From the Desk of Judi Paape, Junior School Principal

PYP Evaluation - Issue 16 2010

Yeah, I see on TV that the first of the ski fields is open which means getting out my boots and skis again and tuning them up. I love the sound of clicking my boots into the skis ready to set off for that ‘perfect run’! There’s something about the sport of skiing (I guess any sport really) that is hugely satisfying, personally challenging, and oh so rewarding. It is an exhilarating feeling to ski a run well especially after so many runs where one ends up falling, getting wet, and horribly cold. It probably doesn’t sound like too much fun to a lot of you but there are many who will know exactly what I am talking about.

Being New Zealanders, we are all slightly obsessed over sport and the outdoors and most of us introduce our children to some sort of sport very early. This is great as long as we let the children enjoy the experience as they learn the rules of the game and develop a healthy attitude to dealing with competition that does not take too long to ‘kick in’.

However, sport is not actually what I want to talk about in this editorial; the reason I mentioned it is because the feeling of satisfaction and exhilaration can come from many different experiences we have and I want to openly, proudly, and unashamedly celebrate the work of all the Kristin staff, but particularly the Junior School staff, for the work they do.

Being an authorised International Baccalaureate, PYP, MYP and IB Diploma School, we are audited by them every five years to make sure we are upholding the values, the IB mission and philosophy of all these programmes.

This was the case for the Junior School last week when we were visited by IB for our five-yearly evaluation audit. This audit is always extremely thorough, taking three long days of interviews, classroom visits, observations and asking questions of staff, students, parents, management and the Board for them to gain a complete picture of how well we are continuing to authentically implement the PYP and how well we are achieving this.

Prior to these visits we are obliged to do a self-study reflecting on the progress and achievements we have made on the recommendations from the last audit fi ve years previous. This study took the staff 14 months to complete and was an extremely valuable process showing us the progress that had been achieved over that period of time. Many staff meetings took place with professional discussion and debate around all the ‘sections’
and ‘standards’ that had to be evaluated and self-assessed prior to the visit in order for the IB representatives to see that we are meeting their standards.

I am very proud to tell you that in every section we achieved the highest evaluation comment possible on all the standards, and the IB Report concluded that;

“The self-study highlighted many strengths as well as areas for improvement. The school is to be congratulated for the work it has done and is doing to facilitate the ongoing implementation and development of the Primary Years Programme (PYP). The school is to be highly commended for actively addressing many practices that were identified in the self-study as areas in need of strengthening. This highlights the school’s commitment to the programme and the school’s commitment to continuous improvement.

The visiting team found that teachers were reflective of their teaching and learning practices and that of the philosophy and pedagogy of the PYP. The students were excited about their learning and enthusiastically shared their learning with the visiting team. Parents were also enthusiastic about the programme and were able to talk about their children’s enjoyment of learning.

The Kristin community has created a positive and supportive atmosphere for all. The leadership team provide excellent support to staff which the staff are appreciative of. In conversation throughout the visit it was evident that the school is a dynamic and supportive learning community, with a team of dedicated and enthusiastic educators.”

A huge and sincere thank-you to all of these “dedicated and enthusiastic educators”; our Curriculum/PYP Coordinator AP, Mr Rob Hutton, who coordinated the self-study, and to the amazing Junior School team of AP’s Mrs Fordham and Mrs Munro, classroom teachers Mrs Savage, Mrs McKittrick, Mrs Scoones, Mrs Chamberlain, Mrs Kelly, Mrs Bailey, Mrs
Barrell, Mrs Harker, Mrs Shand, Mrs Page-Wood, Mrs Taylor, Mrs Burrows, Mrs Bell, Mrs Sargeant, Mrs Isherwood, Mrs Withers, Miss Bassett, Mrs Cochran, Mr Nichol, Mrs Smith, Mrs Lloyd, Mr McDermott, Mrs Bull, Ms Marsh, Miss Gover, and our specialists Mrs Yang, Mr Boywer, Mr Crawford, Miss Poon, Mrs Verster, Mrs Miller, Ms Ackroyd, Mrs Kinley,
Mrs Fogarin, Mr Lockyer, Mrs Poole, Mrs McMurtrie and Mrs Mansfield. A big thank-you also to Mrs McKeown and Mrs Carroll in the office for their huge support.

