Enlightening and Inspiring - Di and Mel visit some incredible Christchurch Schools

Wow!

After the amazing learning and connecting and ideating we did in Sydney during the SingulairtyU Conference, Mel and I wasted no time and promptly returned to Auckland for one night (me to attend my friends final concert as The D4 and Mel to migrate her pooch Guchi to new doggysitters) and then we were off to Christchurch early Friday morning to visit schools.

We met at the airport, with Mel's Board Chair, Karen Gibson and trustee, Lionel Mickell in tow.  I rented us a car and we drove straight to Waimari School to meet with Mike Anderson, Principal (and for an observation of a prospective TUONT DP!).

We were blown away with the candor, honesty and sheer brilliance that were bombarded with at Waimari and that continued as we visited Rolleston, Haeata, Ao Tawhiti Discovery, Haeata Campus and Waitakiri Schools.  I used the Supporting Future Oriented Learning & Teaching article  that the NZCER Published in 2012 to frame my noticings and takeaways from these, and other, school visits during term 1.

Thank you so much to the leaders in these schools for sharing your learning, approaches and advice with us new school principals!

Key takeaways from each school can be viewed in the following slides (Slides 5-19).