Let's celebrate our amazing teachers

This Friday 30th October is a very special day. It is World Teachers Day! On this day, all students, support staff, families and communities are encouraged to celebrate the vital and important role that teachers play in society.

It is timely to reflect on the power of a great teacher and what they contribute to both your child(ren) but also to society in general. Teachers contribute in powerful ways to the development of children and help shape them, along with the family, to become the people and citizens of tomorrow. The influence and importance of our teachers cannot be understated, it is teachers who make the difference in schools.

Of course the job of a teacher is easier with support from home, when home and school are working in partnership to enhance the learning of our children.

Please do something to acknowledge your teachers - this could be a small gift or comment or something more significant. If you have a positive comment to make about your teacher you may want to share it as a comment to this blog post.


For more information about World Teachers Day visit this web page...

125th Reunion Celebrations

Our 125th Reunion Celebrations were held over the weekend of the 23rd to the 25th of October. These celebrations were a huge success, with a flow of positive feeling about Burnham School.

We have created an alumni web site for past students and staff to join and contribute to, as well as photos from the weekend for everyone to enjoy. Alumni will be able to order photos which were taken by a professional photographer during the Saturday soon.

ICT Expo at Burnham School

Yesterday a whole number of different schools came from the Selwyn area for the ICT expo. There was lots of interesting stuff, like some schools showed us their blog, web quests, slide shows, clay-mation movie, comic life and lots more. We were the best though with our E-portfolios. 

It was a great time, more things like this should happen at school.

Reported by Adam James Craig Room 6

Assembly Item - Self-belief

Henry Ford once said:

"Whether you think you can or you can’t… you’re right!”

What does this mean for learning? 


How can people discover when they do this and how to improve their 'positive self-talk'?

To the right is the photo of Henry Ford who made this statement. Click here to learn more about Henry Ford...

Assembly Item - being sun smart

Today we had a whole school reflection about sun safety. This is to ensure that children understand the importance of sun safety and our rules at school. The question we discussed was:

"What does it mean to be sun smart and why is it important?"

Some of the thoughts shared are made as comments to this blog post.


Click here for the NZ sunsmart web site for an UV index of our area...

Parents, check this web site for messages which reinforce the "slip-slop-slap and wrap" message....

Reflections on our first week

During my first couple of days I have managed to spend time in every classroom. Children are focussed and engaged in their learning and happy to be back at school. My focus at this stage is to get to know all children and to gain a sense of the 'voice' of our school. This involves starting to learn the names of the children and spending time with them while they are learning. 

I would like to acknowledge the amazing staff we have at Burnham School for the vibrant learning environments they have created with their children. You have got to get into these classrooms - they are very exciting to a be part of! Please come up to me if you see me in classrooms, or around the school, I want to get to know you and your whanau. It is our partnership that will drive learning for your child(ren).

During our first assembly I shared some insights into me as a person and into how these relate to learning. The staff reminded children that now is the time for everyone to be wearing summer uniform, sunhats and appropriate footwear for sport activities. Please see Trish in the office if you are awaiting an order for a sunhat or require a replacement for the one the dog ate!

Another aspect of myself that I shared at assembly is that I would like children and parents to address me as either 'Matua Rob', 'Rob', or 'Mr. Clarke'. I believe an informal, respectful relationship will enhance the learning of your child. I explained that for children, this decision should be based on what their family is comfortable with. There is no expectation that classroom teachers should follow this, however it is important that both children and adults are addressed using the name that belongs to them. I do expect all children to communicate with respect and courtesy to each other and adults. I hope this clarifies my thinking.

Burnham School is such an exciting place to be - it's simply amazing! This is an action-packed term with a whole range of exciting events which will excite and enthuse the children and the community. We are now on the countdown to our reunion weekend celebrations for Labour Weekend. Click here to view the programme for the weekend...


I have loved my first week at Burnham School. It's fantastic to be here with the children and staff and starting to meet you all. Thank you for your friendly welcome.

ka kite ano,

Rob

Rob's Powhiri and Handing Over Ceremony

My first day at Burnham School was an extremely special time for me as your new Principal. I feel honoured and extremely touched having experienced the powhiri and handing over ceremony to start my new role in the community. Here are some photos of the FOS (Fendalton Open-air School) manuhiri prior to the ceremony:

I was lucky enough to have my a number of family members with me as well as one of the classes I taught at Fendalton and a number of close colleagues. I wish to express my gratitude to Whāea Lucy for her karanga, Mātua Joe, Chris Thurlow and James Petronelli for their whaikōrero welcoming me and offering me the challenge to help take our school to the next level, which I accept! 

Thanks also to Commander Jim Bliss and Chris Wilson for their support as well as other staff from the base and community members. Finally my thanks goes to the children for their welcome and warm, friendliness. What a wonderful bunch of young people we have at our school!

Expo 2009

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of joining the community for the annual Burnham School Expo. It was wonderful to see the partnership that we have at Burnham School in action during this evening. The Wearable Arts Challenge this year involved families dressing up using recycled materials, culminating in a parade to show off the creations. Below are photos of many of the families having fun dressing up.

Here is the video of the junior dance performance and below are some photos from the evening.

Teacher Only Day - Burnham Curriculum

The New Zealand National Curriculum has been revised and is updated so that schools can determine how it is implemented for their community. The vision for the new curriculum is very exciting, it states that we want lifelong learners who are confident, connected, and actively involved.

This is a great opportunity for us as a school, because we are able to design our future curriculum so that we best prepare our tamariki for the future. It is our chance to develop the competencies that work for our kids and will guide us in our partnership between home and school. It is also an opportunity to strengthen our partnership so we are all working towards the same goals and using the same language.

Our process started on Friday 4th September with our first Teacher Only Day. From my perspective as the new Principal this was a great opportunity to work with the teachers prior to starting on October 12.

The day involved staff coming up with ideas for what they want for our learners for the future, looking at the NZ curriculum and engaging in dialogue with tamariki and parents about what they feel is most important. The ideas was to interview families to look for ways in which we will consult more widely with our community in the future, as well as to generate some initial ideas.

Don't worry if you weren't able to contribute to this day, all families, children and community members will be opportunities to share ideas on what we want for the future learning for Burnham tamariki. We will take the amazing range of strengths of the school and build these into the new design for our future curriculum.

Some of the ideas generated include that children:

• develop the confidence to be successful in high school and beyond.
• develop strong ICT skills.
• develop skills that are useful and practical, especially teamwork skills.
• are able to take increasing control over their learning, having choice over both what they learn and how they learn.
• have fun when they learn.

Please note that these ideas are by no means exhaustive, and you and your family will have your own, these are only initial ideas. There will be opportunities for students, parents and community members to contribute to the process of developing the Burnham School curriculum.

I invite you to make comments on this blog with your own ideas as comments to this blog post.