“Rainbows apologise for angry skies” Rainbows are one of those lovely things that remind us that despite the rain – something special is just waiting to be discovered. This morning I had a blonde moment – I had a meeting I needed to get to – dutifully travelled through appalling traffic – got there to…
Author: Principally Mused
The Flawed Sausage Making Process – an Educational Tale
What does Dr Yong Zhao, sausages and a flawed education standards system have in common?More than you would think.Several weeks ago I was invited to a breakfast meeting, hosted by NZEI (teachers Union). The quest speaker was Dr Yong Zhao. He is an international speaker well known for his educational work. His main area of focus is…
Rhianna Concert – The Good the Bad the Sparkly
Rhianna has just been in NZ doing a 3 day, whirl wind, concert schedule for her Diamonds World Tour. We went. I recall the absolute excitement when Techno Man (under the strictest of orders not to mess up getting tickets – after all – what is the beauty of working from home if you can’t…
Evernote – A Principals Best Friend
I am an Evernote convert. So much so that I did the following; Provided all my senior leadership team with an ipad so they could start to explore Evernote as a tool for observations, walkthroughs and general storage of data Ensured my Evernote was on my iphone, mac and iPad (now an ipad mini) upgraded…
OS 7 – Do I or Don’t I Like It…
Well, despite not wanting to (I’m a creature of habit and I was quite fond of the look of my old iPhone operating system) – I took the plunge and updated. This was sometime ago and as you can see, I am still not that comfortable with the new layout and way of navigating around…
We need Leadership not Likership
I was trolling through the net, as you do when the weather has set in and the false promise of an early summer has dashed away laughing that you fell for it, when I stumbled upon this quote. ‘We need leadership, not likership’ Its an interesting quote, and it struck a chord. Leadership is a…
Rotorua Road Trip Part 3 – Skyline Gondola and Luge – AWESOME
The Luge and Overlooking Rotorua! The Gondola The gondola ride is a must do! Not only is it a fabulous way to take in all the sights of Rotorua in one long sweep, but it is a pretty relaxing and chilled way to rise up 900metres into the sky. The Gondola Up the Moutain…
‘The Hidden Costs of Missing School’ – No surprises there!
I read an article in the Herald this morning and low and behold – there were those words, thoughts and ideas floating around in my head, desperate to be set free. (see link below) http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11137669“School children who are suspended, expelled or drop out early are more likely to suffer from poor health and social difficulties…
Road Trip To Rotorua – Part 2 Museum
Rotorua Museum As we arrived in Rotorua (unofficially called Rotovegas by Kiwis) and made our way to the hotel, we could see the tudor architecture of the above building and wondered what it was and what it was hiding. It was close to our hotel so a quick unpack and a short drive (in…
Good News For Education!
Hot off the press! The determination of Phillipstown Schools ‘take it to man’ court case against the Ministry and Minister of Educations decision to close the school and merge it with Woolston has been published. Recently the school filed a judicial review in the Christchurch High Court, where the school sought to get a…