Tania Bellamy and the Robots group presented four workshops at the Kidz@Conference ICT conference today.  Mark Beaton also helped out with the sessions and the feedback the group had was very good.  Well done to all 6 children involved.

We also had 4 Y5/6 children who were delegates at the conference and went to a number of different workshops and found out about using all sorts of different software and technology.  Janferie Tansley and Kerry MacKenzie also attended a day of the conference each to learn about the kinds of things that the children were learning about as well.  They will then be able to share the ideas with other teachers back at school.

Channel 9 news also had an item that included interviews and shots of our children.

A big thanks to the team that put the conference together and well done to all the people from Outram School who attended over the two days.

we have two positions available for wonderful teachers who want to join our team from next year.

Senior School.

1. Classroom Teacher (Senior). We are looking for a skilled classroom teacher.  The successful applicant will have strengths in literacy, numeracy and PE/PA as well as the ability to motivate, engage with, and enthuse children. Applications close 16 November. Information pack is available from Outram School, our website or by emailing gregc@outram.school.nz.

1. Classroom Teacher (Senior) / Sports Coordinator (1mu). First and foremost you have to be a skilled and successful classroom teacher.  The successful applicant will have strengths in literacy, numeracy and PE/PA as well as the ability to motivate, engage with, and enthuse children.  You will be leading our very successful co-curricular and sports programme and the position comes with some release and 1 management unit in recognition of this.  Applications close 16 November. Information pack is available from Outram School, our website or by emailing gregc@outram.school.nz.

These are the ads that have appeared in the Education Gazette.

You can download the position information and application form HERE

This week the Y7/8 children are at Oreti beach near Invercargill on their camp.  All the messages we have had back from them are that things are going well and the children and teachers are having a BALL.

We work hard to have a varied programme at Outram School and give the children a wide range of experiences during their time with us.  If you keep an eye on the R3 and R5 web pages/wikis you will no doubt see more about their time ‘down south’.

Our children recently participated in the Otago Regional Science Fair:

Otago Regional Science Fair 2009- Scholarship Winners
Of the 7 projects entered from Outram School 5 have won scholarships.

Department of Computer Science, University of Otago Award
Max Newall/Daniel Gruppelaar- Computer Health

Children’s & Young People’s Research Cluster, University of Otago Award
David Darby/Cameron McLennan- Does Time Fly

School of Dentistry, University of Otago Award
Aleisha Adam / Nicola Lord Acid Attack

Otago Regional Council Award
Joseph Meehan / James McLennan Taieri River Water

Highly commended
Ayden McArthur Toilet time

Congratulations to all the groups who participated!!

Last night we had a great eveing looking at the programmes we run in Y7 and Y8 at our school.  You can see a copy of the powerpoint I shared by following this link.
The marketing for high schools and intermediate aged children is particularly intense this year and it is important that people are aware of the unique things that Outram School offers your children.
All schools have to follow the same curriculum, it is the differences in the ways we ‘do it’ and the elements we focus on that is the key to what makes schools different. The learning culture at Outram School is very strong and things like the Allen Centre/Vision Programme are quite unique. We have a big commitment to offering a range of opportunities and experiences to our children and lighting the sparks of curiosity about as many different things as we can.

Teachers from other schools come to see the things we do and to learn from our experiences. Later this term we have a group from Queenstown Primary coming for example, and throughout this year teachers have been coming to visit our school and find out about our programmes.
Peggy Steadman from the Allen Centre has even been invited to contribute to a university programme in the US as a guest presenter describing the programmes she coordinates for us. This is how good it is!

This Wednesday night there is an INFORMATION EVENING for all those interested in finding out about the Y7/8 programme we offer at Outram School.

Where: Allen Centre

When: 7pm

Sarah Gilbert and Ryan Martin will share the programmes that are in place for children in their classrooms. This will include:

• Literacy – reading and writing
• Numeracy – maths
• Topic and Inquiry – social studies, science, aspects of health, technology
• Arts – visual, drama, music and dance
• PE and Sports programmes
• Manual and Technology
• Languages – second language options

This is the time of year when secondary schools are marketing heavily the things they offer in Y7 and Y8. Outram School is in a unique position to continue building on the skills your child already has in Y7 and Y8. We can do this in ways no other school has the ability to do.

Come along to this evening and find out how. Please feel free to bring your child along if you would like to. There will be an opportunity to ask any questions you may have for any of us at the end of the evening.

See you on Wednesday!

Our parent interviews are coming up next week – on Monday and Tuesday for most teachers. Bookings for these are open from TODAY and are on a first come first served basis.

They will form the basis of the interview and are intended to give you a clear idea of your child’s work and achievement during the first half of 2009.

There are two ways you can book interviews this year:

EITHER

1. Online

· go to www.schoolinterviews.co.nz

· enter the school code of QGRGU

· enter your name and email details, number of children to book for and child/rens names

· choose the teacher/s you wish to see

· check the boxes of the times you want

· the site will send you a confirmation email when you save and you can go back in later and change times and other details if you need to using your unique code. It pays to keep this email!

OR

1. Fill in the slip that came home today and return to school.

Yesterday we took delivery of the new LCD screens that we have purchased for the classrooms.  They are 42″ and connect directly to the teachers laptops.  Room 6 were the very first to use one this afternoon to share the videos from YouTube they were watching looking at our Challenge at the moment of “Curiosity and Wonderment”  The children watched a video from John Glenn who was one of the first men to walk on the moon 40 years ago this week.

The children in this picture are discussing how they can show that they are exhibiting that Challenge.  You can see the screen with the movie they have just watched.  The TV’s are SOO much better than a projector as they are bright, clear and can be used in a well lit room.

We also had a visit today from Disa McLean our ICT PD Cluster facilitator.  Many of the teachers were released to work with her looking at ways we can incorporate just this sort of technology into our classroom programmes.  If you look at the sidebar of this site you will see links to all the different online places classes are using to support their programmes.

We were in the finals of the Full Primary 10-a-side rugby tournament yesterday.  We came second in the competition overall and the team played really well in all the games.

We had a great time at the cross country this week at Doherty’s paddocks.  Well done to all the runners and a big thanks to all the parents who came along to support the children as well.

Click on the photo to see a whole lot more!