A goat grazes on the small hill at the side of the preschool. There is a small forest complete with its own little cabin, a boat in the sandpit and many other child friendly initiatives that make Aniwaniwa a very special place for children to be.
The programme at the preschool  is distinctly ‘Fran’. It relies heavily on the Sathya Sai Educare Values teaching model, which works hand in hand with the Virtues Programme.

The end outcome is that children attending Aniwaniwa develop strong self-confidence, a love of learning, and a strong sense of values through the awakening of the ability to discriminate based on the promptings of their own conscience.  

It was from the nursery of Aniwaniwa that the private primary school, Arorangi, where education is also provided free of charge, was formed.

Report from John and Fran

Fran is kept busy running her preschool ANIWANIWA, four days a week, which has a long waiting list with parents wanting the Loving and Nuturing learning environment for their young children. Parents are hearing about Arorangi School more and more and know that the only way to get a place in Arornagi School is to be part of the whole education philosophy of Education in human Values, taught in a loving environment.

Thursday afternoon and Fridays Fran teaches at Arorangi school, giving dedicated EHV lessons to the children. The rest of the week the values and virtues are woven throughout the lessons. 

The mornings start with the whole school in the wharenui (hall) where they start with a prayer, either in Maori, or English from various sources.

They continue on with brain gym exercises to activate both right and left sides of the brain, which improves learning, and a song of an inspirational / uplifting nature which they will sing for the whole week so as to learn the words. This is followed by silent sitting (relaxation / guided meditation.  Parents quite often join in this ritual, seeing parents lying on the floor with their eyes closed have become quite accepted by all the children.Friday afternoon about an hour before the end of school, all the children and teachers come into the hall for a closing celebration for the week, honoring children’s work and achievements and a closing prayer.

We have had numerous people visit the school since it started in February 2001.

The notable ones, which are very important for our efforts to become integrated into the state system were Roger McClay, Commissioner of Children, who spoke many good words about what he saw happening and commented that Arorangi School was a great example of Values education at work. Also in September 2001 we had the ERO (Education Review Office) carry out an appraisal of our school for Private School status.. The report, which we got from the ERO, could not have been any better from our point of view. We were very pleased with it, and the two inspectors were very impressed with what was happening at Arorangi School, commenting that many schools talk about values and the like, but that this was rarely they came across schools where it was visibly happening with teachers and children alike. They also asked if they could come back to visit the school at a later date in an unofficial capacity to see how it was growing.   The ERO report can be found on the following web site:

http://www.ero.govt.nz/publish/reppub.ns4/
Schools/DF5C515916E26F57CC256AD9008339DC/$File/1639.htm?OpenElement

The above address gets you straight to the report.

Only last week we had a school consultant carry out an appraisal of the Principal. This was also a very impressive report with respect to the principal, the teachers and the pupils. He commented that it was interesting to see that the school had already developed its own culture or tradition, which he called the “ Arorangi way’ which all children noticeably embrace. He also elaborated that this normally takes many years to occur, but at Arorangi School it has been achieved in little over one year.

Other quotes from his report:

·        The holistic approach that permeates the whole school

·        The special character which is achieved by incorporating the Education in Human Values into the school culture

·        The high quality of the learning opportunities provided for all pupils by the teachers and support staff

·        The use of educational insights and practices such as “Educating for Human Greatness

·        The quiet confidence and self esteem that all members of the School Community display

·        Special character of the School based on Human Values provides a very fertile learning environment devoid of many of the negative practices that restrict the ‘Human Greatness”. A feature is the obvious desire for quality in all that is achieved. Pupils want to learn and it was impressive to see the independence that they displayed.

·        Strong sense of partnership and cohesiveness at this School. Factors which have caused this would include: a shared vision which id owned by everyone; almost daily contact with parents; deliberate honouring and valuing of the role of parents and caregivers;

·        I was most impressed with what has been achieved at Arorangi. It certainly provides parents in the wider community with another high quality option of primary education.

We have been in contact with the Ministry of Education, and are sending in stage two of the application process in April, which then allows for others schools in the area to comment and make submissions, then the Ministry Office will arrange another ERO visit with respect to integration and all that will be forwarded to the Minister of Education, Mr. Trevor Mallard. 

I have also attached some photos of the school I took last week, for those who have not seen the school recently.

I hope you enjoy reading this email, as once again thank everyone who gave their support of the past years.

Sai Ram and God Bless

John & Fran

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