The
Moana Messenger: An
Introduction
Three years ago our children competed in the NZ
Herald, nation-wide newspaper competition where we won in one category and
placed in the other. The ‘Moana Messenger’ was the name given to one of these
papers. It seems appropriate to me to build on a successful tradition and so I
am calling this blog the ‘Moana Messenger’. I have been intending to write now
for a couple of years now and have been inspired to get into gear by one of our
parents – Tania Bayer who not too long ago began her own blog ‘Gardening with
Grandad’.
I don’t expect to be writing every week but I will
write when I would like to keep our immediate community informed about what is
happening at Moanataiari School and when the information is more than you would
ordinarily expect in one of our regular news letters. Some of my blogs will
have more of a school community focus and some will have more of a professional
flavour in which I might use a bit more educational jargon. From time to time,
I anticipate that my senior leadership team will also have something to say.
The approach of this blog will be in line with the
school’s belief of “Learning and Growing Together” i.e. BOT, staff, children
and parents are always learning and what we learn is beneficial to us as a
community. On occasion issues will be raised which may create some level of
discussion. As a school we are open to respectful, reasoned discussions. The
discussions may or may not lead to change but as a school we try to look for
win-win solutions.
Each blog will be peer reviewed by a colleague to
ensure that what is being said is balanced, fair and accurate and in keeping
with our School Values of: Excellence, Respect, Self Discipline, Caring,
Whanaungatanga (placing emphasis on relationships and connectedness) and
Manaakitanga (similar to caring but also including concepts such as
hospitality).
In the near future we will blog on:
1. School
reports and interviews
a. Years
four to eight
b. Years
one to three
(Depending on feedback we will consider making
changes).
2. Our
Education Review Report which took place at the beginning of the term and will
be released publicly within the next month.
If you are parents of the school we look forward to reading your comments and if you are a lurker (someone who likes to read but not comment) come and talk to us. In all comments and discussions, let us as a community be respectful towards one another.
David Brock (Principal)
