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