Week Nine School News

  

Kaurihohore School Week Nine, Term One 2023

Manaaki te katoa - be kind to all. 

Respect - Empathy - Kindness 

He aroha whakatō, he aroha ka puta mai

“If kindness is sown, then kindness is what you shall receive”

Kia ora koutou,  

End of term one is upon us.  This term has been interesting to say the least, and we are hoping for a term two that brings less disruptions.  

I’d like to thank you for your support in talking to your children about respect and appropriate behaviour at school.  We have noticed a big difference already, which is great.  We will keep informing you about any incidents, so you can have conversations at home.

It has been sad to see COVID hit us right at the end of term, with children across the school contracting it again.  When children test positive, they need to stay home for seven days, don’t test them in this time, and then just test them at the end of the seven days.  

We have tests at school, so please pick some up if you need them.  If you think your child may be unwell, please test them, while it can seem like a real imposition to keep them home, we are all still bound by the same rules.  Remember other family members do not have to stay home, only those that are positive.

Secondary teachers have been out on strike today.  Our union is still in negotiations and we are hopeful for a positive result.  These negotiations revolve around the need for greater resourcing, to see more support for all of our children and smaller class sizes to enable teachers to teach.  We are very lucky to work in a school where the BOT prioritises small class sizes, but there may come a time, under the current system, that even we will not be able to afford this…currently it is only possible thanks to your fundraising.

  There are two separate negotiations going on, one for teachers and one for principals, let's hope that conditions are improved for both.  Improving our conditions improves support for children.  Something we all want to see.  If any more action is likely to have an impact on you, we will inform you well ahead of time.

Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa

Let us keep close together, not far apart.

Leslee Allen

Contacting Us

You can find all staff emails on our blog page under the tab our staff.  However the best way to contact your child’s teacher is via seesaw message.  Teachers will endeavour to answer when they have  time during the day, however please don’t expect replies to messages or emails after 5pm.  We will respond the next day as soon as we can.

Our school blog is kaurihohoreschool.blogspot.com

Office emails are: 

Chrissie - admin@kaurihohoreschool.co.nz

Dianne - reception@kaurihohoreschool.co.nz

Chelsea/Enrolments - kaurienrolments@kaurihohoreschool.co.nz

Leslee - principal@kaurihohoreschool.co.nz

Reporting Absence - kauriabsences@gmail.com

Pub Charity Grant

We would like to thank Pub Charity for the recent grant we received to purchase ten chrome books for our senior rooms.  We are very grateful for their support and wish to thank Bronwyn Bayne for her work on securing this grant for us.

We’d like to acknowledge Onerahi Tavern and Poroti Tavern as the venues that have contributed to this grant.

Days off School

Children have had a lot of time off school due to disruptions, so please ensure that children are at school every day when they are well.  They miss out on so much when they are away and having lots of children away on any given day is really hard for teachers when delivering the curriculum.   

End of Term Assembly

This will be held at 2.15pm on Wednesday the 5th of April.  At this assembly we will hand out our end of year awards and announce the Good Citizen of the term.

Our finalists are:

Pīwakawaka - Lydia

Ruru - Jack

Kāhu - Indi

Pūkeko - Leo

Kōtare - Lila

Tūī - Ellie

Huia - Toby

Kiwi - Jasmine

Miromiro - Charlotte 

Kereru - Amelia

 

Empty Classroom Day

This will be held on the very last day of school this term.  Thursday the 6th of April.  On this day children self-direct their own play, they can bring along anything they need, as long as they can be responsible for it.  It will also be the last day of swimming, so they are welcome to bring their togs and we will arrange to have supervision during the day.  This day is always a lot of fun and it is a great way to celebrate the end of term.  Children will need to have a change of clothes, or even several changes of clothes…and bring along some warm clothes in case it is cold.  You are more than welcome to come along and join in the play.  

We also need some help getting the bark into the playground on the day, so if you have some time we’d love you to bring along a wheelbarrow and a shovel to help us.

Fundraisers - Please support us if you can

Easter Raffle

We have a lot of tickets, money and items outstanding. This closes on Friday 31st March. Please can you get these into the school office as soon as possible. Next week it is a short week and gives me a small window to make baskets ready for collection before we all go on holiday.  Thank you.

Dianne

Ice Blocks

MOOSIES AND JUICIES handed out 6th April.

We will be selling moosies and Juicies from today on Kindo. These will be handed out on Outdoor Classroom day the 6 April. This once again is a Kindo only purchase. If you are having trouble getting on to Kindo please come in and see me. I will try to help you. The most important thing is your e-mail address you log into Kindo with and the one we have on our system are the same.  Orders close on the 3rd of April, no exceptions.

