Freeville is open today

Yes we are open today. It is slippery in places so please walk carefully. Slippers would be a good idea for wearing inside.

School Closed Today

Sorry to say but school will be closed today. The police traffic warning is for people to not travel unless essential.

It is very icy at school and we have some damaged trees that need clearing before we can open safely.

Stay warm.

Paul

North to Alaska

Kia ora koutou katoa

Nicole Cunningham and I left Christchurch at 6.50 am on Thursday morning to travel to Hawaii and on to Anchorage Alaska as part of my Canterbury Primary Principals' Association Fellowship.

We arrived in Honolulu at about 10pm before heading off to our hotel. Back on a plane to Anchorage at 8.55pm the next day to arrive in Anchorage at 4.30am. Off to the hotel for a shower before heading in to the final day of the Bi-lingual Multicultural Equity in Education Conference. There were some very interesting topics, thankfully, and we managed to stay awake for the whole day!

We have been well looked after. The people are very friendly and extremely polite. On the bus in Honolulu we met a lovely American couple called Jim and Sarah. Jim was wearing a New Zealand t-shirt and it turned out that they had spent time in NZ building for Habitats for Humanity and had driven the length of New Zealand in a camper van. It is a small world.

On Friday and again yesterday we went to the High School Native Games which are on here in Anchorage. The students compete in traditional sports and events like the high kick where a ball is suspended from a string and they have to see who can kick it at its highest point. We watched the wrist carry where two boys carry a third boy who is suspended from a stick and only allowed to hold on by his wrist - not his hand. They run around a circuit to see who can carry the furthest.

The wrist carry.

Anchorage has been thawing out over the last couple of weeks. Most of the snow around the city has gone but the river is still frozen and there is plenty of snow on the hills. It gets dark here for about four hours at present. In summer it doesn't get dark at all.

Tomorrow we travel further north to Fairbanks where we will be visiting schools and spending time with Dr Beth Leonard and Dr Ray Barnhardt of the University of Alaska. They are doing great work for their indigenous children and we look forward to learning a lot from them.

Naku noa iti nei

John

13 March Update

Kia ora e te whānau

The term is racing by and we are very pleased with the positive start to the school year. We have started with a strong roll and have excellent new entrant numbers coming in over the year.

School Vans

Our school vans are getting plenty of use and are booked up most days. Every Wednesday our seniors use them for their Electives programme which sees them out and about undertaking various activities. On Thursdays our Year 3 & 4's have M.I. Time sessions and they are using the vans to visit libraries, go mountain biking and to visit and retirement homes. The vans are also well used for other school trips and activities. They make accessing facilities and our local environment affordable, and learning more engaging.

Principal's Fellowship

In 2011 I was awarded the Canterbury Primary Principals' Association Fellowship but delayed taking the fellowship due to the impact of the earthquakes. The fellowship grants a sum of money for travel and a term's paid leave to undertake a study tour on a topic of high interest. On April 25th I will be travelling to Alaska and Hawai'i looking at culturally responsive teaching practices. Nicole Cunningham will be joining me on this 3 week trip and I am sure it will prove to be both interesting and enlightening.

While I am away Paul Wilkinson will be Acting Principal, Bernice Swain will be acting team leader of LT4 and Grant Carr will be teaching in LT4 with Bernice. I am sure that Paul will do a fantastic job as acting principal.

Donation

Our thanks to Nelson's Hampden Street School, especially to their school council as they have donated $260 to Freeville School. The money will be used to buy sports equipment and we are very grateful to Principal Don McLean, his staff and school community for their support.

Whānau Hui

It was great to see such an awesome turnout at our first whole school whānau hui of the year. We estimate that over 160 people came along. I hope that we have an equally strong turn out at our next hui!

Thanks

As many of you will be aware we had a difficult situation to deal with recently. We are continually grateful for the fantastic support that we receive from within and outside our school community, and for the continued support from past families. Thank you all for your supportive comments and wishes.

Ngā mihi

John

2012

Ngā mihi o te tau hou ki a koutou katoa.

My apologies for the delay in posting a blog this year. Our internet issues have been horrendous since the 23rd of December and whilst they have improved it remains VERY slow and frustrating. If you have tried to contact us via email over the holidays or in the new school year and have not had a response please let us know. It may well be that your email bounced off into the ether.

