The Principal Diaries - reflecting on the journey three terms in!

These school holidays marked the end of my third term at Albany Senior High School. I am absolutely loving my role as Principal at ASHS and I am still pinching myself when I think about how good of a fit it feels for me (and hopefully vice versa as well). It is incredible to think about how much has happened in such a short time. At this point I really do want to give my senior leadership team and all the staff at ASHS a massive warm and fuzzy shout out for the way they have jumped in boots and all!

Below is a bit of an overview and update of the exciting things going on at ASHS. Much of which links directly back to the our trusty annual plan.

Link to the 2019 Annual Plan

Specialist Subjects working on providing visible, deep and inclusive learning. Part of this year’s annual plan is focusing squarely on how we can ensure we are working towards all learning being visible, deep and inclusive. Under the fabulous leadership of Associate Principal Miranda Makin and DP Cristina Casey our specialist subject leaders are working hard to unpack each of these concepts and build on the work that has already gone on at ASHS. Visible learning is achieved through the careful use of technology ensuring all learners know what they are learning and can access that learning 24/7 via platforms such as Google Classroom - this will be an ongoing focus to ensure we are using these platforms effectively and consistently across the board. Deep learning (which has been an ongoing focus at ASHS for some time) is about ensuring our learners not only know what they are learning but can see how that learning is relevant beyond the classroom. For most subjects this is about further enhancing dialectic practices in their courses. Deep Learning is also achieved by tackling real world contexts such as climate change in Science and applying their Mathematics learning to future focused contexts such as coding and robotics. Inclusive learning is about employing ‘universal design for learning’ to ensure our learners can access and evidence their learning in a way that suits their strengths and interests and ensuring assessment is personalised rather than one size fits all! This is definitely a work in progress and I look forward to seeing how it develops over the coming terms.

Impact Projects 2.0 are go! At ASHS they have dedicated every Wednesday for the past 10 years to Impact Projects (IP) where students get to focus on a large scale and long term project of their choice. Projects are developed by students who work with a project mentor (teacher) and are guided by four principles: student ownership and agency; substantial learning beyond the classroom; quality product; and participating and contributing with the community. This ensures our students have the opportunity to be an adult in the world and to develop the skills required to succeed in the 21st Century, developing skills in: time management; leadership; project management; participation in an authentic context of their own making and making a very real contribution to our world. 

This year, with the help of DP Hamish Chalmers, we have stepped up the IP mentor practice focus on problem-solving and mentoring conversations, we have re-introduced Impact Projects Hubs that group students with common interests and have introduced the Stanford D.School Design Thinking Framework to engage in creative complex problem solving, critical thinking and learn how to negotiate and collaborate whilst managing themselves and others. These are the very skills that employers and universities are increasingly looking for and are the skills our young people will need to thrive in an increasingly complex world. We believe each and every ASHS students has the opportunity to be future ready! I have always loved ASHS Impact Projects so it is beyond exciting to be able to support them as they evolve. We are also introducing extended PD for staff on Wednesdays (2.30-3.30) from this term onward, hopefully this will give us a chance to further embed the design thinking approach which is still very much in its infancy.

ConnectED is growing. ConnectED aims to be a first of its kind, school / business / community / innovation hub and network which will be based at Albany Senior High School. The aim of the network is to establish a network and talent register that might mentor and support student Impact Projects; connect learning across the school with the community and wider world of business; host whanau community facing educational events about futures thinking and social business networking so as to establish ASHS as THE ed-innovation hub on the shore!

ConnectED which is being supported by DP Ross Martin and our Business SSL Lloyd Gutteridge (and our ConnectED crew of students) is already working with The Mind Lab, 21C Skills Lab, Grow North and Shore Junction. More recently we have met with the North Harbour Club and the OMG Tech team from Voluntari.ly who are working with our ConnectED Impact Project students looking to develop a platform that will be able to bring students and business and industry mentors together with ease. The ConnectED crew are also looking at hosting a community launch event later this term. Am pretty excited to see how this might evolve into something for all students and schools across NZ.

