Eric Schmidt discusses innovation with news editors

Posted by Chris Gaither, Senior Manager, Global Communications & Public Affairs

This week, hundreds of newsroom leaders from across the country are gathered in Washington DC for the American Society of News Editors’ annual conference. The theme of this year's event is "ideas," and Eric Schmidt shared many of his as the opening speaker. He spoke about some of the big trends that are shaping the Internet, such as the rise of mobile and cloud computing, and some lessons he has learned about how to navigate the Web’s constant pace of change.

He also talked about the importance of journalism to functioning democracies and encouraged the group to work together -- as well as with technology partners like Google -- to find new ways to reach and engage audiences, tell important stories and build thriving businesses online.

You can watch Eric's speech, which we've posted on YouTube, below. And if you’re interested in reading or contributing to the discussion about the future of news, check out the unofficial conference blog and #asne10 on Twitter.

Celebrating Race Relations Day

On Monday this week we celebrated Race Relations day with an afternoon of games and activities. Children were invited to wear clothes from their country of origin, and participated in games from around the world. It was wonderful to see those children in their Samoan and Tongan dress tossing the caber! Spider soccer and marbles (originally from Turkey) were some of the many activities children got to try. It was a fun afternoon and a great way to celebrate us all.

Corn Harvest

Kahu , Amanda and Chan'el enjoy the feast.

Green Team bounty.

Today the junior members of the Green team harvested the corn crop, the remaining broccoli, more cherry tomatoes, and four very large strawberries. Then we cooked up the corn and broccoli (minus the odd caterpillar!) and had a lunch time feast!! Delicious!!

Now the Team needs to work out what else we can put in the garden to grow over the winter!!

Art Attack 2010

Here are some photographs of our Art Attack 2010 for you to enjoy. What great artists we have here at Addington. Well done to you all.

Green Team Cook Up

Ms Heath in Sydney Australia

On Monday morning very early, 4.30am I arrived at Christchurch Airport ready to fly to Sydney for a tour of schools. We arrived to very warm weather and boarded a bus that took us to our hotel.

We were very fortunate to be able to go to the Hilton Hotel for a presentation by Apple. They gave a yummy lunch and talked to us for a while and then we got into groups. My group put together a Podcast, it was fun and I learned lots of new things.

On Tuesday we went to visit a school that goes from Yr 1 - Yr 12 called John XX111 and St Marks. It was a very new school with lots of lovely new classrooms. You will see some of the photos below. Later that day I went on a harbour cruise and saw the Opera house and had lots of fun.

Today is Wednesday and we visited a wonderful school called Methodist Ladies College and it had students from Yr 1 - 12 as well. Their junior school was only a year old and had an underground carpark for parents to drop their children off. The classrooms are called learning Studios and each space has two rooms working together. Their classrooms have no walls and are referred to as agile spaces. Check the photos below.

Harvest Feast

Recently, on a Friday, the Green Team held a harvest lunch. At morning tea time, the team picked beans, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, courgettes, and dug some of their purple heart potatoes and new carrots. At lunch time they set to work preparing the vegetables for the huge “Green Team Flan”, with side dishes of boiled potatoes, lovely carrots and cherry tomatoes. This was cooked in the hall oven and then eaten outside, picnic style, in the shade next to the vegetable garden. Delicious yummy and very colourful!! The flan was a big success and ‘seconds’ were in hot demand. The carrots were sweet and tasty.

The potatoes were interesting as they were dark purple when dug, but faded to a very light mauve when cooked. “Not as nice as our other potatoes”, (Jersy Bennes) was the verdict, “but still yummy”. Slivers of our garden strawberries followed.

On the following Monday morning there were several reports of variations of the G.T. flan being made in the Addington community. Great fun, gardening and cooking!

The team are planning another feast later in the term.

On a sadder note……

Vandals have smashed the pumpkin crop during a recent weekend. Other produce has also been stolen. This is very disappointing for the children, as they were planning several soup lunches for the whole school later in the autumn. The culprits have been identified and are being dealt with by the police.

Regardless of these events, the children at Addington school continue to put a lot of heart and soul into these gardens, and are hugely enthusiastic and positive about its potential. We will keep planting and sowing, learning and sharing with our school community. Roll on the next harvest feast!!!