I feel humbled and very proud to lead such a dynamic team and want you to know that your children are in great hands at Kristin. We are delivering a high standard of education right across the learning spectrum and most importantly we are doing it with enthusiasm and passion along with vision, integrity and love.

From the Desk of Judi Paape, Junior School Principal

Autumn – Issue 12 2010

I know it is now three weeks into Term 2, but the holidays are always a great time to do all the wonderful things one dreams of doing but can’t during term time.

I recall writing an editorial last year espousing the beauty of New Zealand in early spring. Well I have now enjoyed a totally different experience and this time, in the autumn. I am not too sure which season I think is the most stunning. I guess autumn and spring cannot be compared; they both have their own individual beauty, particularly in New Zealand.
This time I was fortunate to be invited to a spectacular Wairarapa Station (Snowy Range) for a few days. The prime reason for the visit was to hear the ‘roaring’ of the stags, a sound I would not have believed unless I had actually heard it myself. There is nothing quite so stunning as seeing a proud, 10 pointer stag regally standing on the skyline watching over his hinds!

It was a real treat to get out of the city into what one would call ‘real New Zealand’. I was instructed to pack some fairly warm clothes as the accommodation was less than one star! You know, the kind of dwelling that a hunter puts his/her head down for a few hours when out on the hunt for that trophy head to mount, in a prime position, on the wall at home.
However, the experience was exhilarating to say the least. The cabin was well equipped for hunters and I could see by what was on the walls there had been many enjoyable evenings there. The bunks had a mattress and a pillow (all you need). I was fortunate to have been supplied with a very warm sleeping bag that more that compensated for what could have been a couple of very cold and sleepless nights!

The food was surprisingly great and very welcome. Picture this, a roaring, open fire inside the hunter’s cabin, well equipped with an iron (dutch) camp oven and iron pots that cooked fantastic food over the flames, for a most pleasurable evening meal (and a glass of the best Pinot Noir) around the fire. There was no electricity but the lamps that hung from the rafters more than compensated for providing very adequate lighting.

We woke to stunningly beautiful mornings and after the polite queuing for the ‘long drop’ (with a water closet I might add), the days started with bacon and eggs cooked on the BBQ outside and the coffee pot bubbling on the gas primer. Who could ask for more way out in the middle of beautiful New Zealand?

The days were spent generally on the back of quad bikes exploring the four corners of the station, stopping to explore the valleys on foot in the hope of sighting a stag (which we did), and visiting other hunters staying in the various ‘Bivvy’s’ (Bivouac, French, probably from German) around the tracks. Only in New Zealand would you find an old 70s bubble caravan used for the purpose of a hunter’s cabin. The interesting part was that the caravan was placed inside the cabin and was used as the cooking and sleeping quarters. How clever, warm and waterproof.

Another thing that impressed me was the night sky. Having no light to dull the brightness of the universe it was nothing less than spectacular. We watched several satellites gliding their way across the sky, a sight generally not seen in the city.

The whole point of sharing this with you is to encourage you all to get out of your comfort zones when you can and take some risks. When we do this, it opens up a whole world of amazing and enjoyable experiences that enrich our lives making us better people.
We work hard to encourage this in our students, across the school from Kindy through to Year 13, and in every aspect of their learning, making the results they achieve as risk-takers, exciting and highly rewarding. Being an IB school, one of the characteristics on the Learner Profile is to be a risk-taker by approaching unfamiliar situations and uncertainty with courage and forethought, and to have the independence of spirit to explore new roles, ideas and strategies. Through this they become brave and articulate in defending their beliefs. This quality is only one small part of what our students become by the end of their time at Kristin as they go on to ‘progress with vision, integrity and love’ to be whatever they choose to be.

From the Desk of Judi Paape, Junior School Principal

It's Never Too Late! - Issue 8 2010

Because I have had a few incidences recently where punctuality has been a problem, I thought a discussion on this could be worthwhile. I am one of those people who has to be at the airport hours before the plane takes off; be at the theatre well before the show starts or turn up to an appointment even before the people before me do! I can’t help it, it’s just
me. In fact many of my friends set their time by me as they know if I say I will be there at 9.30 I will be there at 9.30! Sounds boring I know, but it keeps me calm.

Time management skills vary a great deal in all of us. Are you a ‘punctual’ person or an ‘always late’ person? It’s never too late to learn to become punctual. However being late can be a way of life for some people in that being late is the only way they can get anything done. Actually in spite of my confession earlier, I can relate to this as well because racing to meet a deadline can get great results because of the adrenaline rush that charges you up to get the job completed on time. But there is a cost to this; worry,
a feeling of panic and lying awake at night as the deadline looms!