ASHS has opened a dedicated Makerspace for the whole school community. 2019 marked the launch of a dedicated Makerspace at Albany Senior High School. The aim of the Makerspace is provide a creativity hub for the entire school community. Recent additions to the Makerspace include a laser cutting machine, 3D Printers, a screen printing press and even a spinning wheel. We look forward to adding more VR and AR equipment, robotics, a CNC router and a pottery wheel and kiln. Over the coming years we are looking to expand the space to include a range of art and design equipment to ensure we are providing the necessary infrastructure to support ASHS becoming the leading school for creativity and future focused innovation! Credit where credit is due - a lot of this is down to the vision and hard work of our Technology Specialist Subject Leader (SSL) Tracy Elton-Farr and the ongoing support of Office Max. Can't wait to see where might take it over the coming years!!

Other things on the horizon include the appointment of a new Deputy Principal, with founding Associate Principal taking on a fabulous role as Professional Expert at University of Auckland's Leadership Centre we have an exciting opportunity to grow an already fabulous senior leadership team. Closes next Friday if you're interested ;). 

On a more personal note I am looking forward to seeing out my last months on the Teaching Council. I have loved being part of the Teachers Council, Education Council and now the Teaching Council. I do hope I can continue to support that work in some way. It has proven to be the most incredible opportunity for both personal and professional growth and I have felt very privileged to have been part of the incredible work produced by the Education Council over these last three years and getting to work alongside the likes of Graham Stoop, Lesley Hoskins, Pauline Barnes, Barbara Ala'alatoa and Anthony McKay. 

Later this term I look forward to heading to EduTECH to lead a Masterclass about design thinking and project-based learning and talking once again about 'The Digital Blue Yonder'. Let me know if you are going to be at EduTECH!

I am also really looking forward to helping lead 'The DisruptED Social Learning Experience' which will happening over Terms Two and Three. Make sure you join DisruptED on Facebook if you are keen to get involved. Our wee DisruptED PLN made up of myself, Maurie Abraham, Nicola Ngawera, Steve Saville, Natasha Hemara and Andy Kai Fong continues to be a great source of support and challenge. 

If you are interested in more regular updates about what we are up to at ASHS, make sure you join me for my weekly Facebook Live updates which air every Wednesday on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ashsnz  My intention is to ensure these are weekly throughout the term. 

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The Principal Diaries - reflections, observations, opportunities and leadership inquiries

Well, the first term has felt like something of a whirlwind. It has been a case of of hitting the ground running and any other whirling/high speed metaphors you can think of. Partly this was due to the time of year - being a senior school, the third term ends up feeling like the (nearly) end of the year, with Impact Projects coming to an end this marked a flurry of exhibition, performance and celebratory evenings. The other reason that it has barreled along so quickly is that I was determined to act quickly so as to ensure plans were well and truly in place for 2019.

As I reflected earlier in the term, I am determinedly approaching first-time Principalship as a leader of learning and have tried to be transparent in that leadership (and leading of change) from day one. In my second week I shared with my staff my lens on powerful learning which informed my approach to observing learning across the curriculum and school. After many weeks of digging into school data (attendance and academic), observing Specialist Subjects, Tutorials and Impact Projects and talking to a range of students and teachers it was time to present a summary of observations and a range of opportunities and interventions. These were presented in various iterations to the SLT, BOT, staff and our community.

Here is a copy of the presentation shared with our community at the Meet the Principal evening in Week Nine.

At the end of Week Six the Senior Leadership Team spent a day off site to go over the observations and opportunities and to begin the process of developing a collaborative action plan. Whilst it was my first instinct to simply allocate an area of the curriculum to each senior leader as a "portfolio" it was swiftly met with hesitation. The ASHS SLT has had a long tradition of collaborating on all areas of the curriculum and were hesitant to return to what was viewed as traditional "divide and conquer" approach to leadership. I have a somewhat different view (and experience) and do see more discrete leadership roles as effective, I did however respect and understand my team's views and I too was keen to ensure we developed a distributed yet collaborative approach to leadership. To this end, we settled on each senior leader taking responsibility for a leadership inquiry based on each aspect of our curriculum. We have also decided to commit an extra SLT meeting each week to focus on sharing and testing inquiries and ensuring coherence across our inquiries and curriculum. And just as I had presented my overarching observations and opportunities to the BOT earlier in the term,  the SLT presented their leadership inquiries to the BOT in Week Nine thus making a tangible step towards turning the opportunities into action!

