School Report

As if we haven't been hammered enough in the last two weeks the news is now also full of National Standards controversy.

http://schoolreport.stuff.co.nz/index.html

Please could I explain a couple of things to help you interpret the data on the school report spreadsheet.

The letters stand for

WB = Well below the standard
B = Below the standard
At  = At the standrad
A = Above the standard

Our 2011 results are...

Freeville School Reading

WB

B

At

A

10.0%

10.0%

31.0%

49.0%

Freeville School Writing

WB

B

At

A

12.0%

28.0%

46.0%

14.0%

Freeville School Mathematics

WB

B

At

A

8.0%

18.0%

55.0%

19.0%

As you look at these figures please understand these things about the data. The standards are not based on any standardised measure. They are an overall teacher judgement (OTJ) against a somewhat confusing set of criteria.

Take our reading data for instance. The figures above do not show you that between 40% and 50 % of our six year old children are not reading at the level we want for them. But through the amazing efforts of all our teaching staff, our reading discovery teacher, teacher aides, support staff, special needs coordinator, parents, junior tutors, volunteer parents and grandparents, aunties, uncles older siblings (you get the idea I hope that this is a team effort) and indeed by the children themselves and through a variety of different programmes like Lexia, Rainbow Reading, Reading Recovery, Raz Reading, Story Box...(etc, the list goes on) and through the efforts of classroom teachers as they develop individual supports to meet individual children's needs, and through people like Elizabeth who make our library attractive and exciting (please I hope you are getting the picture of the complexity and influence on a child's reading progress from many different people and activities) and with the integration of digital technology to help motivate children...

... that with all that input 100% of our Year 8 students leave Freeville reading at the top level we can test them against and are ready for the challenges of High School and reading for meaning and pleasure throughout their lives. The data in the table shows you a summary of the whole school it in no way describes progress.

Another issue with the data is that there is no consistency between schools about whether schools are reporting an "achieved" level or a "learning at" level. At Freeville School we have chosen to report the "learning at" level. For example... We choose to report that a child is at the national standard given a particular level ( Year 6 for example) beacuse we say that is the level the child is "learning at". Other schools might be reporting a mastery level assessment so if they looked at our same data they would report that child as being below the standard. The wording of the standards has not made it clear to schools how to make this distinction. Keep this in mind if you do decide to make comparisons between schools based on this data.

Writing is another can of worms altogether. We already know that writing lags behind reading ability anyway. Your average two year old is able to read the "M" and know that it is for McDonalds but they very possibly cannot write the word. The difference between a reading OTJ and a writing OTJ is that we have somewhat more objective testing measures available for reading than we do for writing.

Maths has other issues again related to the tests and methods used to come to an Overall Teacher Judgement.

Teachers are not upset about being accountable they are upset about misleading information being communicated. And about the complexity of children's progress being watered down to one figure that actually tells you nothing at all about the quality of the school nor about your child's individual progress. Our staff have good information about your child and can talk to you specifically about the next learning steps your child needs to take to make progress. In fact our children are also very good at knowing how they are achieving and what they need to do next. The Student Led Conferences we had just this week were a testament to this.

We also want to defend the use of Overall Teacher Judgements (OTJ). This is at least slightly better than placing overemphasis on the results of one test. The OTJ is based on the teacher's knowledge of the individual child and their performance over an extended period in a variety of situations.

Given the concerns expressed here we believe that although our Freeville data is accurate we would urge caution about any conclusions about the school being drawn from these numbers. Making valid compariosn between us and any other school would be just impossible. Come and visit, talk to staff, talk to the children and read our ERO report to get a better picture of what we are actually achieving.

Questions for the Ministry of Education

Dear Community

Below are the minutes of the meeting we held on the 14th September following the announcements by the Minister  of Education about school closures and mergers in Christchurch. 

I understand that there is a lot of strong feeling about this and we really appreciate that this is because you care so much about Freeville School. So do we. We will wait for answers to these and other questions before we have a better idea about the way ahead.

Freeville School Meeting 14^th  September 2012, 9am

School Merger Proposal

Welcome from Paul.

Karakia

Sharon BOT Chairperson.

We are devastated and feel for the community. We will engage with the MOE in vigorous consultation. We must stick together and if we have to leave we must take our philosophy with us.

