13 May 2022

We are two weeks in now. Children all look taller and more grown up after the holidays. Maybe we all do? As one of our parents (who shall remain nameless) said to me on road patrol Day 1.... “Jude, you've seen a lot of first days of Term 2!“ I laughed out loud and wondered if I looked totally bedraggled in my large duck-like mask and, of course, they got away with it (as it's quite funny..... and the 'many first days' piece is indeed true!). But for the first time in a long time, I thought - yes, we all - the whole community - was so needing and deserving of a break...... and a lovely break, I hope we all had. Now we are ready to weather what comes our way.....

For me, the highlight of the holidays was experiencing a massive pod of bottle-nosed dolphins for the first time, close up, jumping all up and around the water taxi on the way to the Sounds. This was one of the most amazing things I think I have seen. I could 'feel' them...... I won't forget it. I know some of our children are rather intrigued +++ about them too. Oh, how I wish we could sleep with just half our brain sometimes!

So, two weeks down and we are going strong. We have a lot on the horizon coming up very soon. On the first day back, the teachers had a session reflecting on our upcoming first ever Worser Bay School 'Zine'. We have really seen children have an opportunity to shine and show us their skills and talents in areas that maybe have been untapped and awaiting the stars to align, much like my dolphin epiphany!

We can never go down that track of a narrow prescriptive curriculum - a curriculum of a yesteryear, not for the expansive world our children are going to be part of. Watch out for an invitation to come and be part of developing our new ' local' curriculum. John (in the Seniors) is leading this piece this year and we will be inviting you to get involved as part of this inspiring project.

We have so much to be grateful for at 'our place' and would love you to be a big part in helping us realise what's possible in your child's 6 years here.

You are back at Karakia….. this is just a small appetiser in preparation for what you can get involved in as a parent at school…. much more to come!