We also kicked off the ConnectED initiative with an evening event in Week Nine and have now mapped out our timeline for making the Makerspace a reality for Term One 2019.

Beyond ASHS, I have also played a part in establishing #DisruptED with Maurie Abraham (Hobsonville Point Secondary School), Natasha Hemara (Rototuna Senior High School), Andy Kai Fong (Haeata Community Campus), Nicola Ngawera (Spotswood College) and Steve Saville (Rolleston College). The purpose of the group is many and varied and will evolve over time. Firstly we are keen to support each other as we each find ourselves (perceived as) challenging norms about what secondary schooling needs to look like. We also want to provide support for others keen to disrupt their school environments and look forward to putting a spotlight on the great innovations happening in pockets across the country. We are looking to launch a podcast series later in the year, beyond that...watch this space.

On reflection, it has felt like an incredible first term. I absolutely love the school, I have an awesome senior leadership team with whom I am developing a warm (and demanding) relationship with, a passionate and receptive team of teachers and a fabulous school of students who never fail to blow me away with their agency and articulateness. I do genuinely feel like I am the right person, in the right place, at the right time!

However that hasn't stopped moments of self-doubt, and moments of sensing that you can do everything right(ish) and still feel like you are never good enough - as a principal, as a mum and as a wife. It's interesting that in winning the role I have looked forward to my whole career, you get there and you quickly realise it is "a job" albeit one that comes with an intangible sense of "Responsibility" and I mean that with a capital "R". Whilst my rational brain knows I am firing on all cylinders, that doesn't stop my emotional brain and inner voice asking: am I doing enough; wondering if people like me enough; wondering if they think I am doing enough; worrying that when I am doing enough it starts feeling like too much - which then means you start thinking you might be becoming an absent mum and crap/selfish wife/partner. As someone who values a work/life balance and will never apologise for putting my family and my well being first, I can see that this will be an area I will need to watch!

It is already patently clear - wanting to be the best I can be, in the job I have always wanted, will be a balancing act like no other.

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The Principal Diaries - Getting ConnectED with our community!

When I applied for the role of Principal of Albany Senior High School, one of the points I covered in my pitch at the interview was my ability and desire to build powerful partnerships and networks for ASHS students:

And finally, I am leader who can build powerful partnerships and networks. 

I have experience in developing productive and warm relationships with local schools to establish a highly effective Kāhui Ako. I bring in depth experience gained as a Projects Pathways and Partnerships Leader and as an Impact Project Guide, having worked with the community and business sector to create rich and authentic learning partnerships for our students. As Education Advisor for the 21st Century Skills Lab and as a board member of NetSafeNZ I have experience that spans across the education and business landscape. I have fostered a vast education, community, innovation and business network that will support the growth and expansion of powerful partnerships for this school and it’s learners. 

As a passionate and confident communicator I can continue to grow the reputation of this fabulous school. 

I have long believed that we have need to blur the line between school and work and have learned, through my own work experience (particularly beyond school), that opportunities are as likely to be the result of who you know, as much as what you know! 

On sharing the idea with my Senior Leadership Team it was great to discover that my DP, Ross Martin and Business Specialist Leader, Lloyd Gutteridge, had also wanted to create a stakeholder network but had shelved the idea some time back, so it was particularly awesome to reignite that passion as well, using my network and energy to stoke the flames!

With a kernel of an idea I placed a cheeky plea for help on LinkedIN. Within hours it was clear we were on to something, with friends and connections across Auckland showing a genuine eagerness to get involved. 

On Wednesday 17th November I hosted a Meet the Principal event and we launched the ConnectED network. The event was an opportunity to introduce the concept and to run a session where our students from the ConnectED Committee led a world cafe as a means of co-designing with our community what ConnectED might be. 

ConnectED aims to be a first of its kind, school / business / community / innovation hub and network which will be based at Albany Senior High School.

The aim of the network is to: 

• establish a network and talent register that might mentor and support student Impact Projects
• connect learning across the school with the community and wider world of business
• host whanau community facing educational events about futures thinking and social business networking
• so as to establish ASHS as THE ed-innovation hub on the shore! 

