Like a worm through the mower

Every week seems to be chock full of highlights and if I don't blog regularly it's hard to keep track of them all so it's great that in the team we have plenty of people who are putting their thoughts out there. I really enjoy reading their posts and reading their views  about what is going on.

One big highlight was having Mum and Dad here for 3 days.

On Monday they visited school and met the staff. On Tuesday they ferried into the city with Leigh and did stuff which involved a lot of walking, then we headed into the city for a great Malaysian feed at Sri Penang on K Road. On Wednesday morning Leigh took them to the Arataki Gateway to the Waitakares before a lunch at Sushi Tomi (see above) with Eryn before off to the airport.

A group of staff and BOT members from Waiheke College visited to look at Modern Learning Spaces and talk teaching and learning. It was great to talk with the students they brought along.

Our LOLs, on Tuesday, spent the morning at Whenuapai and Hobsonville Primary Schools meeting teachers and doing some work with their students. They have established some great links with those schools. Early next term they will be doing the same at Marina View and Timatanga Schools. Some of their reflections have been blogged.

The highlight on Wednesday was signalled by another whoop from the SLLs from within their cave. They had discovered a paragraph from p44 of the NZC which clearly underlines the freedom that the NZC creates for teachers and schools to deliver learning programmes in quite a different way:

"When designing and reviewing the curriculum, schools select achievement objectives from each area in response to the identified interests and learning needs of their students"

You can read Steve's thoughts on this discovery in his blog.

On Thursday I ventured into the cave and saw sticky notes, that had been attached to every flat surface possible, now being removed and discarded.

Even the windows aren't safe from being used to capture our thoughts and planning. As well, we have had to amend existing and create new tools to capture our thinking as you can see below.

Brown paper and whiteboards!

Have also been busy interviewing applicants for our PA role, enrolling students and tonight attending a BOT meeting. Tomorrow morning we are hosting a breakfast for our contributing primary school leadership teams, having a staff party at Casa Amos. On Sunday we are having a lunch with our newly appointed staff who begin next term, which I am really looking forward to. AND ON MONDAY WE HOST ERO.

The year passes

Like a worm through the mower;

Hell for the quick!

Mincemeat for the slower!