Skytower trip and Wellington again.

Hi all,

It's hard to believe we are already three weeks into the term and November looms.

After Ambury Farm Day on the last day of the holidays we spent the first week just catching up. We made a very good profit from our sausage sizzle on the day and will spend the money on getting our kiln up and running. We are very excited about the prospect of being able to fire the children's' clay creations. 

Our new administrator Ingrid started this week too so it has been

 very busy for her learning the ropes. Our Stephanie left us after nearly 6 years and we wish her well working in her family business. 

On Friday of the first week Pat and Jemma flew to Wellington to present at the Hutt City Kindergartens PD Day. They really enjoyed the afternoon with the teachers from Hutt City and took time out in the morning to quickly catch up with

another of our Round three Centre of Innovation centres, Wadestown Kindergarten. We meet our other COI colleagues at Hui and it is great to be able to have the opportunity to go and visit their centre and understand the context for their research. Thanks to Hutt City Kindergartens and to Wadestown team for their hospitality.

Last Friday was another big day with our trip to the Skytower. This landmark is highly significant for our children as some of us can see the Skytower from our house or around Mangere Bridge. We went by bus to Otahuhu train station, then train to Britomart and a walk up Queen Street to the Skytower. For the majority of our children Queen St was a new experience. Our children stood out in their orange vests ( thank goodness as it ensures we can see them at all times)  and our party of 70 people was fairly noticeable as we straggled up the street. For many business people and tourists it seemed a rare experience also to see small children in the city. Zane's comment "Wow look at all these big buildings!" really demonstrated how interesting and different the city is architecturally for our children. 

The Skytower also drew lots of comment "It's just like a rocket--- Yeah it's like Shark Boy's rocket eh".

Highlights from the skytower trip were the train ride, the glass to walk on up there and the people jumping.

Our school visit to Waterlea School for children leaving us this term was  a great success thanks to Mrs Neki, the new new entrant teacher at the school. We took a tour of the school and even got to sit on the teachers' chairs in the staffroom! It was great fun and the children transitioning there are really enjoying their subsequent visit experiences. 

Additionally we have 5 year 5 children from Mangere Bridge School as buddies to our children who will start there this term. These visits and interactions all contribute to our research about transition to school. We are very appreciative of the time and thought that goes into transition liaison with our schools. It has made the three years research a collaborative and colleagial process. 

We are near the end of our COI research project and are busy writing the final report. This is a very intense process made easier by the collaborative nature of our whole enterprise.

We hope November brings better weather as we have several out door events planned.