ConnectED is already working with The Mind Lab, 21C Skills Lab, Grow North and Shore Junction. We also have a wide range of community members signed up. 

If you are keen to get involved as an individual, community, business or innovation partner please contact me, Claire Amos at camos@ashs.school.nz We are super keen to hear from anyone keen to co-host events, mentor our students or just basically get involved. 

In the spirit of much of the innovation I have been involved in, it is very much a case of building the plane whilst flying it. Thankfully I have a trusty co-pilot in my Deputy Principal, Ross!

Our next ConnectED gathering is The Mind Lab event - The Future of Education with Frances Valintine on Wednesday 17th October. Go to http://tiny.cc/futureofed to register. We are also super excited to be a location for The Mind Lab's Postgraduate Certificate in Digital & Collaborative Learning. The course kicks at ASHS in November.

Stand by for ConnectED updates in Term Four!

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The Principal Diaries - same, same but different

Today marks the end of my first week as Principal at Albany Senior High School.

The week began with a stunning powhiri to mark the hand over from Hobsonville Point Secondary School to Albany Senior High School and a beautiful way to mark my transition from Deputy Principal to Principal. It was genuinely touching to have my HPSS whanau, my family and friends to support me on my journey to the "other side". My whaikorero from the powhiri probably sums it up best:

Firstly I would like to thank and acknowledge my Hobsonville Point Secondary School whanau for getting me to this point. I really can’t overstate the impact that working at Hobsonville Point Secondary School over these last five and a half years has had on me as a person, as an educator and as a leader. I have often acknowledged that starting a school is a less than a once in a lifetime opportunity. Working collaboratively to flesh out a vision, develop a set of guiding principles and designing and developing a curriculum that saw HPSS (like ASHS) re imagining what secondary education needed to look like was an incredible opportunity. To the whole team at HPSS I want to say thank you, it has been a magic experience, much of which is down to the incredible team of educators and support staff who work tirelessly to ensure the student is at the heart of every decision made. Thank you in particular to Maliina, Lea, Di and more recently Sally who I have loved working alongside day to day. And thank you Maurie for your kind words today and for showing me what courageous leadership looks like. I look forward to working alongside you in the coming years. 

In 2014 ERO described Albany Senior High School as a school that nurtures, inspires and empowers students. Since opening your school doors in 2009, I have followed your journey closely and from day one have felt a close connection to your values and vision for learning. Hobsonville Point Secondary School has often looked to Albany Senior as something of a navigator, I still remember clearly us coming to visit Barbara, Miranda and Hamish in our first year of planning, gleaning every bit of wisdom we could, and I know HPSS has continued to learn from the what happens here, whether it is the innovation of Impact Projects, the care you show every student in Tutorials or the professional learning and support offered by ChallengED I know that HPSS would not have been the school it is today without the learning gained from Albany Senior. I look forward to nurturing that connection, and just as our rugby players come together to create a First XV so to do I hope our educators and students will find ways to work alongside each other, supporting and challenging each other to be the very best we can be. 

I am so very excited to be the Principal of Albany Senior High School and I to assure you that I will live out the guiding principles of this school through my leadership. I will nurture. Ensuring every person that walks through the school door knows Barbara’s vision lives on. They will know “it is not if you are bright, it is how you are bright”. I will empower. Ensuring all learners and educators aspire to their personal excellence. They will  achieve highly and will be great citizens. And I will inspire. Working with our learners, educators and you to ensure that Albany Senior High School will always be a NEW school. 

So again, thank you all for the welcome today and giving me the opportunity to lead this incredible school.

And as stated in one of my favourite whakatauki...

Hare taka mua, taka muri; kaua e whai!
Be a leader, not a follower!

The rest of the first day was something of a whirlwind of faces and names. After a short time "at my desk" coming to terms with the fact that I'd made it (both in literal and metaphorical terms) I met with my SLT, getting to know my team, "where we were at" and coming to terms with a whole lot of new acronyms. I rounded out the day sitting in on a QTL (Quality Team Leader) meeting with their community. The QTL oversees their community of teachers in both their role as Tutors for Tutorials (which are similar to learning hubs) and as Mentors for Impact Projects the QTL is also the ISL (In School leader for the Kahui Ako). The focus of the meeting was to explore what deep learning looked like in both Tutorials and Impact Projects and discussing the practises and strategies that supported it. 