Chrissie

Bulbs

Thank you to those that supported this fundraiser.  We raised $1000.  These are likely to be delivered after the holidays.

Teacher Only Day

This will be held on the 24th of April, school will be closed to children.  This is a day allocated to us by the MOE as part of the curriculum refresh.  This means the first day back for children will be the 26th of April.

Kaurihohore Hall

Message from hall committee…did you know that the Kaurihohore Hall is a popular venue for children’s birthday parties.  The bouncy castle firms are very familiar with setting up in the hall.  The hall venue also works well for funeral receptions and guest speakers for interest groups and topics.  For enquiries email kaurihohorehall@gmail.com 

Term One -Dates 

5th of April - End of year awards assembly 2.15pm (whole school) canopy area

6th of April - Empty Classroom Day

7th of April - Good Friday (school closed)

Term Two

24th of April - Teacher only day (school closed for children)

25th of April - ANZAC day

26th of April - First day back for children

31st of May - Winter Sports Day Year 5 and 6 (we will need help on the BBQ as this is a great fundraiser, we’d love your help.)

5th of June - King's Birthday (school closed)

8th of June - School colour run

19th of June - Rūma Kiwi and Huia - Science Roadshow

23rd of June - Matariki Dawn Ceremony

29th of June - Awards assembly - 2.15pm

30th of June - Empty Classroom Day

Term Four - Last day 15th of December 12.00pm

School Bank Account Details - 

All payments now go through the one account.

Account 12-3093-0200709-00

Kaurihohore school board of Trustees

Food for thought…

Noho ora mai -

Leslee Allen

Week Seven News

 

Kaurihohore School Week Seven, Term One 2023


Manaaki te katoa - be kind to all.

Respect - Empathy - Kindness


Tohaina ō painga ki te ao

“Share your gifts with the world”




If you have been keeping an eye on facebook or seesaw, you will know we have been struggling with niggly behaviour school, which often falls into the category of disrespect. It has been a tough time for families over the last three years and children are really struggling. Our normally kind, empathetic and respectful place has just started to fray at the seams. We know we are better than that, and what wouldn’t be a blip on the radar in some schools, is a big deal for us. As I said at the assembly on Monday, no one person is more important than another and we must treat each other as we ourselves would like to be treated.

Kids do well if they can (as do adults) and right now they just need a bit more support, and a bit of a reminder that we are on the same page. COVID really pushed the family out of the school and we’ve noticed it has been hard to normalise coming onto the school grounds again. We want that back, it is vital children know we are working together, so please come in, say hi and feel free to have a chat.

Over the next term or two, we will be messaging you or speaking to you directly, about even the smallest of things, so that you can be part of the conversation with your child. We don’t want punitive punishments applied at home, we simply want you to explore perspectives in the situation and discuss what other choices could have been made. Children need our help to understand how to act and react appropriately and punitive measures do little to assist with this. In most cases it will be enough that they know YOU know and WE are working together.


What we do know is our school is special and we don’t want that to slip away, we need this to be a safe place for all of our children and a place where teachers can spend time teaching and not managing behaviour.


Many of you will know that we have built our approaches to working with children based on brain science. Over the next few weeks I will share with you the approaches we use at school to help children be their best selves.


Speaking of how special our place is, over the last six months we have been working with a provider to gather your voice, teacher voice and student voice around what our place is all about. A school song has been written that really captures all of these voices, staff have been learning it, the song itself is beautiful, a real taonga and we can not wait to share it with you!


You are possibly aware that no new offer has been put on the table by the government, despite active negotiations, this means Principals and teachers will be striking tomorrow and school will be closed. We are grateful for all of your supportive comments and I will be sharing more information on facebook if you are interested. Basically what we need you to know is that this is about support for teachers and children to be able to do their best. At the moment there is so little support that our children are missing out and teachers are leaving the profession in droves. While pay is part of negotiations, it is a very small part of it.


He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata

What is the most important thing in this world? It is the people, it is the people, it is the people.


Leslee Allen




Contacting Us

You can find all staff emails on our blog page under the tab our staff. However the best way to contact your child’s teacher is via seesaw message. Teachers will endeavour to answer when they have time during the day, however please don’t expect replies to messages or emails after 5pm. We will respond the next day as soon as we can.