What is your household like in the mornings when your children have to be at school and you have to be at the office at a certain time? Does your family start the day with repeated orders and pleading to various members to get up, get dressed, have breakfast, pack their school bag, brush their teeth and then run for the bus? Sound familiar?

It has been proven that constant lateness has an affect on children’s ability to learn. A calm, well-organised start to the day and successful time management help the habits that lead to good learning. Children don’t like to be late into class so teaching them about good time management early, leads to greater contentment and successful learning.

Satisfaction with how we use our time is an important predictor of happiness. Time is the basis on which we operate our lives so if we are happy with the way we manage time, we are usually happy with our life. We are always looking for more time or pleading with it not to go so fast, so what can we do to make sure we are spending our time wisely and getting the most out of our lives?

Here are a few tips for you to try on less punctual family members. It only takes one to raise the stress levels for everyone.

• Set an alarm, establish bathroom routines, have breakfast ready and expect them to be at the door on time. Dare I suggest that being left behind just once is often all it takes to make the change!

• Try a ‘To do’ list and learn to enjoy ticking off each task, or give a reward, as it is done.

• Regard the lack of punctuality as a lack of manners. People who always keep others waiting generally regard themselves as more important. They are sending a message that your time is not as important as theirs.

• To feel more in control of your time, take note of when you are late and by how much. It will often be a standard amount and will conform to a pattern. Often people don’t factor in the travel time which can make a huge difference to arriving on time.
• Reduce distractions. Turn off your email alert so you can stay focussed, and set a time limit for how often you check them. This one tends to catch many of us out.

• Limit TV watching, surfing the net and all the other great time-wasters of the modern world.

• Set your watch and clocks five minutes early (this works for me).

• Think about other people and how they will feel about having to wait for you.

• Aim to hand in any assignment the day before as this gives you time to recheck it for improvement.

While punctuality is a very important personal quality, it is only one of the demands on the 21st century parent whose children are forging their own way in this world. We do live in a very fast world that often gets the better of us. However our children are watching and learning from all the examples we are setting. If we do punctuality better we will have more
time to spend with them sharing the magic of their world, which in turn, will calm our own. It’s never too late to be punctual!

From the Desk of Judi Paape, Junior School Principal

Make a Difference - Issue 4 2010

I know we are well into 2010 and already full of enthusiasm and excitement for what the year may bring. However as this is my first editorial I do want to wish you all a happy and successful year and hope the holiday break was everything you wanted, most of all restful.

As is the case for most of us, the only time I have to get any reading done, that isn’t academic, is in these breaks. School is actually never too far from any Principal’s thoughts, even in the holidays, as for me everything I read is always punctuated with, ‘I must remember to tell our parents or students about this’, or ‘I must remember to note this to pass on to the staff’.

Such is the case again, so I want to share with you some of what I read. I chose quite a smorgasbord of genre and subject material and found all to be great reading.

Being a Tennis player Andre Agassi’s ‘Open – An Autobiography’ was an outstanding read. I recall on many occasions watching (on TV) his performance on the Tennis court and being quite shocked at his behaviour, but ‘wowed’ by his skill. But how easy is it to judge someone without any background information? This book is a treat for ardent Tennis fans but will also captivate readers who know nothing about Tennis. Like Agassi’s game it sets a new standard for grace, style, speed and power.

‘Another gripping story and another biography called ‘Someone Knows My Name’ written by Lawrence Hill, made me so appreciate being born in these times. This captivating and somewhat depressing story of one woman’s remarkable experience (abducted from South Africa as a child and enslaved in South Carolina), spans six decades and three continents and brings to life a crucial chapter in world history.

Then there were the women’s ‘mags’ and the newspapers – all the light reading! I did enjoy reading the following and want to share it with you. I hope you enjoy it.

This is the philosophy of Charles Schultz, the creator of the ‘Peanuts’ comic strip. You don’t have to actually answer the questions. Just ponder on them.

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America pageant.
4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.
6. Name the last decade’s worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday.
These are no second-rate achievers.
They are the best in their fields.
But the applause dies.
Awards tarnish.
Achievements are forgotten.
Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here’s another quiz. See how you do with this one.

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special!
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier?

