8 March 2024

Over the last few weeks, I have found myself saying 'the school was built for children so everything is through a child's eyes' as I've been whisking parents through to view the school. Accompanied by a 'watch your head!' if they are taller! The architecture of our school plays an enormous part in how we are. The warmth of the wood, the views of the sea and hills, the circular feeling of the in at Autahi and out in Matariki. The 'arms' around the courtyard. It's a very interesting connection between place, the environment and why and how and the what.

Simon Sinek's 'golden circle' is all about this - starting with the why and working from the inside out. His work delves into the importance of thinking, acting and communicating from the inside out.

When our diaries get full and, in the case of the teachers, planning templates overloaded, it can be very easy just to go to the stuff, the what.... the surface features, if you like - and it's the deeper features which will make the difference - the why and how first and foremost.

I've found myself thinking about this as we get into the detail of our localised curriculum. Although the current version has served a great purpose and is held up as a pretty fine exemplar 'out there', it was feeling a bit tired and, after turning a few rocks over, we have refreshed this and are nearly down to the stage of finalising the what - we have the why and the how. It's funny as I've found myself returning to the original writing about our school when it was redesigned to add some flourish to our local curriculum thinking. 

The cyclic nature of the circle in action - again!

We will launch the new local curriculum over the coming months - I think it will resonate easily with you!