Paul

Schools have been grouped into education clusters. The schools in our cluster are Freeville, North New Brighton, Central New Brighton, South New Brighton as well as New Brighton Catholic and Nova Montessori.

Ministry of Education have identified three categories of renewal.

Freeville school is in the consolidate category. The proposal is that we merge with North New Brighton School at their site.

Factors that influence this decision are land damage, building damage and demographic shift.

Surrounding Freeville school is TC3 land and red zone. Our site is 2.2 hectares. NNB is surrounded by TC2 land and they have 4.7 hectares. We have not yet seen any geotechnical report on the condition of our land but the information pack we received on Thursday states that our land and the land around us is subject to liquefaction and lateral spreading.

Our building damage is the most expensive of all the schools in our cluster. We have 10 buildings identified in the report and all 10 require earthquake repair. One classroom block (4 classrooms) has already been demolished. The library and two classrooms await demolition and the fate of the admin building is not determined. The new studio is 100mm out of level and the hall has also suffered significant damage.

One of the factors that the MOE considers when they look at how many schools are needed in an area is the distance children have to travel. Children under 10 years are expected to be able to attend a local school within 3.2 km of their home. Children over 10 within 4.8 km of their home.

We could have been closed as 13 other schools have been. The fact that we have been identified for merger should be taken as a compliment. We have just had an excellent ERO report. The normal ERO review cycle is 3 years. Schools that ERO are confident are delivering a quality education and are well managed and governed can be considered for a longer review period. Our next review is set for 4 – 5 years.

The indication I received yesterday from Peter Vause  from the Ministry of Education was that it is unlikely that they would shift us into North New Brighton into relocateable classrooms. They are more likely to shift us into new buildings. Therefore it might be a few years yet before that could be organized. This is speculation though we have nothing confirming this view.

We have a meeting scheduled with our cluster and the MOE on Wednesday 26^th September.

Bilingual unit is a real positive for us. We are the only school in our cluster offering bilingual education.

Questions

This is a summary of the questions raised. Some questions were repeated so I have amalgamated them into one.

Finances shouldn’t matter. Are the schools not insured?

I can’t comment on the level of insurance that the MOE had on school buildings.

What is the consultation timeline?

By December we have to have a cluster plan to the MOE. This will flow into middle of next year as concrete decisions made.

Will there be Public meetings?

Yes

Will the children get a whole year here next year?

Probably. But honestly we do not have enough information yet.

TC3 land is not good enough to build a school on but we can build houses and live here. How come?

I imagine cost is the main reason. But we have not had geotech report so cannot comment further.

What if we all say no to moving?

Ummmm. Not quite sure how to answer this one.

As a Board what direction do you want to take?

The BOT need to hear your feedback so that they can present an accurate picture of community feeling to the Ministry of Education. Please appreciate that the Board have only just found out this information at the same time as we all have. They have not had a chance to meet and discuss anything to do with the proposal.

How is the BOT being represented at the 26 September meeting?

By Paul and Sharon.

90% of this is bull shit they can build a school on this land just like the Latimer Lodge. It is Bullshit.

When you have lots of manure the best thing to do is plant a garden.

What will the class numbers be?

Student teacher ratios will be based on the same ratios that all schools currently work under.

How are jobs affected for staff?

We have not had any detail of whether there are any special provisions for Christchurch school given the scale of the changes announced.

In a normal merger process both principals lose their jobs and would have to reapply. The jobs would be advertised nationally and open to anyone to apply?  The teachers jobs are ring fenced which means if the number of jobs in the new school is less than the number of permanent teachers in the two schools all the teachers would have to apply for the available positions. But with that, no one from outside those two schools could apply. NNB staff would not have preference over Freeville Staff.

Support for staff and families is it available?

Yes Methodist mission, Salvation Army. Staff also have help available through the NZEI and both Canterbury Primary Principal’s Association and the New Zealand Principals Federation also have help systems in place.

If the merger has to happen why not have two schools run separately

on new site?

That would not be a merger it would be just shifting Freeville. I don’t think that it would honestly be a workable or even desirable situation. Merges that have happened in other places e.g. Timaru and the West Coast have included new school names, new uniform, rebranding. 

  

Could Freeville be run as a charter school?

The Board would have to consider that. I don’t know what the implications of that would be.

When would we move e.g. term break end of term etc? 

If the merger happens we will manage it so that it is the best possible experience for our families that we can make it.

How can the MOE do this when we are living like this the community has had its guts ripped out?