The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials ... the most money ... or the most awards. They simply are the ones who care the most.

At Kristin our teachers care enough to want to ‘make a difference’. We want to be the teachers our students remember for the rest of their lives; maybe for helping them through a difficult time, or because we taught them something worthwhile, or, maybe we made them feel appreciated and special.

I look forward to another great year at Kristin doing things with a real purpose but having fun along the way as we progress the learning for every one of our students.

From the Desks of Judi Paape, Junior School Principal and Grace Lee, Year 6 student

The Journey - Issue 34 2009

As is the custom I have given this week’s Editorial space to a Year 6 student. However I want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your contribution to Kristin School throughout the year, no matter how big or how small, it has been greatly appreciated.

On behalf of all the students and the staff in the Junior School I wish you a blessed and happy Christmas holiday break with your families.

My Journey through the Junior School

I remember, dimly, seeing Kristin for the first time through the eyes of a five year old. I remember seeing a big ring of parents and children outside the Year 1 classrooms, and a teacher was standing in the middle, calling out the names of the children who were to be in a certain class.

And so it all began. Chapel gave us the virtues we then strove to display; our mascot, perched jauntily on the edge of the stage at Assembly, somehow made us sit straighter than ever with a firmly rooted desire to win it for that week; the Prize-givings and Effort Awards ceremonies made us think ‘one day I’ll be up there’; the Student Led Conferences in which we proudly showed our parents what we’d achieved that year – these were all parts of our journey through Kristin that inspired, encouraged and helped us. At first, a lot of us thought of them as a vague sort of ‘fun’. Now I realise how lucky we were to have so many opportunities to learn more and get involved in so many different activities.

About three years had passed since the first day. I was sitting in front of my Year 4 teacher and listening as she described the various joys that our last three years in the Junior School would bring.
We eventually experienced the joys. Our first camp, in Year 4, was an amazing experience, from archery and abseiling to charades and chess.

Year 5 camp seemed really special since we were the first to go to Camp Bentzon on Kawau Island. We got used to the sounds of the sea, a few seconds walk away, and being the last thing we heard every night.
In 2009, Exhibition stretched our brains to the limit; Exhibition Week seemed just too short compared to the 12 weeks leading up to it. We were offered leadership opportunities such as being a House Captain or a Peer Mediator, to being a leader at camp.

We’d heard many times that Year 6 was a year to remember. We finally realised throughout this year how true it was.

But it’s not just Year 6 that you remember. The whole six year journey through the Junior School at Kristin is something you will always remember. The feeling before the curtains open in a production; the excitement when you stand on a stage facing the audience; the tight tension before the Cross-Country starts; the ‘just-before-lights-out’ chattering at camp; the anticipation on the first day back at school for a new year.

And the moments that are just your own: that conversation that you started with your friend that had some mysteriously important content; that time you did that ‘oh-so-terrifying’ activity at camp and lived to talk about it – you’ll remember all of that too.

You’ll remember all your time at Kristin Junior School. The teachers who never seemed to give up on you – you’ll realise how much patience it would have taken. The friends who helped you out and encouraged you – what would you have done without them? That teacher or guest speaker who really inspired you to try something new – you’ll realise that thanks to them, you can really make a difference. That’s how things happen at Kristin.

There are only a few more weeks left until the end of the school year. All the Year 6 students will be sad to leave the Junior School behind. We all learned a lot from our time here and will use the valuable skills and learning we have gained for the rest of our journey through Kristin School.

From the Desk of Judi Paape, Junior School Principal

Unlocking Potential – Issue 30 2009

Unlocking potential is one of the great joys of being a teacher. Nothing is more important than planning programmes that adequately prepare children for the world they will inherit. The teachers at Kristin willingly accept this challenge with excitement and passion.

How do we discover the potential of our students? What do we look for and what do we do with it after this is uncovered? The wonderful thing about working with young children is that they have not yet begun to realise what they are capable of doing. It is our job to find it and to teach and encourage them to be the very best they can be.

Every young child comes to us with a wide variety of early childhood experiences, knowledge and skills. Some can read and some have yet to pick up a book. Some are tactile and others love to learn visually or are audio learners; all a huge mix of learning styles and abilities. Although development usually occurs in recognizable and predictable directions, it is unique in each child; occurring at varying rates.

