Week Four News

 

Kaurihohore School Week Four, Term Three News 2022

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,  

 

Well wasn’t it great to see everyone out there doing their best at cross country today!  Our children deserve to be so proud of themselves for getting stuck in and running so well.  

Cross country is a funny old event.  As adults we often forget just how stressful these events can be.  The dread of running for a distance, the overload of being in a big group to start with, the noise of people yelling, the feeling of lungs burning and legs like jelly, the sense of anticipation at placing, or the dread of not doing as well as they feel they are expected to do.  

With events like cross country there is stress for all, those that are natural runners, as there is an expectation of achievement and those that are not natural runners who just don’t enjoy the process and often feel embarrassed at placing towards the end of the race.  Any competitive event carries with it this degree of stress, which when handled well, is useful stress to grow from.  

I think it is really useful for adults to remember just how they felt about cross country and give children opportunities to talk about their worries, rather than telling them to ‘harden up.’  Cross country is a great opportunity to explore big feelings and strategies to cope with them.

Thank you to Cathy for her organisation of this event, it went very smoothly.  We were lucky not to get any heavy rain.  A massive thank you to the parents who helped to bake, sell and sizzle sausages, you are awesome!

 

Tangata ako ana i te kāenga, te tūranga ki te marae, tau ana

A person nurtured in a community, contributes strongly to society.

Leslee Allen

 

 

Learning Support

I wanted to share a little about learning support and how it is offered in our school.  We are committed to providing classroom programmes based on structured literacy, you may have heard a bit about this on the news recently.  This means that in classrooms teachers are working with the whole class, small groups and on many occasions individually to target support where it needs to be.  If you need more information on how to help your child with literacy at home, just ask your child’s teacher, they will be able to give you ideas to help with their specific next steps.  We are teaching following an explicit scope and sequence.  Repeated practice is crucial for all children, but for those that are struggling a little, every little bit of practice really does count.  This means home and school.

We try to do the same for mathematics, teaching in an explicit way to develop firm foundations and understandings.

At our school we work hard to make accommodations for children that need it, teach individually for those that need it and are mindful of providing nurturing relationships with children.  

 

Specific learning support is also provided outside of classrooms for those that need a bit of extra practice.  This is provided by our learning support teacher aides, we currently provide it in wellbeing, maths and literacy.  About 30% of this is funded by the ministry of education.  On the whole they do not fund learning, and behaviour has to be at the extreme end to receive funding.  Any funding that we may be lucky to get for behaviour is considered full time support at 2 hours a day, yes you read that right, two hours a day for severe behaviour needs and nothing for learning.  

Children that do get funded for learning have to be working well below their expected curriculum level and the majority of our children do not meet this threshold.  

As a result of this insufficient help, schools are left to self-fund any extra learning support they want to provide, that is why most don’t.  In financial terms we self-fund about $30 000 (if not more) toward this for our children because we want to provide this level of help for them.  

 

Because of this, It can be difficult for Year 6 children who may be transitioning into large class sizes, in a MUCH bigger school.  They may be in an environment that may not accommodate any  learning or emotional needs they may have, or teach in a structured, explicit way that they need, it will also take a while for them to develop relationships with their new teachers.  If you think your child will struggle with this transition, please advocate for them before they start at their next school.  Our Year 6 teachers will and do share their understanding of your children with intermediate staff, however you know your child best and your voice in this journey is vitally important.    If you want support with this, please talk to Tanya Gwyn and she will give you advice on what to do.  This next transition is really important for them and I think sometimes we underestimate what a ‘safe bubble’ is created at our small school.

 

The Nest/Te Kōhanga

As you may know, we have the lovely Grandma Pat visit the nest at least once a week.  She colours with the children, creates things, plays games, just has a good chat.  Our children appreciate this one to one time.  We are on the lookout for any other people that may be retired and have the time to come into the nest and be with our children.  If that is something someone you know would be interested in doing, encourage them to let us know.  There are no fixed times and any amount of time is appreciated.  Dianne and Chelsea will be able to help out with this, or you can talk directly to Leslee.

 

Weighty Warriors

We have been so grateful for the donations towards our Weighty Warriors project.  Weighted items like blankets and toys are proven to help with anxiety.  Adding these to classrooms and to Te Kōhanga is just another way we can assist our children when they have big feelings.  Our first batch of warriors are in transit to school, they have been adopted by Monique Walker, Eve Florian and After School Care.  

We will put in our next order soon and are very grateful to Glazier Glass Ltd (Emma Dare and Canann Jordan)  for their sponsorship of $500 towards this project.   

Other adopters of our future warriors are:

Pat Parker

Kensington Tavern

Nan Ma

Joanne Thorne

Leah Anderson

Simone Veldsman

 

We look forward to creating a whole army of warriors and sharing their cuteness with you!  In some instances these warriors may be assigned to work with a specific child and in others, they may just be a member of the classroom that helps out where needed.

Also a big thank you to Carina Timoko for putting her love of craft to great use and making a few weighty warriors, who are already much loved in classrooms!

 

Thomas Online Fundraiser -this will continue to run using our code

This fundraiser is being held in conjunction with Thomas Online.  The school will get the profits from any purchase you make using the details below.

If you are looking for gifts for the children in your life, this is the place to go.

