Kia ora koutou

Our first school assembly under more normal conditions was held today.  School assemblies are held every second week and we warmly invite parents and whānau to attend. Today our Raupo students led the assembly. Kōwhai students will lead on Friday 26th June and Harakeke the first assembly of term 3, Friday 24 July.  School assemblies start at 9:15pm.

Congratulations to Lola for her Principal's Award today. Te pai hoki for your manawanui and enthusiasm for learning over the lock down period.

Learning at school is now largely back to normality.  Learning programmes include a special focus on health and wellbeing with regular circle time, literacy resources connected with wellbeing, sparklers activities and a variety of other learning experiences.  The 5 ways of wellbeing are in focus -  children connect, be active, keep learning, give and take notice.

This week we have  been talking with students about their experiences with learning via distance to include this in our Covid19 review for consideration for any changes we might make here at school.

Here are a couple of interesting comments:

What worked well to help you continue with your learning and why? (student voice)

"I got to choose what I did."

"Using zoom because I got to see my friends"

"I liked how they put things on seesaw and we got to go online to some cool websites like maths websites and computer websites and be safe online websites and making our own avatars."

"I like doing things on seesaw because I could circle the words and copy the lines and fun stuff."

"Doing the artistic activities and seeing the results and sharing them on seesaw and seeing the teacher comments cos it made me feel good"

"Spending more time with Mum."

"Doing science projects and sharing on seesaw."

"I liked going scootering and biking."

"I got more input through the digital classroom because I got to email the teachers"

"It helped me learn by making a time table to be organised and tick things off.." 

"It was good to see all the things we had to do that day but we had freedom to do it in the way we want to do it."

"If we finished a lot of work on seesaw we would get to go for a bike ride - I liked seesaw because sometimes when I did it my brother and my mum could help me and I could follow instructions."

"I had a timetable that helped me. I liked the fun day Friday things and jokes with Jenny on Seesaw."

"Eat a Frog every morning.  Get the hard stuff done in the morning and then the easy stuff later."

Is there anything that we could now do differently at school?

(Student voice)

"We could change to doing more artistic activities."

"Do different games like the ones on seesaw."

"What about putting some of the seesaw activities on the ipads so the kids can do double learning?"

"Can we do some learning online like homework."

"It is good to have independence - being trusted that you’ve got your work done. This happens at school but at home I was always being watched."

"Can we have some more writing time - I really enjoyed doing the writing activities on seesaw and I did own choice writing too."

We are now considering the feedback  received for this review from parents, staff and children.   This links to 'Adaptive Expertise' in our school curriculum.  - The ability to apply meaningfully-learned knowledge and skills flexibly and creatively in different situations. The Nature of Learning (OECD)

We know that children who are developing 'adaptive expertise' are growing their ability to use knowledge and experience to learn in unanticipated situations. At Lyttelton Primary School we want our students to engage in learning experience to build Pātaki (curiosity and inquiry), Hōpara (Adventure), Hīraurau Hopanga (critical thinking), Auaha (innovation and creativity).

To find out more about adaptive expertise in the Lyttelton curriculum please visit our 'Our Learning' tab.

Please read the Parent Workshop information in today's newsletter promoting a 'Supporting Families Undergoing Change' workshop.  This is for families from Aupaki Kāhui Ako schools - all welcome.  Heathcote Valley School on Thursday 25 June 6:30pm to 7:30pm with visiting expertise supported through Aupaki Kāhui Ako and Mana Ake. Please read the RSVP information or contact Jenny Felton directly.

Have a lovely weekend everyone

Noho ora mai, nā

Brendan