I have forawrded your message to all our Tauranga NZAGC members and a recent enquiry about a branch in Tauranga that we have had.
There is a lot of information on the website about setting up a branch so take a look at that, plus if you do feel there is enough interesty the NZAGC will be happy to support you nad out you in touch with other groups who have recently set up.
http://www.giftedchildren.org.nz/howto/roles.php (plus other links in this section.)
There was an initiatuve around 6 years ago to set up a branch but it was never formally formed.
It would be wonderful to have a branch at Tauranga. I would like to help in any way I can. I may not be able to do much this year as I am busy with a course, but will definitely be able to spare some time.
Dear all
We would definitely support a TGA Branch - any support locally would be invaluable to our children and families. We look forward to hearing back from you.
Janene C
Great to see there is some interest! I looked through the 'How to' notes and it seems a bit daunting! Maybe starting with a support group would be a good idea, to get a better idea of how many people there are interested?
My kids are only 3 and 1 so I guess a lot of the activities would be over their heads, but it would be nice to have a group set up for when they are older.
Lesley S
ps I have changed my username as I saw there was another Lesley on the forum!
Hi there,
I would be very interested in a Tauranga branch. We have not been in Tauranga for long and I do miss the activities we did in Auckland. How?what? where? when? do we start? I live in Welcome Bay - does any one want to get together and have a brain storm?
regards, Ingrid
Hi
Well, it looks as though there are 7 of us so far...
A get-together sounds like a good idea. I dont mind offering my place for a get together (we are in Papamoa though), fridays to sundays I am usually free (ie I can be kid free ;) ) and to a limited extent through the week also (we do lots of morning activities and need to be home for the 1 year olds lunchtime sleep). I guess evenings are best for me. How about everyone else??
Why not get everyone together and see if you have enough to perhaps start a support group and if you want to turn it into a NZAGC branch then we can support you. It would be good to see how the group functions together at first. Palmerston North meeting appears to have gone well so they are also on the same road, so you see how they go. Christichurch and a new Wellington branch have also set up quite recently.
Let me know when you have a day and date set and I will circulate to all our members in the Tauranga area, including schools. If you can get a school to support you with facilities or whatever it is great!
It would be great to get together. I am at Welcome Bay too and will be able to get together anytime over the next three weeks - after that I would be free on weekends and some evenings. Looking forward to it.
Hi Lesley, isn't it just so annoying the lack of interest from the majority!
I find the same thing with 'Young Explorers!' I only ever have one or two turn up at our get togethers. I keep thinking that it will get better as more and more become aware that 'we're happening' but....
You get tonnes of ppl expressing their interest but as soon as they actually have to front up and/or help...!??!
I keep going because I'm sure that there are some who will want to come, and for those that have come to at least one get together in case they turn up again.
It's a real shame for so many and for those to come in the future, that you don't have the support now. Unfortunately you can only accomplish so much as just one person!
Keep up the good work and keep your chin up! There are those of us who do appreciate all the hard work individuals put into things and hopefully in the future, you will have at least some who are interested and motivated to make things happen (besides yourself) in Tauranga!
Hi Rebecca - hey you deserve a pat on the back too! I'm one of the ones who did turn up at a Little Explorers get-together and found it great. It was actually nice that the group was small so I was able to talk to you about my issues - so in a way the fact that you gave me such helpful advice meant that I didn't need to go again! We would be there more often if we didn't already have such a busy schedule. And it took such a lot of negotiation to get kindy to agree to 3 mornings a week that I feel reluctant to take my son out to go to Little Explorers. But I have been keeping an eye out on the events in case the timing works for all 3 kids, and you will see us again! Thanks for being there for me when the whole gifted thing was so new and exciting and also intimidating!
I have only just started going on line regarding a support group and would be very intested in coming along to anything that is being offered.
This is a very new journey that we have just started and would really value the support from people who have already been travelling this road for a while!!
We have just shifted to Tauranga, but would be happy to meet where ever to get together. Also happy to help with anything to get something going if need be.
