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

We're Green

Kia ora e hoa mā.

Good news. In today's announcements from Gerry Brownlee and CERA our school site has gone GREEN.

Have a look at http://www.landcheck.org.nz/Property/Details/5058461

Ngā mihi

John

Update 4 November: 30 Days to Go

Kia ora koutou

The year is racing by and at the time of writing we have 29 and a half days of school left this year. Our staff is working extremely hard as they try to cram in all the things that we would usually be doing in a ten week term into a term of less than 8 weeks.

We have a number of good things to announce:

Property - We have finally had the area in front of the learning studio sealed after six months of trying to get it approved. It looks much better and makes the school a much more pleasant place for our children and our staff to be.

Room 8 do it again: Our congratulations to Room 8 and their teacher Elizabeth Kazmierczak who have made the finals in two categories of the MADE (Movies and Digital Excellence) Awards. They have done extremely well as they are a Year 3 & 4 class compering in the Year 4-6 category. The presentation ceremony is on Thursday next week in Tauranga and we wish Room 8 all the best.

Nicole's Masters: Our congratulations to our Junior Team leader Nicole Cunningham who has completed her Masters and has been awarded second class honours. This is a fantastic effort and a huge commitment when you consider the amount of time Nicole already spends at work! Please give her a pat on the back. She deserves it.

At present the Ministry of Education is carrying out consultation with schools, communities and individuals around the future of schooling in Christchurch. Next Tuesday at 3.15pm we are having a meeting so that we can formulate a school response to this consultation. Anyone who would like to join us is most welcome to attend. The consultation is not about which schools will stay, close or merge. It is clearly directed to the purpose, shape and delivery of education in Christchurch and we will be seeking to put in a submission that aligns with those three headings. If you would like to put in your own submission go to http://shapingeducation.minedu.govt.nz/

Nga mihi

John

Update 7 October: The end of term 3

Kia ora koutou

We have finally reached the end of what has been a very long term. I am sure that everyone - children, teachers, support staff and parents have earned a break and a rest. I hope that you have the opportunity to have one.

The last couple of weeks have been very positive at Freeville School.

School Roll - Our roll continues to rise and we now have 304 students at school. We are opening another Year 1 class next term in one of the relocatables by the field. Helena Ballard will be teaching the class. She has been relieving for Anne Westwood while she has been away so the children know her very well. We should have around 320 students by the end of the year, and expect to start 2012 with about 300.

Van Fundraising - We have recently had confirmed that Pub Charity via the Wave Bar in New Brighton have donated just over $45 000 so that we can purchase the second of our new vans. We are just waiting on our LTSA number to arrive then we will be able to take possession of our two new vans, organise the sign writing and get them on the road. Exciting stuff!

Learning Celebrations - I have enjoyed getting to some of the Learning Celebrations that have been held over the past few days. I particularly enjoyed our senior students"$5 Gourmet" where they prepared and served staff with a fantastic meal for $5 (see photo above). Should be a weekly occurrence!

Property - Rooms 3 & 4 are finally out of the school hall and have moved into their relocatable classrooms. I know that there was great excitement this week as they took over their rooms. We will be setting up the library at the back of the hall so that our children will at last be able to have class library times again. We are also looking forward to having assemblies again next term as we have really missed being able to gather together as a whole school.

Farewell - Yesterday we farewelled Isabel Nisbet who has retired from her role as Teacher Aide Librarian after 23 years at Freeville School. We wish Isabel and Peter all the best for a long and enjoyable retirement. Jude Bell will be taking over Isabel's role until the end of the year.

Zumba - Please remember that next term there will be Zumba in the hall every Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. There will be a session for students from 1pm to 1.45pm and then a session for parents from 2 pm to 3pm. This is FREE thanks to the Salvation Army. Please come along and get those endorphins going.

Looking ahead - Next term is very short, will go very fast and will have lots of events. Please ask if you are not sure about anything. Good communication between home and school is really important and is a two way street. Fingers crossed for a smooth and steady term 4.

Ngā mihi

John

Update 22 September

Mōrena koutou mā

We had a great start to the day this morning with LT 1's Pyjama Breakfast. It was great to see such a good turn out of families who were able to join us.