Is there going to be reduced funding?

Funding formulas will still carry on with the number of pupils in the new school. In other merger processes there has been additional funding available for schools to end up with a better outcome than just shifting together. No detail has been announced about this level of support.

Is it a done deal?

The Minister used the words “firm proposal” and “meaningful consultation”. I can’t interpret that any better than anyone else.

High School on East side?

No idea. Nothing about this in the proposals announced.

Can the BOT create a survey to support the community?

Yes we will. If you have ideas for questions please mail them to jan@freeville.school.nz

What decile is North New Brighton?

4

Figures for school roles?

The figures that the Ministry of Education have included in our information pack are the March 2012 roll return figures. These are …

Freeville: 284

NNB: 207

What about Year 7/8?

All schools in our cluster currently go to Year 8. The new school will still go to Year 8. The other choice made by a few of our Year 6 families is to send their children to Chisnallwood for Yeat 7/8. Chisnallwood is proposed to close and be part of the new Year 1-13 school in Aranui.

Is there any example of the Year 1-13 school model proposed for the new school in Aranui?

There are quite a number of Area Schools around the country. Oxford Area, Akaroa Area School are two close examples. In Auckland there are examples of schools that have early childhood right through to Year 13 operating on one site although my understanding is that they operate as separate entities.

What will happen to all the people outside the school zone?

Pupils currently enrolled at Freeville school will retain the right to be enrolled at the new school at the point of merger.

Will there be an enrolment zone around the newly merged  School?

I don’t know.

When is the technology closing down at Philipstown school?

No idea of time frame for that. The proposal is that Phillipstown merge with Woolston School on the Linwood College site. We do not know where that will leave us in terms of technology education.

How many lead schools in Christchurch?

We believe that we lead in many ways. We are leaders in terms of restorative practices. We lead in team teaching. We have the learning studio pilot project that leads in innovative building design. Our staff present at conferences and run workshops for other schools sharing our ideas and the way we do things at Freeville. A number of our staff have completed or are working towards their master degrees in education. Our bilingual programme is the only one in the North East of Christchurch. There are no designated “Lead Schools” however.

Can we take Learning studio?

Not the building but certainly the philosophy. We hope that we will be involved in design decisions.

Does North New Brighton school have any of our unique qualities?

We will need to identify the things that are not negotiable for us if we merge and take those characteristics with us.

Does the need of Special Needs children still get the support that they get here at Freeville?

Yes indeed. The new school will support the learning of all students as we do now.

Is there going to be Support for the children who are not coping?

Yes. Contact the office if you need to be put in touch with counseling help or would just like someone to talk to.

John Leonard

Compliment that we are moving not closing.

The children will be great no matter what happens.

Be positive and encourage the children.

Be good at change.

   

Let's Get it Done!

Hello Freeville Families

There are many great ideas appearing on our 100 ideas board. We wanted you get the feeling that we are not just sitting around waiting for ideas though. Here are a few projects that are currently underway.

Below is a link for the Lets Get It Done site. Their next big volunteer day is the 15th September.
We are registering Freeville School – our big project will be to get the prefab classrooms painted – a request for paint has been sent to Dulux for the paint. (Fingers crossed.)

Also: lockable sandpit toy box
Landscaping by prefabs
Weedspraying – prep for hydroseed

But they want any and all projects listed to see if jobs can be matched up with their volunteers.

Let’s get listing!

Please check out the link below and maybe get something done or offer your skills to help.

Sometimes they are just those little jobs that you just don’t have the skills or the tools to get done but will just make life easier if they were taken care of.
Let’s Get It Done!

www.rebuildchristchurch.co.nz/lets-get-it-done

In other Freeville News – well done to everyone who returned sports uniform
(and for folding their own uniform before handing it in!)
A huge thank you to Rachel Hemingway (Team Freeville) for being our sports photographer. The photos are on disc and we will let you know how and when you can view and order them.

Thanks again to Team Freeville as they are purchasing large storage containers so our sports uniform can be packed away for another year. So those few students who still have their gear please return it to school ASAP.

Thank you to Rotary for their donation of $2000 which is to build our planter boxes/seating. Will keep you updated.

Thank you to the City Council for their $2000 grant – also for our outside environment.
Next week LT4 students are going to Bunnings to buy some gardening tools.(Their budget was $600) So if you have the urge to do a spot of gardening at school, with or without children, there will be tools available. If you have any spare garden tools at home that you would be happy to donate we will gladly put them to use.

