Week Six News

 

Kaurihohore School Week Six, Term Four 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,  

We are fast approaching the end of a short term.   I have appreciated your support, flexibility and kindness during what can only be called an ‘interesting’ year.  I appreciate the understanding you have shown to the  implementation of ‘requirements’ around the COVID response, that may not fit nicely with our personal beliefs and values.  

I thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter and avail yourself of the information that you need, it certainly takes me a substantial time to put it together and appreciate the time you take to read it.

 We are noticing children are becoming hot, tired and generally less tolerant of each other.  This is normal at this time of the year but has been accentuated by a difficult, interrupted year.  Make sure children enjoy down time at home, we have the tendency to fill their schedule up, rushing here and there.  Just like us, children need the opportunity to ‘chill’ to have time out and rest.  Being bored is a good thing.

We are really worried about some of the access our children have to R rated games, TV shows and movies.  Children are still forming their views of the world, their morals and values, access to social media and R rated games are problematic.  They can lead to changes in behaviour, mood and how they interact with others.  This behaviour not only flows over into the home, but it also comes to school.  We see this in their language, the way they speak to each other and the inappropriate nature of some conversations and verbal interactions.  

We have had it reported to us that some children are having problems with messenger junior and even instagram (which has an age restriction.)  It is much easier to say unkind things to someone's screen.  Please monitor what your child is doing, know who they are talking to and require access to read everything they type or are having sent to them.  For more information and guidance you can visit netsafe.

Children are growing up in a different world, social interactions often don’t stop once they are home, they creep into every aspect of their life if we let them, and while there are many positives, there are a huge amount of negatives and a lot of damage that can be caused.

Let’s keep our children safe.

Level Two Guidelines

Thank you for adhering to level two guidelines, please continue to do so.  Please remember children must have their own bottle at school filled with water, no juice or sugary drinks please.  Please remember that you need to wear a mask as a precaution when outside picking up or dropping off children, if you come into classrooms you must wear a mask, just like any other indoor location right now.  

We have decided to allow you to go to classrooms to drop off items or collect children if you are here early.  Please however wear a mask, practice distancing and avoid entering classrooms where possible.  We ask that you only do this when you really need to.

If there is a case in a school, it is unlikely that the school would close.  What we would need to do is gather a register of close contacts and ensure the MOH had that information in a timely manner.  To do this, we would need your help.  Please keep tracing wherever you go, take note of locations of interest and stay away from school if you feel you may have been in contact with COVID or are feeling unwell.

Sponsored Run - Thursday 2nd of December

Extra sponsorship forms have come home with children.  Please support them to gather some sponsorship, every little bit counts with our fundraising so limited this year.

You are welcome to come along and watch, just adhere to level two guidelines.

Please encourage children to dress up, anything goes, but consider how hot they may get when running or walking the track.

Outline for the day:

We have decided to run this event at a different time (10-11am) as we are conscious of the heat! Sorry for any inconvenience.

9.50am - All classes will gather on the courts. They will then move to their starting position with a numbered cone.

A honker will signal the start and the end of the Sponsored Run. Music will play for the duration of the Sponsored Run.

10am - 11am - Students will run or walk around the bike track. They will collect a mark from their teacher after each lap at their class cone.

11am - Students will gather back on the courts, spot prizes will be given out for best dressed as well as some kindness and sportsmanship prizes. The PSG will also give out pre-ordered Moozies and Juices at this time.

11am -12pm - Early lunch/morning tea families are welcome to bring a picnic blanket and have a shared kai with their own whānau as long as they are distancing and wearing a mask while walking around.  Please sit in your family bubbles distanced from each other.

During this time the PSG will have a market day stall set up with jolly jars, seedlings, toys and other bits and pieces so please send along some coins in an envelope for your child if you would like to. Prices range from 50c to $5.

12pm Lunch finishes

1.30-2pm - Afternoon Tea

If you are wanting to take your child home at the conclusion of the events, you are welcome to do so, but the school day will resume as normal after lunch.

Last year's record for laps was set by Cooper Hindrup who completed 27 laps in the hour.  Last year Room One completed 483 (with significantly more bodies going around the track) and Room Nine completed 331.

 

I wonder if we can beat these totals this year?

Honey

Don't forget our Bee Friends honey is still available from the office!  $10 for a 500g tub. 

This would make a great Christmas gift.

This is the honey collected from our hives by our BeeFriends 2020/2021 group.