John R Frew writes in his book, Emotional Consideration of Curriculum, “The secret in achieving good educational outcomes is not only in more efficient delivery, more outcomes, more assessment, but a focus on the very point where learning takes place. It is the moment when a teacher and a student address a problem, the human interface when a positive relationship and connectedness is established. It is a personal moment and the success or failure of each student can depend more on the expertise of the teacher than it does on any curriculum. This is most evident in early learning where a sense of security and safety has to happen before any authentic academic learning can take place. The valuable learning that takes place in the early years lays the foundations for all future learning. Research indicates that the rapid rate of development that occurs in the physical, social, emotional, intellectual and aesthetic domains is particularly significant”.

It is our responsibility as educators of younger children to recognise and maximise this crucial stage of learning. This is one of the major reasons we focus so heavily on teacher-pupil relationships at Kristin. They give the one-on-one attention that advances early learning in students and provides them with a sound learning base across all the domains. In the Junior School we give every student specialist Physical Education classes; they enjoy specialist Performing Arts experience, Religious Education and Philosophy, and learn a second language that helps to develop both sides of the brain.

These are 21st Century skills, but they are not new. Critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, information literacy, global awareness, mastery of facts as well as complex analysis has always been taught in effective schools. What is new is how critical these skills are to achieving success in the rapidly changing years ahead, meaning we have to teach them more intentionally and effectively than ever.

To be able to think critically, students need to have good knowledge of how to access content knowledge that is central to all subject areas. Our job as educators is to decide which skills are most important to prepare them well for the future and to teach them systematically and well.

The rewards are many and great in the world of an educator. We greet a new class of students into our classrooms at the beginning of every year, empower, encourage and support them to be the very best they can be and then pass them on to start the process all over again, always with renewed vision, the following year. It is this time of the year that teachers see the results of their hard work and the exciting progress and achievement that each of their students has made. I am sure there is no other profession that can provide this kind of job satisfaction.

From the Desk of Judi Paape, Junior School Principal

The Virtue of Honesty - Issue 24 2009

One of the things I find difficult to deal with in life is someone not telling the truth or being dishonest. I am sure every one of us has experienced the feeling of being misled or lied to, which can often leave lifetime scars in people.
One of the most important values that we work hard on with our students is honesty. We try very hard to encourage them to speak the truth and to take responsibility for the things they do and say to each other.

We hear enough ‘stretching’ of the truth in the media, practically on a daily basis; so much so that one never knows what is the truth and what isn’t. Left to our own devices we need to have the skills to be able to ‘spot’ a liar.

The word truth, according to Wikipedia, has a variety of meanings, from honesty, good faith, and sincerity in general, to no agreement with fact or reality in particular. The term has no single definition about which a majority of professional philosophers and scholars agree, and various theories and views of truth continue to be debated; very academic!

On the other hand, Wikipedia describes honesty as speaking the truth and creating trust in the minds of others. This involves all kinds of communication, both verbal and non-verbal. Honesty implies a lack of deceit. A statement can be strictly true but still be dishonest if the intention of the statement is to deceive its audience. Similarly, a falsehood can be spoken honestly if the speaker actually believes it to be true. Conversely, dishonesty can be defined simply as behaviour that is performed with intent to deceive. Lying by commission, lying by omission, fraud, and plagiarism are all examples of this sort of behaviour; this makes more sense.

However, I am really only wanting to discuss truth and honesty in our daily lives, especially teaching children about the valuable value of ‘integrity’.

We can all become very upset when children don’t tell the truth, whether at home or at school. The best reaction to a ‘lie teller’ is to find out why they told a lie because there are very often many different reasons for not telling the truth.

Very young children think their parents can see exactly what they are thinking, so telling the truth or telling lies is not an issue for them. They are at that lovely stage when they think their parents know everything!
However by the age of three, children discover people don’t actually know what they are thinking. They will test this new knowledge by ‘telling whoppers’ or will try to blame someone else when things go wrong, or they will even make up a story rather than own up!

As they begin school, children quickly learn that it is good to please their parents and their teachers. They will tell ‘fibs’ as a matter of course in the interests of pleasing their parents and to avoid blame. It is pointless to get into long interrogations at this stage so it is good advice to try a different approach and lead by example; but still to make them aware that telling a lie is not acceptable.

By the age of around eight, children are developing their understanding of right and wrong and can separate truth from fantasy. As they enter their teens children will often lie to protect their thoughts and privacy from their parents.

