School News
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We have just purchased about $800 of new Library Books for our Montessori Library, located in the 9-12 Class. All our children are welcome to use this resource. All our teachers attended the MANZ Primary Retreat at Our Senior teacher, Rose Phillips, was elected to the MANZ council in April. She is the new Auckland representative.
Leaving Ceremony 2009 At the end of 2009 we held our Leaving Ceremony for our graduates Maxwell Phillips-Rudowski, Vinay Maan, Claudia Luke, Nathan Walker and Daniel Do who completed their 9-12 cycle. It was a fantastic afternoon with current students and teachers sharing their thoughts on their time with the Montessori Unit. Past students were also present and performed for students and families of the Unit.
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April 2009: Senior Class Goes to Wellington One Father's Perspective "It all seemed pretty normal at Auckland airport, apart from a growing level of excitement as our students arrived (with no sign of tiredness for the early morning start). However, as parents handed over their children to us, the plane boarding process took on a different routine to that of heading down to Wellington for a business trip. For a start, the coffee and NZ Herald were missing. Instead, six young charges, bags in tow, eagerly awaited their next move. Thankfully though, the first glimpse of Rose and Tesneem’s leadership and superb organisation came through as the plan for the next two days began. There was a momentary look of sadness as some students realised they weren’t sitting next to fellow classmates, but it didn’t faze them for long as they struck up interesting, confident and polite conversation with other travellers and we received the first of what was to be many comments on what a terrific group of students we had. Approaching the Wellington runway straight rather than at 90 degrees was the next sign that Rose and Tesneem’s organisation was spot on – they’d timed the trip perfectly for Wellington’s only two fine days of the year! We learned plenty about Wellington from Tip the bus driver as we made our way to Lower Hutt, and we also began to see how our children interacted as a group, their approach to learning and how absorbing their young and clever minds were. They quickly took up the challenges put to them by the coordinators and they never lacked for questions. Their breadth of knowledge made me wonder what I had done at school. The first rendition of Ko te Pai, the students' thank you song, held our hosts (and ourselves) in awe and so strongly demonstrated how proud our students are of their school. The Wellington CBD provided a great spot for lunch and learning the art of murder; in this case a game so enthusiastically played, the acting skills would have shone in the West End. I think we could have left most of the children at Wellington’s waterfront museum for a week - not only was the history beautifully displayed, the opportunity to interact and test the students' skills and knowledge was pretty fantastic, drawn out ably by James, one of the most passionate curators I have ever met. When the students once again sang Ko te Pai I could see James was visibly moved and was trying to figure out how he could incorporate them into his museum. Base camp at Wellington Zoo, with the animal enclosures surrounding us, was a new experience and generally we had no trouble telling the students apart from the animals. Actually going around the Zoo at night was quite amazing, hearing the animals and not seeing them (or the fence that you hoped was between us and them) made for an unusual sense of trepidation. The children were amazing, hugely knowledgeable about the animals and their habitats, and full of questions. The chance to feed the giraffes, then visit the Zoo kitchen and compare what the animals had for their dinner versus our dinner earlier at the Hog’s Breath was a great way to end the first day. Exhausted but happy students settled in for the night oblivious to 2cm thick mats which were poor replications of the mattresses at home and the snoring that was bound to come from the mums. No alarm clocks needed for the next day, the animals made sure of that. A quick breakfast and then with the precision and speed of a military manoeuvre, camp was cleaned up, bags packed and students lined up waiting to get out the door – already preparing a list of questions for our morning hosts! A cool but sunny morning with the Zoo all to ourselves was again quite a wonderful experience. It was feeding time and most of the animals were happy to come out and pose for a photo. If we thought the children were already well-rounded and confident with their approach to learning we were once again taken to a new level as they explored the life of Monet and then a chance to explore the wonders of Te Papa – we had to literally drag them away. What was becoming so evident was just what a fantastic destination Wellington was for our students. In fact, at the next stop, the Beehive, some of the students looked so comfortable sitting in the Prime Minister and ministerial chairs I wouldn’t be at all surprised if some of them don’t end up spending a bit of time in Wellington. By now it could be expected the students would be starting to tire, but no way, striding at a pace that was hard to match it was off to the “Cake Tin”, where if given half a chance they’d have been on the field having a game of rugby. Parents, you can be very proud of your children! Right from the start they set the standard on how to conduct themselves as a group, their passion for learning was inspiring to see, their confidence in asking questions and making comments was well-balanced and above all their respect for each other, Rose, Tesneem and all the other people we met was near sublime. The defining moment perhaps was when they formed a group to sing Ko te pai to their teachers and ourselves and as they did so, silenced Wellington Airport. Without Rose and Tesneem’s effort and planning and true leadership of their students it would be hard to imagine the camp being so successful. As a Dad, to have the opportunity to be part of such a wonderful group of children and see how they are taking on the challenge of their education in such a positive manner is hard to describe. Perhaps the best way to see it is to grab the chance to spend time with them on any trip that is going. Thank you Rose, Tesneem and all of the senior Montessori students for a great experience!"
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