Thank you Room 2 for the wonderful tree planting you have done and bulbs too!!

Thanks to Bunnings for donating a piece of Marine Ply that will be used for the
Taniwha Mural that students in LT4 have been planning.

Thank you to Su who has done the organising for most of these things.

If you have other ideas or are willing to help out in other ways please feel free to volunteer.

And Thank YOU!

100 Ideas

We have launched the 100 ideas 4 Freeville wiki and poster board today.

We know that Freeville is a great school. Our latest ERO report is now published on their website.

We also know that we will only get better when we have the collective energy and ideas from a whole lot of people who care about Freeville being an even better school.

Visit

https://100ideas4freeville.wikispaces.com/

Or email

Paul@freeville.school.nz

Or pin your ideas to the 100 Ideas board in the office.

We are looking to generate at least 100 great ideas for making Freeville School an even better place. The ideas can be small or huge. They can be things that are easy to achieve or things that might take lots of planning. They can be things that cost only time or things that are really expensive. They don't have to be things at all. The ideas might be about a system change or a curriculum area or an inquiry idea or... whatever you can imagine that will make Freeville even better.

This isn't a project to do list for the teachers or principal to solve. This is a chance for the community to share what they would like to see happening and to be involved.

Professional Capital

I have just started reading a book titled "Professional Capital" by Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan. I'm only up to page 10 but I had to stop and quote this paragraph because it seems to me that it strikes at the heart of the biggest challenge we face in NZ education today.

Achievement matters and so does evidence, but the relentlessly serious pursuit of increases in the basic comprehension skills that can be demonstrated on standardised tests should never overshadow what gives teaching it's mystery and majesty - what brings children joyfully into classrooms, what introduces them to interests that will absorb them for the rest of their lives, and what lifts them back up when their lives have taken a tumble.

As I was reading this I couldn't help thinking about how proud I am to be part of Freeville School. I think we get this balance pretty right. Not always right of course, but we do strive to get it right. We care about achievement and we spend time as teachers, learning teams, leadership team and as a whole staff discussing where our children are at and what we can do to help their learning progress. But even more importantly we spend time planning exciting programmes, finding interesting activities, thinking of challenging questions and seeking ways to motivate and engage children in learning. 

I know how committed our staff are to their own professional improvement and to seeing progress for all our learners. This week I want to dedicate this blog post to the teachers and support staff at Freeville who really do care. Thank you.

ERO Report

Our Education Review Office report is now confirmed. It will be posted on their website in 10 days but in the meantime  here are a few snippets to give you some of the flavour of it.

This school provides students and their families with high quality care and education. The board, principal, teachers and students have high expectations for learning and behaviour. They want all students to achieve to their potential and be the best that they can be. The key factors that promote success in this school are:

•the strong relationships between teachers and students and amongst students

•Maori enjoying opportunities to succeed as Maori

•students actively engaging in learning.

…

Students are highly engaged in their learning. ERO noticed students:

•confidently talking about their learning with their teachers and peers

•directing and leading their learning

•reflecting on their learning and identifying their next steps.

 

How effectively does this school's curriculum promote and support student learning?

The school's curriculum is effectively promoting and supporting students' learning. The learning environment has been purposely designed to reflect the school's culture of togetherness through family grouping and team teaching where activities permit. Students told ERO that they enjoyed working with different teachers and younger students.

The school's vision, values and 'Freeville Flyer' characteristics guide teaching and learning practices. Students speak confidently about the place of the key characteristics for learning and how these impact on their learning and behaviour. These key characteristics are well incorporated into the school's curriculum design. Students participate in a wide range of experiences in and beyond the school. Programmes incorporate the local environment and resources. Students receive well planned literacy and mathematics programmes. Maori perspectives are purposefully planned for and included in classroom programmes.