There are many reasons why children lie. They do it to avoid punishment, to keep their parents’ love, to make themselves look better, to impress their peers, to imitate adult behaviour and of course to get what they want!

From our point of view as parents and teachers it is valuable to build relationships with children, from a very young age, based on trust and respect. It is important to praise them when they tell the truth but avoid giving rewards. Honesty should be its own reward. It is important to give older children their privacy and avoid prying. If they know you trust and respect them, they are unlikely to be doing much wrong.

So the point of my editorial is to say that as adults it is important for us to model the virtue of honesty to children, in it’s entire meaning, for them to become great world citizens who have a happy life. I am sure we are all very aware of the destruction dishonesty brings to many lives.

From the Desk of Judi Paape, Junior School Principal

Effort – Issue 20 2009

As it is the ‘season’ for rewarding students for their effort throughout the first half of the year, I thought it timely to discuss this in my editorial this week.
Awarding Effort Awards to students has always been a topic of debate as it can be seen to be quite subjective on the part of the teacher. However research sees the application of effort as being the ‘key to success’ and if clear criteria is set for the students to understand and follow then these awards certainly serve their purpose.

Who wouldn’t want their children to be successful? We all want that for them but for that to happen there is a long journey of effort, failure and risk and as a young student in the Junior School, as our school song says, “our journey’s just beginning”.

Effort takes many forms. Just getting out of bed in the morning and showing up takes effort. Knowing ‘stuff’ – being smart might be the luck of the draw, but knowing ‘stuff’ is the result of effort.
Effort is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as; “the use of physical or mental energy, a determined attempt or the result of an attempt; something accomplished.” The Web’s definition reads; “an earnest and conscientious attempt intended to do or accomplish something.”

Using this as a criteria for awarding an Effort Award to students has to make a lot of sense.

It is valuable and important for us as teachers to recognise effort or hard work, which is the same thing, from our students. Valuable and important, because it will teach them and encourage them that hard work is rewarded and that it is the number one factor in the creation of success.

The difference between being OK and being very successful is often small. Anyone can go from being OK to very successful by setting goals and then realising that effort and hard work will be needed to achieve them. Effort is the most important thing. More important than talent because if students rely on their talent, their brains or their skills alone, they will always be second to their classmates who may have less talent but make more of an effort.

Educators find that rewarding students for effort rather than valuing only results, gets a better result from all students individually. Less capable students can get discouraged, frustrated and unmotivated in exploring their potential if rewarding results is the only criteria used by teachers. It is important to remember that rewarding students for their effort, even though they failed to produce desired outcomes, is not tantamount to lowering their standards. Instead, recognising effort can and invariably gets results. Students learn to take risks and to persevere the moment they succeed at something they have failed at before. It is interesting to note that students who learn to accept failure without associating it with defeat also learn the art of leadership.

We don’t want our students to be ‘safe’ learners. Instead we want to encourage them to take risks and to fail occasionally. Learning to fail, with grace, is a very valuable lesson and one we over-protect our children from experiencing. There are many lessons to be learned from failure. In fact failing at something is our chance to have another go, this time with the benefit of experience. Because we seldom have only one chance, a failure can be part of our development, a positive step towards becoming successful. There is no disgrace in falling over as long as we pick ourselves up and start again, unafraid to have another attempt. This builds resilience.

Aristotle said that happiness comes from activity, both physical and mental. We are happy when we take pride in what we can do well. If we miss out on the joy of work we miss out on an important part of life. Believe it or not, doing a job well, cheerfully, willingly and with pride is one of the greatest pleasures we can enjoy.

Life, happiness, prosperity and success all take effort. The best secret in life is that if you decide what you want and then work hard to achieve it, the odds are excellent that you will be successful. There are no shortcuts and in the end we will value the prize more deeply if we have made the effort, fought the fight and achieved our goals.

So what do you think is the secret to success? I know what it is for me!

From the Desk of Judi Paape, Junior School Principal

Celebrating Tasha's Success - Issue 15 2009

Good news is always a thrill and something we need as often as we can get it. Celebrating success is something we do well at Kristin and this time it is a staff member, Miss Tasha Gover, Year 6 teacher, whom we are celebrating.

After many years of not nominating a teacher for the New Zealand Independent Schools’ Excellence in Teaching Awards for Exceptional Professional Performance, because I have always felt that I have always worked with the best, I, along with my leadership team, decided that we did have a staff member this year who had worked incredibly hard both professionally and personally over the past five years and whose outstanding professional growth met all the criteria of this award.

