Kia ora koutou ma whanau Kotuku Lauriston,
What a wonderful day we enjoyed together at the annual Area Schools Cross Country with Methven Primary and Our Lady of the Snows. I felt incredibly proud of our team and whanau as we pulled together another successful day at Lauriston. A big thank you must go to Laura and staff for the leadership, organisation and planning that sat before, during and after this event. We also need to acknowledge the fine efforts of Ducky and the Lauriston School Support team for their work in providing food and refreshments for our school and visitors-an excellent collaboration and engagement from our whanau who provided beautiful baking, support in the food tent and marshalling support out on the course-we so appreciate the way our community worked together to make this day a success!
An acknowledgement of the Copland, Black and Van Polanen Whanau is also needed for their work in helping to set up the course again this year-we continue to move from strength to strength each year-and as Laura said, we would be lost without their incredible support and efforts!
Last but not least, a big thank you must also go out to Faa Tuhemoloa and whanau for allowing us access to their farm for the day-and for the the use of their quad cart this year-I am not sure who enjoyed driving this the most Laura or Tania!!!
It is certainly is wonderful to see our community shine-and to see all the happy faces celebrating another opportunity to come together, cheer on our children and enjoy fellowship with one another again- nga mihi manaaki whanau! Thanks again for all your support!
Over the holidays and Term 2, our students have enjoyed participating in the Run NZ challenge within each classroom and at home as individuals. We have covered a lot of km's over the past 5-6 weeks, setting a collaborative goal in running the length of NZ from Cape Reinga to the Bluff. To date we have just about reached Oamaru! It has been great to see the children's enthusiasm and excitement participating in this challenge-with an integration of math involved in keeping an accurate measurement of the combined km's being accumulated by running laps of the field as individuals and collectively as classrooms. What a perfect way to illustrate Math in context-which helps our children see the value and usefulness of Math in their everyday life, a real focus of our teaching team since 2020 when we began to question the status quo around how math is taught in NZ. (Keep an eye out for next week's newsletter as I provide our whanau with a short video outlining our team's inquiry into Math in the Local Curriculum Context over 2020-2022.)
Recently we have been inspired to learn of the fundraising efforts of one of Lauriston School's own ex-students, Richard Turpie- Miss Georgina Turpie's brother. As a recent Stuff article explains, Canterbury University student Richard Turpie is doing an ultramarathon as a fundraiser for Chase Porter - who needs a heart transplant https://www.stuff.co
nz/national/health/128341473/a-mums-determination-to-find-answers-for-her-boy-and-a-familys-wait-for-the-day-he-can-have-a-heart-transplant.
Chase is a four year old boy who was born with an incredibly rare genetic condition called Barth Syndrome that has caused his heart to fail. Chase’s parents have been on the toughest of parenting journeys watching hopelessly as their son tackles a life threatening condition. Chase has astonished his family and medical professionals that he has been able to survive for this long. The family now waits for the opportunity to have a required heart transplant as a long term solution, which during a pandemic is another difficulty to add to the situation. As for his parents, they live with one simple goal and that is doing everything in their power to keep their son alive.
As Richard states:
"This story was a reflection point for myself realising the complete insignificance of any problems we might face. We love to compare ourselves to others on social media, let's compare ourselves to something real. This isn't made up, this isn't drama, this isn't for social status, this is a child's life in the balance. A reason for donation that doesn't need any more explaining. To raise money for Chase's family I'll be running an 100km ultra marathon around Hagley Park on the 4th of June 2022.
In a world with a global pandemic, war and mass protesting a little bit of positivity and perspective can go a long way. Any donation or form of help is going to aid in the easing of pain for this legend and his family, so before you buy a morning coffee tomorrow maybe think twice about who that money could benefit more."
Richard helps us to all be able reflect on our own attitudes and beliefs and to question any limitations we have have placed on ourselves for thinking we are too small to make a difference or to question any ideas we have put up, thinking that whatever I do may be insignificant or just a drop in the bucket. What he proves is that, a bucket of water is made up of thousands of tiny drops of water-and as such if we all make an effort, each of us in our small way, together, can make a big difference in the lives of others. Let's be encouraged to shift our focus towards service and looking after one another- by focusing on others. As research shows, we experience greater happiness and an enhanced feeling of well being than when we are solely focused on our own lives and our own problems.
What a great example to inspire us and our children. As our school whakatauki for the next two weeks states: "Ko nga pae tawhiti whaia kia tata, ko nga pae tata whakamaua kia tina - the potential for tomorrow depends on what we do today."
Nga mihi nui
Colin Brodie
