Trust that EVERYONE is having

a great break.

Keep warm.

Congratulation to the students in Harakeke

who won the competition to design a poster

to remind other students to show respect at assembly.

Well done and I hope you enjoyed the pizzas.

I bought a flower.....

In the holidays I bought a 'flower' for the school. It was delivered last week. I was a bit disappointed because it is quite small. 

 It was much BIGGER in the photo I thought.

Can you find the flower?

Where is it and what do YOU think of it?

Congratulations to 

Max and Zena 

who are our new School Leaders

Last week we had an election at school

and Max and Zena were elected by our students.

My visit to schools in Wellington

...same...same...but different...

a look at different school 'cultures'......

In Term One, a group of principals from Nelson schools

visited Wellington to look at some schools.

This was an opportunity for us to see things that other schools did

and get lots of NEW ideas.

The first school we visited was 

Canons Creek School in Porirua.

This was a really exciting school 

and the children were really friendly.

We had a walk in the playground and all

of the children talked to us.

They asked use who we were and where we came from.

I was very interested in their reading programme.

The teacher only worked with 2 or 3 children at a time.

This meant they got  really personalised help 

and they were really involved.

This programme reminded me of what Ms Tennett does in our Reading Recovery Programme.

The next school was Amesbury School in Johnsonville.

This was a really NEW school and had only been open 

a very short time.

This school was built in an area like a big volcanic crater with houses on the hills all around.

The kids had lots and lots of really cool furniture to sit on, like lots of bean bags and soft moulded seats 

like the one in the photo above.

Even the staffroom had bean bags - lucky teachers I thought!!

They also made really effective (good) use of technology 

in all the classes.

At Naenae School they were really proud of their 

EDIBLE GARDENS.

They also showed us their HUGE worm farm.

They are an ENVIRO-SCHOOL.

At Birchwood YOU can join the ENVIRO-TEAM.

Just go and talk to Miss Driver......

The last school we visited was 

HUTT INTERMEDIATE 

in Lower Hutt.

They had lots of special rooms where they did special subjects.

In the photo above you can see students in the art room.

They were doing pencils sketches and they were AMAZING.

Speaking of AMAZING, they had also done 3D pictures

as part of a study on disasters.

This picture shows the Wahine Disaster which happened in Wellington harbour.

Really cool picture I thought.....

A lot of the things we saw were the

SAME

as at Birchwood School.

Many of the schools we visited had

RESPECT

as one of their values, just like Birchwood....

These were three posters at Hutt Intermediate.

What can you see in these posters that is the

SAME

as at Birchwood?

Do we do many of the same things that they do at

Hutt Intermediate?

I WONDER if we need to make some posters like this?

WHAT do YOU think?

THEN.... we had a real treat....

NOW....

Where do you think these photos are from?

Anyone who thought they were from the 

WETA WORKSHOPS

is right!

This was an AWESOME visit where we were taken on a tour.

The tour took us right through the workshops where they make heaps of props for movies.

This is where they made the props for The Lord of the Rings and many others.

If YOU have a holiday in Wellington.

YOU have just got to ask your parents to take you to the Weta Workshops....

they are AWESOME....

Just before flying home....

we had lunch at the Chocolate Fish Cafe.

Most of the principals had a hot fish sandwich.... (not chocolate) 

which was delicious.

We even had a treat, one of the principals bought everyone a

CHOCOLATE FISH

to eat on the way to the airport.

Yummmmmy

---------------------------------------------------------------------

YOUR TURN...

Have YOU seen something coooool at another school?

Why don't you take a photo of it 

and bring it back and show me.

ALSO... how about some comments....

Mia and Brooklyn

are our School Leaders. 

Congratulations on being elected.

Havelock Mussel Festival.....

Last Saturday my family went to the 

HAVELOCK MUSSEL FESTIVAL....

We had an excellent time and the weather was AWESOME!

My son Lance got chosen from the audience to help

CHRIS FORTUNE with a cooking demonstration.

Chris Fortune won 'Hells Kitchen' on television in 2003.

He is now the Executive Chef at two restaurants in Blenheim.

Lance loves cooking so he was a good choice.

 This is a photo of Chris Fortune from his website.
(Chris is the one with 2 legs)

Chris is  confident speaker and presenter and is the current Chairperson of Farmers' Markets New Zealand and the Marlborough Farmers' Market. 

He has run extensive workshops and training  programs for market organisers, stalholders as well as cooking classes - public speaking -  demonstrations  -  product launches through out NZ.

One of the hardest positions that I have held over the years is that of full time father and husband to my wife Tina and two children, Kacey Lewis Fortune and Holly Nancy Fortune.

Chris is the Executive Chef at the Blenheim Scenic Circle Country Hotel and

the Marlborough Convention Centre

This is Lance (in the red apron).

He really enjoyed this experience.

Chris Fortune also does cooking demonstrations in schools.

He likes to make use of local produce, often from the garden in the school.

This is a photo of Chris Fortune at Fairhall School, they were making

Potato Gnocchi!

I wonder if Chris would do a cooking demonstration at Birchwood School?

We would have to sort out our EDIBLE GARDEN first - any volunteers?

Check out Chris Fortune's web site.....