MrBainbridge

What sort of books or periodicals does your child like to read which would be suitable to buy for the school library?

This is the first run of our new Principal’s Forum feature, where Mr Bainbridge will pose a question for parents and caregivers to comment on.
Today’s question is:

I write to you to tell you of my pride in being Principal of Matipo Primary School. This is a very good school with very good standards. We are very well resourced and have excellent facilities. We have a strong staff and have particular strengths in the arts, literacy, numeracy, IT and [...]

Stress is arguably the major cause of physical and mental illness in our society today. Stress can manifest itself physically in a variety of ways including high blood pressure, ulcers, fatigue, headaches, insomnia, weight loss, nausea and heart palpitations. I believe extreme internalised stress can also cause more serious illnesses. Stress is a major factor [...]

Apart from plain common sense, much has been said and written about the power of positive thinking – Dale Carniegie, Norman Peale, even Forest Gump to name a few.
There is a strong metaphysical school that links positive thinking with the ability to self heal – Louise Hay writes strongly about this link. Alternative cancer treatments [...]

A little known, but quite visionary requirement of “Tomorrows Schools” was a mandatory requirement for all schools to develop a Role Model Policy. The rational for this was to ensure that all schools recognised the importance of providing their pupils with exposure to positive role models from a variety of different aspects of life or [...]

The Columbine High School massacre has focused attention on identification and provision for children at risk.
Realistic observers can not help but observe that our youth culture has major problems. Many causes are blamed – television violence, the breakdown of the family, societal changes etc, and many reports, indeed gabfests, commissioned. Many an academic and professional [...]

One of the few things we can say with any certainty is that change is inevitable and that predictability is a thing of the past. The pace of change as we enter the 21st century is probably greater then at any other time in our history. Major economic and cultural changes are occurring with increased [...]

The greatest single issue in Maori Education is under achievement. Maori children are over represented in all the ‘negative’ educational statistics – reading recovery, school suspensions and leaving the school system without qualifications. Maori are also over represented in the ‘negative social statistics – health, justice, employment and family, 73% of all Maori births in [...]