Thanks for supporting us and thank you to Tahi Honey!

Just come along to the school office with payment and they will be able to help you out.

Prize-giving

We will go ahead with prizegiving on the same day as intended, the 10th of December.    The school prize giving will be videoed and hopefully with a microphone will be easier to hear on livestream via facebook.  No whānau will be able to attend this.

Year 6 leavers prize giving will then go ahead at 1.30pm.  Families are welcome to attend this, but asked to wear a mask and distance from those not in their bubble.  At this prizegiving we will hand out the relevant trophies and certificates.  It is likely that this will be concluded within the hour.  We will also endeavor to live stream this and hope that the microphone allows you to hear a little better.  

We will photograph both events.

Vaccination Mandate

I know that this has caused many questions and quite a degree of stress for some.  

Just a reminder that vaccination status of individuals (including staff) is private. Your own vaccination status is also private, you do not need to tell us as a matter of course,  but do need to provide evidence to the office if you will be volunteering in some way (transporting children, helping supervise groups, attending camps etc)  Once we have this evidence recorded as sighted, you will not need to do this again.

For usual school events, meetings with teachers, coming onto school grounds, transporting and supervising your own child there is no need to declare your status to us at all.  You are welcome to come into school and enjoy school events etc as you usually have.

As the ministry puts it, if you are just a “parent, being a parent.” you do not need to provide any evidence of vaccination status.  

Level two guidelines do stand, mask use, distancing and using the COVID tracer app.

 

Harold - Life Education

We have an upcoming visit scheduled for Harold (Health Caravan.)  This will happen from the 29th of November.

The children love these visits and Nadine the educator teaches a range of areas of health and wellbeing.

It is usual practice for us to have this visit sponsored, or to use our operational funding to pay the $4 per child towards this visit, so that it is free for all children.

This year has been a struggle financially, with most of our fundraising unable to go ahead and unexpected costs.

We would appreciate a koha towards this visit if you are able to do so, to help us cover the cost of the life education visit.  We are so very grateful to those that have donated so far, we appreciate your generosity.

This is not a fee, children will attend regardless of payment, but any donation you can make would be appreciated.

This can be sent to the office when you are able to do so.

Topics by class:

Rūma Piwakawaka Healthy Eating

Rūma Kāhu What is the importance of Kindness and Friendships

Rūma Pūkeko How can our feelings influence the way we act?

Rūma Kōtare Why do we need to eat a variety of food?

Rūma Tūī How can our feelings influence the way we act?

Rūma Kereru What are the impacts of the decisions we make?

Rūma Miromiro Body systems and how the work

Rūma Huia What are the impacts of the decisions we make?

Rūma Kiwi Body systems and how the work

Year 6  Will hopefully have one puberty session as well if time allows

Teachers Only Day

A reminder that Friday the 3rd of December is Teachers Only Day.  On this day, school is closed to children.  Teachers will be spending the day on professional development for 2022.

Last Day

Our last day is Tuesday December the 14th.  On this day we finish at 12.00pm and children need to be picked up by 12.30pm at the very latest.

Reports

You can expect a report home by the end of this term.  This will include an updated term 3 comment and levels reached in reading, writing and maths.  By this time you will have also received blurbs on your child's progress in the core areas.  Teachers will have provided these to you either last term, or in this term.  This will all be provided via seesaw.  

The graph at the bottom of the report gives you guidance on expected progress according to NZ curriculum levels.  If  you need this interpreted, you can find a video on our facebook page explaining how to read your child’s report according to their levels.

 

Lost Property

We have mountains of lost property, in fact Room 8 found over 80 pieces of lost property in their school clean up yesterday.  Please feel free to come into school to check this out before the end of the year.  Once again, following level two guidelines.

Raffle

Each child was sent home ten tickets to sell.  Please return money and ticket stubs to the office as soon as possible.  This is a school fundraiser and we appreciate your support greatly.  If you can not sell your tickets, return them to the office for others to sell.

School Bank Account Details

 Account 12-3093-0200709-00

Kaurihohore school board of Trustees

Term Four - Known Dates

2nd of December - Sponsored Run

30th November - 7th of December - Life Education Visit

3rd of December - Teachers Only Day (school closed to children)

10th of December - School Prizegiving (no audience) 1.30pm Year Six Prizegiving, whānau welcome.

Ends 12.00 December 14th

2022 - Return to School 2nd of February

Food for thought... 

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

Leslee Allen