Principal’s Message Term 1
Dear Parents/Caregivers,
Welcome back to school. The teachers are super excited about the students returning to school. I hope the children are excited about returning and beginning their school year. As always a home-school partnership is important in establishing effective teaching and learning.
To start the school year we will have a welcome back picnic on the 27th February. This is an opportunity for the teachers, students, and parents to meet. I will share more information on this soon.
Our new learning spaces in Room 5, 6 and 7 are looking amazing! We can’t wait for the children to come and explore the environment. These spaces have been designed to support our play based learning programme, to encourage student agency (choice) and to allow the students to work more collaboratively.
Coronavirus Update: Given the current high level of media coverage of the Coronavirus, I thought it be important to update you with information we have received from the Ministry of Education. Please be assured that we are monitoring the situation closely to ensure our community stays safe. The Ministry are taking this seriously and are providing schools with information to support their families. The message below is a direct cut and paste from the Ministry.
The Novel coronavirus situation is continuing to evolve rapidly. We will add new information to our website so key information is kept in one place and it is easier for you to see. There is a now a Novel coronavirus page on our website, with the following information added last night:
- Schools with homestay families (scroll down the page)
- Information for school hostels (scroll down the page)
- Information for staffing provisions (linked from the Principals and Tumuaki page)
- Notifiable diseases – noting the Novel coronavirus is now classified as notifiable (scroll down the page)
- Funding and other considerations for early learning services – scroll down to ‘Other useful information’
The Ministry of Health has also updated their health advice with a more narrowed focus on which geographic areas within China are deemed at the most risk for exposure to the infection – these are Wuhan and Hubei province.
For those of you who have not yet contacted students and staff about the Novel coronavirus, please note the following information.
Based on the latest advice from the Ministry of Health, our advice to you has now been amended:
For any staff member or student who has recently been to Wuhan or Hubei province, or has been in close contact with someone confirmed with the virus, we encourage you to ask the staff member or parent/caregiver of the student to delay the start of their school year for 14 days and stay home.
Please keep an eye on our website and the Ministry of Health website for future updates:
Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) – Ministry of Education
Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) guidance – Ministry of Health
Gala
Thank you to those who attended our Gala meeting on Thursday. The planning is coming along nicely! If you are interested in managing a stall and helping out, if you work for a business that may be able to support our gala with prizes/sponsorship or services please message us or pop in to see Kirstin in the office. The next gala meeting will be held Thursday 13th Feb 7pm in the staffroom. In particular we are looking for major prizes for our raffles. This year the profit from the gala will be going towards supporting STEM and play based learning!! Save the date! 11 March 5pm – 7pm
Music Lessons:
House of Sound currently provide in-school music lessons. To enrol your child in the programme please go to the House of Sound website for more information. http://www.houseofsound.co.nz/#homepage
Sports: Summer 7’s Football will be starting soon, forms will be sent home shortly to those interested, you can also collect a form from the office. We will update you on upcoming sports as information becomes available. Sports updates will be posted on the school website, which will include draws, cancellations etc.
Dates to remember:
Monday, 24th February: Board of Trustees Meeting, 7pm, staffroom.
2020 School Term Dates:
| Term 1 | Monday 3rd February | Thursday 9th April | 96 half days |
| Term 2 | Tuesday 28th April | Friday 3rd July | 96 half days |
| Term 3 | Monday 20th July | Friday 25th September | 100 half days |
| Term 4 | Monday 12th October | Tuesday 15th December | 92 half days |