Hi and welcome.
I'm actually new here too although I have been reading (lurking!) here for a while!
How about if I set another date for a couple of weeks time and see who is keen again?
Thank you for your reply I really appreciated it!! We have got 3 children and they are a girl just turned 12, a girl who is 9 and a boy who is 7 years old.
I also have a friend who also just moved to Tauranga and her child has also been recognised as being gifted. She too would be interested in getting together. Her children are similar ages to mine and she has one child younger.
So yes please we would love to get togther with anyone else who is interested, just need to negotiate a time as we are both shift workers (but we have got our rosters 6 weeks in advance!!).
Look forward to hearing from you and anyone else interested in getting together.
Judith
My kids are only 1 and 3 so I still have a lot to learn!
Perhaps if you and your friend arranged a time that suits you both, then I will try to fit in with you. Tuesday evenings are no good for me as hubby has fire brigade practice (I prefer evenings if possible, so I can be child-free ;) ). Also I will try and e-mail the people off this list who expressed an interest when we have a definate date.
How does a Monday, Friday or Saturday night sound to you??
Alison does night shifts on Tue, Wed, alternate Thur so those night are out for her. But just set a date and we will try to both come along.
Would be nice if other people could come along also. Do you know of any that have children the same ages as ours?
I dont know of anyone else with gifted kids other than reading about them in this forum! It would be nice not to have to 'hide' my eldests accomplishments for once!
Anyway, I will have a look at a calendar soon and get back to you. Hopefully some of the other people who posted here would be able to make it too.
Sorry that I missed your earlier post. Have not been keeping up lately. I sure would like to catch up. Evenings would suit me too. I have a son who is 7 and would love to have someone he can relate to. I will try and get in touch with some other parents I know who would be interested. I would prefer friday or saturday nights as I am on a course at the moment and mondays would be a bit too hectic. However, if it doesn't suit the others, I'll try and fit in monday.
We live in welcome Bay and my email ID is praodutta@yahoo.com
Friday (9 Sept) sounds good to us!! Alison has a pre-schooler who has just turned 4, so you wont be the only one!
Happy to meet at your place, our place is a bit small we are renting at present until we know what we are doing......
Great to hear that Prathima has a boy aged 7, will be nice for my one to meet. We are currently renting in Brookfield, so that is not too far from Welcome Bay.
ok so we will agree on friday 9th . Is 7pm ok? I have printed out the pages of how to start up a support group (I just have to find them again!) so that should give us some ideas on how to get started.
Sorry everyone ... change in plans
We have arranged the meeting to be on this Thursday 8th at 7pm
Contact me via e-mail if you want the address details.
Hi - an update on the meeting we had for those who couldn't attend. There were 5 of us here (Ginger, Judith, Alison, Janene and I). There was alot of discussion about one-day school, testing for giftedness, schools and giftedness. Janene said she would contact other parents through the one-day school to see if any were interested in a support group. We thought it would be a good idea to have another meet-up sometime in a big park where the kids could run around together.
Hope I remembered everything!!
Sorry I am late in posting about the meetin but I have been away for a little while, then sick abit too!
Marilyn Stafford has sent me this information.....
"NZAGC has made an application to the Todd Foundation to fund the "POP Road
> Show", touring NZAGC branches next year.
> We are hoping to go ahead with NZAGC funding if the application is
> unsuccessful.
>
> The POP Road Show will involve "me", traveling to each Branch, running
> children's session(s) in the daytime and an adults' meeting in the evening.
> I currently run POP sessions on Saturday evenings in Auckland.
> POP (Philosophy Over Pizza) is a little misleading in that we eat the pizza
> first and then have a philosophy session.
>
> If you are interested in my coming to your Branch I am more than happy to
> tailor it to your needs. Pizza is definitely optional ! The adults' evening
> can be for parents and/or teachers, can be philosophy or about P4C
> (Philosophy for Children) or something totally different if you prefer
> (NZAGC or a "gifted" topic perhaps)."
