What a strange start to 2021! We had only been in our studios for 7 days before we were back in Level 3.

The students coped with this sudden change exceptionally well and it was lovely to see their faces online. Since coming back to school, we have loved seeing and hearing about what they were doing at home with their 25 Challenges. Thank you for the support that you gave your children with their work during this time. We know that it is difficult (to say the least) juggling children, work and lockdown learning and we appreciate all that you did with this. The Google Classroom Senior School 2021 pages are now up and ready, so should we be back in lockdown, we will use this platform as we did last year.

Writing

Students in the senior school have been writing ‘Moment in Time’ pieces during literacy. This has involved discussions around memories that are special to our families and zooming in on special moments to describe settings and events in detail. We have loved hearing about what is significant to our students as well as how much this varies from family to family. Some chose to write about trips to a special beach, jumping into a lake with siblings, or spending time playing with cousins in their backyards. Ask your child what they wrote about, and look out for these on Hero over the next few weeks.

Maths

Our Maths programmes are now up and running. As discussed during Meet the Studio, we offer a mixture of games, individual work, group problem-solving tasks, and computer-based learning in our Maths programmes. We are currently focusing on addition and subtraction strategies during our problem-solving with the playground construction site as our context. Students have come up with many ways to solve addition and subtraction problems around building supplies, tiling layouts, heights and weights of materials used during construction. A large focus of our learning in the Senior School is explaining and justifying our thinking to others. We have been very proud of the students who have shared their strategies with their groups.

Well Being

This year in the Senior School we are using River Stones to highlight our school values and promote a sense of belonging in our studios. We were inspired by the Middle School to carry this through into Year 5 and 6 as it is a real favourite with our students. After a very heavy shop at the local garden center, our Senior School students have all designed and painted their own river stones. Each morning, one of these is selected from a kete, and a round of compliments is given to this lucky student. These are based around our Westmere school values of Respect, Inclusion, Care and Excellence. The students love this special part of the day and we find that the explicit unpacking and promotion of our School Values each morning mean that these are really shining through in our studios.

Topic

Our Topic this term is Aotearoa Histories: Our Place, Our Whānau. This unit involves unpacking the stories of our own Whānau, and finding out where these fit into the history of Auckland. 

In Studio 6 we have started this by creating our own family trees. Some students knew the names and origins of all eight of their great-grandparents, others knew the birthplaces of all of their grandparents, while for many families, for many reasons, these names are yet to be discovered. We found that for families with adoption or separation through war these were harder to trace. We would love it if you could talk to your children at home about where their grandparents, great grandparents, and great-great grandparents have come from. Photos and family heirlooms could be a tangible way to start these conversations.

LS4 has started this topic by sharing photos of artefacts or taonga (treasures) from their homes that have been passed down through generations. These have included photos of grandparent’s Olympic medals, hand-crafted toys made generations ago, photos of old jewellery, and the sharing of many old pictures. Please keep emailing these to your homeroom teachers. LS6 will be exploring artefacts or taonga next week too.

Later this term we will explore the history of Westmere and wider Auckland (did you know a Māori settlement was once located where the zoo now is?), and work out where the various generations of our families fit into this story. We would LOVE for any grandparents or family members who have grown up in Westmere or surrounding suburbs in Auckland to share stories of their childhood with us. Please contact your child’s teacher about this so that we can arrange times to have them come in to share with us.

Thank you again for your support during this tumultuous start to the year. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact your child’s homeroom teacher.

Melinda, Carron, Ella, Simone, Tara and Melissa