Welcome back everyone!

Welcome back everyone, I hope you all had a safe and happy New Year.

What about this great weather, ok its a bit too hot and muggy but its great, I hope you all got to the beach or to a pool to cool off.

Another busy year is on the horizon for our cluster, and at this time of the year things can get a bit stretched financially.  Please let your school know if you are suffering undue hardship, so they can work with you to help get it sorted.

A big welcome to all the new families that have moved into our area, I hope you and your children enjoy being apart of the Manaiakalani cluster of schools, and make the most out of the digital learning environments which our schools foster.

Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous year ahead, I look forward to working with many of you throughout the year with parent chromebook training.

"Educating the mind                                 "
 Without educating the heart
 Is no education at all"
     Aristotle
   
Heres to a great 2016!

Summer Blogging Fun!

If you have a son or daughter attending Pt England, Tamaki Primary or Panmure Bridge schools check out the summer blogging programme. Lots of fun activities, opportunities to share and connect with other bloggers... plus prizes!

Kia ora,

My name is Rachel Williams and I am a teacher. I was born and raised in Canada but moved to New Zealand five years ago. I currently live in Auckland with my son, Aronui. He’s five years old and about to start primary school. [I am the one in the pink jacket and Aronui is the one in the soccer robe!]

Earlier this year I started working at the Woolf Fisher Research Centre at The University of Auckland. I was hired to create a summer blogging programme called, A Summer Learning Journey, for Year 5-10 students in Manaiakalani schools. The purpose of the programme is to help students practice, and hopefully improve, their reading and their writing skills over summer. They will do this by logging onto the Summer Learning Journey site, completing fun activities and then writing about them on their blogspot. All of the activities are based on the idea of traveling to other countries and learning about their cultures, customs, and traditions. I will actively monitor all of the student blogs and provide individual feedback and support for each participant. I will also be giving prizes to the students who blog the most over the summer.

The Summer Learning Journey programme is going to be pilot tested in three schools this summer (January 2016) - Tamaki Primary School, Panmure Bridge School and Pt England School. It will then be modified and launched in all 12 Manaiakalani cluster schools next January (2017).

If you have a son or daughter attending Pt England, Tamaki Primary or Panmure Bridge schools please help them register for the programme.

You can contact me anytime if you have questions. I would love to hear from you! My email address is: rachel.williamson@auckland.ac.nz and my phone number is 09-623-8899 ext. 46437.

Wishing you and your whanau a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2016,

Rachel

Whanau Learning 2016

Kia ora Whanau, well it's that time of year again. I would just like to say thank you to all the lovely families that I have connected with this year who have participated in whanau learning. It has been great getting to know so many of you, and I look forward to connecting with many more of you in 2016.

Whanau learning is an opportunity to learn more about how your children are learning in the digital age. Find out how you can access your child's learning through their class site, blog and all their documents online.

To find out more about whanau learning call me 09 216 1039, text me on 021 381 880 or email yayleen.hubbard@manaiakalani.org



If you would like to read more about our whanau learning check out the Manaiakalani website.
Have a wonderful Christmas and a safe and happy New Year.

Term 4 On the homeward straight to Christmas...

Well we won the Rugby world Cup superb effort guys you have done this tiny nation proud.
Go the Mighty All Blacks!! Last week saw a drop off in training we will boil it down to everyone still being in recovery mode from the mighty win.
Well done to all the parents that have done the training in the last couple of weeks, i'm sure with a little encouragement from our tamariki, it has helped motivate you to undertake the training.
Just a reminder whanau if you need to re schedule your appointment don't forget to text or ring me, its no big deal to make another time, everyone's time is precious and no one likes to waste any of it.
It has been interesting training parents who have never accessed their child's school website before, and showing them how they can comment on their child's school work, keep checking in on your child's learning and don't forget to comment, all children love to see that someone is taking an interest in their school work. and you might learn a thing or two yourself.
Schools are gearing up for next years new intake of chrome book users, Tamaki Primary had two Home School Partnership meetings which were well received by parents, who were interested in knowing how their children will be learning using digital devices.
We have the Manaiakalani film festival this week I hope as many parents as possible can get along and see what a talented bunch of children we have and to support all the hard work them and their teachers have done to make this film festival so successful.
Not long to go now 6 weeks and its holiday time Yay!!

Term 4 Parent Chromebook Training Underway!

Welcome back everyone, my name is Yayleen Hubbard and I am the new Manaiakalani Whanau Learning Kaiarahi,  I would firstly like to say a big  thank you to all the principals and support staff of our cluster  who have made my transition into the role an easy one, and also to the lovely Courtney Brown for showing me the way so I can continue to deliver a positive learning experience for our parents.
  Well I have been very busy over the first two weeks of the term training eager parents who have, even more eager children who want to take their chrome books home so they can continue their learning beyond the classroom. It is so wonderful getting to meet all you lovely parents & caregivers and being able to help you understand how our children are now learning in this digital world.
Lets keep this momentum going, when we as parents get interested and connected to our children's learning we are giving them a big hug of encouragement, and their is nothing more satisfying for us parents than to see our children thriving in their learning and ENJOYING IT!
Keep up the great work everyone.

Manaiakalani Annual Hui

Along with school staff, Boards of Trustees and our partners and supporters it was wonderful to have our Manaiakalani Ambassadors present and contribute to our annual hui.
Below is a Google Slide to support their presentations and a short video they created on the day in response to the learning opportunities shared by all out school at the hui.

Links to the ambassadors' blogs are also included in the the Google Slide.

Supporting our learners

Manaiakalani from Next Foundation on Vimeo.