Principal's Page
Kia Ora Friends
It's great to be back at school again after a week away at a Principals' Conference. 21 years ago, a like-minded group of principals attended an Education Conference in Rotorua. We reflected on what we had gained from the conference, how much wasted time there was and how little opportunity there was for deep and meaningful reflection during and after it.
We therefore decided to run our own conference for a few other key invitees and ourselves, going forward. Our group had and has principals from right across New Zealand - from Queenstown through to North Auckland. One of our cohort went on to lead Scots College in Wellington, two to lead brand-new Middle Schools in Ormiston and Rototuna, one to lead Waimea College, and one to take up a major leadership role in the South Australian Ministry of Education. We cover the gamut from the lowest socio-economic communities to the highest.
We have maintained a group size of 12 to 20 principals and have been running our own un-conferences for 20 years now. It is an awesome group to be part of, humbling, challenging and encouraging as we consider the big pictures of teaching and learning in the 21st Century.
One of the great things about this approach is we all stay in the same place, so the learning discussions begin at breakfast and last long into the night most nights.
This year's conference featured a number of focuses, too many to bore you with, but one key focus was on Moral Leadership in a Post-Truth Society, based on the work of Dr Rosemary Hipkins.
If you are interested in what this entailed, there is a page on it in this newsletter. If not, at least know that I am deeply committed to broadening and deepening my professional learning and challenging my thinking and practices.
As one of my colleagues said several times, we have to keep coming back to ensuring 'the main thing remains the main thing.'
That main thing is that in all we do, the best interests of each precious child are uppermost in our thoughts, plans and actions. And that best applies to their learning, their wellbeing and their growth as a complete and complex young individual.
Whānau Time this Friday 15 May.
The theme is "Pink Shirt Day - Kindness" and we will start proceedings at around 9:40 am in our hall. Everyone welcome. You can also follow along with our Live Stream on our Facebook page if you are unable to be here at that time. https://www.facebook.com/westheights.school
Please join us in wearing pink this Friday if you can.
If you want to catch up on previous Live Streams and other school event videos, you can visit our Western Heights YouTube channel here: Western Heights YouTube Channel.
There are 550 videos available to view, with more to come soon. It's a cool way to take a trip back through time, too.
Heads Up Reminder:
Teacher Only Day for Western Heights (and many Henderson schools) on Friday 29 May. NO school for us that day.
As always, if you have questions or concerns about anything school-related, email me at macash@mac.com, and I will get back to you asap.
My very best regards to you all,
Ash Maindonald
Principal.
