The School is awash with end of year-itis - staff and students all busy getting work completed, final assessments being undertaken and the weather beckoning us outdoors.
The year 7/ 8s camped on Rabbit Island last week - this is the 7th night away for them this year and they are becoming adept at managing themselves in the outdoors. They were blessed with beautiful weather, making this local wilderness even more magical. Warrington School is fortunate to have the freedom to walk to a camp, cook beach gathered seafood over a fire, swim in sun warmed pools and watch a distant sea-lion waddle onto the sand. The students also give back to the island by removing rubbish and weeds.
This week I got to share Warrington School's perspective on national standards with teachers from schools in the North Island. Our stance is that by using the standards we were able to prove that our curriculum and learning approaches are working for our students. It was interesting having feedback with one teacher telling about a new student who at the start of the year was so out of control the teacher feared that this student would seriously harm others. Now at the end of the year that same student is settled and happy. Another teacher shared how her Pacifica students were mastering English, at the same time retaining the language of their parents. Concerns were raised that the assessment tasks used for gathering national standard data are written by people with no understanding of our culturally diverse nation. A narrow focus on English and maths means students achieving highly in other curriculum areas are seen as failures. The Ministry, it seems, is not interested in second language acquisition nor the social development of students. Made me think!
Beach Education on Monday 6th December children will learn about staying safe on the beach and in the sea. Remember togs, towel, sunhat, lunch, drink and wetsuit if available. We need plenty of adult helpers.
End of year assembly at 1.30pm on Wednesday 15th December celebrating this terms work and farewelling our senior pupils and Trish.
Road race will be the Tuesday 14th of December at 9.15 – postponement day if wet will be the following day.
Blueskin Bay Playcentre talent show next Saturday will hopefully see some Warrington students sharing their performance skills.
For next years events please check the school calendar on the front of our Wiki
We have been fortunate to have large field of applicants for the middle school position and have appointed Keighley Donaldson. She is presently working at Macraes Moonlight School.
