Curriculum Day 17th November

We held a teacher only day today to continue our journey with inquiry and our new curriculum process. First up, Neil recapped our journey to date in regards to the designing of our Poroutawhao School curriculum. This was fantastic as it created a sense of pride and excitement within the staff at what we had already achieved in such a short time. For our new staff it gave an idea as to why we do things the way we do. We then reviewed our curriculum folders, and made some minor changes to these. I then shared our inquiry journey to date (minus a few bits as the staff were aware of most of this process), and gave an overview of what inquiry looks like at Poroutahwao School. (See back here soon to see the movie that goes with this!!)
We then continued our review of the inquiry matrix...and FINISHED it!!! (until next time anyway!) This is now much more concise and everyone is happy to try it Term 1 09 and then we will review it again to make changes where necessary. A fantastic effort, team!
The afternoon gave a great opportunity to plan for Term 1 09 inquiry. We have chosen an inquiry into why we have rules and laws, with our focus being on the applying part of the intersection.

ICT Cluster Day 5th Nov

It was fantastic to be able to have the opportunity to visit our own cluster schools today. It was very encouraging to see where everyone was up to in their journey, and to reflect on where Poroutawhao are, and to see the similarities in the processes. It was great to see inquiry models emerging and I love the way that each schools model reflects who they are as a school, and things that are important to them as a community. A worthwhile day...it also gave me some thoughts towards our own school's presentation next cluster day!!