Coffee Morning

My first coffee morning with the parents has come and gone. As Forrest Gump once said, "and thats all I have to say about that!"

What a positive day on Monday it was for our team of debaters. We argued the negative of the moot” that New Zealand is the best country in the world!” A tough one when you love your country We took on Leithfield School and through the guidence of Jennifer Goulding, Simone Mullan and Kay McLauchlan the team of Celine, Gabrielle and Kurt triumphed by 7 points. What a great result!

Recently we had a chance to get back some books from a family who had left our school a while ago. It highlighted how generous we are as a school as the number of books returned exceeded 100!!!!
We decided as a staff it would be time to get the word out that we do need our books back. If you have any books out there, no questions asked, we would like them back. Please check your bookshelves, check under the sofa cushions, check under the kitchen sink and check beside the toilet, we need them back!!
Please.

Today I had the first Principals coffee morning and when writing this I still hadn’t actually held the meeting. It was about assessing writing in the classroom. I hope I went well, nest we will be consulting with the community on Health Curriculum and Sexuality Education. Now that should get a few of you along! Staffroom at 9 see you all there.

Board Elections.

Great News! For the first time in as long as I can remember there is going to be a Board Election. We have had such a positive response to nominations that we now have to hold an election.
Tonight it is the final meeting for the current Board. It is amazing the amount of volunteer hours they have given up over their time with the Board of Trustees, I would really hate to try to add it all up.
Congratulations to all the nominees for putting their names forward and thanks to all the retiring Board members for outstanding service to the students and the community.

Welcome back to term two where are focus is Wearable Arts. Already there has been considerable debate in the staffroom and, from what I gather, in the playground about what is the definition of wearable arts. The definition is a piece of art that is worn. It is not a costume - it is art. Right got that out, good! This is also a school task where we get to witness the process, its not home learning. We will be asking for heaps of help so don’t fret, we want you in helping our kids.

Speaking of home learning, we have our draft voluntary home learning ready for the children next week. This, please remember, is for the students to develop their own love of learning and shouldn’t be forced upon them. I know a number of you are keen on doing homework, that’s great, you can do some for yourself but your children can opt into our programme.
There are 6 different levels that the students can try. The children need to discuss their options with their teachers and work through a conference on what to do.

I would like to extend a big welcome to all the new families that have started their learning journey with us at Ashley School. Mrs Robinson’s class has gone to 19 from 15 in a very short time. The school looks like it will continue to grow at this rate for the year.

Thanks to Todd Starkey, Rudi Steyn and Juliet Farrant who put together a wonderful frame for our raised gardens. Saw a couple of parents down at school today putting in some fill too. It’s great to see all the community support we have had for this project. It wont be too long until we see our first vegetables.

With the sun on our backs we got to have our annual ANZAC service. Mr Fred McKenzie, a veteran from the conflict in Vietnam, spoke to the children and fielded a whole raft of questions from the children about the meaning of ANZAC to hearing aides, through to Flying Boats. It was wonderful to host our guests from the Rangiora R.S.A again and continue on the school tradition of remember those who sacrificed so much to defend our freedom.

I am starting my coffee mornings next Thursday from 9am in the staffroom. We will look into what we are looking for in a students’ piece of writing when we assess it. I will look forward to seeing you there.