>
> "I am planning to cover most of the North Island after Easter in the April
> holiday in 2006. The suggested itinerary would see me in Tauranga on
> Wednesday 19 April.
I'm happy to take whatever and however many sessions you like on the 19th.
If I leave early in the morning, I could probably take a session at 10. A session needs to be about 1 1/2 hours long, with time for a chat with parents in between and/or snack/social time for the children.
8 - 15 children per session. If you only have enough children for one session, that is ok, but it works better if you can split the age groups.
We don't really need to worry about the details at this stage - just get it in the diaries ! We can talk lots more, or as much as needed, in Term 1.
To reduce costs I would appreciate a bed for that night in some friendly
> home.
>
> I am looking forward to your enthusiastic reply and planning a day to suit
> you and your Branch."
So .......is anyone interested in organising this?
Where are those who empressed interest in this branch. The POP is a wonderful opportunbity the Auckland children who have done it have found it wonderful whoch is why we have gone to the troubke to find some funding to enable us to send Marilyn our marvellous moderator around the country!!!!
I have not visitied the forum since I could not make your last meeting. I am sorry about that.
Firstly, I would like to thank you for working so hard at getting this group off the ground.
I would like to help in whatever way I can. Are you planning another meeting?
I would like to tell Marilyn that I would be honoured to accomodate her in our home, I have always got a spare bedroom for guests.
I feel this is too important an opportunity to let it pass us by.
There does not seem to be a lot of appreciation of gifted children and their unique needs here in Tnga, and I feel we need to raise that awareness.
With your children being young, would you like me to organise this event?
I can not guarantee it's success since I have never done this sort of thing before, but I am passionate about our children and that we need to be more informed. I am sure that if we put our heads together we will get it sorted.
Kind regards, Ingrid Booysen. 18 Wouldbank Way, Welcome Bay, Tauranga, 544-9331.
Thanks for replying Ingrid. And thanks Annette for e-mailing everyone too!
If you are able to organise this Ingrid that would be great. I'd be interested in attending an adults session but my kids would be too young for any childrens sessions I imagine!
Well, I will count Tauranga in.
Thank you, Ingrid and Lesley.
I've taken philosophy sessions successfully with children as young as 6 (my One Day School classes), so I would be happy to take a group of 5, 6year olds. (Not in the same group as the 10 year olds !!)
How old are your children Lesley ?
Love,
Marilyn
I am sorry that I too missed the meeting at Lesley's house as I could not make it on the changed date. I would love to be a part of the POP and so would my son ( he will be 7 soon). You may not hear from me for sometime as I will be out of NZ for the next 8 weeks, but will get in touch once I get back.
Dear Marilyn and Lesley and Prathima,
Thank you so much for your reply and I am really looking forward to seeing you here in April Marilyn.
My daughter will be 9 in April and I am looking forward to her "working" with you.
We were part of Small Poppies with Sue when Yvonne was 3 and we have been part of ODS in Auckland where I met you very briefly at one of the parent discussion evenings. I have been very happy with ODS and what you have to offer our children. I used to homeschool Yvonne until we moved here to Tauranga and I would like to return to that again in the future. In the meantime I am really hoping that we will get a lot of people together for your trip.
Lesley, I looked into the website and looked up the info regarding starting a support group. I wondered if you managed to get a group started?
I am looking forward to meeting you all and am hoping that our children will soon be able to meet one another on a social level and experience the feeling of "being myself" ( yvonne's description) more often.
With kind regards, and wishing you all merry Christmas - I have friends and family here this year so will be limiting the email time!
We would be interested in coming along to a POP session. Our computer has been out of action for some time, hence the non-reply. But we are still here and interested.
Hi everyone
The NZAGC forwarded me a link to this discussion when I made enquiries about a support group/branch in Tauranga. I'm very new to all this. My kids are 3 yrs and 18 mths. Is there a support group up and running?