There is more to the report than this and we are very proud of all the staff,  children and families who contribute to making Freeville a great place to learn. I will post a link to the whole report once it has been loaded onto the ERO website

Red Cross Grant entitlements and forms

Red Cross Grant entitlements and forms
The New Zealand Red Cross 2011 Earthquake Commission has relaxed criteria for some of its grants, opening them up to thousands more Cantabrians. For example the Independent Advice Grant of $750 is now open to all people whose properties are zoned Red or TC3 or with more than $100,000 of damage, regardless of age or medical status. http://www.redcross.org.nz/cms_show_download.php?id=617 The same goes for the Winter Assistance grants .http://www.redcross.org.nz/cms_show_download.php?id=616

Tū Kahikatea Tour

Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori
-Māori Language Week

Last week Tū Kahikatea - Room
13 wanted to celebrate MLW.
The focus for this MLW
was 'Arohatia Te Reo' that
means Cherish the Language.
On Monday we went to Avondale
Kura and sang outside to the
whole school with the Avondale
Kapahaka group.
On Tuesday we practised our
waiata for the rest of the week's
performances.
On Wednesday we travelled to
Southbrook School, in Rangiora,
in our mighty school vans.
We sang to Whaea Steph's class
and they played the recorder to
us. It was super and we enjoyed
ourselves.

The next day we went to St.
Andrew's Primary School and did
kapahaka to over 150 children.
They sang us a song with
instruments and their beautiful
voices. They thought we were
impressive because we were
young and there were only 16 of
us in our group.

On Friday we headed off to Villa
Maria College and we performed
to the girls only school. Whaea
Robyn told us "kia kaha!". After
she told us 'we owned the stage'.
The girls thought we were cute
and loved Jack. They wanted to
keep him, but we said no!
Villa Maria sang to us and
with us. We all stood on stage
together to sing 'A, ka, ma'. It
was a thrilling experience.
To finish a fantastic Māori
Language Week we sang
the final waiata at our school
assembly.
'He toki mātou!'

By Tū Kahikatea Rm13

Bilingual education survey

Yesterday we sent home a survey asking for feedback from families about your interest in bilingual education. Please could you complete that form if you are interested in finding out more or you know that you want a bilingual option for your child. This will help us with planning for 2013. Forms can just be returned to the office.

Information meeting

On Wednesday 15^th August at 5.30 p.m. in Room 13 we will have a meeting introducing bilingual education. If you are interested in finding out more about what our bilingual programme offers this is a great opportunity.

Creativity

I was reading a blog post last night and thought it was worth sharing the headings. If you are interested the whole post can be read here.

The title of the post was

Twelve Things You Were Not Taught in School About Creative Thinking

1. You are creative.
2. Creative thinking is work.
3. You must go through the motions of being creative.
4. Your brain is not a computer.
5. There is no one right answer. 
6. Never stop with your first good idea. 
7. Expect the experts to be negative.
8. Trust your instincts.
9. There is no such thing as failure. .
10. You do not see things as they are; you see them as you are.
11. Always approach a problem on its own terms.
12. Learn to think unconventionally.

The only difference between people who are creative and people who are not is a simple belief. Creative people believe they are creative. People who believe they are not creative, are not.

If this interests you the whole blog post is worth reading. Each of the headings is expanded with some explanation and examples.

The Hidden Lives of Learners

I have been  reading a book by Graham Nuthall called “The Hidden Lives of Learners”. Graham was a very well respected and internationally acclaimed educational researcher based at the University of Canterbury until his death in 2004 (http://www.nuthalltrust.org.nz/profile.shtml). 

A useful idea for us to understand from his research is that children must experience new learning at least three times for it to transfer to long term memory.

Now I’m sure, if your children are anything like mine, you will realise that when it comes to things like tidying their bedrooms, putting their clothes in the washing basket or brushing their teeth, that it takes considerably more than three experiences for them to have a new behaviour automatic.  But I thought it was a useful reminder to us that just because a child hears something once that will not be enough for that learning to be cemented in their brain. For many children it will take many more experiences and interactions with a new learning concept.

One of the ways you can help with this is by asking your children to explain what they learnt during the day. Having them think about their learning and talk about it with you will help reinforce those new ideas. 

I know, I know. The usual after school conversation in my house often goes something like this…

Me: Did you have a good day?

Child: Yeah.

Me: What did you do today?

Child: Nothing.

Me: Did you learn anything new today?

Child: Nah.

Me: (with slightly desperate tone) You must have learnt something!

Child: Can I have something to eat?

Be reassured this is quite normal. Persevere though and you will help your child to become reflective and improve the chances of their learning sticking.

