All posts by Ian Morrison

Special report from SchoolTV: Parenting Styles – What type of parent are you?

There are so many different opinions offered on how best to parent. New parents will often have firm beliefs about how they wish to balance love and discipline, but this ideal often goes out the window when a toddler throws their first tantrum in the supermarket!

Raising children can bring parents and caregivers great joy despite many learning ‘on the job’ and growing into the role through experience and understanding. Children will always flourish in a warm and loving environment, supported by clear guidance.

In this Special Report, parents and caregivers can gain a greater understanding of the four defined parenting styles by taking part in the quiz. It can guide parents towards deciding which style they wish to adopt and the effects it may have on their children.

We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this Special Report, and as always, we welcome your feedback. If you do have any concerns about the wellbeing of your child, please contact the school for further information or seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to your special report https://mhjc.nz.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-parenting-styles

COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Update

Following advice from the Ministry of Education and the identification of the first case of the virus in New Zealand, the same advice remains for our students. Risk remains low of the spread of the virus and we remind the community to take normal precautions – practising good hand and sneeze/cough hygiene is the best defence:
 – wash your hands often with soap and water before and after eating as well as after attending the toilet,
 – cover coughs and sneezes with clean tissues or your elbow,
– put used tissues in the bin and
 
– stay at home if feeling unwell.

Growing International Connections

We have enrolled our first international students who started this term. I thank our team including Mrs Dada and Mrs Clansey (International Student Coordinator) who worked hard to gain accreditation. This builds on the growing international connections which started with our annual attendance of the Hwa Chong Student Congress in Singapore and our reciprocal visit to our sister school in Nanching, China.

This reinforces the mantra “think global, act local” and helps our students to appreciate and understand other cultures and perspectives.

Growing greatness – Kia mana ake!

Happy Waitangi Day

Today marks the 80th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi – Te Tiriti o Waitangi. This important document helped to establish a formal relationship between the crown (Britain) and Māori. While there are still differences as to how the treaty can be interpreted and questions surrounding the legitimacy of those who signed it, the people of New Zealand/Aotearoa continue to work together to build a nation we can be proud of today.

MHJC is embarking on a journey this year to improve our collective understanding of the Māori world view which we feel aligns closely with the spirit of the treaty – “we are one people”. 

A quick example of how we can learn is the urgent need for the world to respect, honour and be guardians of the land.  The Māori phrase kaitiakitanga captures this perfectly and illustrates that we ignore lessons of the past at our peril. MHJC is fortunate to have a valuable resource, Tāne forest on our doorstep which we use to promote kaitiakitanga to each new generation of students which will extend to other areas of their lives. Making the world a better place.

Growing greatness – Kia mana ake!

Coronavirus update

There is no change to the advice given earlier this week. Please go to the following site for up to date information:

https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov#status

At this stage we are planning for a normal start to school and look forward to seeing you at Admin Day on Monday.

Corona virus, translation for Chinese families

亲爱的家长朋友们:



新型冠状病毒



正如你们在媒体上看到的,关于新型冠状病毒的国际形势正在迅速演变。

我们的学校已经意识到这种新型冠状病毒的潜在感染风险,

卫生部、教育部和奥克兰地区卫生委员会(ADHB)地区卫生委员会已通知我们,该病毒表现出类似流感的症状,在大多数情况下可导致甲型h1n1流感轻微至中度疾病。如有类似流感的征状,或发烧。

来自病毒发源地的武汉市已对所有旅行关闭,因此该城市目前已被隔离。



作为预防措施,教育部要求我通知学校所有职员老师学生,如果你在假期期间去了中国,

最近在中国的工作人员和/或学生,或怀疑他们可能接触过该病毒的学生,都被要求在返回新西兰后推迟两周/ 14天开学。请大家学校办公室联系,告知您孩子的开学日期。

卫生部正在监测情况,如有必要将向我们提供进一步的建议。

像往常一样,身体不舒服的人不应该呆在学校。如果您有特殊关注,请拨打0800联系健康热线, 或听从你的家庭医生的医疗建议。 Healthline拥有150种语言的24小时翻译和口译服务,包括讲普通话和广东话的员工。

您也可以访问卫生部网站了解更多信息:

https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/novel-coronavirus-china-2019-ncov

所有员工和学生的健康和福祉是我们的首要任务,我们很高兴这些措施取得了成效,感谢

卫生部和教育部都采取了行动。



祝好

初中部校长

IAN MORRISON

 

 

 

Coronavirus update

An email has been sent to all families about the virus following guidelines from the Ministries of Health and Education. As the situation is changing daily we will email updates or post to this web site.

In essence, we have no reported cases but we advise anyone who has travelled through China to remain at home for two weeks as a precaution, particularly if symptoms are shown. Please notify the school if this is the case.

