On Thursday 5th November 2020, all In-School and Across-School Leaders in the Auckland Central Community of Schools came together to participate in the Annual Unconference Event at Remuera Intermediate School. The purpose of the event was to build connections between schools and provide opportunities to learn more about certain topics and themes.
The evening began with a Karakia, followed by a Whakatauki and a Waiata. Jill Farquharson, the lead principal of ACCoS Kahui Ako gave her address and then the In-School Leaders had the opportunity to pitch their resource or topic in the form of a smackdown slide. Abby was our strict time-keeper, ensuring that no pitch exceeded the time limit of 30 seconds. The topics covered were very intriguing, ranging from Solutions Focused Leadership to Visible Learning to Building Collective Intelligence to Mathematical Mindsets.
When the pitches came to a close, everyone had the opportunity to vote for the topics they were most interested in and would like to engage in a professional conversation about. The top votes were then assigned to breakout spaces where the conversations took place. Attendees could choose which breakout space they would like to go to. During these sessions, as I tuned into the conversations in each breakout space, there was a very exciting feel. A large community of schools learning, developing their expertise and growing professionally was truly a precious opportunity for all involved.
To conclude the evening, Madeline Gunn, our ACCoS Kahui Ako Expert Partner, gave her address and spoke to the importance of networking and making connections across the community with an aim to enhance our practice as educators.
Everyone enjoyed refreshments and further interactions before our closing Karakia.
ACCoS would like to extend our thank you to Alaric Nichols, an ACCoS ASL, who planned and coordinated the event.