Week 6 NEWSLETTER

from the principal

Our Vision: Together we Nurture, Explore and Create for a Better Future

I read this excellent Stuff article yesterday about the importance of letting children be bored. It is an Australian piece, but has some great messages.

Letting children be bored seems at odds with today's society. Children have so many opportunities these days to be involved in things (sports, dance, clubs) or have the very inviting opportunity to be involved in screens of some kind (TV, tablet, gaming device). Put simply…children don’t always have those opportunities to be bored…and being bored leads to creativity.

Things that ‘back in the day’ were used to occupy us…books, bikes, balls, outdoors, crafts, drawing…these are less attractive to children when other more attractive things surround them. Draw a cartoon, or watch a cartoon? Build a bike jump in the driveway, or race a car in a game? While the kids probably aren’t making these choices…what the article promotes is giving kids at least some unstructured time each day…some time to be bored. Or…we involve ourselves with them, dedicated time, for 10mins a day. Building some LEGO, drawing with them, jumping on the tramp, kicking a ball, playing a game on screen together…being together, having those conversations, experiencing that joy, helping them enjoy the risk and reward of doing something made up.

I know that we can be busy as parents…but letting our children be bored, or involving ourselves in some creative play…great ways to build up our tamariki into healthy young people.

The article is worth 5 mins of your time for sure.

Teacher Only Day

I just want to thank you again for your support of this day…it really was awesome. I am one of the organisers (so perhaps have a bit of a bias haha) and I’m proud of the quality of people we brought into Masterton (NZ leaders and experts) and I’m proud that we brought ECE, Primary and Secondary teachers into one room to hear these messages.

I could write a heap about the day (and perhaps I might next week)...but one real highlight was Sir Ian Taylor speaking to open our day. He spoke for nearly 1.5 hours, and it just flew by…inspiring tales from his career, lots of thanks to the education sector for our mahi, and an eye opening peek into the state of things with Artificial Intelligence. He shared this video of a guy interviewing an AI version of himself…just watch the first 2 and a half minutes…it's pretty remarkable!

He shared that video, then went on to say imagine if we built an AI version of Einstein…fed the AI all of Einstein's research, his papers, his photos, videos of him…then had the AI Einstein visit your class via the TV screen and answer questions from the kids (you could tell AI Einstein to reply with language suitable for a 5 year old, or tell it to explain things using Paw Patrol characters…you could tell it to explain things in the best way to suit the kids in front of you! Maybe AI Einstein’s words actually come out of a famous singer/sports star's mouth…someone the children can relate to). It was a pretty eye opening thing for Sir Ian to say…particularly that this is technology available and in use right now…not some futuristic thing.

He also shared his back story…and how he came to discover the Polynesian Migration story. He is very passionate about this…saying that as a country we have a uniquely awesome story to share about how our Polynesian ancestors came to navigate their way to these shores. A story of innovation, but not a story shared widely enough. He has built and gifted a website for NZ’s educators to use…have a look, it’s pretty cool…and I’ve put a short clip below of his introduction to it all.

Cross Country

Another excellent DPS event! While I was away at a course for the day, I was heartened to hear how hard the children tried, how hard they competed and how hard they supported one another. Talking to a parent afterwards she acknowledged just how great of an atmosphere the event is, and how cool it is that the kids clap/shout/sing/chant in support of ALL the runners (maybe particularly their own House…but still vocal for everyone!).

Well done to Hayley and the teaching team, well done to all the kids for daring to dream and taking part, and well done to Sheppard House for winning the overall cross country shield!

A Message from our Dental Mobile Team

Our last day at DPS is Friday 14th June. Thank you to everyone who have returned their dental forms. There are still quite a few Dental Consent forms that have not been returned. If your child has a form to return, please do so ASAP.

Any incomplete treatment will have to be treated at our Community Dental Clinic at MIS.

A huge thank you to the DPS staff for all your assistance.