Our school blog is kaurihohoreschool.blogspot.com


Office emails are:

Chrissie - admin@kaurihohoreschoo.co.nz

Dianne - reception@kaurihohoreschool.co.nz

Chelsea/Enrolments - kaurienrolments@kaurihohoreschool.co.nz

Leslee - principal@kaurihohoreschool.co.nz




Fundraisers - Please support us if you can

Bulbs

We are not quite ready to run this through Kindo, so will be sending hard copy order forms for bulb orders to come home today with the juniors and then next week with the seniors that are on camp. Please encourage anyone that would like to purchase bulbs to do so through this fundraiser. Due back 20th of March.

Easter Raffle

Every year Dianne organises a fantastic Easter raffle. 15 tickets per family will be coming home soon, the tickets will be $2. Please bring in items that can be used for the raffle, it does not have to be chocolate, it can be any items that would be lovely to win in a hamper, please no expired goods. Please make the effort to sell these tickets, even if you can not sell all of them, every little bit counts.

Pizza Lunch - Kindo Launch - 17th of March and 30th of March

It is fantastic to see the majority of our families sign up for Kindo. If you are having difficulties please ask Chrissie and hopefully she will be able to help you out. First step, make sure the email we have on our system for you, is the one you try to sign up with on kindo.

Pizzas for those that ordered will be delivered on Friday this week.

Kindo will gradually be used for more and more payment options at school, until it is used for virtually everything. Orders open for the 30th of March on Monday the 20th.


Drop off and Pick Ups

Please don’t drop children before 7.45am at the earliest and pick them up by 3.20pm at the very latest.


Term One -Dates

5th of April - End of year awards assembly 2.15pm (whole school) canopy area

6th of April - Empty Classroom Day

7th of April - Good Friday

Term Two

24th of April - Teacher only day (school closed for children)

25th of April - ANZAC day

26th of April - First day back for children

31st of May - Winter Sports Day Year 5 and 6 (we will need help on the BBQ as this is a great fundraiser, we’d love your help.)



Term Four - Last day 15th of December 12.00pm




School Bank Account Details -

All payments now go through the one account.

Account 12-3093-0200709-00

Kaurihohore school board of Trustees




Soon you will be able to use KINDO for the majority of payments to the school.




Food for thought…




Noho ora mai -

Leslee Allen

Week Five News

  

Kaurihohore School Week Five, Term One 2023

Manaaki te katoa - be kind to all. 

Respect - Empathy - Kindness 

Tohaina ō painga ki te ao

“Share your gifts with the world”

Kia ora koutou,  

It’s a busy time at the moment, with Year 3 and 4 camp last week, EPRO8 challenge, bee group,  swimming sports and now Year 5 and 6 camp this week along with the Year 1 and 2 trip and dinner at school.  

These events just would not be possible without motivated teachers and support staff, so much work goes in behind the scenes, with many hours spent in personal time with organisation.  We are very lucky at our school that we have teachers willing to add to their teaching load to organise  events and activities like this.  We are also lucky to have such a supportive community, we couldn’t make things happen without your support.

As we have discussed before, our school budget runs at a deficit because we prioritise people.  That means we employ enough teachers to keep our classes small and enough support staff to ensure children that need it, get the help they deserve.  Because we prioritise people, we need to raise $26 000 each year, via fundraising, to ensure we can pay for other items that are much needed to enrich your child’s learning and simply keep the school running.   Our people, particularly our support staff are paid out of the same budget that pays for toilet paper and electricity, this is an ongoing issue that is simply wrong!  

In fact it is a major issue for Principals around the country as we seek to support our most vulnerable children and it is part of the negotiations we are currently in. 

I hope that I can count on your support as we as a principal and teaching group fight to make school an equitable place for all children, through sufficient funding.  

The very sad fact is that the $26 000 that we endeavour to raise, still leaves us with a defecit.  When you see items on the news about pay negotiations, please know that this is about much more than pay!

This $26 000 that we fundraise simply ensures our budget is enough to cover our needs, any other items like the new turf, need to be part of separate fundraising.  We are very lucky to have Bronwyn Bayne committed to applying for grants for these ‘like to have’ items.  She has just completed a major application for the new turf and has successfully secured a grant to purchase extra chrome books.  Along with Holly Lucas, they are really making a difference to our school through their efforts, we appreciate this greatly and can not thank them enough!  

When it comes down to it, it is all about our kids. If we all do our part, this place is better for everyone.  On that note, you will notice that our fundraisers will be kicking off soon.  Please support these in any way that you can, if everyone helps in some way, we will quickly reach our target and then perhaps be able to work on our next wish list.

I appreciate your support.

He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata 

What is the most important thing in this world?  It is the people, it is the people, it is the people.

Leslee Allen

Contacting Us

You can find all staff emails on our blog page under the tab our staff.  However the best way to contact your child’s teacher is via seesaw message.  Teachers will endeavour to answer when they have  time during the day, however please don’t expect replies to messages or emails after 5pm.  We will respond the next day as soon as we can.