This NZIS Excellence in Teaching Award is presented to teachers in Independent Schools who demonstrate exceptional service and commitment to student learning and welfare. Miss Gover’s performance had to be measured against the criteria of outstanding accomplishments in academic and/or sporting and/or cultural and/or other student-related activities. Criteria had to be assessed in teaching and learning in the classroom, professional contribution, contribution to the wider life of the school and contribution to education at the national level.

Congratulations go to Miss Gover who had to compete against New Zealand’s best teachers for this award. She had to have written references from parents and teachers, whose words absolutely affi rmed her nomination. I felt extremely proud when I watched her being presented with this award at the Independent Schools’ Conference in Wellington last weekend. Here is what Miss Gover had to say in her acceptance speech:

“My professional journey began in a small rural school in Northland and has taken me to the big city of Auckland, where I have been teaching Year 6 at Kristin for the past six and a half years. I have always loved learning and as a teacher I try to instil this same love of learning in my students.

For me, teaching is about motivating, engaging and challenging my students in their learning so that they can achieve to the best of their ability. I aim to teach programmes of work that are exciting and intellectually stimulating, incorporating best pedagogical practise. I aim to be creative and innovative in my approach to teaching, using ideas, resources and technologies that I know will enrich my classroom programmes and enhance my students’ learning. I aim to create an atmosphere of mutual respect and caring, where each student’s strengths are celebrated and their learning needs are recognised. I aim to create a classroom environment that is stimulating and fun. I aim to make school a great experience for each and every one of my students.

It is so rewarding as a teacher to see my students motivated and engaged in their learning, applying incredible effort and working through tasks that stimulate and challenge them to achieve great success. It is amazing to see the progress my students make throughout the year and to know that I helped them achieve their goals. It is fantastic to have former students visit my classroom to reminisce about their time in Year 6, sharing their memories of fun, exciting learning and experiences that they will remember always. Each student remembers their year as being the ‘best ever’, when this happens; I know that I have succeeded.

I have always believed that if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. I believe that teaching is one of the most worthwhile jobs in the world and I aim to do the absolute best I can.”

Her students had this to say:

“Every day is exciting in 6G. Miss Gover has the ability to make every lesson fun and enjoyable for everyone. I love the way we always learn about things in different ways and think outside the box. Whether we’re making models, watching videos or experimenting by sling- shotting pens across the room to learn about energy, learning is fun and interesting. We do lots of ICT and use the mimio, it makes work fun and interactive. Miss Gover makes learning fun so you’re learning but having too much fun to notice.”

That is exactly why she has been awarded this high honour.

From the Desk of Judi Paape, Junior School Principal

The Strength of Community – Issue 12 2009

What an exciting and interesting month April turned out to be. I am not sure what it was like for you but for me there seemed to be a great deal happening to keep me busy and motivated all of its 30 days, and for a lot of it I wasn’t even at school!

It was lovely to hear the students’ enthusiastic (or not!) rendition of their experiences over the holiday break as they returned to school to start the term. April always starts with a prankster, or a fun loving, risk taking, student realising the 1st is April Fool’s Day. We didn’t manage to escape the fun of the morning and we all enjoyed, and went along with, the tricks played upon us.

The end of term followed very quickly after and then of course, the traditional celebrations of Easter shared with family, friends and ‘chocolate’, and later in the month leading into Anzac Day celebrations of Remembrance; two important celebrations.

However the most valuable experience for me during April was to have the privilege of visiting a village on a remote island in unsettled Fiji. Wow, what a humbling experience to drink tea sitting on a woven mat with the Chief and the families living in the village. We were surrounded by huts they call home, animals, and beautiful, happy and well-mannered children. I learned the correct protocol of such a visit and after spending a very interesting and valuable two hours, mostly with the women and the children, I came away wanting to do so much more for them all.

I saw living proof of the contents of the Christmas Boxes that our students so lovingly purchase gifts for and pack each year. That was thrilling to see, affirming their delivery. I was impressed by how happy they all were and how much pride and respect they had for their village, particularly the Kindergarten, the School and their Church. You can imagine the thoughts that were spinning through my head about what I could do to assist, especially with the children.

As we interacted with the children and joined in their games the gap between our worlds became smaller. They were so beautiful and spirited I could have easily packed a couple in my bag and brought them home!

