We were talking as a staff this week about how we create an environment in which children learn to love God. Obviously there are many ways that we do this at school, but we are reviewing these practices and embarking on a period of new learning and reflection so that we can integrate faith in natural ways into our day.

"Wonder is the basis for worship" was a phrase that struck me when I was starting KingsWay, and it is a valuable reminder to us as parents.

When my children were small, I remember Ben coming to me over and over with litte bugs that he had found in the garden. To be honest, seeing the third cicada for the day wasn't on my list of joys. However, I distinctly remember it dawning on me that how I responded to his enthusiasm over a bug or beetle was significant for him and was an opportunity to develop a sense of wonder and awe. It became an intentional practice for me to try and choose to respond to him and his sisters as often as possible with a "Wow, isn't it amazing the way God has made that!" kind of response. This was instrumental in helping, in a natural way, for wonder to result in a simple thought of worship.

Another time, I recall driving down our road one early evening to see a most beautiful sunset. It would have been easy to ignore it, but I decided to pull over and enjoy it quietly with 5 year old Ben and his sisters, and to thank God, and then we drove home and got some paints out and painted a picture of the sunset.

Often in the course of the day, I learned to find small ways to help the children turn their thoughts towards God - gratitude is easy, awe and wonder is easy, compassionate prayer is easy.

These little practices take very brief moments, and are very formative for children, who have a natural awareness of God. At school, we are discussing ways of integrating wonder, awe, compassion, gratitude into our days. 

Join us in the journey!

​Helen

Horizon is a pretty special place to work these days. It is so wonderful to have such a positive and enthusiastic staff who are so committed to doing the best they can for the children.

For a school with a roll in the mid-80s, we are very well staffed.

Mary, Toni and Vanessa work collaboratively with the junior classes. Sam, Caleb and Tilda work as a collaborative team in the senior classes. We have Elaine working one day per week with learners who have special needs, testing and applying for funding and support for these learners. We have June working 5 mornings per week with reading recovery and specialist support for children needing a burst in their maths or spelling. June is also working with Room 2 on the Feuerstein programme.

These teachers are engaged in constant learning and refinement of their teaching based on the specific needs of each child. I am so impressed with their care and their capacity, and it is exciting to see the progress that our children are making.

Each teacher has their own inquiry into what might work best for a particular small group of learners whose progress seems currently to need an extra burst of atteniton, and they reflect regularly on what is working and what is not for these learners.

Each week we have a time of celebrating successes for the week.

This term, we have had a lot to celebrate:

• The quality of story writing in Room 1 has taken a big leap up with high engagement levels related to animals in the classroom, and also because of focused teaching on 'wow' words and listening to sounds and giving spelling a go.
• Seniors setting games up for the juniors at lunchtimes
• Exciting programmes with both real life problems and simulations that have had the children collaborating to think hard and to solve problems
• Fantastic enagement of parents as they use the Seesaw app to respond to their children's learning
• Excellent participation and results in the interschool speech competitions, resulting in everyone from our school gaining a first, second or third place
• A generally very settled, happy and engaged group of learners across the school

It is great to be a part of Horizon School at this point in our history. Stability, teamwork, genuine inquiry into what will help each child learn and enthusiasm for the future throughout the school are a very firm foundation for the future.

Thanks for being such a great community to be a part of.

​Helen

Years ago when I was writing curriculum for Christian schools, I did a unit on Cultures and did a lot of learning about the different customs and manners people groups have.  

I learned that many cold-climate cultures are task driven while warm-culture climates are more relationship-driven. In cold-climate cultures it can be offensive to turn up to dinner with others late because it seems as though you are not respecting their time, while in other cultures it can be offensive to turn up exactly on time because it seems as though you are only there for the dinner and not the relationship. In some cultures you show respect for someone by looking at them in the eyes, and in others you show respect by diverting your eyes and not looking directly at the speaker.

I found this learning fascinating, and it dawned on me that while they are an entirely cultural right and wrong, manners are expressions of love and respect for another.

At Horizon School this week we will be explicitly teaching the children schoolwide about manners.

Here is a list of things we are expecting our our children at school and it would be great if you can reinforce this at home through daily habits of relating.

We expect the children to

• say "Good morning" and smile to guests and adults if passing and appropriate
• say "Excuse me", "Please", "Thank you" to each other, to teachers, to the bus driver, to adults
• take turns in conversation and listen when others are talking
• generally speak in a calm, quiet voice inside
• in the junior classes, when getting attention, quietly put their hand on the arm of a teacher who is busy talking to someone else so she knows they are there and then wait patiently
• in the senior classes, stand beside a teacher who is talking to someone else and wait patiently
• walk calmly around the school
• wear their uniform well as a way of showing respect for theselves and for the school
• think of ways to actively notice how they can help others, express appreciation

If we are to live Loving Lives, it is these small habits done over and over that will provide a stable, positive, loving environment both in our school, and in each child. If your child is demonstrating good manners and habits, it will translate into a sense of self-management, self-respect and general wellbeing.

​Thanks for helping us with this!

At the Parent Meeting last week, Sam explained some of the principles of Positive Behaviour for Learning to us. We looked at some draft schoolwide behaviour expectations that we will expect of children in each area of the school, eg playground, classroom, toilets. Your feedback was really helpful. Thank you!

As part of the process of developing good self management skills, we need to work together - school and home.

PB4L reminds us that routines need to be explicit and directly taught. If children or young people have difficulty with a routine, parents and teachers should model and immediately re-teach in a simplified way.