Our school blog is kaurihohoreschool.blogspot.com

Office emails are: 

Chrissie - admin@kaurihohoreschoo.co.nz

Dianne - reception@kaurihohoreschool.co.nz

Chelsea/Enrolments - kaurienrolments@kaurihohoreschool.co.nz

Leslee - principal@kaurihohoreschool.co.nz

Fundraisers - Please support us if you can

Bulbs

We are not quite ready to run this through Kindo, so will be sending hard copy order forms for bulb orders to come home today with the juniors and then next week with the seniors that are on camp.  Please encourage anyone that would like to purchase bulbs to do so through this fundraiser.  

Easter Raffle

Every year Dianne organises a fantastic Easter raffle.  15 tickets per family will be coming home soon, the tickets will be $2.   Please bring in items that can be used for the raffle, it does not have to be chocolate, it can be any items that would be lovely to win in a hamper, please no expired goods.  Please make the effort to sell these tickets, even if you can not sell all of them, every little bit counts.

Pizza Lunch - Kindo Launch - 16th of March and 30th of March

We are going to be running a pizza lunch fundraiser to kick off the use of Kindo.  This will be a kindo only fundraiser, please refer to the information sent home about Kindo to set your account up.  Orders will open on the 6th of March and close on the 13th of March.  For the first fundraiser, no orders will be taken through the office and the no orders for the 16th of March will be accepted after the 13th.   We are aiming to get as many families on Kindo as possible.

Hats 

Wow this is becoming a real issue for us.  It has never been so difficult to make sure children actually have a named hat at school and then actually wear it.  Please support us in making sure children do have a hat in their bag and that it is named.  Children without hats are not supposed to be playing in the sun, but with the amount of children without hats, this is becoming really difficult to enforce.  Classes do have some spare hats, but the last thing we want to do is spread nits, I am sure you don’t want these little visitors either.

Lost Property

Like hats this is also becoming the bane of our existence.  There is constantly clothes and other items left at school and most of this goes unclaimed.  Children just don’t seem to care about their belongings.  You can help by naming them, but you can also help by not replacing items that are lost. Help us to make children accountable for what they take to school  and responsible for looking after it.  Please note, the class in charge of putting lost property out, is not charged with returning property to children, we need children to be responsible enough to do this for themselves.  You are free to check it at any time.  

Attendance

It is absolutely vital that children attend school regularly.  If your child is not sick, they need to be at school.  Irregular attendance impacts not only academically, but more importantly, it impacts socially.  Friendships can be hard to make and to keep and not being at school regularly can be a real trigger for anxiety.  Please support us and your child by having them at school every day unless they are sick.  If your child is away, we need a reason for absence, or they will be marked truant.

KINDO

We have officially launched KINDO and our first fundraiser will be a pizza lunch.  Thank you Renee Pilkington for organising this.  Eventually Kindo will be used for the majority of payments to the school.  It makes payments simpler for you and for us, you can find more information on the sheets sent home via seesaw.  Take the time now to  get set up with the KINDO app, your details must match the ones we have on our system for you, if your email is incorrect at our end, you will need to come in and amend it with the office.  If grandparents want to purchase they need to be linked on our system as a caregiver, please come in and see Dianne to set this up.  

Drop off and Pick Ups

Please don’t drop children before 7.45am at the earliest and pick them up by 3.20pm at the very latest.  

Staff Car Park

Please do not use this area in the morning.  You may park here in the afternoon as long as you are simply picking up your child and going straight away. Please do not park here if you intend to stay at school for any length of time.

Term One -Dates 

2nd of March -Year 1 and 2  day out and dinner at school 

28th - 3rd March - Year 5-6 camp

15th March - WPSSA Swimming sports for those that qualify

9th March - EPRO8 competition at Whangarei Intermediate School

22nd March - Visit to Tahi honey for the bee group

5th of April - End of year awards assembly 2.15pm (whole school)

6th of April - Empty Classroom Day

7th of April - Good Friday

Term Two

24th of April - Teacher only day (school closed for children)

25th of April - ANZAC day

26th of April - First day back for children

31st of May - Winter Sports Day Year 5 and 6 (we will need help on the BBQ as this is a great fundraiser, we’d love your help.)

Term Four - Last day 15th of December 12.00pm

School Bank Account Details - 

All payments now go through the one account.

Account 12-3093-0200709-00

Kaurihohore school board of Trustees

Soon you will be able to use KINDO for the majority of payments to the school.

Food for thought…

Noho ora mai -

Leslee Allen