Day Two began with an opportunity to share my "vision korero" with the staff, sharing a little of what I told the BOT I would bring to role as Principal of ASHS and what I would be focusing on in the coming weeks. You can read the full text here. Of course my plan for the coming weeks is to look, listen and learn as much as possible. My intention is to get to know people, hear their thinking and get out on the floor to see Specialist Subjects, Impact Projects and Tutorials in action. 

Wednesday's focus was spending as much time on the floor as possible. Wednesday at ASHS is dedicated to Impact Projects. Impact Projects are a big part of what attracted me to the school, so spending a good part of the day exploring what the students were up to was awesome. It did strike me that being a Principal on projects day must be similar to being a grandparent - drop in, share your sage advice, wind them up and run away! Awesome! But seriously, it was an absolute highlight sitting alongside students - one student who has studied social media algorithms to help him gain 200K+ followers on Instagram, students publishing a podcast series debunking conspiracy theories, another pair tackling raising teen awareness of domestic violence and yet another pair planning a feminist breakfast event. Literally hundreds of students being given the time and support to pursue passions, learning a massive amount and many making genuine a difference in the process. Loved, loved, loved it.

From the ASHS website:

Take your learning to the world

The Impact Projects are our response to the key competencies with the New Zealand Curriculum document. The students are required to develop a project based on their own strength and passions. The four pillars guide the students to develop worthwhile projects:

1. Student ownership and agency
2. Substantial learning beyond the classroom
3. Quality product
4. Participating and contributing with the community

The students have the opportunity to be an adult in the world and to develop the skills required:

• time management
• leadership
• project management
• participation in an authentic context of their own making contribution to the world.

The students have the opportunity to develop their own learning and not to be limited by the limits of the teacher, the curriculum and the assessment. The time allocated is every Wednesday, for the whole day. The students do 2 projects per year.

The skills required for the students to complete a successful project are the skills that employers and universities clearly state are the skills required when students leave school.

Thursday was an opportunity to address the student body. They listened and even laughed in the right places, so I'll just call that a win. You can read what I said here. Basically it was a student facing version of my staff address, sharing what I've said I'd bring to the job, so they know what I'm about and can help keep me accountable. 

It was also a chance to observe Specialist Subjects in action. One thing I do intend to do in the coming week is share with the teaching staff the lens that I bring to observing learning, unpacking the kinds of questions I ask my self and may ask the learners when I observe any teaching and learning in action. 

I have realised my observational lens is framed around three questions:

Is learning visible?

Is learning deep?

Is learning inclusive?

I'll unpack this further in an upcoming blogpost. It struck me that if I was going to be observing and taking notes, it was only fair to be as transparent as possible. 

Friday was an opportunity to catch my breathe, meet with more staff and catch up on the more administrative side of the role. I did enjoy ending the day popping over to watch the Soccer and dragged the family out to cheer on the Basketball team in their final game of the season. 

Later that evening as I sat back with a glass of wine and reflected on the week, I couldn't help but have a sense of the same, same but different. There is much that feels familiar about my new school but also there is a quite a bit that feels different. I did however realise that I already felt at home in both the school and the role. 

And there is no denying, as far as first weeks go, this one was pretty damn awesome. 

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My HPSS Journey - reflecting on an awesome five and a half years

2013 - De-schooling and re-schooling

2013 was a year that many educators do not get to experience. It was a year of "de-schooling" and "re-schooling". Maurie, Lea, Di and myself were given the most phenomenal gift of time and space to plan and prepare for the opening of Hobsonville Point Secondary School. In those first six months we spent time fleshing out our school vision, developing a set of guiding principles and establishing (with our community) what was to become our Hobsonville Habits. In that time we visited a wide range of schools here (Ormiston Senior, Albany Senior, Unlimited and Hagley) and several schools in Canada and the USA on our grand Edu-tour. Our first stop was Providence, Rhode Island to visit the founding Big Picture School, Dennis Littky's Met School. The second group of schools we visited was all part of the Canadian Coalition of Self-Directed Schools, including Westmount, Mary Ward (Toronto), Bishop Carroll School (Calgary) and Thomas Haney (Vancouver). Maurie and I then went on a second trip with Cyclone to check out an array of "Apple schools" with Nueva School being the particular standout. You can read reflections from those travels here. 

