The kaimahi (teachers) had a very productive reflection and planning day last Thursday. We reviewed much of the amazing progress we have made this year. It is always good to stop and think about what we have achieved in such a short time. We are thrilled with how the community connections are strengthening and the school is becoming a real hub for our area. Our curriculum is alive with interesting events and opportunities in the learning spaces. 

I set a fun task for the kaimahi  to identify what ingredients make an effective teacher at KSS and we wrote our very own recipes! Here is the method to one of these:

1. Melt the caring ingredients over a low heat and simmer until they emit a golden glow.

2. Gently fold in the connection ingredients until a strong and meaningful relationship emerges.

3. Sprinkle in a pinch of creativity and passionately whisk in some fun.

4. Leave in a warm space for 15 minutes.

5. Taste and reflect, seeking opportunities to enhance the flavour and texture. Be creative - take a risk - be curious about possibilities.

6. Put in the oven to allow it to rise and grow. Embrace the unexpected outcomes.

7. Take your teacher to the school buffet and enjoy the synergy that develops!

Congratulations to Paretai and Whaea Catherine who won runner up in the Digi Awards Year 5- 6 open category. The team submitted an Augmented Reality Otautahi Cultures Map.  

"We have been learning about celebrating cultures in our school community and in Ōtautahi. Our concept is about bringing people together to learn about each other in an innovative way. This would involve painting a mural of a map of the world on the side of a building in one of the inner city spaces. People could hold their device up to a place on the map using an augmented reality app. Recordings from people speaking about their culture would pop up on their device over the top of the map. People could also record their own messages to make it even more interactive.

We have learnt to use Clips and Green Screen by Do Ink to create our content and HP Reveal which is an augmented reality creation app to create a prototype for how this could work.

We have enjoyed sharing about our own cultures and celebrating each other’s. We think that it would be an awesome innovation to have in Ōtautahi.  You can see it here. We hope to enter more categories in 2020!"

We are in the final stages of planning the End of Year Celebration Assembly to be held at 6pm - 7pm on Thursday 19 December. This will be a night assembly where children and parents come along to celebrate some highlights of the year. This will be followed by a sausage sizzle, cup of tea, and cookie for the tamariki  and siblings. 

Here is a list of the awards we will celebrate for the evening:

Values Certificates (each Hapu/Team)

- Caring

- Courage

- Creativity

- Connected

- Curious

Senior Awards

Sportsmanship

Awarded to a senior student who demonstrates exemplary sportsmanship on and off the field.

Service Award

Awarded a senior student who gives much of their time to the school. E.g. Road Patrol.

Leadership Award

Awarded to a senior student demonstrating excellence in leadership.

Citizenship

KSS Junior Citizenship Award

Presented to a junior (Year 0 - 2) student who contributes to the life of the school by showing good citizenship skills through following the Key Competencies (Managing Self, Participating and Contributing and Relating to Others) and consistently displays the School Values (Caring, Courage, Creativity, Connected, and Curious).

KSS Senior Citizenship Award

Presented to a senior (Year 3 - 8)student who gives outstanding service to the life of the school (children, staff and parents) and who demonstrates excellent citizenship skills through following the Key Competencies (Managing Self, Participating and Contributing and Relating to Others) and consistently displays the School Values (Caring, Courage, Creativity, Connected, and Curious).

We look forward to celebrating with everyone in the not so distant future!

Matua Mike