It is so easy to forget that children might not know all the steps to cleaning their teeth well, or how to empty their bag after school.  Or they might not know how to take turns or how to wash their hands after they have gone to the toilet.
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At school we are deliberately teaching the children specific expectations and reinforcing them with praise and encouragement, sometimes using 'Spotchas'.

Sometimes life is just tough. Whether it is depression or sickness or an unhappy relationship or financial pressures, it is just plain hard work. When it is several at once, it is nearly breaking point.

I have had several times in my life when I have felt depressed or overwhelmed. What is really hard is being in that state when our kids are around and we know we want to be more fully alive for their sake, when we know that we just haven't got what it takes to be the 'sunshine' in their lives at this particular time.

A few things that I found helpful when my children were younger:

I had a dark period at one stage as a mum with a young baby, and felt that tears were welling under my eyelids much of the time. Nothing much seemed to help, but I decided to meet weekly for a while with a wise older woman. She did a Bible study with me. To be honest, the Bible study didn't bring relief at the time, but I remember so clearly her care for me and a question she asked me.

"Helen, where is the light for you?" she asked. I had no idea. But the question set me on a search which resulted in some lifestyle changes, and the 'light' began to sneak into my soul again.

When my children were more at preschool and junior primary school age and I felt tired, and sick of the screaming, stubborn child or the bickering and arguing or the deliberate scratches in the newly painted wall, I found myself developing a habitual response.

"Grace and patience, Lord", I would often whisper under my breath as I went to deal with the latest issue, sometimes rolling my eyes! Some days it was a feature of the day.... But I think it really did help because in this simple act, which became almost like a mantra at times, I was able to rewire my negative thinking in the moment, bringing God into the situation.

I remember at one stage feeling as though everything was hard work, and decided I needed some help to lighten up when I didn't feel like it. So I started to gather ideas of things that might bring a lightness and a laugh when I didn't feel I had it in myself.

One thing was our Secret Huggle Box. This was a box of old business cards. At times when I needed to lighten the mood or wanted a surprise celebration, I would let a child go and choose a card from the Huggle Box. On each card there were words describing a particular version of a crazy hug. The kids would pick a card, and that would be the hug they would get.

Huggle Cards included:
A hug and a hop, A hug and a bikkie, A hug and a bump, A hug in a rug, An upside-down hug, A triple hug, A double hug, A high-five hug, A low-five hug, A hug and a thank you prayer, A club sandwich hug (with the child squished between two others) , A no-touch-but-get-as-close-as-you-can hug, A no-hands hug, A hug and a buzz,  A loud hug, A hug of your choice... you get the idea. Basically it was an excuse for a bit of nonsense and a cuddle and a laugh - something to change the mood.

I don't know about you, but sometimes I needed a 'go-to' box to help shift my mood or theirs, and these silly little things became treasured memories.

Setting clean-up jobs to crazy fast music and a timer worked a treat. I would announce "Funny Pickup!" and we all went crazy racing round the room for 2 minutes picking up things and putting them on the couch for sorting and then putting them away. A fast burst of energy and some speedy music with a strict time limit meant a lot got done in a short space of time, the mood shifted and the place instantly made me feel better!

Now with teenagers, I sometimes hear them say, "Let's do a two-minute tidy up!" and the timer gets set, the music goes on, the kitchen gets tidied...aaaaah!
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So, when times are hard, remember:
It's just a season - this too will pass.
Where is the light for you?
'Grace and patience, Lord!'
And kickstart yourself to do a few crazy things... sometimes you just gotta laugh!

May you find lots of light and laughter in your week.

Helen Pearson

 In the last few days our wider family has gathered at our home for a funeral. Cousins from Australia and the Taranaki who we rarely see came to stay for a few days, with 26 of us eating and sleeping and talking marae-style. It was quite special.  

This morning was my son's and his cousin's birthdays, and one of our family traditions is to have a pancake breakfast before work/school on birthdays and go round and say what we appreciate about each other.

There were 16 of us for breakfast at 6.30 this morning, including some members of the family who have had pretty hard-lived lives. As we ate breakfast and then shared encouragement with our birthday young people, it was one of those God-breathed moments. 

On driving to school I was reflecting on how, as a young mum, I hadn't seemed to be doing anything important - basically I was 'just' a mum for 19 years - but I had thought that if I invested well in our kids while they were young, I would have a better chance of them investing in others as they grew.

Dean and I have always talked about how, as a family, we can love God and work with God in the world in the ordinary things of life, with neighbours and friends, at school and in the community. We didn't see this as an adult's job, but as something we could do as individuals and as a family - very imperfectly, but intentionally.

So, this weekend, it has been a joy to see hearts melting as they were embraced into our family, with our kids being at the core of some healing interactions.

I share this because, in the midst of the stuff of parenting, which, let's face it is often a hard grind, a thankless task, it is good to remember that the end of the book of our parenting is not yet written.

We can't control a lot of what happens in our lives, and we can't control what our children do and say. We can, however, learn to shape our own attitudes and behaviour in response to what is thrown at us, and we can try to hold out hope for the future.

"As a parent or a partner or a leader, you are not meant to be perfect, but you are meant to be aware." So said a mentor, Margaret Considine, to me last week.

Basically, parenting is a huge continuation of a 'growing up' phase, a way of us growing in increasing awareness of our own 'stuff' and of the many perspectives of others, in order to respond well. We are the ones who are growing up, in the process of parenting! 

Margaret Considine also said last week, "We can't always control our environment. We can only change our own behaviours. But we can shape the world by living well-led lives."

May you also be encouraged by the importance of the small conversations and traditions in your family that help to shape certain dispositions in your children so that they can be a blessing in the world as they grow.

One day, you too will smile and think "the investment was worth it!"