We’re back, and we’ve hit the ground running!
I always enjoy returning to college following student vacation time. Being greeted by faces full of expectation and excitement are promises of great times ahead and a fruitful and productive new term.
Term Four 2015, Monday – Day One: In Stage Two we asked our students to set themselves two goals for the term, the first goal relating to academic achievement, the second, a personal goal. So many gems are revealed through this process; we observe areas where students have learning concerns and aspirations, and from some children we hear about aspects of the dynamics of their home life. One goal in particular caught my eye – a few students wrote that they wanted to work to become ‘the best that they could be’, which they meant in a general sense. I am reminded of a goal that I believe was set right at the founding of IFS/ITS back in 2013. That as staff, we would support our students to become the best that they can possibly be. Interesting. This, for me, is yet another indicator that we must be on the right path when staff and students are striving to achieve the same goals.
At IFS/ITS, we enjoy a unique opportunity to be at the cutting edge of an innovative approach to education and in addition to this we also have an amazing sports program! Over the last eleven terms, I have heard many parents remark that prior to joining the college their child had hated college; every day they were reluctant to get going in the morning, often faking sickness and when they were finally convinced to attend, they would return home in the afternoon distressed and terribly unhappy – this all changed as soon as they joined our college.
We ARE at the ‘cutting edge’, we are doing what no other college is doing and it is exciting. It is exciting for our students and it is exciting and at the same time challenging for our staff. As ‘life-long-learners’, we as staff are being asked to work in new ways; our goal must be to learn how to be worthy and able teachers and coaches to support our students to achieve ‘their highest potential.’
Attached are a few photos from our end of Term 3 presentations – the project was entitled: ‘Is The Earth Indestructible?’ The students constructed their landscapes over the term and through the work they discovered the destruction caused by earthquakes, tsunamis, bush fires and volcanoes.
Greetings for the new term,
Rodney
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