However, the reality of such thoughts has had to be manifested in more innovative and appropriate ways of providing assistance. Being in an IB World School that supports not only our local community but our global community gives us a wonderful opportunity to do this.

I read recently in the IB World magazine about respecting difference and liked the quote “There’s a difference between tolerance and acceptance. Here we go beyond acceptance, to celebration. However just ‘teaching tolerance’ and ‘celebrating diversity’ miss an essential lesson: to respect difference.” In our daily living it is not enough for us to ‘tolerate’ unfamiliar or irritating things. Instead I think we all need, especially our children, opportunities and strategies for engaging in lifestyles and cultures unlike our own, in which the fundamental assumption is one of respect.

This was very clear to me as we approached the Fijian village and saw and felt the respect within this culture. A little part of me even envied the simple life! I was touched by the sense and strength of community that was so evident. It has been said that the only ‘real’ communities left in the world today are schools. How sad is that? But if you think about it, it is probably true.

We are fortunate to belong to a school that values and nurtures ‘community’, which is both comforting and reassuring in a society that tends to only look out for ‘number one’. I believe it is important for us to keep our eyes on the needs of not only our local community but on our global community as well. After all we are citizens of the globe and with that comes some responsibility on our part.

From the Desk of Judi Paape, Junior School Principal

Happy Thoughts - Issue 8 2009

How many of you drive to work each day, like me, and have 20 to 30 minutes of quiet and peaceful ‘thinking time’, often punctuated by something that catches your eye as you drive, or by something you may hear on the radio?
I love this time in the car, alone, when I can choose complete silence, to have the National Programme telling me about all the doom and gloom out there that I have heard three or four times that day already, or I can choose to listen to some tranquil, peaceful, relaxing music. God Bless choice!

Most of my time spent in the car driving to and from Kristin each day is generally ‘thinking time’ because of the nature of my job. I’m not one to waste time so this compulsory sitting time is to be used productively I tell myself!
Each morning I feel fortunate to be travelling on the side of the motorway that does not have nose to tail traffic from the city side of the bridge to Greville Road, where I turn off, and beyond, so my ‘thinking time’ has to be coupled with keeping my eyes on the road. (Wow, a multi-tasker I hear you say!) I can’t help but see the facial expressions on the faces in the cars opposite me, heading into town, and I wonder what they are thinking about. I can never understand how one can spend so long sitting in the car to get to work, only to have to turn around and do exactly the same thing after work to get home!

However, I guess we all do what is right for us at the time and for me to drive from Parnell to Albany gives me the opportunity to wind up for another exciting and productive day at Kristin and then to wind down again. At least in this time I have planned the day ahead and arrive at school well prepared and in the ‘zone’ by the time I enter Gate 1.

I often think about the current book I am reading and am always so inspired to read about people who have wonderful, exciting, interesting lives and envy the way they can put pen to paper and write so engagingly about it. I try to fit some of this new information I learn into my own life. At present I am reading Parky, the wonderful story of the life and interviews of Michael Parkinson. His TV interviews with the famous and often not so famous, were always outstanding viewing. I wonder if he spent time while driving to and from work thinking about how to formulate questions to ask each person he was about to interview. I am sure he did. Parkinson’s memoir is an inspiring story, particularly for anyone who has hated school and left with few qualifications, because it is one of those stories that proves that dreams do come true.

And then there are the 10,000 hours (that equates to 10 years) we need to spend to become an expert at something, says Malcolm Gladwell in his latest book, Outliers – the story of success. Another interesting read about practice and positive thought. Great reading.

Thought is a vital, living force. Thought builds our character. “As a man thinketh, so he is.” “Man is created by thought; what a man thinks upon, so he becomes.” Think you are strong; strong you become. Think you are weak; weak you become. We can even control our health by our thoughts. Our body is the product of our mind. Interesting isn’t it?

So what we think about has a huge influence over what we do and how successful we can become. Not only that but the ‘trips down memory lane’ thoughts that are often triggered by something we hear or see are wonderful and I often find myself, like you I’m sure, laughing out loud about something I did 20 years ago.

I know the ‘recession’ may not be a happy time at present but let’s all keep thinking positive thoughts and let’s make sure we all look after each other in our families and our communities. Happy thinking everyone.

From the Desk of Judi Paape, Junior School Principal

Goal Setting - Issue 4 2009