Visit to Waimirai School

Today we visited Waimire School.    This was very different from what we are doing in outr hub as they are a lot further along the collaborative journey.

Questions to ponder while at visit and post discussion.

1.What are good practices/systems that you saw on your visit?

I liked the play based learning and the relaxed atmosphere in the classroom. I was impressed that they were so in touch with Te Whariki and they were very mindful of where the children had come from. They appear to have a very good transition to school programme with a good system of parent communication.

2. What are strategies that were being used to promote the children’s self management?

At the beginning of the academic year, the children go on a trip to Willowbank to observe the behaviour of birds including Kiwi, Keas etc. They use the behaviours of the birds to name the learning spaces in the environment eg the Kiwi is a quiet bird who tends to have head down and bum up so this is what is expected of the children working in the kiwi space- quiet work etc. I thought this was great idea and it keeps it real for the children.

3. What types of activities were the students completing?

Some children in the junior hub were playing chess, building with blocks, looking at science- types of wood and magnifying glasses etc. Some children were doing an art activity adn others were doing construction with a parent helper. In the Kiwi" space a teacher was running a guided reading session. PE was also happening and it appeared that senior students were running the sessions.

4. Where there any resources that you thought that would be useful in your team?

Their teaching space was very purposeful and, it seems, ever changing to suit the learning needs of the students.

5. How did the teachers manage transitions?

I am not sure as we didn't get to see this in action.

6. How did their timetables operate?

The timetable appeared to be very fluid and I didn't see any timetables at all on the wall or on display at all. There appeared to be a very relaxed attitude towards planning and time etc.

7. What are some questions you have in regards to what you saw? Ideas that challenged your thinking?

I was surprised to hear that the children in the NE do not necessarily begin their school days with instructional reading. They might not be seen to be ready so this could mean that children could be at school for a few weeks before beginning the process of learning to read. ( Learning to read through the forma teaching I am used to anyway.)

8. What role did the teachers play during the lesson? (e.g. Workshops/Coach)

I believe there appeared to be a mixture of roles eg teaching workshops (instructional reading) and facilitating.

9. What did their planning systems look like? E.g Do they use some kind of tracking sheet/system to monitor where children are?

I was interested to note that there did not appear to have a big focus on planning on paper. I am sure they did plan but it seemed like it was very fluid and oral based. it is possible I have misunderstood this!

10. What could we implement in our own team?I really liked the bird names being used to name the learning spaces in the environment and I liked that the NE teachers had each spent some time relieving in various preschools to gain a better understanding of the brain development of 5 year olds.  I was also impressed with the fact that they run parent information sessions on a regular basis to keep parents up to speed with the transition to school process.  It should also be noted that they are a much larger school than ours with a roll of about 520 I think.

A Meeting of the Minds?

I have  a particular interest in building up a relationship with the preschools in our area and in working together to help make the transition to school as seamless as possible.  I believe the sharing of information and open communication can only help all parties involved in this important milestone.
So .... I was lucky enough to have the opportunity in term one to visit many of the preshools in our area and I had mentioned to them that I thought some sort of "Networking meeting" would be a good idea.
 I thought that we needed to have a focus because then the teachers could easily justify their time.
In the school holidays I revisited many of these centers again and personally invited them to attend a "get together" with a focus on sharing a great thing that they do as a center to prepare their children for school.
We had our first meeting on Wednesday which was great.  About 14 of us gathered at our school and we introduced ourselves and shared what our experience was in teaching and where we were from.  We then had a sharing session about something that we do in our center/school to help best prepare children for school.  This was a valuable exercise and there were different ideas including attending school visits with the children, sending booklets home to parents explaining about what they can do to help parents assist with the transition.  One center focused on helping children pack their own bag at the end of the day.  One centre was encouraging  the use of lunchboxes etc.  The list goes on.
The good thing was that all the centers are on board and realise that the communication between school and preschool is vital for a smooth transition to school.
It was clear that a lot of the centres are only teaching alphabet and how to write their name etc if a child shows an interest.  If they do not show an interest in learning these skills, they don't enforce it.
While I respect that this is the philosophy of many ECE's, the fact remains that children have a lot to learn in order to meet national standard expectations.  I am left pondering how to feel about this.  I want to read more in this area and shape my opinion based on research, rather than my gut instinct.
We also did an exercise where we discussed and recorded our ideas about what skills we think children should have in order to be school ready.  This was also a valuable exercise and I will share this with the preschools.
We finished with a quick tour of our new buildings which was good and reaped some positive feedback.
The next meeting has been scheduled for Term 4 at one of the preschools which sounds promising.  At the very least, this has been a good opportunity to meet the teachers and show we value the relationship between school and preschool.  At best, we have had the first of many gatherings which will foster a fabulous relationship with and between the preschools.  At the end of the day, we all have a common goal- to make the transition from the preschool setting to the school setting as seamless and as smooth as possible.    Watch this space!