Head over to our website www.ThomasOnline.co.nz, use coupon code KAURIHOHORE SCHOOL, receive Free Shipping and all profits of your order will be sent back to the school. All orders received will be sent directly from us at Thomas Online to your requested address on the overnight courier.

Thank you so much Kylie for your fabulous ongoing support of our school!

Birthday Treats

It is lovely that people like to send along birthday treats for the class on a child’s birthday, however please be mindful of allergies and dietary needs of other children.  If you want to send something along, please send individual cupcakes or a fruit platter.  Cakes may be ok, but these need to be pre-cut into the amount of portions needed.  Before sending in anything, please check with your child’s teacher.

Avos to Go School Fundraiser

Look out for the next order dates :)

 

Lost Property

This term Rūma Kāhu is looking after the lost property.   This will be displayed again on Friday and then washed and taken to charity after everyone has gone home.  Please come in and take anything that belongs to you as we do not have time to go around the school and check who owns these items.

Board of Trustees Elections

Message from our returning officers:

Board of Trustees Election

We have had some great nominations for the BOT, eight in total, which is a bit of a record for us.  Thank you so much for putting your names forward.  Now we need our community to vote, read the profiles, decide on the five people you wish to vote for and return the form before 4pm on the 7th of September.

 

Fundraiser

Tomorrow our next fundraiser form is coming home, this one is a spring seed fundraiser.  Please encourage friends and family to purchase seeds.  This is a short turnaround fundraiser and orders will need to be in by the 2nd of September.  We expect delivery of the seeds around 19th of September, a great time for planting.  This fundraiser will go towards curriculum costs we have yet to meet, of which we have raised just over $13 000 and have just over $12 000 left to raise.  When you think of what curriculum costs we are referring to, learning support (as detailed above) falls into this category.

 

Attendance

As you can see from this graph we are lucky at our school to buck the trend of low attendance.  However, we still have a small group of children not attending school regularly.   Some children are having one day off every week or even more, over a term, this is two full weeks of school that they will have missed.  Over a year, this is almost a term's worth of precious learning.  

When children miss school they find it difficult to catch up with what the class has been doing, they find it harder to make progress and if they have learning difficulties this is even harder.  Even more noticeable is the social difficulties children have when they are away frequently, friendships are not as stable as the other children just can't rely on them to be there.  A lot goes on at school each day and children need to be at school!  Contrary to popular opinion, we do actually teach on Fridays.  So please, if your child only has a slight sniffle, don’t keep them home.  If they have a slight cough, send them to school.  If you think they are ‘pulling the wool’ send them to school and we soon work out if they are sick.  Please just get them to school on every day that it is possible for them to be there.  We are here to teach, and we want to do our job as well as we can, that starts with your child being at school!  If a child is sick, then keep them home, if they are well, get them to school.

 

 

2022 AGRICULTURAL/FLOWER DAY

WILL BE HELD ON THURSDAY 29TH SEPTEMBER 2022 

Each year a special highlight of the Kaurihohore School calendar is Agricultural/Flower Day.  It is part of being in a rural school and the Board and Staff are committed to keeping the rural character of the school.  

Children bring a pet lamb, kid or calf that they have reared to parade and compete in various classes.  

The Board and the school community wishes to encourage as many families as possible to enter an animal for this section of the day, and if you have not considered keeping an animal, or have thought about it briefly and felt daunted by the prospect, we invite you to take a moment to read on.

 Rearing an animal is a wonderful experience for a child and is a focus for their own learning and development.  They will learn how to care for their animal and train it.  They will learn personal skills such as commitment, time management and patience.  This can be a greatly rewarding experience for the child, seeing their animal respond to the care and attention they give it.

 

All classes will be involved in the creation of crafts for judging, more information will come home about this closer to the time.

 

 ANIMAL HANDLERS

• Children are encouraged to raise, feed and care for a lamb, kid or calf.

• Animals are eligible if they are born between 1 July and 31 August of this year.

• Calves are judged for leading, rearing (child’s effort) and beef or dairy type.

• Lambs/kids are judged on leading, calling and rearing.

• Any competitor may compete at the Whangarei Central Day at Barge Park, Maunu.  This will be held on Thursday 3rd November 2022 with the postponement date Friday 4th November 2022. 

The Annual General Meeting will be held on Monday 5th September 2022, 7.30pm at the

Maungatapere Hall.  If you are wanting your child and animal to participate in this day, you would need to attend this meeting, as they would like all schools represented.

• Booklets on animal handling are available at the school office.

• Animal feed (Milk Powder) and teats can be obtained from farm supply outlets. Feeding regimes and mixing instructions are always on the container.

 

Dianne Wyatt in the school office is able to assist with any questions you may have.  Please pick up an entry form from her and make sure this is filled in early, so that we know how many animals we have on the day.  Get your entries in to Dianne now.

 

 

Term Three - Known Dates

19-27th of September - Life Education Caravan

29th of September - Ag and Flower Day

30th of September - Empty Classroom Day

School Bank Account Details - 

 Now that the PSG has come under the umbrella of the school, we only have one bank account for all payments.

Account 12-3093-0200709-00

Kaurihohore school board of Trustees

Food for thought... 

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

Leslee Allen