I have wondered if you are aware that you can add comments to the blogs written by our teachers about learning?

My recent blog focussed on having Luke Boon and Sacha Willets at school sharing their skipping journey. They are experts in their field. 

Sacha left us a comment,

By using the online form parents and visitors to the website can leave a positive comment about the learning that they saw and read in the blog. There have been comments from around the world. The singing classroom got one as did the retelling of the legends using light.

So, I got to thinking — as you do. Can we get more comments on the blogs written in Term One showcasing learning? Learning is our core job here at Wairakei Primary.

I am now running a competition with all the blogs the teachers wrote in Term One and Term Two. The winner will be the teacher who gets the most positive original comments. All comments are moderated before they are published, so any spam comments will be removed. I will provide a prize for the three most commented on blogs. First, second and third places only.

Just to give away a little secret! Currently a post I wrote in Term One leads. It does make it tricky to give the prize to myself, although I'm sure I will manage somehow. So get behind your teacher, class and children and comment about what you enjoyed about their learning. Get your children to leave comments about what they learned and why it was valuable to them.

Time is spent writing the blogs. They are a big part of our point of difference. I believe they deserve to be recognised by the community both present and past.

A Guide for Parents
Over the term break, Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora released a guide for parents regarding illness in children. Titled ‘Knowing if your child is well enough to go to school.’ This guide is part of the planned approach to improving attendance at school. I found it a useful read, with a common sense approach to illness being applied.

I have reintroduced the three goals for the students to work on:

• Walk on the concrete and decks
• Collect jerseys and hoodies from the field and put them in your bag
• Be back to class on time

So far, there has been less clothing laying on the ground. Maybe this is due to the cold snap. It is always good to have goals to work on. It helps to keep everyone working together.

Rooms 5, 8, 10 and 11 invited their families to bring old technology to school to share with the students. The display was set up in a spare classroom with the classes rotating in and out during the morning. There were slideshows, and movie projectors. Old box cameras and a range of cell phone types. Such an interesting array of technology to remind us how fast things move and change.

Place this event in your calendar, as we build towards us retaining the Inter–school Cross Country title.