Week One

We made it! We opened the classrooms for formal teaching on Monday after a somewhat tear-ier start than we anticipated. 

Otago Daily Times: School's In

It has been a truly tiring, but one of the best, experiences ever! It has been so great to be working with the children in their purpose-designed learning space. My group has activated all but one area in the habitat so far and the children are already beginning to respond to how those spaces have been activated. (There is one space I will definitely be making an effort to 're-activate' in a more positive way!)

There has been so much learning happening for me - getting to know the children and their caregivers, beginning to understand the stage-age relationship, being more adaptable than ever, working with and by the team during learning time, working with the team after-school, recognising strengths in others, dealing with issues as they arise and at rare times learning to be tactical in approaching possible difficult situations. 

What I have really enjoyed is spending time getting to know my mentor group - their interests, their abilities, their personalities and what drives them. I have also really enjoyed our afternoon rotations working with the other mentor groups. I love that within our habitat ALL the students are 'mine', and all the other teachers. I believe having that flexibility to intra-change is going to be a powerful practice to support learning.

What am I looking forward in the week approaching? I'm looking forward to spending a bit more time with other groups and developing a deeper understanding, not only of my group, but of the other children. I look forward to the focus we are going to have around collaboration and enabling those students to have the ability to strengthen their working relationships with others.

Opening!

A new school generates a considerable amount of interest within a community and here in 'little, old' Queenstown we are BIG news - so I discovered when I was recognised in the supermarket! It is fabulous that people are taking an interest in the future of education and the direction that we are going.

As part of the opening sequence (I guess you could call it!), we hosted the community for an open day. It was lovely to see such a diverse range of people there. Young couples, who haven't yet had children, and those with very young children - right through to older generations who just wanted to see what the fuss was about. Of course, the foundation children and their families attended too, and it was lovely to see the children interacting with the spaces. 

Some spaces were a lot more popular than others, which was great to observe in an informal setting. It has sparked discussions amongst the learning mentors but how to 'activate' the other spaces and how to 'manage' the popular ones!

Part Two of our opening sequence was a BBQ and welcome for the families. The children received a name tag with their name and their 'mentor' teacher on it, as well as a treasure hunt. The children had a great time heading around the school finding all the places they needed to know about - library, toilets, fountain, bike stands, kiss and drop, their habitat, and of course, their learning mentor. It was lovely to meet the children formally, finally and for it all to start feeling 'real'. I can't wait for first day Monday!