BOOM! Te Pahu

I’m having difficulty staying retired. My first retirement was from Hamilton Boys’ High School and lasted 6 weeks. My recent farewell/retirement from Te Uku School lasted 2 weeks and I’m currently teaching one day a week at Te Pahu School. 
Te Pahu means a bell or gong making a booming noise to summon people together. This small farming community is nestled below Mount Pirongia, 45 kms from Raglan. One of our ex Prime Ministers, Helen Clark, was born and raised there. She attended the local school, before boarding at Epsom Girls’ Grammar School in Auckland. 
On my first day of teaching, I couldn’t help but notice and not long after tasting a magnificent pavlova, given to staff by a kind and generous parent as a way of saying thank you. Other parents randomly gift delicious treats to the staff as the term goes by. 
The culture of the school is further enhanced when the staff have a themed morning tea together. ie party food, high tea, colour food. Once a term the staff do something nice for each other. It might be a card, doing a playground duty, a poem. 
The Year 7/8 class teacher in whose classroom I relieve in, recently sent me planning that indicated that the class concept for the week was ‘I Am Kind.’ Well, this presented a wonderful opportunity for me to share a few of my kindness blog stories as a way of enhancing student listening and reading skills. Boom!

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