On Saturday 19th June we are recognising Gifted Awareness Week by inviting all the bright sparks and creative thinkers out there to an afternoon of challenge.
We will have a number of challenge centres for kids to participate in and in some cases take the result of their work home.
There will also be people and organisations who provide resources and services for gifted children, their families and their education who will be showing their products and services. This will be from providing pamphlets or posters to having a personal presence with activities or products for sale.
There will also be “Ask an Expert”. There will be a psychologist, teacher, assessor, parent and advisors who will be available for approximately 30 minutes to answer any questions that parents may have about giftedness.
For more information: president@explorers.org.nz or 021-063-7128
I do not seem to be having much success with explorers, have sent my money off to the secretary and have not had a reply. have emailed explorers still with no luck, will i be more successful on the day in joining so my son can go and enjoy all the interesting things that you run!
Hi, Lee. I recommend you come along on Saturday and give Explorers a try - you'll get a chance to talk directly to the people involved and to see just whether it will suit your family. Joining Explorers, when my sons were young, was the best thing we ever did for our family and for our highly gifted son especially. Love, M
Is this open to the public so to speak. I am in the process of joining up but have not sent in the forms.
Can we still attend? Can the rest of the familt attend also??
Just to let you know the membership secretary for Explorers is away at the moment but back very soon. Someone has been looking after it while she is away but there could have been a slip up with post being transferred or something.
Hopefully it will be sorted soon or give them a ring. Being an all volunteer organisation it can be hard to cover for holidays etc.
Why is there not going to be information on the university on wheels programme at the gifted awareness day? They sound like they have a really worthwhile new idea to me.
And why is there not info also on home schooling as an option? Especially as hundreds of gifted children are home schooled. Home schooling is discussed regularly on this forum so why not have a group represented at the afternoon forum?
Hi Betty and Penny...
I'm guessing that University on wheels (which I haven't heard of by the way so will have to look it up) and Homeschooling (which I do) haven't been included, simply because only so much can be included in these events! There are some wonderful options out there, but not all can be represented unfortunately due to space and time restrictions. Remember that all these events are organised by volunteers who themselves have limited time to give!!
By the way, keep an eye out for the next Tall Poppies - will have homeschooling gt children, and various schools and programmes for gt kids in it!
thanks for the explanation Rebecca and I will stop feeling put out about it on behalf of home schoolers. Can you also explain what the Explorer School is? Is it a private home school like Appletree perhaps?
Can you tell me which organisations will be represented at the event on the 19th? I'm hoping that both ODS and GKP will be there, as they are the two one day programmes - would be good to hear from both.
It looks as if both the one day school people are represented but looking through the list some organisations are not there, like university on wheels and achieving potential and the home school groups. Maybe you have to be a member to exhibit there but its not really clear.
We are driving up for the weekend to combine a visit to grandma with the zoo, mission bay and also a look at whats happening for gifted via Mount Albert. I was hoping most of what is available would be represented so we could have a flying perusal/whizz past. There seems so much out there these days (Im on family no 2 as my girls are grownup). There was not much around years ago. It will be a pity if there is only a portion of what is out there because you get a much better idea of the choice under one roof (or thats the general idea of the visit anyhow). I guess you can join up with the NZAGC group at the afternoon.
Thanks for your explanation, Rebecca.
I think we need to remember that this afternoon is to showcase "Explorers" and to demonstrate the sorts of things you can expect to see, hear and do when you are a member of this organisation.
I don't think it was ever intended to be an "Expo" of everything that is available for gifted children.
If you join Explorers you may well find that these other topics/services are covered. If they're not, then as it is member-run, you can request it and do something about it.
Love, M
As I replied to SJW earlier in this thread, you can find the list of who will be there at
www.explorers.org.nz
Simply click on the advert on the left hand side and it will bring up a pdf.
I am the facilitatator of the challenge afternoon this weekend.
To answer a number of questions above
This the first time we have done this type of thing so we have no idea what public response we will get. Therefore its hard to judge how much to plan and budget for as we are not in a position to lose a lot of money or have people supplying expertise not fully utilised. If this weekend is a success we may expand it next year.
As Marilyn stated this is an "open day" for Explorers primarily. We however invited a wide range of people to participate. Quite a large number of those people have never responded. That is their choice. There is however an Educational Expo on this weekend as well.
What is happening?