Property

The builders have finished in the new re-locatables. The carpet layer has been in and the painters have done what they were going to do. The landscaper is in today tidying up around the buildings. We expect the Council to be in next Tuesday to inspect so that they can issue the Code of Compliance and once that is received we will be able to occupy the buildings.

Survey Regarding Intentions for 2012

Thanks to all the families who have responded to our survey regarding 2012. This information will enable us to get an accurate picture of the numbers that we will have at each year level in 2012 and will be used to figure out how many classes we will have next year and at what levels. Isabel will be contacting any families that we don't have a response from today as we need a 100% response to have accurate information.

Ngā mihi ki a koutou katoa

John

Update 14 September

Kia ora koutou

I hope you are all well. It is great to finally get some good weather and the children are enjoying being able to get out onto the grass and have a good run around. There is quite a bit of good news to report:

Salvation Army Support

Tania Anderson has been employed by the Salvation Army to be a Community Support Worker for our school. She is based here four hours each day and is supporting children and staff. She has helped us to access resources and funding for various events. More about that later. Please make contact with Tania if she can help you in any way.

Funding

Year 3 & 4 Swimming Lessons: We have been able to access funding through the Salvation Army to pay for the buses and swimming lessons for our Year 3 & 4 students. This equates to about $65 per child so is a significant support for parents. Our thanks to Tania for arranging this funding for us.

Year 5 & 6 Camp: We have accessed funding through a variety of sources to be able to fund this camp so that there is no cost to parents. Primarily this has been funded by monies dispersed by the Ministry of Education and the School Trustees Association from their Earthquake Appeals.

Year 7 & 8 Wellington Camp: Once again funding from a variety of Earthquake Appeals means that we are able to fully fund this year's Wellington Camp for all our Year 8 students.

Zumba: Next term Zumba instructor Linda Thomas will be offering Zumba lessons in the school hall on a Wednesday and a Thursday. There will be two sessions each day. From 1pm to 1.45pm there will be a session for Year 5 -8 students. From 2-3pm there will be a session for parents. It's a good chance to get those endorphins going, have a workout and then take the kids home from school. The sessions are FREE (thanks to a great rate from Linda and funding from the Salvation Army). That's every Wednesday and Thursday next term.

Property

Our builders expect that they will be finished in the new relocatable classrooms at the end of this week. The painters will then do their bit and then, once the Completion Certificate is issued by the council, we will be able to occupy.

All other Ministry of Education spending on property in Christchurch has come to a halt. This is a decision from Wellington, not our local Ministry office. We continue to battle away trying to get paving, courts etc finished.

Vans

We have put a deposit down on a brand new Ford Transit 12 seater van. We have been pledged sufficient funds to pay for the van, we are just waiting on funds that were donated by the American New Zealand Association to be released to us by the appropriate government agencies that are managing the monies coming in from the USA.

In the meantime Matt and Carmel O'Regan have generously donated their own family van to our school. Matt is a dairy farmer from outside Reefton, the current Chairperson of Westland Dairy, and was the Board of Trustees Chairperson at Sacred Heart School in Reefton when I was principal there. He's also a great guy. I approached Matt to see if Westland Dairy could help with our fundraising but they had already made a significant contribution to Christchurch. Matt and his wife Carmel decided that they would donate their own vehicle to us. We are very grateful for their generosity. I am sure that their van will give us added flexibility when we are looking to transport our students.

Naumai, Haere mai.

A warm welcome to Kerrie-Anna Anderson who has been employed as a Kaiarahi i te Reo to support the development of te reo Māori in our bi-lingual class. It has taken a long time to find and employ a suitable person for this position so we are delighted to have Kerrie-Anna and her baby son Pumau at Freeville School.

Please remember that there are free Te Reo Māori lessons for parents at 6pm every Wednesday night in Room 14. These lessons are available for anyone who is interested.

Ngā mihi

John

Update 30 August

Mōrena e hoa mā

We had a great start to the day this morning with the arrival of the team from Classic Hits and their free coffees for staff and parents.

Re-locatables Underway

This continues from the news yesterday that our Building Consent for the new re-locatables had finally come through from the Council and that work could start lowering the classrooms and getting them ready for occupation. We are looking forward to moving Rooms 3 & 4 out of the hall and into the classrooms so that we will be able to use the hall and have assemblies again. We have really missed being able to gather together as a school community.

