Week Five News

 

Kaurihohore School Week Five, Term Two News 

Manaaki te katoa - be kind to all. 

Respect - Empathy - Kindness 

He whakatauki. Ehara tāku toa i te toa takitahi. Engari, he toa takitini.

Success is not the work of one but the work of many.

Kia ora koutou 

This term is ticking away very quickly, so quickly in fact that I thought this week was week four and hence forgot to get the newsletter done last week...my apologies.  

At least with seesaw and facebook we have lots of other ways to keep you up to date with what is going on. Please if you are ever in doubt, message your child’s teacher through seesaw and we will do our best to get back to you.

What I would really like to focus on briefly is the concept of mutual respect and empathy.  As part of a school (or any group) it is important that we all realise we have a part to play.  How we act and what we do impact on others, we can either have a positive impact, or a negative impact.  I know which one I prefer.   Our impact on others in a school is often felt at the beginning and end of the day, when we have the most people on site at once.

Too often we are seeing people block the car pick up line, park in the moving line,  park in dangerous places on the main road blocking vision and walk children across the car park instead of using the crossing.  What you are doing may make your life easier, but it has a negative impact on others.  Please be considerate.  

For a team to function in a happy, healthy way it requires everyone to follow the rules and act in a way that respects the needs and feelings of others.  How can we teach these things to our children, if we ourselves are not willing to actively model them?

Remember to ask yourself - “what if everyone did this?”

Winter Sports - Year 4 -6 

Winter Sports Day, 2nd June - Kensington Park - if you have offered to transport, help supervise children or help on the sausage sizzle - thank you for your offers of help and we will be using each of you. Thank you for your continued support, looking forward to a great day! 

Meet at 8.30am ready to leave at 9.00am.

Gala 2021

Yes, the gala is going ahead this year.  Our fabulous parent support group is working on this, and would love any help you could offer.  Many hands make light work and with people taking responsibility for different areas, it makes the process a little less daunting.

However this event can not go ahead without your support  and there will be many small ways you can help to make this day a fabulous one!

Set aside the date now: 20th of November, we will need a lot of helpers on the day!

What you can do now:

• Save small wrapped lollies and little toys for our ever popular jolly jars, the more we can make of these, the better.  Send these into school when you can.

• Save any items at home that you may be thinking of donating for the White Elephant.  Items need to be in good condition in order to sell, so please don’t save junk.  Please note, these items can not be sent in yet and we will let you know when you can start sending them in.

• Talk to Lena Newport if you think you can start growing plants for the day.

Money raised from the gala will be put towards the all weather canopy that we are building, this is a massive project and we urge you to support the PSG in any way that you can!

Term Dates

Please note that all dates and other information are kept as up to date as possible via our school blog, you can access this at kaurihohoreschool.blogspot.com

Term Two

Ends 9th of July

2nd of June - Winter Sports Year 4-6

7th of June - Queen's Birthday

8th of July - Empty Classroom Day (everyone welcome to come and join in)

Term Three

Begins 26th July

Ends 1st October

Within this term will be Cross Country and Sponsored Run (dates yet to be set)

Term Four

Begins 18th of October

Gala - 20th November

Athletics day will also be held within this term (date yet to be set)

Prize giving - 10th December 1pm

Term Ends - 12.00 December 14th

2022 - Return Date 2nd of February

Our Environment - Our Community

Kaurihohore has been a zero waste school for many many years.  We are noticing a lot of plastic waste slipping back into lunch boxes.  Please think about ways you can eliminate this waste from your child’s lunch box, it is one way we can have a big impact on the amount of rubbish in our environment.  

Food for thought….if every child has one piece of rubbish in their lunch box and there are 20 children in the class, that is 100 pieces of rubbish in a week.  If all classes have this amount of rubbish, that is 900 pieces of rubbish.  While one piece of rubbish seems like a small amount, it all adds up, but imagine if we could eliminate that quantity of rubbish, if we could instill habits in our children that encourage them to reduce, reuse, recycle, wow they could make a massive difference in their world!  The bonus is, by eliminating waste, we can also make sure children are able to make healthier choices, packaged foods are usually processed foods.

Like everything else, what you choose to do does have an impact.

Winter Term

As we are now in a cooler term, children do not need full brim hats, if they want to bring a cap along to school, they are now most welcome.  Please ensure your child has a change of clothes in their bag, no matter their age.  For this term, gumboots are great footwear, if your child is not yet able to tie their laces, send them along in shoes that they can manage independently.

Brilliant Podcasts

I urge you to listen to the podcast “I’ve got questions” by Kathryn Berkett and Pio Terei.  Understanding brain development is an important part of what we do at school, but it is also really important for parenting.  These podcasts explore stress and how as parents we can help children to be resilient...how we help children bounce back and cope with things when they don’t quite go the way we want them to and why moments of tolerable stress are important to help children become independent?   Let’s face it, we all have to learn to deal with disappointments. 

