Tena koutou nga whānau, nga mihi nui ki a koutou katoa,

Finally, we are in our new spaces - well the first of them. Teachers and administration staff are loving the new administration block and students and teachers have made are enjoying the new flexible classroom spaces. As we are so close to the end of the year we won’t be holding any specific tours of the spaces but we would love you to pop in and have a look around. Remember we have an open door policy and parents are welcome at any time. Visit the redevelopment blog page to see some images of the new spaces.

Builders have now started working on the second stage of the project and this seems to be progressing at an excellent rate. At this stage the completion date is April 2020 - a date we are looking forward to with great excitement.

Over the past few weeks teachers and students have been engaged in end-of-year assessments. This gives teachers additional data on which to make the OTJ (Overall Teacher Judgement) as to the levels the students are working at. When making these judgements teachers consider a variety of evidence including formal testing, the work children complete during their learning activities, conversations they have with children about their learning and discussions with other teachers. You can understand this is a complex process and one that teachers put a lot of time and thought into. Teachers will shortly be thinking about class placements for 2020. Please see the article about Classes for 2020 Classes for further information about our 2020 structure. 

The learning area that has been a focus this term has been Technology. Students have been using design thinking to help them go through the process of designing a solution to an identified problem. The focus is not just on the final product, but on the process as well - developing the necessary skills so students are able to transfer their learning about how to design a solution across a range of contexts. As well as working with classroom teachers some students have been working on a garden project and others on an art project. Having this diversity and flexibility allows us to cater for a range of interests among the students.

As we head into the final weeks of 2019 there are a number of events that parents have put their hand up to help out with. Today is the Environmental Day at Orton Bradley Park. This is an event in conjunction with Nature Agents (a stream testing project the school in involved in), the Whaka Ora Healthy Harbour Trust who have provided funding and advice and Orton Bradley. We have also been very fortunate to have Ian Lloyd support this project, share his knowledge and skills with the students, and support the teachers to provide this experience for the students. A group of students worked with Alex Foster and Lizzy Laing to create signs for Orton Bradley Park and these were presented to the Banks Peninsula Water Management Zone committee last week. The work of the students was received with great enthusiasm and it is wonderful to now have the signs installed at Orton Bradley Park. Please make sure you visit these signs when you are enjoying this wonderful local resource.

Next week the year 5 and 6 students go sailing, celebrating another wonderful resource that is part of our environment. Thank you to the parents that volunteer their time to support this. Also next week, two of our students, Sahara and Mali are representing Diamond Harbour School at the Canterbury Athletics Competition. We wish these students all the best for this. 

Then at the end of the week, Friday 6 December we have the music concert that showcases the wonderful talents and abilities of our music students who learn musical instruments. We look forward to being entertained by them. 

Have a wonderful couple of weeks, and make sure you allow time for family, friends, rest and relaxation in what can be a hectic time of  the year.

Ngā mihi nui,

Jill.