Kia ora koutou

Thank you for all of those that have managed to pay for swimming so far.   It is nice to know you won’t have to pay anything next year due to Labour’s fee-free scheme.   It is also fantastic to hear that Catholic Cathedral College (CCC) is taking it up the fee-free scheme as well.  Almost no high schools have taken the offer due to the huge amounts they ask parents to pay.  Good on CCC for doing it even though they know it will hit them in the pocket.  I am continually impressed by Tony Shaw and his people-first approach.

He also invited our school to hear Marcus Akuhata-Brown on Tuesday.  I had no idea what it was about apart from it was being about inspiring lower achievers.  I was blown away and it made many things clear in my own head about life and family.  He talked on the effect of being displaced from an area of living and the effect it can have, the importance of our connection to ‘place’, and most of all, the impact even the smallest amount of encouragement can have.  He called it mana enhancing!

He could trace his heritage right back to the arrival of Māori in NZ, very impressive memory.  Have you ever talked to your children about where they come from?  Not just one generation but as many as possible.  Even if you don’t like a person in the family, from experience, it is nice to know where you trace back to.  Also talking about what kind of people they were and the work they did etc.  So many of us only go back to granddad or grandma.  Give it a go!