Professional development days

Details about HPS professional development and cluster meetings can now be found here

Selwyn Gains Bronze

Congratulations to Carey Bennett and the Selwyn Primary Student Health Squad- first school to gain accreditation!

Read more here

Donna unavailable for two weeks

Hi all, it is with regret that I have to report that Donna will be unavailable for a couple of weeks, as she is recovering from injuring her back. I am sure you will all want to wish her a speedy recovery. This means that the planned professional development meeting for November has been postponed; in the interim all school matters will be looked after by Ian - he can be contacted by email or on 07 349 7267.

The Accreditation Website is now active

The all new Toi Te Ora Public Health HPS Accreditation website is now live; the site, which is available for all schools in our region, features a variety of tools and resources that you may wish to use to support HPS in your school. In addition there is information on how your school can become accredited.

Road safety

It seems everyone is adopting the Health Promoting Schools Philosophy within their work! The New Zealand Transport Agency has just launched their new online Road Safety resources, and guess what, it too features a whole school approach.

The new website can be accessed here.

Useful Information for School Newsletters

Hi everyone, Toi Te Ora Public Health has just published a couple of information sheets that may be useful for your parents, especially as we head into winter. As you will be aware our home environment can often be a factor in our health and wellbeing. These newsletter provide an overview on home ventilation and on mould.

Mould in homes

Ventilation - improving air quality in your home

These can be saved as PDF files and can be copied into newsletters; also you could simply include the hyperlink.

Thank you everyone who attended the PD Hui at Malfroy School!

Apart from the rain, I have to say everything was thoroughly enjoyable, with Malfroy School providing a great venue for our hui.

The success of the day can be measured by the comments made by the group; whilst the list below isn't a full record of the sentiments of the group (there isn't enough space), the general positive themes were

• It was great to meet new people
• I enjoyed meeting other HPS schools
• Learning how to help OUR school
• I learned things to take back to my school
• Bonding with students from other schools
• Mixing with students from other schools
• Lunch - yum!! (featured on nearly every evaluation!!)
• Lots of examples of how HPS works
• I learnt more about HPS
• The guest speakers showed us how they improved their schools
• The speakers were cool
• HPS is more than just being healthy
• We felt valued for the work that is being done

The birthday activity was also very popular (not with the teachers though, who didn't want to reveal their ages!)

Of course things can always be that little bit better - some of the dislikes were as follows (and we do listen to this feedback and will try to incorporate the student comments for the December hui)

• Sitting on the floor was uncomfortable


• Would have been nice to do more physical activities (common theme - it is noted that the facilitators promised a jump jam and didn't do this!!)


• Could more schools come?


• Shorter speeches


• Too much to take in/too much listening (which would equate with the need for more 'doing'?)


• Go outside for fresh air more often


• More small group activities needed


• Less adult talk


• Microphone or speaker system so we can hear speakers better


• Outside activities please.

For Donna and I the most impressive thing were the contributions made by the students via their group activities. In the morning the students were a little hesitant as they found their feet, but by the afternoon the barriers were down and the collaboration was high, and it was really evident that friendships had been developed.

Kerrilee from Mangakino shares her experiences

So, to conclude, thank you to everyone who made the day a success, Mrs. Timpany and the staff and students of Malfroy School, the teachers who brought the students and our two wonderful presenters Kiara and Cody.

What a wonderful day!

Thank you everyone who attended the PD Hui at Malfroy School!

Apart from the rain, I have to say everything was thoroughly enjoyable, with Malfroy School providing a great venue for our hui.

The success of the day can be measured by the comments made by the group; whilst the list below isn't a full record of the sentiments of the group (there isn't enough space), the general positive themes were

• It was great to meet new people


• I enjoyed meeting other HPS schools


• Learning how to help OUR school


• I learned things to take back to my school


• Bonding with students from other schools


• Mixing with students from other schools


• Lunch - yum!! (featured on nearly every evaluation!!)


• Lots of examples of how HPS works


• I learnt more about HPS


• The guest speakers showed us how they improved their schools


• The speakers were cool


• HPS is more than just being healthy


• We felt valued for the work that is being done

Of course things can always be that little bit better - some of the dislikes were as follows (and we do listen to this feedback and will try to incorporate the student comments for the December hui)

• Sitting on the floor was uncomfortable


• Would have been nice to do more physical activities (common theme - it is noted that the facilitators promised a jump jam and didn't do this!!)


• Could more schools come?


• Shorter speeches


• Too much to take in/too much listening (which would equate with the need for more 'doing'?)


• Go outside for fresh air more often


• More small group activities needed


• Less adult talk


• Microphone or speaker system so we can hear speakers better


• Outside activities please.

For Donna and I the most impressive thing were the contributions made by the students via their group activities. In the morning the students were a little hesitant as they found their feet, but by the afternoon the barriers were down and the collaboration was high, and it was really evident that friendships had been developed.