"Restorative Practice" Training
On January 28th, in the last week of the holidays, Parawai School staff had a "Restorative Practice" Professional Development Day together with Thames High School.
We have been using Restorative Practice at Parawai for the last few years, so it was great to have a refresher, just before the start of the new term.
The essence of restorative practices is that human beings are happier, more productive and more likely to make positive changes in their behaviour when those in positions of authority do things with them, rather than to them or for them.
Restorative approaches are more effective than punitive disciplinary systems where often there are no links between wrongdoers and those they have harmed, nor any real connections between the punishment and the actual offence.
At Parawai School, we are finding restorative approaches more effective in
- establishing long term positive changes in behaviour
- listening to the victims point of view and repairing the damage done
- enhancing relationships and connections between the members of our school community
- enhancing the climate of care within our school as a whole.
For more info, check out - http://www.restorativeschools.org.nz/restorative-practice
Our dedicated and enthusiastic staff
Everyone has been working hard over the holiday planning exciting learning experiences for our students, and our teachers have enjoyed settling in with their new classes this past week.
Our wonderful team of Teachers' Aides and Support Staff is back in action too, helping our students and staff in a whole range of ways. T.A's will be working in the classrooms and also taking special learning programmes.
The 'Steps - Spelling Programme" will be running again this year. Some of the students that took part last year will continue on the programme and some new students will have the opportunity to join. Students will bring home letters shortly.
Room 11 students
On Monday afternoon Mr Jennings and Mr Iles attended the funeral of Murray Thompson. This was a very sad occasion as they were long time friends and colleagues of Mr Thompson and he had also been associated with Parawai School for over 20 years. I covered Mr Jennings class for an hour, and then the students spent some time in the Middle and Syndicate classes - congratulations to the students for coping with this upheaval on their first day back and behaving so maturely. Well done!
Middle Syndicate Sports and Assembly
Excellent participation, fair-play and enthusiasm. Awesome Art work and written work shared with the syndicate too - What a great group of students we have in yr 4 - 6.
At the top of the page are some pictures of our Sports on Thursday -
Congratulations to our three Certificate winners - Aidan Doherty, Rhona McInnes, Levi Wilson
Aren't they wonderful!
I enjoyed helping Mr Crocker paint these over the holidays, and I am sure these will remind us to go slowly along the deck and keep our little ones safe.