Freeville Family Garden

Yesterday a notice went home to all families regarding our plan to start a Freeville Family Garden. To quote the pānui (notice) that went home:

"With some of our Freeville families having to leave their homes and gardens the idea started that with gifted plants and trees from our families we could create a garden, built with love, that both current and future Freeville families could enjoy."

We are very thankful to Su Pratt who has come up with this initiative and Tony Milne, a Landscape Architect who has donated his time to give advice and come up with a plan. We look forward to your feedback and to the establishment of the Freeville Family Garden.

Please contact Su here at school if you would like to be involved or have any questions.

Ngā mihi

John

School still closed

Morena

School will remain closed today, Tuesday. We will reassess again tomorrow morning.

Stay safe and warm.

John

School Closed

Morena

School is closed today due to the snow. Stay safe and warm.

John

Update 3 August

Kia ora koutou

Term 3 has started with a hiss and a roar. We are very encouraged that three more relocatable classrooms have arrived on site over the last couple of nights. We are now waiting for consent to come through so that they can be put on their foundations and work can commence getting them ready for occupation.

There have been a couple of comments about their placement and why they are being put out behind the hall. There are a number of reasons for that:

1. That is the only entry point where the trucks can get because of the power lines around the rest of the school.
2. We can't move them any further because the grounds are too wet and the trucks would get stuck.
3. That area is close to services such as power and sewerage and it enables the rooms to be hooked up more quickly and at much less cost.
4. It retains our grassed areas for the children to play on.

The double classroom that has been moved on will be used by the classes currently in the hall. The library (currently stored in a container) will be set up at the back of the hall. We will still have enough space for assemblies etc.

The single room will be a teacher resource and work room. Our mobile shelving will be installed and our teachers will finally have a space to store resources and work in when not in their classrooms.

School Roll: Our school roll remains strong and steady. By Monday of next week will have 295 pupils. This is an increase from the end of last term. On Monday we started a new Year 1 class and welcomed Kate Stoneman, our new teacher in that room. We have good numbers of children starting throughout term 3, good numbers of children pre-enrolled for term 4, and expect that we will start another class at the beginning of that term.

Thank you: A special thank you to the Heretaunga Lions from Hastings who have donated $4000 to the school to help us cover the cost of items not covered by insurance. We are tremendously grateful to all the generous people who have been so good to our school.

Ngā mihi ki a koutou katoa.

John

Update 15 July

He mihi nui ki a koutou katoa.

We have made it to the end of a long and eventful term. At least the weather has played its part for us lately; having sunny days at least means that our childrn have been able to get on to the grass and enjoy participating in sport each Thursday afternoon.

Whilst we have had difficult time I have been amazed by the generosity of so many people and organisations who have contacted our school wanting to help us.

GUMBOOTS

Today every child in the school has been given a pair of gumboots. They are theirs to keep and we hope that this initiative will help to preserve their other footwear and enable them to get out and about in our new, muddy and often water logged environment. Our sincere thanks to those who have made this possible. We have had a number of smaller sponsors but I have to mention Kris Webster of Sandford Industries who have provided the gumboots at cost, and Steve Armstrong (one of our Freeville parents) whose company Total Plastering Solutions donated $1100 towards the cost of the gumboots. If you are looking for a plastering company, look no further. Stick it on the fridge.

JUST AMAZING

Yesterday I received an email from Lisa Henderson who is a Board of Trustees member and PTA member at Ngaio School in Wellington.

They decided that they would donate 75% of their school fair profits to Christchurch, and they have donated $25000.00 (yes, that is the correct number of zeroes) to Freeville School.

We are just amazed and humbled by the generosity that the Ngaio School community is showing towards us. We are well on the way to purchasing our school vans.

This morning I received a phone call from Karen Fulton. Karen lives in Hope just out of Nelson and is a cyclist and fitness instructor. Karen ran a spin class to raise funds for our school and believes that she has raised around $900. For more information and to see some photos of this event go to http://www.shuttersport.co.nz/a-spin-charity

We are so thankful to Karen for her initiative and thoughtfulness. The money that Karen and her clients have raised will go towards sports equipment for our children.

Property

At our Project Team meeting today it was confirmed that three more relocatables have been allocated to our school. We hope that these will all be on site by the end of the holidays and in use by about week 4. This will enable R3&4 to move out of the hall, and enable us to get our teaching resources out of the containers.