Hi there everyone,
School is up and running today and I thought it was high time to start talking about forming this support group. My first port of call will be to set up a flyer to leave at One Day School ( with permission which I have not had yet) and then to send the same information to all the schools in the area. lastly, I hope to approach the papers. I need help and input regarding the flyer and the initial thought was just:
Meet your gifted Child's needs:
would you like to form a support group with other families of gifted children so that they can meet in a casual environment?
Many gifted children struggle to form friendships at school. One day school offers them the opportunity to learn from each other academically, but if you would like to offer them the opportunity to make friends with like minded children in a casual environment, please call:
Ingrid Booysen 544-9331.
Please all you readers out there - tear this "flyer" apart, add bits, make suggestions. This is just a starting point. I have never done anything like this before and as I said earlier I am no leader - but someone has to do it.
In fact, is there anyone out there who may have done this sort of thing before? Can you spare me some time so that we can do this together?
I realize that you are talking about a support group for parents but if I could be linked into meetings,visits,get togethers etc that I could inform our parents about that would be great. As a school we have always supported the one day school and have children enrolled most years. I have a great interest in Gand T and belonged to the Tauranga Branch many many years ago we had children clubs and support activities then for both parents and teachers.It was great.
I hope to upskill myself this year with a new look at Philosophy for children and future Problem Solving and I am looking for any suggestions for programmes that we could run during 2006 here at school.
Hi again
Ingrid thanks for taking steps to get something up and running.
I was just wondering if people invisaged this being a support group for mainly school aged kids or would it cater to pre-schoolers as well? I know there are times when I could definitely use the advice and support of others coping with G & T pre-schoolers and others must be in the same position as me?
Thanks
Mellissa
I was just wondering if you are looking at taking a POP session in Hamilton. My 12 yr old daughter is in a GO class with the George Parkyn Foundation and I am sure the sort of session you are talking about would be beneficial for both of us. If you are not planning on stopping in Hamilton we would possibly be able to come over to Tauranga if the dates were ok.
Yes, Jacqueline, NZAGC will definitely be trying to fit a POP visit to Hamilton in to the programme. Can't say when at the moment, sorry.
Love,
Marilyn
Hi.
Without wanting to come across pushy, I was just wondering if anybody out there besides me checks this forum on a regular basis. I would love to receive a response from anyone? I posted my first message back on the 18 Jan. I'm still just wondering if there is actually a support group up and running and if so is there another get together planned anytime soon? It seems to take forever to get any response on this forum. I don't want to give up on the hope that someone will reply.
I look forward to hearing from someone one day!
Mellissa
Hello Theresa,
Thank you for your response on the forum. Your comment made me go and look at the kind of support group we would want to form and I realised that we would want to begin an Explorer's Group -ultimately. This group, Nz wide falls under the umbrella of the NZAGC. I thus went to look at their mission statement and it is as follows: NZAGC will champion the cause of the gifted child at home, in their schooling, and beyond.
I know this is long, but I believe this support group needs to be for the children primarily. And my understanding of explorers in Auckland was that age of gifted children made no difference.
Teresa, since you have been involved before, please could we meet - say next week. Give me a call - 544-9331
Sorry Mellissa
I rarely come to this website now so hadnt seen your message!!
We did have a meeting at my place in September last year, but didnt have a big response. So no support group was set up.
My kids are 1 1/2 and 3 1/2 so very similar in age to yours! I would still be interested in a support group at some stage.
Dear Tauranga People,
It sounds as if you are ready to set up an Explorers group. Why not combine this with a POP (Philosophy Over Pizza) occasion.
I can visit Tauranga in the week following Easter. I could run POP sessions for the children over 6 and could take a session for the parents too. And/or I could help a small group with making plans for the new Explorer group.
Love,
Marilyn
Yes it does sound like setting up a group would be great.
As part of the marketing team for NZAGC we are prepared to help. I will send you the details of branches set up recently.
We can help also design a Press Release for a meeting to encourage others to get involved etc. There are computers systems all set up for branches including the accounting systems and we can print contacts cards and provide ideas etc.
