Hekia Parata speaks at the opening of Learning@School 2012

While I did not attend the Learning@School Conference this year in Hamilton I was interested to see that our new Education Minister - Hekia Parata - was one of the opening speakers.  Thanks to CORE I watched the video of her speech (see this link).

Her speech was centered around the following four points (a) placing the learner at the centre of all we do, (b) a commitment to quality teaching, (c) raising student achievement, and (d) enabling all of this to happen through the use of ICT.

I was impressed with how she spoke - no notes, no lectern and certainly with passion.  It was obvious that she has done a lot of reading for her new 'portfolio' and its seems that she is already more enthusiastic about working with the sector than was apparent last year.  What she wants is certainly aspirational and what every school wants for its students.  Just how we go about it and what policy is put in place, or pushed further, will be interesting.  Watch this space...

The dawn of new opportunities...

2012 - another school year begins with a real buzz around our place of learning as we set out together with our children on making the most of every opportunity that is presented to us and by us.  We have some exciting initiatives planned for this year and I hope to reflect regularly on those as the year progresses! 

Already, one of the ways we have kicked off the year was through the traditional 'Meet the teacher evening'.  I began the evening with a quick 5 - 10 minute welcome to our school families, reflecting with them on the importance of the relationship that we have together and that this 'triangle' of parent, child, teacher is essential for every child to be able to realise the full potential of their gifts and talents, and, to get the most from every opportunity they are presented with. 

I thanked them for the wonderful support and encouragement they do give to their children and acknowledged that it was with this enthusiastic support, in partnership with a passionate and dedicated teaching team, that we were able to achieve excellent progress and achievement for our students. 

I asked them to reflect during the sharing time they were going to have with their child's teacher on the differences in classroom routine, and of the teaching and learning practice from when they were at school.  I wanted them to note that while we do still talk about reading, writing and maths other words like 'inquiry', 'e-learning', 'student workshops' and the personalising of learning programmes were not just words but authentic examples of a distinct shift in how 'school' now happens! 

I stopped there - as one person yawned and someone else whispered to their neighbour (with the expression telling me that I'd said enough) but it's hard to do that when you are on a roll and genuinely passionate about what you're talking about!  But - I had to remind myself - just as a little bit often produces real results in most things, the same goes for getting the message across.  As our school vision statement echos - from the strong foundation (that our school and community provide to each and every student) we are all able to grow and stand tall together!