Response from Mr Hewson!

Wow what an amazing letter from Mr Hewson! You guys certainly impressed him!

Hi Room 18

It was great to receive those very persuasive requests for school improvement while I was away last week! You have all made strong points in favour of your request. When I read them I tried to make an argument in my head against what you were arguing for. In some cases this was very difficult indeed!

Baxter, I'm sure that your request can be easily followed through. I would suggest you now pass your persuasive email on to Mr Robertson who manages the sports budget, and see how he responds. Louie, your request too could be passed on to Mr Robertson - you'll understand that the nets will only prevent balls from going in to the forest IF they go in the goal, so you might like to consider other suggestions for the balls that miss goal!!

For those who asked about a larger pool - years ago our Board of Trustees wanted to make that a project, but we were limited in land area and of course the cost is a massive consideration. Today many schools are having to shut down their pools because they can not afford to maintain them and purchase the chemicals. Our Board of Trustees is very keen to do everything it can to at least maintain our pool in sound condition. The Water Safety Council of NZ are surveying schools at present because they want to safeguard swimming pools in schools. You never know, they may persuade the government to invest a lot more money in school pools and if that happens we would want to consider a better facility than we already have! I'm not sure that that would extend to waterslides though ... there are a lot of Health and Safety rules that we would have to comply with that would cost the school a lot of extra money.

For those of you who tried to persuade me that we should do away with school uniforms - I did take your point about all looking the same! It's a real problem for me especially when new children start and they just sort of "melt" in to the environment! Some years ago we did not have a compulsory uniform and our Board at the time canvassed the parent community and got huge support for uniforms. That we have around 100% compliance with our school uniform indicates that your parents still support school uniforms. If you are getting hot and sweaty you might like to have a change of clothes here for lunch breaks. Our uniform committee are always looking for better ways to supply the uniform, hopefully we will be able to source a cheaper range. Let me know if there are clothing types within our school uniform colour scheme that would be better options than what we already have!

The bell in the forest came up at School Council - was it your class that raised it? The biggest hurdle is getting electrical current down there. When the new staff carpark goes in down behind the tennis courts we might have an opportunity to link a bell to the system then.

Charlie, your argument for 2 Barbecues was persuasive. My problem is getting enough volunteers for another BBQ. Perhaps we could compromise by streamlining how we give out the sausages and perhaps finding a slightly more central place to do the cook-up!

And finally, Sophie - you make a very good point about the sand pit size. As the school grows larger there is more demand for all of these facilities. I have a meeting with some property master-planners on Friday. I will make sure we talk about extending those sorts of play options and hopefully the Ministry of Education will give us the funding for some, rather than us having to fundraise like we have done so successfully this weekend at the gala!

Well done with your persuasive writing room 18. This is a life-long skill you are developing. Writing is one part of the art of persuasion, vocalising your argument is another very important skill to develop as well!! All the best!

Mr Hewson