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Friends of Ngaio School: Welcome to the Centenary celebrations as we celebrate the past, the present and gain a glimpse of what is an exciting future. For the past few weeks children have been grappling with the concept of the past. A hard concept for some who can barely appreciate the concept of a week! We teachers have tried not to take it too personally when asked by a brave few if we were there when the school started. I’m personally pleased that some staff younger than me have been asked as well and merely view it as a sign that we have a lot more maths to teach. The other day when listening to children singing a song with an environmental theme the 3 Rs were mentioned – maybe not the 3 Rs that may immediately spring to your mind of Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. These days the 3 Rs stand for Reduce, Re-use and Recycle – although of course the old 3 Rs are still vitally important. 2008 pupils work on laptops, they are either in the Tui, Kakapo or Pohutukawa syndicates, they manipulate number fans, do Jump Jam and J. Rock, they may be part of a walking school bus – but at the end of the day they come to school to be educated and to socialise. Preparing for the Centennial celebrations children have tried to imagine what our school was like in the past for you. Mention of the strap and other forms of discipline have fascinated many. In your registration bag will be a letter from a 2008 pupil who would love you to reply. Here are a few of the greetings used: Dear citizen who went to Ngaio School before I did
And for a lucky two of you … Dear Ancient Person. Chris from Room 15 has written a letter I thought deserved a bigger audience. Needless to say I had to gain his permission to read it aloud to you.
Dear Centenary visitor, Ngaio (School) looks young, but it has been through a lot of stages. It started with a tumbledown church. With the changing of the school grounds, so have the teachers and their punishments. They’ve got softer and softer. I reckon they will soon just say a quick “Don’t do it again” in a ‘I don’t have time for this ‘sort of way’ and walk off leaving the child in a shock of disbelief at his luck. If I had seen that (in true life) I’d be laughing my head off!!! Nowadays we have this chart and you move your name up one if you’re naughty. I do not live permanently in New Zealand, but in Australia, so I am merely gathering information and repeating it to you. We work in groups so we don’t have the teacher yelling at us because we got one or two sums wrong. Would you like it now, or would you prefer it back in those old days?! Yours sincerely Chris Gilmore P.S. I’m in Room 15
Recently I have been thinking of the concept of what makes a school. I could have got a dictionary definition or ‘googled’ the word school but no, I did better than this – I asked three wise children – Meg aged 10, and Lucy and Jamie both aged 9.
Meg said; You come to school to keep yourself occupied. If I didn’t have to come to school I would prefer to have a 5-day week –end and a 2-day week because I get tired out! A highlight for me this year was reading my speech at Ms Fitchett’s farewell, I felt proud. When I was, 5 I remember thinking my writing was good and I was really proud of it. A couple of months ago I dragged out my old books and I felt that they looked dumb and silly. I wonder how I ever thought they could be good – I used to draw and write really random stuff! Maybe they were good for a five year old! I assured her that her writing had been in fact very good for a 5 year old.
Jamie said: A school is a place where children learn and see their friends. I help my father Peter update the school website and think up ideas to put on it. When I was 5 absolutely no one could read my handwriting except my teacher Mrs Yamada. Now I am 9, my handwriting is still not very good but it is much better than it was!
Lucy said: School is about learning and seeing your friends and teachers. You just ‘go with the flow.’ I’ve learnt quite a lot being at school. When I was 5 I didn’t know about bar graphs. Being chosen as a Centenary guide has made me feel warm and happy inside.
The children’s message to you all is to: Have a good time.
Thank you for coming and enjoy the children’s performances.
Denise Hancox Acting Principal 31 May 2008
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