Learning Environments
Some professional development we undertook recently informed us that children learn best in an environment where there is:
* physical activity
* laughter and (lastly, and perhaps surprisingly most importantly!),
* singing.
I am confident that we have all of the above at Waimate Centennial School - they are all close to my heart anyway, and so it is not difficult to encourage them at school.
We are always laughing here, and in Term 4 there is a huge emphasis on singing (our school production & End-of-Year activities), and on physical activity (athletics & swimming).

I can confidently conclude that the learning environment here is a very healthy one for teaching & learning.

Term 3, 2012

It has been a while since my last post, but I can assure everyone that our school is still in good heart. It is a very busy place to work at, with regular classroom activities and many "extras" going on. These extras could not happen without the goodwill and commitment from teachers, parents, and community members.

Our kapa haka group participated in the South Canterbury FLAVA Festival recently and we were very proud of both their performance, and the way they represented our school. A big thank you to Matua John and to Mrs Macmillan (assisted by Mrs Constable) for the all the time and hard work you put in and a "Congratulations!" to the children of course.

Another exciting learning opportunity that we are taking advantage of this term is the "Kiwi-Can" programme. Once a week Dom & Tim come down from Timaru and work with our classes, focussing on our over-riding virtue of "respect". They involve the children in a series of fun activities that promote respect which will hopefully carry over into everyday lives.