Newsletter 1

Kia Ora Koutou

We had a magnificent time at Camp Waiari! We know it is a privilege to stay in such a beautiful place surrounded by the sea and bush. Thank you to John Windelborn (who is part of the whanau that are kaitiaki of this whenua) for allowing us to have camp at Waiari – kia ora!  It was awesome spending the week at camp watching our students explore, interact, learn and play in this unique environment. We had a huge contingent of whanau come and stay or visit over the week. It was a great chance to reaffirm relationships and make new ones. All the benefits of camp were evident. A big thank you to the kitchen cooks, fisherman, car crackers and general helping hands who made the week possible. It was a fine example of the special school community we have at Mangonui School.

One of the themes in our Strategic Plan is about supporting our students to be resilient. This came about as many of our surveys last year kept coming up with ‘I want my child to be resilient, I want my child to be proud of who they are’. We have decided on several pathways to ensure our students are resilient when they leave Mangonui. Our first path is ‘Identity’. Investigating who we are, where we come from and what makes us special. Most classes are investigating what it means to be a kiwi. What are the special unique elements of being a kiwi? Living in the Far North is an advantage, we all know that! We need to unpack this for our students and ensure they know why we are unique. The Maori world that surrounds us, the mindset that can be learnt from this perspective is massive. That we see the bush, sea, beaches and land as living. That they are also part of our whanau and therefore we treat them with the same respect that we might a friend. So when we walk down the beach we will pick up rubbish because that is what ‘mates’ do. That we build relationships with all these natural features and learn their stories and make that part of who we are. That we know the stories of Mangonui, Tokerau Beach, Kahukura and Puwheke and can tell others. This builds our children’s identity and sense of self worth.

This year we are doing the ‘Culture Counts’ Professional Development course as a whole staff. This is about ensuring our school and classrooms are places that students feel connected to and valued. For a teacher to be able to create an environment where each student feels valued and understood they need to get to know that child, who they are, where they come from. In doing this they are reinforcing through lots of opportunities a child’s identity. Obviously there is a lot more to Culture Counts but the ‘key’ is that it connects to our Highway of supporting students Identity.

On Monday night the staff attended a hui at Kaingaroa School which was based around ‘Growth Mindset’. This is going to be another pathway we take to reinforce resilience. We started Mindset two years ago but research is showing now that we need to approach this differently. Growth mindset is about giving our students the tools/ resources to be able to cope with challenges. That when they are ‘stuck’ in their learning they are able to use tools to figure out solutions and apply positive mindsets...turning “I can’t” into “I can’t yet”.

There has been a huge amount of learning this term for all of us at Mangonui School. As a school we are (as explained above) looking at all the different ways we can develop a curriculum that supports our students to be resilient. The world that our students are going into will be completely different to the one that we live in today. On Monday I attended a speech in Auckland by Sir Ken Robinson. He is the guru of creativity. He is challenging the entire education system and states that it needs to change dramatically. There is no way what we currently have will meet the demands of the future. We watched a clip on Artificial Intelligence and what robots are able to currently achieve. Driving cars and trucks, making houses, constructing bridges, mowing lawns, flipping burgers, running restaurants, teaching students etc. They will be in every industry and business knows about the profit it will generate for them. McDonalds in Phoenix America is opening their first store entirely run by robots.

“With the high demand for a minimum wage of $15/hr and the protests getting worse every day, this is something we had to implement. Plus with the tremendous margin of human error, poor hygiene, lack of education, laziness, as well as the recent advancements in artificial intelligence it just make sense to automate our restaurants now rather than later.” - Paul Horner McDonalds.

Sir Ken Robinson states that most education systems are set up based on an old model that prepared students for the past and not future. He states that we need to ensure our curriculum is based on creativity and provide plenty of experiences for that to happen. It is not far from our current thinking at Mangonui. I know of schools that will not do camps or explore their environment because it ‘takes away from learning’. We do a lot of activities within and outside the classroom and will continue to develop this so it builds these skills our students will need for the future to develop the creative and curious mind.

Sir Ken Robinson spoke a lot about digital devices and the impact they are having on our young people. The impact of social media and what they are exposed to online. It is important that as educators and parents we ensure that we get the ‘balance right’.  These are excellent ‘tools’ at our school. However, we have become more cautious on what influence they have on our education delivery at Mangonui. It is important that as parents and schools we limit screen time and push the kids out the door to play. Go on school camps, play sports, make a fun game up and interact with our ‘real’ friends. There is a big movement called ‘Dirt is Good’. I posted the YouTube clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T7H83JIC8U . It is a great watch that makes lots of common sense.

I think of my kids and what their world is going to be like and what I need to do to make sure that they are happy and healthy. I know that your children mean as much to you as mine do to me. They are everything!! That is why we have to get it right!