Week 8 - Wins of the Week

 Week 8 - Wins of the Week

I've just finished off my contributions to the Principal's Report in anticipation of our next meeting on Monday 20/9 and upon reflection I am really delighted with how much we have achieved in Lockdown.  We haven't missed a beat!  

I participated in an International Forum last night on Coaching and Wellbeing and one of the topics was what are we grateful for in Lockdown.  I love crossing off outstanding tasks from my 'To Do Lists' and I've been fortunate to be able to attend to a number of tasks - Professional Growth Cycle Review, Induction/Onboarding, Local Curriculum Development (to name just a few).  Super important tasks, that in the business of a normal working week often get pushed aside attending to the here and now!  

On a personal front this family time is amazing and it's a considerably slower pace for my busy household.  We've changed around our routines over the past two weeks and have incorporated a family fitness challenge (squats, press ups, sit ups etc...).  I could barely get off the couch for a week! In addition I am stoked that Sean has taken the time to start guitar lessons for my girls (Jaime and Lily).  Lily initially didn't engage with much enthusiasm but we had a conversation about the process of learning and what it means to be teachable!  As is often the way Lily is coming around to the idea and is enjoying the one on one time with her dad.  

My wins of the week 

1#  The Disconnect-Ed Day we have implemented to support staff and student wellbeing is going down a treat with everyone.  Me included! It gives me an opportunity in the week to slow down the pace of all the Google Meets and to have some catch up time - for things like blog posts :-)

2#  I really enjoyed the Six60 Pepeha Singing we did yesterday with Paulette.  I always love Te Wiki o te Reo Māori week and any opportunity to improve my Reo. I really enjoy that this time of year brings about a whole lot of new video, music, apps and games in te reo. Yesterday Ms Paulette Corbett supported our staff with learning Six60’s newest single, Pepeha, which has taken off this week! It’s attracted major radio play and is now sitting at 17th in the top 40 singles chart. The bi-lingual track is a great way to learn both about pepeha, (the connections Māori use to introduce themselves) and it also repeats the chorus in both English and Māori – so is easy to follow.Check out Jeira, who created and shared this video of her engaged in the whakarongo Wero.

3# Stay Interviews. For the last 6 or 7 years I have engaged annually in Stay Interviews with staff at each of the schools I have been Principal at. These are a fairly time intensive process as I meet with the staff in a one on one situation. I use a really simple framework that I read about in a Harvard article one day. It's called the SKS model - suggestions for things we should STOP (S) at NWS, things we should KEEP (K), and ideas/projects/initiatives we could consider STARTING (S). It's always a super rewarding and fascinating process as you get insights into individual teachers perspectives and the schools next steps.

Roll on Week 9 and hopefully our last week of Lockdown!

Day... whatever of Lockdown - Father's Day/Te Whare Tapa Wha

 Day... whatever of Lockdown

I'm not sure what day of Alert Level 4 that is for Tamaki Makaurau but I'm confident we are well into our second week now.  Yesterday was Father's Day and it was a change of pace and also approach as ordinarily we would have had a big family celebration, some kind of event out and then a lunch or dinner at a restaurant.  With the realisation that this couldn't happen, I committed to cooking a dinner.  Now this doesn't sound like an incredible event (or maybe it shouldn't be), but I am a terrible cook so this declaration of love and commitment to our Dad was going to be quite the extravaganza.  We settled on Lasagna for the main course and some Lemon Friands for the dessert with Haagen Daas Blueberry Ice-cream.  Everyone in the house agreed that this was an acceptable approach given that we also have the world's worst oven (while we wait for the kitchen renovation to happen).  

Now you might be wondering why our Father's Day dinner is appearing on my professional blog.  Here comes the connection... I have been looking at the wellbeing model te whare tapa wha.  I think the dinner with my family was a good example of something I did over the weekend that supported both my own and my whanau's wellbeing.  

Here is the overview below of the model....

The Maori holistic model of health, te whare tapa wha, reminds us all to take care of all of the different aspects of our lives to support our wellbeing. 

What is te whare tapa whā?

Te whare tapa whā is a model of the 4 dimensions of wellbeing developed by Sir Mason Durie in 1984 to provide a Māori perspective on health. The 4 dimensions are:

• taha tinana (physical wellbeing)
• taha hinengaro (mental wellbeing)
• taha wairua (spiritual wellbeing)
• taha whānau (family wellbeing).

With 4 walls, the wharenui (meeting house) is a symbol of these 4 dimensions. The wharenui’s connection with the whenua (land) forms the foundation for the other 4 dimensions.

Image credit: Mental Health Foundation, NZ

By nurturing and strengthening all 5 dimensions, you support your health and wellbeing, as well as the health and wellbeing of your whānau.

How I see the Father's Day dinner...

As I was cooking the dinner, my eldest daughter Jaime joked that she'd never seen me cook a Lasagna before.  Given that she's 14 years old the joke was that I cook as often as we seen Haley's Comet.  So I felt quite proud that I was giving this a go, and also that I was doing this with Jaime.  We joked a lot in the kitchen about the mess (I should really have taken photos), how long it took - over 3 hours, and also the fact it would have been loadsssss easier to buy a lasagna from Countdown.  Oh well... it was the gift of giving and love that's also important in this experience.  

Amazingly, the lasagna was delicious and everyone enjoyed the jokes at my expense.  Maybe... (just maybe) we give something new a go next week on the kitchen front.  

I think my wellbeing focus today needs to be less food.  

I ate through the pain last night.