The second half of the year was all about building a fabulous foundation team and getting ready to open a school! One of the real highlights for me was the process we went though in appointing our middle leadership team. Knowing that right disposition was going key, we made all of our applicants come in and work with one another, watching them closely as they had to work on collaborative task that got them to explore ways they could integrate learning areas. This process, whilst possible painful for the applicants was incredibly insightful in terms of seeing who could "walk the talk" and were prepared to be put out of their comfort zone. Another highlight was getting to work with Julia Aitken who worked with us to explore turning our values and beliefs into principles and practice. It's well worth checking out her paper on the topic here. 

2014 - First year of students at HPSS and expanding my horizons

2014 was where we really did get to turn values and beliefs into principles and practice. It was also the year we we got the immense privilege of meeting our foundation students. Plus it was the year of our most simple timetable ever! You will see as the slide deck progresses so too does the complexity of the HPSS timetable!! You can read my intro to HPSS I wrote in February that year here. Our curriculum design for the most part has held true to that first outing, with students doing integrated modules, single subjects (SPINs), big projects and learning hubs. The one thing we did try and then aborted was the idea of a "big module" which integrated three subjects with three teachers working alongside one another. Unfortunately this resulted in one subject/teacher often feeling like a spare wheel and we discovered genuinely authentic connection across three learning areas wasn't as easy or effective as two. Hence we cut our curriculum losses and refocused on a combo of Modules (two subjects co-taught by two specialist teachers) and SPINs (single subjects with one teacher). 

On a personal level 2014 marked a period of pivotal personal professional growth, starting the year with a keynote at The Festival of Education, getting selected to attend the Google Teacher Academy in Sydney and later that year having the immense honour of being elected as the secondary representative on the NZ Teachers Council. In hindsight each of these events provided something of a catalyst for many of the opportunities (and challenges) that were to follow. 

2015 - The Foundation Years at HPSS and travelling and talking

2015 felt like a year of relative luxury spending time refining our beautifully simple timetable, especially as we decided to teacher our Year 9s and 10s together in a combined programme referred to as the Foundation Years, cycling through a two year programme designed to develop the knowledge, concepts and skills needed to excel in their senior years. It also gave students time and space to move through a singular two year programme rather than cycling through the same same for two years running. This was also the year that we were really thinking deeply about NCEA and what that might look like at HPSS. Early musings can be read here. 

For me this was also a year of continued professional growth. I accepted my nomination and was appointed to the Education Council of Aotearoa NZ, although this did also result in personal challenge and having to ultimately step down from PPTA. A tough choice at the time but ultimately it has felt like the right one, the experience of being a founding council member has been an awesome one - I'm not sure I can even measure the amount of learning I have experienced in this role. I encourage any educator passionate about education to stand for the new council when the opportunity arises. It was also a cool year of travelling and speaking, being invited to speak at EduTECH Brisbane and Learning 2 in Manila. 

2016 - Future Schools and not doing Level One NCEA 

2016 was the beginning of  more complex timetabling, with a second line appearing in the timetable to allow for a seperate Q1 (Level One) programme. It was the year we made the choice to not do Level One NCEA (as a seperate qualification) and was the first outing of the Q1 programme which saw Year 11s doing two (rather than three) integrated modules and two SPINs. This gave students to do less better and only doing 20+ Level One credits meant the focus remained on learning rather than assessment. 

It was another exciting year on a personal level, with the year being book ended by two great PD events - speaking at Future Schools in Sydney at the beginning of the year and attending the somewhat mind altering SingularityU at the end of the year. The latter leading to a most interesting foray into nearly opening a charter school. You can see what I got up to at those events here and here. 

