Life is not a race to be first finished

I hope this isn’t turning into a travel diary but I want to show you all the schools in my Kingdom. LOL.

The first visit today was at Lower Moutere- a busy school with great plans for the development of children’s learning and the use of ICT. Lower Moutere is quite a big school in the scheme of things and I was given a great tour of the school. They already had their ICT action plan for 2008 organised and had plans to develop their ICT infrastructure-laptops and Mimio Interactive whiteboards- I would love to in on their training with these as well. Skills wise they are going to have a focus on digital photography. I have some really useful ideas and resources to throw in the pile as well. A number of teachers are wanting to have a go with blogging too so this will give them a great vehicle for showcasing their results.

Next stop was a gorgeous drive to Ngatimoti School. At some stage when I have a little more time I will stop and take some photos of the views of my commute through NZ’s rolling hillsides and river valleys. On a personal note when the family first came to NZ from the UK in the eighteen some-things they settled in Ngatimoti- I have a very early photo of the house and garden, with uncleared land and manuka fences. The house burned down with one of the twins still inside- no fire-brigade in those days.

Ngatimoti is known for its enviro-schools policies and is leading the way in environmental initiatives. The school is abounding in creative murals and art pieces. Again the staff are keen to look further into using photography and the possibilities of using blogs as a showcase of some of their great work.

Last stop of the day was Dovedale School. Dovedale was just great- beautiful school, interested staff and committed principal- an Apple school by the way.

They were keen to avail themselves of the simplicity and the inter-connectedness of the iLife suite- it will be so easy to help the children create great work here. We are going to look at blogging, building up the school website using iWeb and lots of other fun stuff in the terms ahead. I know I will love working here. What a fabulous place.