Newsletter Week 1 Term 1

2017 was an awesome year with many achievements to be proud of. One of our best was achieving a Five Year ERO Review for the first time in our school’s history. It’s very satisfying to have such positive independent validation of what we are doing, why we are doing it and the way we are doing it.

Gaining that recognition is down to the quality and commitment of our WHS whanau - each one is a treasure.

After lots of professional learning, planning, discussions and preparation, we finished off our last week before school started with a team building day, kayaking from Puhoi to Wenderholm.

It was the perfect way for our five new staff to get to know us, and us them, and for all our existing staff to get to know each other a bit better too.

At top right is a picture we found showing our whole school in 1979 - about 160 people and that includes staff.

We finished 2017 with almost 700 children, and a huge mix of nationalities - in both our staff and our children. Even so, we remain a closely connected, caring family where every child feels they belong and are special.

Evidence of that diversity and unity can be seen in the second picture at right. It was a gift from one of our parents. Her dad painted it for us. He is a scholar of Chinese history and took an aspect of Confucian teaching that represents “Love to Learn to Lead.”

This says a lot to me. It’s a precious symbolic gift. It’s an indication that our community cares and feels a part of our school. It shows our new Western Heights values and vision are actually ancient, if not timeless, and tie in to universal human values and principles.

It reminds us of the importance of community and ensuring all in our community are made to feel welcome, at home and given the chance to connect and contribute.

It also provides a segue into Chinese New Year which we will be celebrating at  Western Heights on Friday 16 February. 

We began with a Powhiri for all our new children and new staff. We are blessed to have Nancy Matana join us as our new Kapa Haka coordinator from 2018 on. A fond farewell to Trish Ripi who is back at University this year completing her studies.

What used to be our library is now an amazing FLE (Flexible Learning Space) for three New Entrant classes - rooms 27, 28 and 29. It is set up for our  Walker Learning Approach.

Also at the start of the year I am meeting with each class and sharing with them the story and meaning behind each of our five Pōhatu Tūmu - our cornerstone value rocks.

These rocks represent the really big values our school is built upon and it is important for our children to grow their understanding and appreciation of these values. All of the key things we do such as Pay It Forward etc, tie in to at least one of these stones.

Above Room 9 with their teacher Olivia Leaning - new to our staff in 2018.

At left Room 12 with their teacher Jessie Eyre. Jessie steps up to take on a new Literacy Leadership role in 2018.

We have three specialist Learning Leaders at WHS - Jessie and Dana Taylor in Literacy, and Aaron McGreal in Culturally Responsive Pedagogy.

My Principal’s Blog can be found at - https://goo.gl/K5JkWZ

The last post was about Believing in Kids and this is the feedback we received on that post.

"What a wonderful blog. I was moved to tears because it brought up memories of teachers who cared enough to take me to one side and suggest I try doing things just a bit differently. Those moments remain with me through my life. I wanted to prove to them that I was worth the time they took and their belief in me.”

Suraya Dewing (The Story Mint)