Community Whanau Time

On Friday afternoon we held our first real Community Whanau time session. I spent time with a couple of groups and then was able to wander around and see how things we going looking to see what might need some attention. I left school on Friday on a real high because of what I saw. I saw kids, teachers and parents actively engaged in meaningful work. I have been interested in "student voice" for a long time, that is letting students have input and make decision about what happens at their school but also in what they learn. Initially in developing community whanau time we were hoping to ensure that kids were getting an opportunity to commit and follow through on something they wanted be involved in. we have found it is harder and harder for kids to develop these interests due to all the time constraints in their school and personal lives. We also saw this as a really authentic way for students to develop the key competencies of ;

• managing self
• participating and contributing
• relating to others
• thinking
• using language symbols and texts

Students have chosen their areas of interest and being supported by teachers they are deciding what is they wish to develop that will contribute to their community whether it be our school or the wider community. some of these areas are;

• developing the Washdyke Lagoon
• community art - art to improve our environment or that of others - hospitals rest homes etc...
• community service - building relationships with others in our community by visiting and supporting them in some way
• student council
• kaitiaki - looking after and caring for our school environment
• Bay guardians - establishing ways we can ensure Caroline Bay is well looked after
• PALs - physical Activity leaders - supporting younger students with games and activities at break time
• CHAT - Children's Healthy Action Team
• Jump Jam leaders - teaching and leading others in jump jam for learning teams and at break time
• and many others - there are 21 groups in total.

During this time the year 1 students are all taking part in a developmental discovery programme where they are able to spend time exploring a variety of them based activities whilst developing key competencies and in particular their range of experiences that they can share with others.

What has struck me is the depth of thought the students have displayed, they are very aware of what it would be good to do for others and now they are actually being supported to do this in a problem solving way. This all contributes to our vision of Wai learners - motivated, happy, reflective, curious, respectful team players.

Watch this space.............