Nau mai, haere mai from your ASL team this year: Cathee from Springlands; Giselle from Rapaura; Louise from Grovetown; Nadia from Renwick; Adam from Whitney Street, Delyn from MBC and Deepa from MGC.

From your ASL team, ngā mihi nui to the WSLs that attended our recent hui. We saw a great turn out at the first WSL Hui  from across Marlborough and trust that we provided some valuable takeaways for kaiako to use in their kura. 

We discussed what WSLs do in their school, the mahi that they can lead and gave examples of what an implementation plan may look like.

Kaiako were shown Reniham's Leading Change model and were taught a waiata based on the 8 iwi of Te Tauihu (Ngā iwi e waru). We then made links to Ngā Kawatau me ngā Tūmanakotanga o Te Tauihu to show that through small actions we can make a big difference to our Māori ākonga. 

We finished by discussing our various personality types using native New Zealand birds, and gave an easy take-home 'test' to see what personality types our WSLs may work with on their staff. 

Credit to Christchurch City Council for the 'test'.

Redwoodtown School worked hard last year, unpacking Niho Taniwha and came up with an effective way to display their thinking. Cheryl explains the process to us: 

"As a staff we looked at Niho Taniwha and unpacked the patai in each chapter. Sometimes this was done over a couple of hui to really get deep understanding and build strength in our teaching and learning teams. Through this mahi, we also looked at ways we could link in Ngā Kawatau me ngā Tūmanakotanga o Te Tauihu as well. We wanted our learning to reflect our journey but also not be an added extra - it added value to all we were doing already. The final chapter saw us discuss and record ways in which we could “lift where we stand” and make commitments to our teaching and learning. In small groups during our hui we recorded things inside piano keys, that we would commit to to make a difference for our ākonga. We chose to record these in this way to remind ourselves that it is a team effort to lift a grand piano (the metaphor used in Niho Taniwha) and that we didn’t need grand gestures to lift things way over our heads, we just needed to commit to the things we knew would make a difference to everyone. This visual reminder of the commitments we made is on our staffroom wall and in 2024, will continue to be referred to and drive our professional learning goals."

Renwick School's enviro-club have been doing some hard mahi helping to clean up the kura creek. The tamariki have donned their gumboots and been fully involved with clearing out rubbish, big rocks and concrete from the creek. Weeding has also been a big job for the club to encourage water flow in this hot season. This ongoing project has been a great way for ākonga to show respect to their school's environment.

Another exciting project for Renwick School's enviro-club has been designing their upcoming scooter track. This track will be a safe and fun place for tamariki to ride their scooters at break times. The track and rules to go with it, have been designed by the enviro leaders. What a great opportunity for leadership - we can't wait to see the end result!

This is an example from Ngā Kawatau me ngā Tūmanakotanga o Te Tauihu of Governance and Leadership - Kotahitanga mō te Taiao - the aspiration for people to live, care for, and benefit from the environment in ways that bolster natural ecology and the communities that live within them.