They are short, entertaining podcast episodes available on spotify or they can be found on Kathryn’s website https://www.engagetraining.co.nz/podcasts

We are learning a lot from Kathryn’s work and hope you can join in on this journey.

Calendar Art - School Fundraiser

Classes have been working on a piece of art this term that can also be turned into calendars if you wish to order them.  All children will have received an order form.

*Prices are on the order form.

*Over the next few weeks your child will be creating a piece of classroom art in a form that can then be turned into items for purchase.

*To order return the form to the office for each child and please remember to pay at the same time! Every year we have many parents that send the form in but forget to pay which means we have to chase them up and it's a bit of a mission!

* You can pay online to

12 3093 0200 709 00

Kaurihohore Board of Trustees

Please reference your child's name and what the payment is for.

*Cut off date is MONDAY JUNE 28. NO ORDERS WILL BE TAKEN AFTER THIS DATE AS I HAVE TO ORGANISE ALL ORDERS AND ART TO SEND AWAY.

Remember, as with any fundraiser, we appreciate your support, but certainly understand that not everyone is able to purchase. 

 Children’s artworks will be celebrated in their classes regardless of whether they are turned into other items.

 

Items For The Office

When you send your child’s money or order forms to the office, please make sure it is in a named envelope.  It is unfair to expect Dianne and Chrissie to be doing this for children.  We have a lot of money sent to the office with no name, this makes it impossible to work out who it belongs to and what it was for.

PSG Pizza Fundraiser

- Pizza Pack Fundraiser -

The PSG are organising yummy pizza packs for lunchtime on Friday 11th June. 

2 slices of pizza, cake and a piece of fruit for $7

OR

3 slices of pizza, cake and a piece of fruit for $9

Payment can be made at the school office or online banking into the PSG account. 

Don't forget to place your orders by this Friday 4th June, before the long weekend and also please don't forget to select your topping when you return the green form

Once again thank you for supporting this fundraiser!

12 3093 0159814 00

Kaurihohore Parent Support Group

 

Chocolate Fundraiser - PSG

Thank you for your feedback in regards to the chocolates . If anyone feels like they have done their dash and are struggling to sell their whole box  please can you bring them back ASAP as we have people who can sell them.

For those that are happy to keep going we ask for all unsold chocolates and money to be handed in by June 16th please.

A massive thank you for everyone’s efforts! From the PSG

Need to know now… 

• Collect items for the gala as detailed at the start of the notice, think about how you may be able to help.

• Look out for sausage sizzle forms and order by Thursday  if your child wants one

• Get Pizza orders in if your child wants to order by June 4th.

• Get calendar orders in 

• Return your chocolate money to the office as soon as you can

Food for thought... 

Noho ora mai - stay well, look after yourself and look out for others!

Leslee Allen

Week Two News

 

Kaurihohore School Week Two, Term Two News 

Manaaki te katoa - be kind to all. 

Respect - Empathy - Kindness 

Kia ora koutou 

Welcome back to school.  To the children that have just started with us, we hope you are enjoying getting to know everyone and have started to settle into our school.  We look forward to getting to know you all really well.  Welcome to our whānau.

 If you need to know something your child’s teacher is only a seesaw message away, or feel free to pop into the office with your query.

Thanks to Sarah Moon from Moon Graphics for reworking our logo in preparation for gala signs, love the way it looks now!

At the end of last term you will have got your first instalment of your child’s cumulative report via seesaw. If at any stage you have any questions regarding your child’s progress, behaviour or any other concern, make a time to see your child’s teacher so that these questions can be clarified quickly.  Teachers will share results in core curriculum areas as and when they have them and will make them available on seesaw.  They may have already done this for Term One. We encourage you to come in and find out how you can help your child further if you are unsure.  We do not have parent interviews and urge you to make appointments or send messages as and when you need to, or catch up at school events...just please don’t expect messages or emails that are sent after 5pm or on the weekend to be attended till the next working day.

Please understand that while as teachers we can work very hard to help your child’s progress at school, without your support the impact we have won’t be as great as it will be with your active involvement too. Home support, interest and involvement makes all the difference.

He whakatauki. Ehara tāku toa i te toa takitahi. Engari, he toa takitini.

Success is not the work of one but the work of many.

Picking Up Children

Please follow the guidelines outlined on our school blog.

School Hours, Dropping Off and Picking up Children

We have noticed many people starting to park out on the main road, parking in the moving line, or parking in the staff car park. Parking out on the main road is incredibly dangerous and blocks visibility for those pulling out of our car park.  It will cause an accident!  Either park in the allotted spaces we have, or join the moving line and move with this, when we see your child, we will send them to you. We will wait till the front cars are loaded up and ready to go before we send children, so you can move your car right to the front of the line. Please be considerate of others. Please avoid blocking the gates or entry areas. 