2017 - Q2, ISTP and nearly opening a charter school

2017 was something of a rollercoaster ride both professionally and personally. At HPSS it saw the arrival of an even more complex timetable with Foundation, Q1 and Q2 meaning three lines in the timetable. This allowed for Q2 (Year 12) students to continue their focus on doing less better and having more opportunity to fine tune their learn path. Q2 students do just one integrated module and three single subject SPINs, they also have a choice between Impact Projects and Pathway Projects - the latter allowing students to use project time to engage in  gateway studies, work experience or even tertiary or scholarship studies. 

On a personal level it was an interesting year. SingularityU had discombobulated me to the point where I decided (in partnership with Brett O'Riley) to apply to open a charter school - City Senior School. I genuinely saw this as a chance to establish what I saw as a prototype school of sorts. We applied, we got approved, but alas a change of government saw our contract being cancelled. Note - we have negotiated a trust that will live on, the focus of which will be providing a contestable fund for schools looking to develop innovative initiatives and curricular (watch this space). It was an exhilarating and exhausting journey - it was a huge amount of work and a massive amount of learning, much of which will be just as applicable to my new role as Principal at Albany Senior High School. Another highlight was being invited by the then Minster of Education Hekia Parata to accompany her to the International Summit of the Teaching Profession. Not only did I get to travel to Edinburgh I also had the glorious opportunity of rebutting UK Minister of Education Nick Gibbs who seemed to poo poo everything I (we) hold dear (i.e. skills, tech integration and learner agency). 

2018 - Q3, Innovation Projects and the opportunity of a lifetime!

2018 has been a magic year so far - I can't believe we are only half way through. Firstly, this is the year HPSS sees it's foundation students heading toward graduation. The increasingly complex timetable has peaked and the choice to not to do Level One NCEA seems to have paid off with more relaxed students gaining more Merit and Excellence endorsements at Level Two. Our Q3 programme was born with Year 13 students doing five SPINs (single subjects). In reality the main reason we don't offer integrated modules at Level Three is simply a matter of giving our students as much choice and opportunities to personalise as possible, also ensuring that students can do do the very specific mix of subjects needed for tertiary pathways. 

One of my professional highlights this year has definitely being a Project Guide for the first time. I have had the absolute joy of developing and delivering Independent Innovation Projects also known as The Hatchery. This project group was focused on providing opportunities for those students who had their own ideas that didn't fit with any of the other project groups on offer. It was also an opportunity to trial an approach to project learning that I had been designing in my planning for City Senior School. The main idea was that we would focus on innovation frameworks (such as design thinking and lean startup) and innovation tools and strategies (such as empathy mapping, gant charts, kan ban, agile methodology etc) and also introducing the students to innovation partners and pipelines, visiting Unleash Space at University of Auckland, Generator and GridAKL (aiming to write a more detailed dedicated post about this tomorrow). 

HPSS has been such an incredibly journey. So much learning, so many opportunities to "walk the talk" and learn some more. And there is no doubt that many of the other professional opportunities I have had are a direct result of being from HPSS. At this point I want to acknowledge the amazing people that make Hobsonville Point Secondary School the magic place it is. The students, the teaching and support staff are incredible. We have often joked that to be at HPSS is to be exhausted and exhilarated in equal measure. I believe HPSS is genuinely beginning to reimagine what secondary schooling needs to look like and I can tell you, having lived it for the last five and half year, it is the most exciting and most challenging job an educator can have. Experienced teachers feel like they have their training wheels permanently fitted, genuinely living out what it means to be an adaptive expert. It also takes incredible levels of courage at every level and on this note, once again, I want to aknowwledge and thank Maurie Abraham for showing me what courageous leadership looks like and also showing what it means to lead with a genuine moral purpose. 

And it's having experienced leadership like this that makes me so excited for my next step - Principal at Albany Senior Secondary. In just five days I will experience my powhiri where HPSS will hand me over to ASHS and I have to admit - I am beyond excited! When I reflect on the last five and a half years I realise what an experience and what an education I have had. Thank you to everyone who has been part of the journey. Maurie, Di, Lea and Maliina you are a formidable team - I will miss you dearly. To my critical friends Steve, Jayne, Danielle and all (there are really too many to name) you know you will always be with me! Thank goodness I am only moving the North East Campus. 

I look forward to seeing what adventures and learning the next five and a half years hold.

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