I’m  trying to learn how to ask better questions so that I get a better response. Here are a few to try

(not all at once or they will completely ignore you)…

1. Tell me about the best part of your day.
2. What was the hardest thing you had to do today?
3. If you could do today over, what would you have done differently?
4. Tell me about what you read in class.
5. Who did you play with today? What did you play?
6. Do you think maths [or any subject] is too easy or too hard?
7. What's the biggest difference between this year and last year?
8. What rules are different at school than our rules at home? Do you think they're fair?
9. Who did you sit with at lunch?
10. Can you show me something you learned (or did) today?

Red Cross Winter Assistance Grant

Red Cross have stressed that this grant is available to EVERYONE in Christchurch living in damaged houses or who have moved to damp or harder to heat accommodation. Not just old, young and sick. Everyone!!

Red Cross are keen to get people applying this winter as they have the funds available, and to date haven’t had many applications.

To apply for the Winter Assistance Grant or for more details on criteria go to www.redcross.org.nz and click on Grants or call the grants hotline 0800 754 726 between 8.30am and 5pm

League Tables are in the news

This is a link to an article about the publication of league tables for primary schools.

It makes interesting reading.

At Freeville School we are not afraid of being accountable. We have just had the Education Review Office visit and their report will be released shortly. We are concerned about the possible negative impacts on education that the article discusses.

Interesting times.

Welcome back to Term 3

Hello all.

Welcome back to Term 3. I'm sure we will have another busy term.

We welcome some new staff to Freeville School this term. Kate has been at Freeville working part time for a few weeks but starting today she will be full time in Room 10.

Caroline has traveled all the way from Ireland to join us in Room 7. Welcome Caroline.

Su will be teaching in LT4 for the first two weeks of the term and then Sharon will be taking over that role.

Over the term I will use this blog to highlight some things for your interest. I thought I'd start with letting you know about a few things that are on my radar for the term.

Last term we had a visit from the Education Review Office (ERO). This is the government organisation that  monitors and reports on school performance. We will get the draft report in a few weeks and then later in the term the final report will come out. As we went through the process of describing the things that we are doing at Freeville I was reminded again about why I am so proud to work here. There are so many brilliant people and programmes and our strong focus on learning shines through in all the things that we do.

Nicole, Bernice and I had the privilege to present at a conference in Auckland in the first week of the holidays. We were sharing some of the things that we do at Freeville and again it was marvelous to be able to talk with confidence about innovative programmes and the many ways that we are meeting the learning needs of our children.

.... That said... we don't always get it right and we do care very much about sorting things out when they are small problems. If you have an issue we would much rather you brought it to our attention so that we can deal with it. If you have a concern about something that has happened at school the first point of call is your child's teacher. Allow them the chance to try and sort it out at the lowest level. If the issue is still not sorted then the Team Leaders are the appropriate people to talk to. If it is a more serious issue or you feel the issue has not been resolved then make a time to talk with Paul.

Professional development for our staff is important as we constantly look to improve our performance as a school. This year we have had a focus on Mathematics and we are continuing to have staff meetings and professional development activities to help us improve our Maths teaching.

We also believe strongly in the value of bilingual education and the importance for us to have an understanding of Te Reo and Tikanga Maori. We will be looking at how we can promote our bilingual programme and grow it further. As part of that I will be sending out a survey to the whole school community asking for and indication of your interest in bilingual education for your child. This information will help us as we plan for 2013.

We value our families so much and want to continue to support you as we all work together through the next few years of recovery. Please remember that we have help available from the Methodist Mission and the Salvation Army. We want to be able to support families facing difficulty so please continue to let us know if there is anything we can do to help. We can access counseling for families and children and will do our best to put you in touch with whatever other support you need. Please just come and ask.

Later in the term we will be having our in4m conference. Look out for more detail on that coming soon. 

We have been working on our Freeville Curriculum over the last couple of years. It has been in draft form for a while but is nearly ready to be launched. More on this will follow.


Finally I want to acknowledge the great work that our staff do. Our teachers and support staff are caring, motivated, adaptable, and creative. They work hard at communicating clearly and thinking critically about what they are doing and we all try to maintain a globalist perspective and be aware of how what we do has an impact on others.

Thank you for helping make Freeville School the fantastic school that it is.

Paul

Holiday

Have a very happy holiday break.

Welcome to Freeville Schoool Blog

You might notice that the Principal's Blog link takes you to a different blog. This one!

For some technical reason I wasn't able to take over the other blog so I have started a new one.

This is post number 1 just to let me test it out.

More Later