The Opening of Forest Charter School (Orewa)
A privilege to attend the above event last Friday.
As opposed to ill-informed assertions that “every brain learns the same” world leading Neuro-Scientist David Eagleman (Stanford University); …
” … suggests that while the basic neural architecture is similar across brains, individual brains learn and adapt in unique ways due to life experiences and genetic predispositions. He emphasizes that the brain is highly malleable and constantly rewiring itself, but the specific pathways and connections formed are unique to each individual.” (The Brain: The Story of You)
I have known Tennille and Gavin Murdoch, the Forest School founders, for a while. They are wonderful educators and the Forest School has existed for 10 years as a one-day a week provision for students near their Orewa base. They thoroughly deserved the approval to create a Charter School.
The key theme of the opening was very much that across NZ there are many children, for a range of reasons, who need a different provision and a range of teaching/learning methods to thrive in education and begin to find their place in the world.
The children attending this school are clearly loving it. It was also obvious that the parents of the children are a HUGE part of the provision.
Having been to a significant number of Charter Schools in NYC and the wider USA I do hope the government can get the settings right in their second term (assuming that they are re-elected). The huge need is for large schools/chains to provide in a pathway changing way for marginalized groups. New Zealand has the biggest achievement gaps in the OECD and the current government has barely attacked the problem and even seems comfortable with Ministry made predictions that the new qualifications will accentuate the gaps. As present less than 0.2 of 1% of children in NZ have the Charter School opportunity. Keep in mind the Ass. Minister’s post-election promise was:
“Seymour says he’s learnt much from his previous attempt to establish the charter model here, although most of the lessons were political rather than pedagogical. This time, he’s going big and going fast.
“There’s probably going to be a couple of hundred of these schools by the time Labour gets back into power. And it’s going to be big, powerful communities with lots of capital and lots of lawyers.
As an aside; my wife came from Brazil 17 years ago. What a privilege for her to meet and have a photo with Deputy Prime Minister Dave Seymour.
