to continually play our part in our community celebrations.

You can see the performance by watching the movie below.

World Teacher Day

Today in New Zealand we are celebrating World Teacher Day. Teaching is a profession that is immensely rewarding and working with the children is an absolute privilege. The rise of the world wide web has enable education to much more global in nature and we have abetter understanding of the key issues our colleagues are confronted with in their own communities.

The teaching profession across the world faces the challenge of providing a quality education to meet the new demands of the 21st century. Economic, social, scientific and technological needs, the issues of sustainable development, poverty reduction and related questions of decent work for all, the AIDS epidemic and school violence are increasingly impacting on the profession.

In addition to this, not just in new Zealand but in many countries, there is a severe shortage of teachers, with an estimated 2 million 18 million additional teachers needed worldwide if universal primary education is to be achieved by 2015. A staggering figure!

The reason why we went into teaching is to try to light the flame of learning in each child that comes through the door and to nurture relationships to enable the kids to be the best that they can be. Faced with such high expectations, teachers often feel undervalued, insufficiently supported and ill equipped professionally to cope with the realities of the environments in which they work.

On World Teachers’ Day we celebrate teachers across the world, in all countries, towns and villages. The role of teachers in achieving quality education for all and on this World Teachers’ Day we thank the teachers, at Muritai and across the world, and affirm that yes, TEACHERS MATTER.

If you haven't thanked your class teacher lately you will be surprised how much that endorsement can do to help them do the job they do so well.

The Eastbourne Carnival

Just to prove that the school never sleeps we have been working hard to put the Eastbourne Carnival together to raise money for the school. We are looking to refresh and expand the library and so will need lots of money to develop this and bring it into the 21st century. The carnival is our biannual fundraiser and it allows us to meet one of our school objectives - to play a leading part in our wider community. It is looking as though it will be a fantastic day and usually 10,000-15,000 flood into our little community to enjoy what we have to offer. A huge thank you to the dedicated group of parents who undertake this massive organizational challenge. It will be a great day. Check out the carnival website that Arini has put together with all the information you need to know.

The End is Nigh!

Tomorrow is the last day of term. Sad in some ways as it has been fantastic but we are all very tired and could all do with some family time. The Lorax last week was a huge success and I was so impressed with the confidence and the capability of the children. It is well documented that the year 8 children were my new entrant group when I started and they really raised the bar when performing in the show. It is so nice to see them progress from 5 to 13 - it is a real journey for them. I was so impressed with our lead actors that carried the show. Georgie and Finn as the Lorax and Michaela and Kate as the Oncelor were just superb. We haven't had that level of dialogue in a show for a long time. Overall everyone pitched in and played their part and that is what helped it to be such a great show. Thank you all for your continued support.

Dunes for restoration

As a village school we try to play our part in keeping up our profile in the community. This involves being responsible and making a contribution. One way we do this is through our Enviroschool strategy. Kirsten Berry has posted some information about being involved in the Dunes for Restoration project. They also managed to see some nesting Blue Penguins and understand the power of why we look after and enhance the environment. Karen Chao has posted room 11 rubbish collection on World Environment Day. Kids love to be part of making the world a better place. Starting close to home is the best way to do this. Check out our enviroschool blog while you are having a look.

Team-Up ~ a great resource for parents

Team-Up is a fantastic website designed by the Ministry of Education to provide information, ideas and materials to help parents support their children and get more involved in their education. You may have seen these advertisements on TV led by Team-Up education ambassador and former All Black captain and legend, Tana Umaga. Read about Tana's foundation for under-privileged children. Research shows that parents who are involved in and encourage their child's learning can make a real and positive difference to their child's achievement. We are very lucky at Muritai with parent support for our children and this website offers strong information in down to earth language. The Team-Up programme is part of the edcentre web portal, developed by a group of education sector agencies. their is an excellent user-friendly section on the new curriculum, including health and physical activity. Check out other links to education sites by visiting Team-Up.

Using community expertise

Room 14 were very lucky today when parent Lindsay Mitchell ran a workshop for the children on drawing. Our Eastbourne community is a wonderful source of expertise.  Lindsay is a very accomplished artist in her own right and gave up her time to work with the children on understanding all those little bits and pieces that creates accuracy in the art work which often frustrates children so much. Others have that lovely confidence to explore and create according to their own view. Have a look at Lisa's blog as you can see the outcomes. No doubt she will slideshow it soon so you can see them all. If you would like to see the finished products just pop up to room 14 and say hello, have a look around and talk to the children about their quality work.

Anzac Day

Eastbourne provided a wonderful setting for the Anzac Day commemorations on April 25th. Many of our children were part of the ceremony through the scouts, cubs and the keas. With the RSA looking at enhancing the memorial, through an initiative from our BoT, there was a new addition to proceedings through the discovery of 28 names from the rugby club of soldiers that died serving their country. Gussie McDonald represented Muritai School in reading out 10 of the names of the fallen. Matt Girven (Wellesley), Michael Gray (San Antonio) and Alex Kane (rugby club) were the other Eastbourne children involved.28 juniors from the rugby club wore their playing kit as a mark of respect. Jack Crawford (Y8) and Millie Griffiths (Y2) laid flowers on behalf of the school. This really enhanced the occasion and it was lovely to see the youth of Eastbourne handed this honour.