More information can be found at:

https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov

 

SWIFT Conference 2019

MHJC is fortunate to have developed close connections with Hwa Chong International School in Singapore. As a result our Year 10 students are offered the opportunity to represent the school and New Zealand/Aotearoa in an annual Student Leaders’ Convention. We are the only Kiwi school invited to this event and we also are members of the SWIFT (Schools With an Interest in Future Technology) alliance. The schools from Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore and Russia each host a conference on a bi-annual basis and it was my pleasure to travel to Kazan, Tatarstan with Kate Lambert our DP Curriculum in late October. As this was the fifth conference it was an invaluable opportunity to catch up on the journeys of the schools we have come to know so well and share some of the new practices we have trialled which keep us on the cutting edge of innovation. 

 

It was interesting to note how the schools from Singapore are shifting closer to our educational philosophy. They are very interested in how we are able to deliver the curriculum meaningfully and with purpose. The ideas of a personalised or student centred approach and emphasis on skills, values and dispositions are central to what we do but are gaining ground in systems which had been very examination and results focussed in the past. The delegates were also very interested in our holistic reporting system as it is a deviation from the traditional teacher generated comment and result format and provides students with greater ownership of their journey celebrating progress and involvement as well as achievement.

 

Ms Lambert and I returned with some valuable new insights but more particularly we are even more confident that the MHJC traditions of cross-curricular, authentic and relevant learning are still leading the way in terms of curriculum delivery. Our balance of academic rigour and personal inquiry with opportunities for collaboration and creativity gives everyone space to grow their greatness – kia mana ake!

MHJC teachers leading learning

One of our strategic goals is to attract, retain and develop high quality teachers and support staff. Part of this goal is achieved through our professional development plan. All our teachers are involved in “inquiry” projects of their own as part of our professional development programme. Every year we identify areas of our teaching or leadership that we wish to improve, strengthen or investigate and experts from within the staff or external providers support teachers to grow their practice. We also host a number of schools who are interested in how we deliver the curriculum, our focus on personalised learning and our DEEP programme in particular.

 

During the October holidays several teachers presented at educational conferences. Their time and efforts are appreciated as they have helped to reinforce our place at the forefront of innovative educational research and practice. 

 

Ms Lambert has led a team of MHJC teachers for almost two years with resourcing from the ministry which has investigated how to strengthen collaborative practice among teachers. The positive findings of this research will help us to continue with our integrated approach to learning which allows students to see links between learning areas and develop authentic outcomes which are relevant to them, particularly with regards numeracy. She and Ms Grant, one of the team, presented their findings at U-Learn, other members of the team, Mr Hishey and Mrs Premdeep presented at the New Zealand Mathematics Association and Mrs Phadke will be presenting later this term at the Statistics Teachers’ Day at the University of Auckland.

 

Mr Choong also presented at U-Learn with the support of some of our students. His focus was the integration of STEM (Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) into the general curriculum and Mrs Newbold presented ‘Learning through the Arts’ at a Literacy Conference in Christchurch. STEM and creativity are both focus areas for the school. 

 

The professional development of our staff and willingness to share our learning journey individually and collectively show that we are committed to our vision of “growing greatness through innovative, constantly evolving personalised learning”.

 

Growing greatness – Kia mana ake!

 

 

MHJC digital detox day

 

On Monday July 1, the college will go back to the future by experiencing a school day without the use of devices. The only exception will be Senior Leaders being allowed to communicate on their phones in case of an emergency. Otherwise teaching and learning will be conducted without devices and students will be reminded not to use their phones, if they have to bring them to school, until the end of the school day. Again, any emergency should be communicated either to reception or the student’s Whanau Assistant in the normal way.

 

Our strategic plan includes the desire to promote a balanced lifestyle for our students. We encourage teachers to use a blended approach to teaching so that not all activities require a device. We also encourage participation in healthy physical activities, connecting with each other, ourselves and with nature during numerous camps and trips. We have many activities during DEEP and in our extra-curricular programme which help students to gain this balance and this day will reinforce our resolve as a community and Tāne Forest is being developed as a sanctuary for students and staff to practice mindfulness.

 

May I urge parents to continue this initiative by ensuring students minimise screen time at home. Tips from articles I have read include:

  • eating together as a family without the distraction of phones or devices; 
  • stopping the use of devices at least an hour before bed to ensure that students get quality sleep; 
  • not allowing devices into bed-rooms during the night; 
  • buying an alarm clock so the phone is not required to wake up in the morning;
  • have your own device free day or time every week.;
  • setting a good example to our children – sometimes we need to detox as much as them!
  •  

Research is increasingly being publicised of the harmful physiological and psychological effects of excessive use of digital devices. As teachers and parents we must be reminded of the incredible positive aspects of digital technology but caution over-use.

 

So let’s talk to each other face to face, do exciting activities which include movement and being outside, read, write, debate, discuss and collaborate directly with others. This will enrich our lives and remind us of what it is to be unplugged members of the human race!

 

Growing greatness/Kia mana ake!