The 23rd of December shakes have affected our roll numbers. We are about 10 children down on what we expected but remain in a strong position nonetheless. Our starting roll for 2012 is 283. In 2010 we started the year with 282, so, all things considered we have done pretty well. We have excellent new entrant enrolment numbers and look forward to our roll increasing as the year progresses.

Today we are sending home a family well-being survey so that we can get an idea of the assistance that our families need. As always we will do our best to support our whānau. It is our hope that the rest of New Zealand does not get the idea that almost a year on the battle and the hardships are over. They are certainly not and our families continue to need the support of the agencies, schools, businesses and individuals who were so generous in 2011.

Ngā mihi

John

Update 9 December

Kia ora e hoa mā

It's been a busy last couple of days at Freeville with classes shifting and this afternoon the children have been meeting their teacher for next year. They will also be bringing home their PLP folder so keep an eye out for that.

Journey of Hope

Over 100 of our children have been through the Journey of Hope programme over the last few months. Have a look at http://youtu.be/APHASYlaTRw as the video that they have made explaining the programme features a number of our Freeville Flyers. We are so proud of them.

A huge thanks to those responsible for sourcing, funding and delivering the programme. It has been fantastic.

Have a great weekend.

John

Update 1 December

Kia ora koutou katoa

A few things to update you on:

Congratulations: To Aroha Green and her family on the arrival of their new baby Ruby, 7lb 13 oz. Mum and baby are both doing well.

Whānau Hui: Our final whānau hui for 2011 was held last night. It was great to have good numbers of whānau supporting this kaupapa. We are planning already for hui next year starting with a hangi in week 4 of 2012, so please keep this in mind. We'll inform you of the exact day and time in the New Year.

Freeville Gardens: Last Tuesday representatives from Fonterra Colin and Kane, Adrienne from Avonside Girls' and Hannah from Tony Milne Landscape Architect presented Freeville School with 67 native plants. They were welcomed and the plants were accepted by some of our junior children and then the first three trees were planted in the corner of the field. Hannah will be working with us as we develop our gardens further and continue to make Freeville School a pleasant place to be.

School Roll: Currently our school roll is 311. We are planning on starting next year with approximately 300 students. This is more than we had at the beginning of 2010.

Year 8 Camp: Our Year 8's enjoyed a fantastic camp in Wellington last week. What a great bunch of senior students we have. Visits to Te Papa, Parliament, Capital E and the Weta Cave were all experiences they are unable to have anywhere else. We must thank the schools who contributed to funds so that we were able to run this camp with no cost to families. A special thank you to Paul and Bernice for their organisation.

PLP Folders and Meet Your New Teacher: Children will be given their PLP folders to bring home on December 9. At 2.15pm on this day they will go to the classroom that they will be in for 2012 and, if possible, meet their new teacher. We have two new staff starting next year, Kerry Poulsen from Otautau School and Jo Peters from Kauri Park School in Auckland. Kerry has been able to come to Christchurch for that day and will be able to meet with her new class. Unfortunately Jo is unable to leave her school and won't be able to join us.

Freeville Fun Day December 13th: The Freeville Fun Day is from 10am to 2pm on December 13th. Children do not need to be at school until 10am and can leave with their parents at 2pm. If this does not fit for you then please contact your class teacher so that they know who will be arriving early and who will need to be supervised until 3pm.

End of Year Assembly: Our final assembly will be held in our school hall on Thursday 15 December starting at 10.30am. Usually the assembly takes about two hours.

Starting 2012: Starting details for next year are as follows:

Friday January 27 - Teacher Only Day being held at the Russley Golf Course

Monday January 30 - PLP Meetings

Tuesday January 31 - PLP Meetings

Wednesday February 1 - Classes start. Pōwhiri to welcome new whānau and staff is at 9.15 am.

Children do not need to attend school during the PLP days but the school is open. If you are unable to arrange alternative care then your children can join a programme that will be run by our support staff on those days. Please let Jan in the office know if your children will be attending this programme so that we can check that everyone who should be there, is there.

Ngā mihi

John