Activities being presented by Explorers' families and others
Rollercoasters
Slime
Magnets
Primary Colours
Board games
X-rays
Cartesian Divers
Crafts
Gears
Chemistry
Human body
Mindlab workshops
Preschool activities
Organisations Represented-some will have goods for sale. Probably no EftPOS but ATM not far away
Mindlab
Mensa
Gifted Education Centre & ODS
Fun Languages
Learnex
Plus pamphlets etc from many others
Experts Confirmed
Alison Kirby-Pychologist, All Poppies
Sonia White-Advisor, Gifted Consultancy
Elaine Le Sueur-Advisor, Gifted Education Services
Kathy Williams, Principal,One Day School will be at GEC stand
Experts to be confirmed
Twice Gifted-Gifted with a learning difficulty
Preschool parent
The experts will have a specified 30 mins allocated but most will be there all afternoon
Other
Afternoon teas
Membership Secretary present
Library
Costs
Children $5
Adults Free
Explorers' members: 1 x Child $5; 2 or more children $10 maximum for a family
I hope this clears up any queries
Contact me if you want to know more on 021-063-7128 or president@explorers.org.nz
Pity the acheiving potential people wont be there and also I would like to check out the universityon wheels and maybe future problem solving. It would be great to get some more info on the things that have been developed specifically for g&t kids.
Did anybody see the bit about future problem solving on tv the other night? It would be great to get it into more schools. Im sure they will be there today.
Thank you to everyone who attended our challenge afternoon today. It was great to see so many new faces. I hope some of you will consider joining us. It's a great place for kids to find compatible friend. Explorers has been around for 35 years and there are ex-members who have had solid friendships formed in Explorers for as long. When families leave Explorers they often say that one of the best things that they had got from Explorers was the parental support particularly from other members.
In response to a couple comments above
Jean Hendy Harris of Acheiving Potential Seminars was unable to come as she has been away and as she is not having seminars in July she didn't have any pamphlets available. Check out her website www.holidayseminars.co.nz or contact Jean directly.
Elaine Le Sueur and Sonia White could have discussed Future Problem Solving ad Elaine could have discussed University on Wheels.
I would love some feedback about what you liked or not about the afternoon, Remember however that it was a showcase for Explorers not a gifted expo per say.
managed to get to both events with a squeeze. Pity fps and APS were absent as both come with lots of `stars' beside their names. It might be a good idea to run this mini expo again at a time when it doesnt coincide with other events.
Thank you Christine for running this event, both of my children really enjoyed it especially the cockatoo and the slime using pva glue. We will definatley be coming to more explorers events! Thank you to everyone else who helped out and made this possible. It takes such a lot of co-ordinating to put something like this on, especially when it is run by volunteers. Our family really do appreciate it.
Well done Christine and all the wonderful people who gave their time to make Saturday afternoon such a great event. It was excellent as a source of information and all of my children thoroughly enjoyed it and havent stopped talking about it. While the activities were all really good, the value of the kids being able to play with 'like minds' was the real benefit and shows exactly why Explorers is such a good idea. Great to have organisations like Mind Lab and Fun Language for Kids taking the time to be involved also. From a purely selfish perspective, I think the kids could happily have stayed and been involved all day - three hours just whizzed by! Well done all!
As stated in my previous post Future Problem Solving was represented in the person of Elaine Le Sueur but any of the experts could have given information.
As Jean Hendy Harris IS Achieving Potential Seminars it can be difficult for them to be represented if Jean is not available.
I would like to reiterate this was not an "EXPO" but a showcase for Explorers with a few extras.
This event is to recognise Gifted Awareness Week. This was started by The Gifted Education Centre 3 years ago and falls the week of George Parkyn's birthday which unlike the Queen is not variable. George was a huge advocate for gifted children and their education in NZ.
I am not sure if you have ever organised an event for a voluntary organisation but I can assure you it's hard work and we are always encouraged by comments about what we did not what we didn't. However we are always happy to have suggestions for the next time.
Thank you very much for organising the day Christine, and thanks to everybody else who helped out too.
My daughter and husband had a great time - as usual! :-)
I highly recommend the Explorers Club to families with gifted children... not only does my daughter love the activities and interaction with other children, her Dad & I also really enjoy being a part of the club!
Hello Christine - sorry, I did not mean to sound critical. Ive never organised something like that myself but I can certainly believe its a lot of hard work. I know a number of people commented that they would have like more info about stuff being organised that was directly linked to g&t kids. Its hard to sort through what is good stuff and what is not so good until you try it and by the time you have tried you might have spent money you cant afford. I just dont know why some of the providers (such as FPS and APS for instance) dont advertise more. Other organisations advertise all over the place and you can get sucked in with all there hype if your not careful. I just thought it might be good if the tried and true stuff got more prominence I suppose but I am really not grizzling.
