The whakapapa of Threads of Learning

Jody's conversations and collaboration with teachers, learners and school communities has challenged her ideas and helped her develop bespoke inquiry models over many years. All the models  put the learner in the centre  empower teachers to create inspiring and motivating learning contexts. 

Jody began an action research project in 2011 that was the seed of what has become Threads of Learning.  This action research project  was Jody's focus for her National Aspiring Principal group. It was undertaken at Our Lady of Lourdes School in Palmerston North under the leadership of Jacinta Cousins. Jody won the Core Education Professional Learning & Reflective Practice Award (Primary/Intermediate) for this work.

Jody then moved to St Joseph's School, Grey Lynn, Auckland where the principal was Jenny Bernard.  Here Jody had the opportunity to design a bespoke inquiry process  which was named 'Aranui'.  Aranui was shared with an international audience at the 2013 International Conference on Thinking through a workshop.  It was also mentioned as a positive in St Joseph's 2013 Education Review Office report (under previous reports).

Jody then accepted a deputy principal role at Bailey Road School, Auckland, where Jim Stafford-Bush was the principal.  In her role Jody had the opportunity to develop, trial and refine a bespoke inquiry process for a Year 0-8 large city school.  The name this inquiry model was given was 'Curiosity, Purpose & Wonder' (CPW).  She supported and grew several  CPW leaders within the school and coached them to support their colleagues.  

Jody then became the principal of Bailey Road School.  The Board of Trustees supported her to participate in a  ten day international study tour to Reggio Emilia, Italy.  Upon returning to Aotearoa,  she started a collaborative project about loose parts learning with David Pentecost from Richmond Road School (Auckland). Jody spent a year as a trustee of REANZ and continued her learning about the Reggio Emilia approach.

Jody decided that she needed to return to the classroom, to test ideas in an authentic context, to ensure her emerging thinking fitted within the curriculum and acknowledged Te Ao Māori.  In 2019 Jody accepted a teaching position with some leadership responsibilities at Grey Lynn School, under the leadership of Alicia Whata.  She continued her loose parts collaborative project with David Pentecost, with Jody and her class as the place to put these ideas into action. David and Jody came to some understanding of how to utilise loose parts and learner ideas in diverse and meaningful ways.

Jody continued to test ideas after this collaborative project ended in 2021.  With the encouragement of Alica Whata she  saw that this thinking, along with her work around inquiry learning processes (over many years and schools) could weave together and blossom into a learning process she named Threads of Learning. That  first version of Threads of Learning has become the inquiry process for Grey Lynn School.

Jody has continued to evolve, adapt and refine Threads of Learning beyond her work at Grey Lynn School. The ongoing development, testing, reflecting and refining processes are key to ensuring Threads of Learning remains alive and continually evolving.   Essential to effective Threads of Learning is the idea that together we can do more. Local learning contexts that curriculum opportunities are designed around means that each school community must have conversations with their community about what they want their learners to be immersed in.  

Others who have influenced or contributed to Jody's thinking are Tom Sheehan, Laurayne Tafa, Ewan McIntosh, Barbara Ala'alatoa, Russell Bishop, Rei Hendry, Charlotte Gibbs, John Lukkenson, Bruce Hammonds, Elwyn Richardson, Sylvia Ashton-Warner, Rei Hendry & Paul Dibble.