By Simon Clarke | Posted: Thursday May 20, 2021
Last week I had the opportunity to spend some time at the Waitangi Treaty grounds learning more about the Treaty and New Zealand history. This was especially topical as the Ministry of Education has released the New Zealand Histories Curriculum draft and our students and staff have spent a huge amount of time and effort learning more about this topic.
One of the first questions asked at our seminar was who were the first people to come to New Zealand and typically, names like Cook and Tasman were bought up. I instantly recognised that all of our students would answer this correctly and I was very proud of the work that our teachers and students have put into their "Voyages" topic over the last 10 weeks.
The children have been tasked with becoming storytellers and will try to change the understandings of our community on who came to Aotearoa first and how they got here. This culminates in our "Kaikorai Museum" this Tuesday and Wednesday.
Feel free to come to the hall anytime during the school day on Tuesday. You may view the exhibits by yourself or you are more than welcome to come and collect your child from their class and they can show you around. We will also be having an evening session on Wednesday between 6:45-8 pm for parents to view the displays.
After watching an outstanding assembly from Room 5 expertly taught by Jill Kumar and seeing the quality of displays around the classrooms, I am sure the children will have met their brief. They will explain to you how the Pasifka people used STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) to explore and discover new lands throughout the Pacific including Aotearoa.
One of the things that came out of the recent community consultation was to have more parent evenings. At 7 pm on Wednesday, I will be holding a brief information session on PBL in the library and discussing what is and what isn't PBL. We hope to clear up any misunderstandings and answer your questions at this session.
We look forward to celebrating your child's learning with you.
Kind regards
Simon Clarke