Off to Kaikohe...
The bus didn't have to roll into Kaikohe today - Don our bus driver had taken it home for the night there last night as he lives there. Last night he texted me to say he'd made the mistake of stopping off for some bread in town on the way home... the interest people had in the bus had delayed him getting home for dinner!
Chicky Rudkin, principal at Kaikohe East School, had invited us to talk to parents outside the school in the morning. With Bessie Mutu, our NZEI field officer based in Kawakawa, the bus team hit the pavements... parents were very interested in talking about the national standards issue, many having seen it all on TV over the last few days. But what really made me ponder was watching how they clearly trusted Chicky and were more than prepared to support her and NZEI's campaign if that is what she thought was right. Chicky has taught in Auckland and even thought of giving up teaching at one point to pursue something more glamorous with the corporate car and the big pay packet (my words, not hers!), but she's from Kaikohe and "came home" to be principal here. She says being in a school where she knows the tamariki and their families so well makes her even more passionate about her job.
Tracey Watkins, a political columnist writing in the DomPost yesterday hit the nail on the head when she said that NZEI and its teacher members have "links to their local communities [that] make them a far more formidable force than ...the PPTA.
"..Mr Key might be right to bank on parents supporting him over this one. But the row could easily turn into one of parents against the Government if he follows through on the threat to sack school boards that boycott the new standards. Come that day, it will no longer be a fight with the teacher unions, but a fight with the local communities and parents who make up school boards. No wonder Education Minister Anne Tolley and Mr Key were furiously back-pedalling away from that threat yesterday. (read more at : www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/politics/3286840/Government-offensive...)
Having left the motel at 7.15am without brekkie, we then tucked into some kai at the Kaikohe Mitre 10 cafe, making sure the only other customer had first signed our petition! We were joined again by local MP Kelvin Davis. Kelvin used to be principal at Kaitaia Intermediate so is well known at the schools we've visited.
Back to talking to parents and grandparents on the main street, we signed up a good proportion of the folk passing by before moving around to the local supermarket. As the temperature rose, so did the numbers of signatures! Perhaps locating our bright neon orange vests helped spur the numbers - we were certainly very visible...(even if neon orange is only marginally more flattering than the lime green ones the supermarket staff were wearing!)
We then moved back to Kaikohe East School for a meeting with staff there... over sandwiches (but NO bran muffins - someone should really put Michael Laws right about his claims that teachers are incompetent wussy liberals who eat bran muffins - I haven't encountered a single one yet...) At some point we realised it was after 2pm and so we made a mad dash to the bus to get to Paihia School before the end of school bell....and had a staffroom gathering with principal David Rogers and his teaching staff. One of the things that has blown me away about the past few days is how generous principals and teachers have been with their time - the first week of school is always crazy, and doubly so in Paihia when Waitangi Day celebrations involve getting the school's kapa haka group up to speed and ready for national TV, performances on frigates for the Prime Minister and various other functions...
Paihia is hotting up with Waitangi Day fever, and 45,000 people are expected here over the next few days. It's a massive event for Ngapuhi as well as bringing in the diplomats, the visitors, the military, and politicians of all hue. I'm heading back to Wellington tomorrow as I promised to pick up my kids from school...leaving the bus in the capable hands of NZEI matua takawaenga Laures Park. Folk from the Southland bus - which will take a break before more touring in Dunedin next week - say they feel bus seperation anxiety after just a few hours... I figure I might just be too busy with my kids to notice!! Signing out.... Stephanie
Chicky Rudkin, principal at Kaikohe East School, had invited us to talk to parents outside the school in the morning. With Bessie Mutu, our NZEI field officer based in Kawakawa, the bus team hit the pavements... parents were very interested in talking about the national standards issue, many having seen it all on TV over the last few days. But what really made me ponder was watching how they clearly trusted Chicky and were more than prepared to support her and NZEI's campaign if that is what she thought was right. Chicky has taught in Auckland and even thought of giving up teaching at one point to pursue something more glamorous with the corporate car and the big pay packet (my words, not hers!), but she's from Kaikohe and "came home" to be principal here. She says being in a school where she knows the tamariki and their families so well makes her even more passionate about her job.
Tracey Watkins, a political columnist writing in the DomPost yesterday hit the nail on the head when she said that NZEI and its teacher members have "links to their local communities [that] make them a far more formidable force than ...the PPTA.
"..Mr Key might be right to bank on parents supporting him over this one. But the row could easily turn into one of parents against the Government if he follows through on the threat to sack school boards that boycott the new standards. Come that day, it will no longer be a fight with the teacher unions, but a fight with the local communities and parents who make up school boards. No wonder Education Minister Anne Tolley and Mr Key were furiously back-pedalling away from that threat yesterday. (read more at : www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/politics/3286840/Government-offensive...)
Having left the motel at 7.15am without brekkie, we then tucked into some kai at the Kaikohe Mitre 10 cafe, making sure the only other customer had first signed our petition! We were joined again by local MP Kelvin Davis. Kelvin used to be principal at Kaitaia Intermediate so is well known at the schools we've visited.
Back to talking to parents and grandparents on the main street, we signed up a good proportion of the folk passing by before moving around to the local supermarket. As the temperature rose, so did the numbers of signatures! Perhaps locating our bright neon orange vests helped spur the numbers - we were certainly very visible...(even if neon orange is only marginally more flattering than the lime green ones the supermarket staff were wearing!)
We then moved back to Kaikohe East School for a meeting with staff there... over sandwiches (but NO bran muffins - someone should really put Michael Laws right about his claims that teachers are incompetent wussy liberals who eat bran muffins - I haven't encountered a single one yet...) At some point we realised it was after 2pm and so we made a mad dash to the bus to get to Paihia School before the end of school bell....and had a staffroom gathering with principal David Rogers and his teaching staff. One of the things that has blown me away about the past few days is how generous principals and teachers have been with their time - the first week of school is always crazy, and doubly so in Paihia when Waitangi Day celebrations involve getting the school's kapa haka group up to speed and ready for national TV, performances on frigates for the Prime Minister and various other functions...
Paihia is hotting up with Waitangi Day fever, and 45,000 people are expected here over the next few days. It's a massive event for Ngapuhi as well as bringing in the diplomats, the visitors, the military, and politicians of all hue. I'm heading back to Wellington tomorrow as I promised to pick up my kids from school...leaving the bus in the capable hands of NZEI matua takawaenga Laures Park. Folk from the Southland bus - which will take a break before more touring in Dunedin next week - say they feel bus seperation anxiety after just a few hours... I figure I might just be too busy with my kids to notice!! Signing out.... Stephanie
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