sv evi

On Monday 18th December Paihia School had the end-of-year celebration, called a Prizegiving. The whole student body (180 students if all are present) was assembled in the Whare. Each teacher presented awards for their class, and between the awards the students performed kapa haka. There were also some New Zealand Christmas carols thrown in. It was also the 8th grader’s graduation ceremony. It was a really powerful experience to witness. We sat in the front row and I brought a hanky, because I knew I would be crying a lot.

Luz won an award for artistic achievement for her class.

Here is an example of one of the New Zealand Christmas carols:

We got our kids’ report cards. They all had a color photo on the front and narrative feedback for each of these domains: thinking, managing self, relating to others, participating and contributing, literacy, and numeracy. They also had a student reflection part, and a space for family feedback. I felt that my children were affirmed in a “whole child” sense much more so then when I got the report cards back home, with a big list of standards and a “beginning/approaching/meeting/exceeding” and a short narrative comment at the end. I felt like these teachers really understood my kids. Here is Luz’ report card for an example.

We are only allowed to attend public school for 3 months out of 12 months on our visitor visas to New Zealand, so we will begin home schooling on January 2nd. We are going to do school from 8:30 to noon, Monday-Friday. We will see how we go! I’m sure we will do lots of adapting as we see what works and what doesn’t work.