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On Wednesday the Literacy Boost Programme invited  parents along to a celebration of their children's learning. Twenty three children had been involved in the programme which ran for 10 weeks, and was aimed at boosting letter knowledge and letter sounds. The children met three times a week for 45 minutes each session to learn and practise a variety of skills. At the celebration the children displayed these skills to the many parents who attended. Each child was rewarded with a certificate of congratulations which was presented by Ms Meachen. The celebrations were finished off with fruit kebabs for the children and tea and coffee for the adults.

It has been a busy week in conductive education as usual.  We had a great time on Monday when we made potato paprika a Hungarian dish.  The children chopped the onions, peeled the potatoes and cut up the sausages.  They  really enjoyed stirring up the stew but most of all they enjoyed eating it! !

On Friday afternoon the “Green Team” walked down to the Community Gardens on Strickland St to find out some tips for our new school vegetable gardens, and to help celebrate Environment day. The people who work there, told us that seeds need to be sown at twice their size into the soil, and that we could sow broad beans and sweetpeas in our new school plots. We looked at their composting heaps and the size of their vegetable beds. We have started our own compost heaps at school, and collect foodscraps from the classrooms and lunch area. Mr Sinclair, our caretaker, puts the garden waste on the heaps too. In the spring we want to put our new compost onto the gardens to help our vegetables grow. At the community gardens we helped plant parsley into pots and then painted the pots to take home. We made coloured hand prints on a wall to celebrate Environment Day. We had a busy afternoon, and even tried some rhubarb and apple muffins, and parsley pesto. They were yum!! We...

Why don't you ask the kids at Tiananmen Square, was fashion the reason why they were there? - from the lyrics of System of a Down

Last week was Conductive Education Awareness and our troops were very busy visiting malls to spread the word about Conductive Education. On Tuesday the whole school was involved in a fun and games session organised for the morning. During this session Wayne Smith assistant All Black coach who is the Patron for Conductive Education visited us. On Thursday Room 5 held an open day. It was attended by large number of people who dropped in to see the Conductive Education programme in action. 

The following is an extract from David Rice's fictional work entitled 'Song of Tiananmen Square' based on the Tiananmen protests 20 years ago. I thought the declaration of martial law was handled rather well in this extract: On the dot of ten a helicopter thudded down along the ravine of Chang'an Avenue, well below the tops of the buildings. It banked in front of Tiananmen Gate and swung in over the Square. It was one of those french-made Gazelles -- I recognised its faired-in tail rotor. We shaded our eyes to watch it hover right above us. A huge bulk appeared below the helicopter, falling directly on top of us. Song screamed and I thought I was going to die. The thing exploded and became thousands of fluttering leaflets. They had put it in writing, the bastards, their fucking Declaration of Martial Law.

The following is a poem entitled Small Questions. It was posted anonymously at Tiananmen Square. There was a note from the person who had written it: "From a dialogue between a 4-year old girl and her daughter" Small Questions Child: Mama Mama these young aunties and uncles, why aren't they eating anything? Mother: They wish to receive a beautiful gift. Child: What gift? Mother: Freedom. Child: Who will give them this beautiful gift? Mother: They themselves. Child: Mama Mama in the Square, why are there so many people? Mother: It is a holiday. Child: What holiday? Mother: The holiday of lighting of the torch. Child: Where is the torch? Mother: Inside the hearts of us all. Child: Mama Mama Who is riding in the ambulance? Mother: A hero. Child: Why is the hero lying down? Mother: To best let the child behind him see. Child: Am I that child? Mother: Yes. Child: To see what? Mother: The flower with petals every color of the rainbow. Translated by Mike O'Connor. T...