Marilyn will be a great source of advice for you as she has had long involvement with the group and can give plenty of great ideas.
The President of NZAGC (Steve) and myself will also be in Tauranga in early April, 11th.12th probbaly and if you want to set up to meet then we can give you some advice.
Hello Everyone,
We have had our first meeting! A support group has been started! The first meeting was held Sunday 12 th March. Members present: Lesley, Mellissa, Prathima, Kimberly and Ingrid.
The innitial discussion was about the POP session that is being held on the 19th April.
The detail is as follows: 19th April at Wickham Private School hall. There will be 3 sessions. session 1 at 10.30 -12.oo. (for children 6-9 ) The second sesison 2.00-3.30pm ( for children from 9-12) and then an evening session for parents and teachers from 7.00-9.00.
We are limited to 30 children - so please book your child early if you are interested.
The innitial contact is with ODS here in Tauranga, and also the Bethlehem Institute. Following that we will also approach the Tauranga and Otumoetai Intermediate schools to see if they have any children who might be interested.
Our next discussion was about the need for developing a pre=school support group. Auckland has lovely Sue Breen who runs sessions all over Auckland for Gifted Pre-schoolers. We would love her to come down and show us what to do... Mellissa is president of her playcentre and would love to set up an extra session after hours for the gifted children in our community. Please contact her ( via this forum perhaps) if you would like to know more.
The other mums would have liked their children more involved in science. We hope to set up a little session on the 21st of April. If you are interested, please phone me or contact me via email: ingy.b@xtra.co.nz
We have permission to use the Wickham hall on a monthly basis. However, the cost is $50.00 per time. The advantage is that there is a little room in the back that could potentially house craft stuff, old electronics, library etc. I know guide halls are usually cheaper - if any one knows of anything that is better value, has a great grass area for the children to play on, has ample parking and is not right on the main road.... yet central, please let us know.
Now that we are up and running, what would any of you like to see happening in this group? What do your children need? Do you have any skills you could share? Do you know of any interesting people we could approach to teach us something?
This group is yours - make it happen!
kind regards,
Ingrid
Hello To all in Tauranga and elsewhere!
This little group has taken on a life of its own. Through the POP session I have had a number of calls and interest seems to be high.
However the main reason for this entry is that I need to let you know that we have the priviledge to have Annette Collins ( Explorers Auckland) and Stephen Thom ( President NZAGC) coming for an informal visit to Tauranga.
Please feel free to come and meet them at my home on Wednesday the 12th April at 7.30 pm.
The address: 18 Wouldbank Way
Welcome Bay
Telephone number: 544-9331
We look forward to meeting you all,
Ingrid Booysen.
Hello Judith,
Please phone me about the POP session. Are you J. Madsen by any chance? Your places are secured. If you are not - please call me... 544-9331
Hello everyone,
Tauranga Branch here we come! On Thursday night 27th April, 7.30pm at the Booysens, 18 Wouldbank Way, Welcome Bay. Tel: 544-9331.
We propose to start the branch as soon as possible. Meeting agenda includes confirmation of constitution, voting members to positions, discussing membership fee, going through the members handbook. This is a great deal already, but we will do as much as we can manage.
To all who want to be involved please be there! Being on the committee means you can get to chose what gets organized and when.
Is the Tauranga Branch available for teenagers? I think one of the posts had an age limit somewhere of 12 (may be wrong). I see that POP sessions are held for older children in Auckland, so was just wondering if there was a group of older children in the Tauranga/BoP area too who got together for activities/friendship.
Hi One4Me, Tauranga has recently started an explorers club. The members rage in age from 2 to about 12 or 14 at this stage. However, we would love to hear from parents with teenagers. Then we can plan more activities for that age group too. I have been trying to find someone who will offer P4C sessions on a regular basis, but to date no luck. However it does not mean that we have exhausted all avenues yet. Please get hold of us via this website to get a regular update on the activities we have planned - perhaps some will suit your teenager too. Kind regards, Ingrid.
