Choosing a school for Gwen and Simon felt like a hard process. We knew that the public schools in NZ were supposed to be great (luckily our visa status through the sabbatical allowed the kids to attend public schools). But we also knew that there was supposed to be a lot of variation. Schools were given 'decile rankings' that determined their funding from the federal government. We visited several different schools, met with the principals, and poured over the decile ratings. Finally - taking what felt like a bit of a leap of faith - we choose the Waitati School. The kids started just days after our arrival. The kids weighed in on this decision too - their vote was for Waitati. (Its great playground may have been a factor.)
On
the first day, the kids were welcomed with a traditional ceremony in
which the whole school sang to Gwendolyn and Simon in Maori, and David
had to stand up
and give our family background (lucky for him, he was allowed to do this
part in English; both kids later learned to do it in Maori (!)). Then the
whole school had tea and biscuits - the whole thing a very sweet mish mash of
traditional Maori culture and the remnants of British influence, a
combination we would see a lot in the months to come. Sadly, I missed
the whole thing - as I was off to Pureora, to spend a week in the field
looking for bats with my University of Auckland colleagues.
The picture above is not the first day mihi ceremony (no pictures of this) - but a 'book character dress up 'day much later - the bumblebee is the school principal, Ms Stacey Honeywell :).
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