The Summer Learning Journey is back this year thanks to the Manaiakalani Trust.

Some of you will remember this was offered to Year 3-8 students in our last Summer Holidays. Several of our students participated and three of them earned prizes at the end of the journey because of their efforts.

What is the Summer Learning Journey?

The Summer Learning Journey is a free, blogging programme available to Year 3-8 students attending schools in the Manaiakalani clusters who have been sharing via their own blog for at least a year while learning to be cybersmart.

Over the past four summers many learners in Manaiakalani schools have participated in this free, digital literacy programme. The purpose of the Summer Learning Journey programme is to provide our young people with an opportunity to continue to actively and purposefully engage in literacy learning during the holidays.

The educational blogging programme was designed by a team at the Woolf Fisher Research Centre with considerable input and support from the Manaiakalani Community of Learning. It was designed to be a continuation of the ‘Learn Create Share’ pedagogy that students engage with during the school year at Manaiakalani cluster schools.

There is a team of people employed to respond to any blogs that are written which ensures that your children have an authentic audience during this time.

Why was the SLJ created?

The Summer Learning Journey was created in response to concerns about the annual drop, slide or slump in literacy achievement experienced by students in New Zealand schools. It (the summer slide) is not an issue unique to New Zealand. For more information on the summer slide in literacy, please watch this webcast that features Mr Ron Fairchild, executive director of the National Summer Learning Association in the United States of America.

Frequently Asked Questions about the SLJ

Our theme this year is "Celebrating Summer" and is divided into 10 strands, including STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, The Arts and Mathematics) strands. We are aiming to provide one activity per week from each strand. We are all beavering away in our spare time working on activities, so we anticipate an eclectic mix to emerge.

Content for this year's SLJ will go live on December 14th. We will make sure we remind you before the end of the year so that your child can register for this amazing programme.

Taking advantage of high-quality programmes such as the SLJ can turn potential summer loss into summer gain.

How do we sign up?

Mark and Sharon will be talking to all the Year 3-8 Hubs to encourage them to join up. They also spoke to the students at the assembly today. If you would like your child to sign up for this journey, encourage them to speak to their teacher - (if you think they might forget you can email your child's homebase teacher so that they know to prompt them).

Don't miss this opportunity!