When coming in on foot, use the crossing and don’t walk where cars are exiting, this is unsafe. Do not walk across the car park. Generally by 3.05pm the line has started to clear, so if you do not want to sit in the line, come a little later.  

Remember, children are supervised in the courtyard  till 3.15pm and then moved to the office area, all children must be picked up by 3.20pm at the absolute latest.  If you are running late, please let us know by phone.  If your child is going home with someone they would not usually go home with, let us know.

Remember to ask yourself - “what if everyone did this?”

Fundraising

Thank you to our fabulous PSG for their contribution of $13 000 towards our 2021 curriculum spends.  For those of you that are not aware, the PSG helps to support our curriculum costs so the BOT can direct some of the budget towards staffing that is not funded by the Ministry.  This helps to keep our class sizes as low as possible. We are incredibly grateful for the work that the PSG do.  They are simply a group of parents, who give up time in their own busy working lives to go that extra mile to support the school. They now turn their attention towards the gala and other fundraisers and I hope they will have your support.  Their target is $50 235, this money will be added to the $142 065 of Ministry funding to pay for our new all weather canopy.  As you can see it is a never ending job as they will then need to raise funds to lay a new turf.  

Unfortunately that is not where the fundraising stops as the BOT aim to raise $15 500 to add to the PSG’s $13 000 to ensure necessary day to day curriculum costs are covered.  All of this is over and above what we are funded by the Ministry.   Sadly this is why it feels like we are always fundraising, basically, if we want to keep the school running as it is, we have no option.  We are grateful for your support in this when you are able to do so, but understand that sometimes it is just not possible.  Support in time and effort is just as important as money, so if you can help in other ways please consider joining the PSG.

We are also very lucky to have Emma Ecochard who is a member of our BOT who works furiously to apply for grants that give our children access to items we would not normally afford.  Recently she managed to secure $9865 from Pub Charity for much needed devices in classrooms. We are grateful for the extra effort on Emma’s part and to Pub Charity for funding this amount of money.  Pub charity business that have contributed to make this grant possible are:

Onerahi Tavern,  Poroti Tavern, Ruakaka Tavern, The Grand Hotel, Waipu Hotel

Bang’n Birds

Thanks to Dianne for organising this fundraiser.  We have sent off the order and it will be here soon.  We raised just under $400, which will go straight towards our curriculum fundraising.

Breakfast Club

This runs daily at school thanks to the organisation and dedication of Shelley Buckton. If you would like to help out in any way, or provide plain cereals like cornflakes or ricies, see Shelley, we are grateful for any support you can give. Children love the breakfast club, the full bellies and positive interactions set them up for a positive day.  All children are more than welcome to use this service, it is free, even if it is for 2nd or 3rd breakfast.  We are very grateful to GG (Rory’s grandmother) who comes in on a Thursday and is amazing with the children!  It is the children’s favourite day.  

Gala 2021

Yes, the gala is going ahead this year.  Our fabulous parent support group is working on this, and would love any help you could offer.  Many hands make light work and with people taking responsibility for different areas, it makes the process a little less daunting.

However this event can not go ahead without your support  and there will be many small ways you can help to make this day a fabulous one!

Set aside the date now: 20th of November, we will need a lot of helpers on the day!

What you can do now:

• Save small wrapped lollies and little toys for our ever popular jolly jars, the more we can make of these, the better.  Send these into school when you can.

• Save any items at home that you may be thinking of donating for the White Elephant.  Items need to be in good condition in order to sell, so please don’t save junk.  Please note, these items can not be sent in yet and we will let you know when you can start sending them in.

• Talk to Lena Newport if you think you can start growing plants for the day.

Money raised from the gala will be put towards the all weather canopy that we are building, this is a massive project and we urge you to support the PSG in any way that you can!

Term Dates

Please note that all dates and other information are kept as up to date as possible via our school blog, you can access this at kaurihohoreschool.blogspot.com

Term Two

Ends 9th of July

2nd of June - Winter Sports Year 4-6

7th of June - Queen's Birthday

8th of July - Empty Classroom Day

Term Three

Begins 26th July

Ends 1st October

Within this term will be Cross Country and Sponsored Run (dates yet to be set)

Term Four

Begins 18th of October

Gala - 20th November

Athletics day will also be held within this term (date yet to be set)

Prize giving - 10th December 1pm

Term Ends - 12.00 December 14th

We have not formally set the return date for 2022 as we are waiting to hear from professional development providers around dates they can run training for us, however it is very likely it will be a similar date to this year, which was the 2nd of February.  We will advise you of the correct date for this as soon as we know.