It is likely that we will set the library up at the back of the hall as the shelving is already there. The hall will be available for assemblies again (yay!) and classes will be able to book a library time!

This is great news for our school and it is a really good sign that the Ministry of Education is continuing to invest in our school.

Ngā mihi ki a koutou katoa. Kia pai o koutou wā whakatā.

Have a great holiday break.

John

Update 9 July - Good News

Kia ora koutou

It has been a great week this week.

It was really good to have our whole school together on Monday for our "Coats for Kids" thank you assembly. On Tuesday we were able to give out the thermals that were very generously donated by Vulcan Steel. On Friday we had another meeting with our Project Team and received more good news from the Ministry of Education.

The Ministry has agreed that we will be given three more relocatable classrooms. Two will be for our Year 5 & 6 classes who are currently housed in the hall, and the third will be for storage of library books and resources. We will need to think about how this space can be best utilised but I think that the provision of three more classrooms is a very positive piece of news for our school.

I am aware that there are a number of rumours circulating about which schools will stay, which will shift, which will merge and which will close.

Nothing has been decided.

I can tell you that:

1. At this point no school, regardless of where they are located is in a better or worse position than anybody else. I am sure that the Ministry's focus will be wide, not focussed on a small number of schools.
2. Any decisions will not be made for a while yet.
3. Ministry officials consistently speak of the high esteem in which Freeville School is held within the Ministry of Education. They do not want to lose the characteristics that make Freeville special; our caring approach, excellent academic results, quality teaching and the community support that distinguishes Freeville from other schools.
4. The Ministry of Education would not be giving us more classrooms if it was all doom and gloom for Freeville School.
5. You should tell anyone who says that they know what is going to happen to go and buy a Lotto ticket because they are obviously gifted with an extraordinary ability to look into the future in a way that most mortals can only envy.

I noted in the Press today that Shirley Boys' and Avonside Girls' will both be back on their sites for at least two years. This is good news for the families of our Year 8's as they can now look forward to the start of 2012 and their Year 9 with some certainty. My best wishes also to the principals and staff of those schools. I am sure they will be relieved to have a pathway in front of them after a time of great uncertainty.

We will be starting to contact the parents of our Year 6 students this week so that we can have a chat about Year 7 & 8 at Freeville during the first weeks of next term. We look forward to catching up and talking to those parents about the fantastic programmes that are provided for our senior students. We are very proud of the quality teaching and excellent opportunities that all our Year 7 & 8 students receive.

Nga mihi, keep safe and warm.

John

Red Cross Grants - Don't be shy

Kia ora koutou

The Red Cross Grants Processing Team would like to notify you of a new grant that was launched on the 1st July; the Winter Assistance for School Aged Children Grant.

The aim of this grant is to assist people with school aged children aged 5 to 18 years who are living in their significantly damaged homes caused by either September, February or June earthquakes. The significant damage must include serious compromise to the insulation of the home or significant damage to the main heating source. This grant assists households with their electricity bills over the winter months. This grant is for $400 in total and will be made up of three monthly payments, the first payment will be $200 and the subsequent ones for $100 each which will be paid directly to their electricity retailer.

For the most up to date information on our grants visit the grants website http://www.redcrosseqgrants.org.nz/Overview/Information/Available-Grants.htm or call the grant line on 0800 754 726.

If you are unable to print the grant forms we can print them for you at the school office.

Keep safe and warm

John

Coats for Kids Assembly

He mihi matakuikui ki a koutou. (A joyous greeting to you all)

We had a great day yesterday and really enjoyed being able to gather together as a whole school for our 'Coats for Kids' thank you assembly.

We are so grateful to the friends of Freeville School who worked together with us to make this initiative successful. In particular our thanks goes to Kate Twigg, our friends at Macpac, Todd and Pam from King's Swim School, Duncan Clarke from Cafe Roma who helped with accessing publicity and sponsors, and all the individuals, schools, and groups who contributed towards the sponsorship costs.

Our quote of the day comes from a conversation between Pierre from Macpac and one of our children who when asked if he liked the jacket responded, "It's like wearing a hug."

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi. Engari he toa takitini. (Success is not the work of one, but the work of many.)

Nga mihi ki a koutou katoa.

John