I'm guessing that groups like FPS and APS don't advertise a lot because of the cost of doing so. APS does send glossy brochures to schools now in the middle of the term prior to holidays workshops, but FPS seems to advertise mainly in education publications - which makes sense when you consider that it is a programme run in schools by regular teachers, so needs to access those teachers and schools first. Once they are sorted out, then students within the school who are interested or will benefit are offered the opportunity to do FPS. It's not something a parent can enrol their child in, though you could advocate for your school to provide FPS if they don't currently.
You're right there SJW. FPS runs on the smell of an oily rag! Almost the only funding we get comes from the fees the students pay. This has to cover all admin costs including an office space in Orewa, our Admin Director's salary (she puts in many hours above what we actually pay her for) and payment to our nationwide team of evaluators. It doesn't leave anything much for publicity and promotion! We desperately need to redevelop our website as our designer has left us in the lurch but that’s something else we will have to try to find funding for - it's so frustrating that we can't get the funding that we need to expand the programme. We have grand plans for what we could do but as I work fulltime in another job and do the National Directors role in my spare time, I just can't bring all those dreams to fruition.
We have had parents register independent teams who work together out of school time and we have also had students register in the individual division and work in their own time. This year we are thrilled to have our first home-schooled team.
But it’s all worthwhile when you see what the kids get out of being involved in FPS. Our results at this year's International Finals were MIND-BLOWING!!! The All-Whites get special editions of newspapers for not winning a game at the World Cup, NZ students take TWO OUT OF THREE world championships and we struggle to get publicity. Thanks to Cobham Int for getting the TV to the airport to meet their winning Junior team.
If you are interested, here are the STUNNING results from the International Finals In the USA last week:
There are 3 divisions in Global Issues
Problem Solving (Junior, Middle, Senior):
Matamata College were the Ist Placed in the Senior Division
Cobham Int (Christchurch) were 1st placed in the Junior Division
Mission Heights Schools (Auckland) were 1st placed in the Junior Science
and Technology component of Community Problem Solving (great for SONZ
publicity!)
To top this off we had some more excellent placings:
2nd – Middle Division – Onsite Scenario Writing - South Wellington
Intermediate
3rd – Junior Division – Global Issues Problem Solving - Matamata Intermediate
4th – Middle Division – Community Problem Solving - Mission Heights
Junior College
5th – Middle Division – Global Issues Problem Solving - Diocesan School
5th – Junior Division – Global Issues Problem Solving Individual -
Kerikeri High School
5th – Junior Division –Global Issues Problem Solving Dramatic
Presentations - Matamata Intermediate
I am particularly thrilled by the Senior Team's win in Global Issues -
that is the crème de la crème and we have never won this before.
These are our best results ever in term so of placings
Wow!
Robyn, thanks for letting us know all the details.
This is just the sort of good-news story we need to keep us going, to assure us that all our hard work for gifted children is worth while.
Congratulations to all the teams and to you and the FPS people who have made it happen.
Love, Marilyn
Thanks so much Marilyn. We are so proud of them! Apart form a newsbyte about the Cobham Intermediate team we have had no publicty despite trying all over. It seems somewhat ironic that the All Whites are drowned in accolades for losing three games against three opponents whilst our students won two world championships in a competition with over 250 teams and noone cares! That’s life in NZ, I guess – sports wins over academic excellence any time.
On Saturday 18th June we are recognising Gifted Awareness Week by inviting all the bright sparks and creative thinkers out there to an afternoon of challenge.
We will have a number of challenge centres for kids to participate in and in some cases take the result of their work home.
There will also be people and organisations who provide resources and services for gifted children, their families and their education who will be showing their products and services. This will be from providing pamphlets or posters to having a personal presence with activities or products for sale.
There will also be “Ask an Expert”. There will be a psychologist, teacher, assessor, parent and advisors who will be available for approximately 30 minutes to answer any questions that parents may have about giftedness.
For more information: president@explorers.org.nz
What is happening?
Activities being presented by Explorers' families and others
Rollercoasters
Slime
Magnets
Board games
Philately
Physics
Crafts
Gears
Robotics
French workshops
Mindlab workshops etc
Organisations Represented-some will have goods for sale. Probably no EftPOS but ATM not far away
Mindlab
Mensa
Gifted Education Centre & ODS, Small Poppies and Gifted Online
Fun Languages
Learnex
Auckland Home Educators
Plus pamphlets etc from many others
Experts Confirmed
Alison Kirby-Pychologist, Indigo Centre
Elaine Le Sueur-Advisor, Gifted Education Services and University on Wheels
Kathy Williams, Principal,One Day School will be at GEC stand
Other
Afternoon teas
Membership Secretary present
Library
Used Book Sale
Balloon Sculptures
Raffle
Costs
Children $5
Adults Free
Explorers' members: 1 x Child $5; 2 or more children $10 maximum for a family
