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T.I.S. Values

Miss Macdonald Interview - Full Transcript

We interviewed Miss Macdonald this Thursday, week 4 (23.5.2024). Here are some of those questions and answers.
Interviewers: Connor B. and Alisa W.   Interviewee: Miss Macdonald

Q:  How would you, in one sentence, describe the vision for your school?

A:Community of learners who have a heart to make the world a better place.

Q:  How do you want your students to leave the school? What do you want them to act like?

A: Like when they leave like at the end of their two years? Yes hmm, I would like to think that they have some like that feel passionate about something so the found something that they really love. I'd also like them to leave like loving learning like being interested and all sorts of random things and I would like them to feel confident about the ability to grow and learn and fast and all those things.

Q: What do wish students didn’t do?
A:Chew gum! I wish they weren’t unkind to each other. I don't like it when I hear that they've made people feel sad like calling names or hitting people that really bothers me. I think it's probably the worst yeah even sometimes it happens outside school on social media and I think why would you want to hurt other people? so yeah.

Q: How much do you pride yourself on running this school

A: I don’t. I have great staff so this would be a terribly hard job if you did it on your own yeah there’s like 400 students so it's 515 students and there is about 35-ish staff I think probably more than that at different times. But in terms of staff  here so they all have different parts to play and they all help so people remind me things that I have to do and I've gotten people who remind me to do the things I don't want to do but they make sure I do them other people share ideas and thinking and sharing their own skills. So yeah I don't have much I couldn't do it without them. Such a cool people around me.

Q: TIS’s slogan is: Engage, grow, inspire. How do you want your students to inspire? 

 A: I think inspiring is about looking out of your outside yourself in thinking about how you can contribute more broadly than just your own life and I think it's an important way to be part of society but is also important for your own mental well-being. You know that when you're contributing to other people that it's really important for you and so inspiration is actually the idea of things which is interesting so you know we talk about like things that perspire like sweat so it going out and inhaling but inspiring is as an I think in the original letter or something like that it's linked to the idea of breathing so I think it's kind of an interesting idea about inspiring is that breathing out and how you influence other people. Is going outside of yourself too don't contribute something to the world.

Q: What sparked the idea to start a girls self-defense program?

A: Mr Rickard had the idea before I was here but it stopped for a few years and then I had an email so I was like oh great let's go for it and it was something I did when I was at high school is it college it just seems to me to be a really important school particularly if we go women so there's really not very nice statistics around what young women often face. So I think it's a great way to give them some skills in the courage. Yeah.
  

Q: Why is it only girls self-defense? What about the boys?

A:The program that we invite into the school they specialize in girls self-defense and that offered that so that's kind of the only one we've been offered and I suppose that’s it. But the statistics are worse for girls and facing assault it doesn't mean it doesn't happen boys, it absolutely does which is disgusting, but at the moment it’s something thats more happens more frequently unfortunately for girls. We have updates and if things(self-defence programs) like that were a little bit more focused on boys, then yeah. There's something we think about how to help young men. So yeah there's really only particularly the programs we have that are designed for girls. So we've just haven't had anyone who provides for boys. But yeah.

Q: Which school value would you say is most important?

A: I probably have to go for manaakitanga I just think if we can't thank you for about each other in thoughtful about others and nothing else happens to you can't work in a growth if you can't be kind to people you know you can't grow very well as a human being if you can't be respectful so you think most important.

Q: How has your school improved in terms of student achievement?

A: So we've been having conversations about that latelyhat and’s a hard questions. Actually it probably hasn't so we've been having convers some of the ways in which we measure achievement don't recognize different kinds of strengths, so if you just look at the misty it doesn't doesn't show you if somebody's got confidence it problem solving or if somebody is able to contribute there ideas in a group or some of those things so yeah we probably don't have enough data to show us about students in a really nice full rich way at the moment.

Q: You have developed new school values, can you tell us about them and what they mean?
A: I love our School values because these came about because over a year the staff and the parents and the board and kids talked about the things that they value the things that they liked another people and respected and so I guess the first one that's kind of like the foundation of rules is Manakitanga and Manakitanga has a different meaning really it's so we were talking Tanga it's actually about the way it works you protect and care for other people's manner or sense of self and your responsibility to do that so as soon as you're in the human race even responsibility to care for others so sometimes you talk about being kind but it's kind of more than that as well so that was something every everyone see that they thought was important that respect then I do community and everyone talked about actually knowing how to live and work and learn with lots of different people it's important and our communities really diverse so we have lots of students from different religions and cultural backgrounds and from overseas and it's really important because that when you stick here and Tupu is what we do at school right we grow so that's really important that we remember.

Q: If you could add a SPEC, what would you add?
A: Oh that's hard well I would want something that was really hands on in practical so you possibly too either in I even give me the choice of two but I'm going to take it and either an EOTC one so where he was groups of kids that could go out and do things like to say all and rock climbing and like outdoorsy stuff and or end and it's going to do is doing a great job at the make a space with things but it'd be great to see like something so when I went to intermitted school and we didn't middle work and we also did some pretty cool woodwork stuff we are like stools and coffee tables and some pretty cool things and I think that was very recall The Hive somewhere and there who knows a lot of their stuff not me and who could take you know really big practical hands on stuff yeah so it would be interesting that I don't know if you can make it hugely fun on us to be careful precise and I think I think you know something EOTC-ish going outside and don't activities or any hardcore like materials kind.

Q: If you would be allowed, can you tell us how much this school has earned from fundraisers such as the fun run?

A: Challenge it goes straight to the World Vision and I think we raised could have this very wrong I think we raised about three and a half thousand four build version last year so there is a way I find it out because we can ask someone but with the schools accounts are published for anybody here look at as well so last year we got 42,000 from the fun run which was Ace I thought that was super cool and I don't we hit a few other little fundraisers like I think we raise about six hundred dollars one day for our skull cancer mental health support Edge at the time if we've raised like about 350 dollars on sausages all for that goes towards other student activities like they last day we raised about 350 I think oh no 578 to go to wards that like outdoor seating area that the student council want to get.