Our Environment - Our Community

All classes have been running environmental audits, finding problems in their direct environment and coming up with strategies to fix them.  As part of this process we have been discovering one major problem.  We have a waste issue.  There are some pretty easy solutions to this that you can help us with.

1. Name children’s belongings, so if it does get lost, it can be handed back

2. Expect children to look after their own items and ensure they find what they have lost, rather than replacing them with new ones.

3. If you see rubbish or something that needs cleaning up around the school and you have a moment, help us out and clean it up.

4. Keep plastic waste out of your child’s lunch box, often this ensures the lunch provided is healthier and more nutritious.

5. If you see an area in the school that needs a bit of an upgrade, beautification or a clean up and you think you could actively help to do this, just sing out, we’d love the help.

Winter Term

As we are now in a cooler term, children do not need full brim hats, if they want to bring a cap along to school, they are now most welcome.  Please ensure your child has a change of clothes in their bag, no matter their age.  For this term, gumboots are great footwear, if your child is not yet able to tie their laces, send them along in shoes that they can manage independently.

Behaviour and Kindness At School

As you know we actively teach children about their emotions, how to recognise emotions in others, understand how to manage our emotions without hurting others either physically or emotionally. We also actively encourage kindness as a default behaviour.  Our ultimate aim is for children to be kind without need for reward.  We also actively teach children about bullying, what it is and what to do if it happens.  

However as adults we have to remember that school is very much a reflection of society, not everything goes right all of the time, and sadly children do make mistakes, they do hurt others and they can be very unkind.  Despite our absolute best efforts, we can not always prevent these things happening.

What we as adults need to remember is that they are children, not little adults. They are still learning and it is our role as the adults in their life  to model kindness, to support them to learn from their mistakes, and remember that every child makes mistakes, just as every adult still makes mistakes.   It is important to display empathy for all sides of a problem, understanding that no child is perfect and at some stage will have a different role to play in incidents.  Supporting your child to talk about minor incidents that may have upset them at school helps them to develop resilience and allows them to bounce back rather than dwelling on the negative.

As adults we also need to clearly be able to identify what is rude or mean behaviour as opposed to bullying which is ongoing and repeated.  It is not appropriate to label every little negative interaction as bullying and it is important children know the difference.  As a staff we follow set guidelines and deal with any unpleasant behaviour fairly, most incidents that happen in school are minor and can be dealt with restoratively, with children owning, fixing and learning from their behaviour.  Restorative practice allows us to gather all sides of the story, sometimes this takes us some time, but it is important to understand that there is always more than one side to a story and that incidents are handled fairly.

At times some behaviour does require a more punitive consequence and we will apply this if we think it is warranted.  We will always inform you if something has happened that we think you need to know.

If your child is struggling to deal with something that may have happened at school, please tell us, we can support them through this and come up with strategies to help.

If you do believe your child is being bullied, please come and see us straight away with as many details as you can and we will forward it directly to the KiVa team.  KiVa works really well to put a stop to genuine bullying, rather than one off mean or rude behaviour.  

Once again, the key is clear, timely and open communication between home and school

This link will take you to the procedures we use when dealing with negative behaviour if you are interested in knowing more.

Procedures for dealing with unwanted behaviour

Kindness Without Reward

We were super proud of our children for raising $617 to donate to an assault victim.  This was done without need of thanks or any kind of reward.  It was truly kindness in action and it was amazing to see how many children were keen to do extra chores to raise more money.  We are grateful to you for supporting us in this and to Kim Christensen for counting up the money and delivering it to Nick Owen at the police station.  

Seasons For Growth

We are always looking for programmes that we can deliver at school to further assist children with their wellbeing, growth and development.  The reality with funding for learning support and education in general, is that it is incredibly lacking.  We are lucky to have a staff so willing to learn more about different approaches and run programmes over and above their teaching requirement.  This enables us to be pretty self-sufficient, rather than waiting for ‘experts’ to come in and run programmes or struggle to find the funds to do so.  Seasons For Growth is a fantastic programme designed to help children cope with change.  Any kind of change.  This allows them to process any stress the change may have caused them and to see that like the seasons, fine sunny days will always follow the cold dismal ones.  Seasons for Growth also allows children to understand emotions and develop coping strategies, understanding that while we have sad times, we also have happy times and that is very normal.  Processing emotions is something all children need to be taught about.  We are lucky to have trained several of our staff in this programme and to offer it to children for free. If you think that this sounds like something your child would benefit from, please feel free to talk to Kelly Glasgow or Tanya Gwyn and they will add them down to the list of future participants.

Need to know now… 

• Collect items for the gala as detailed at the start of the notice, think about how you may be able to help.

• Look out for sausage sizzle forms and order by Wednesday if your child wants one

Food for thought...

 

Noho ora mai - stay well, look after yourself and look out for others!

Leslee Allen