Kaurihohore School Week Six, Term Four 2024
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 e te whānau,
This term is rushing away on us. Teachers are madly trying to complete assessments and get everything done and are certainly feeling the pressure this time of year creates. Classrooms are still very busy places while we try to squeeze in as much learning as we can, so please ensure your children are at school unless they are sick. It is not easy having to catch children up when they have missed assessments or key learning.
In the last newsletter I neglected to thank Judy Dempster for the use of her paddock for parking at Halloween. We are so grateful for her continued support of our school. Thank you Judy!
I am very grateful for those of you that take the time to read this newsletter, I try to ensure you have all the information you need. These are also published on our school blog and kept in the files of the blog as well.
Ngā Manaakitanga
Leslee Allen
Dropping off Children
Please ensure children are not dropped before 7.45am. This is the earliest time they should be arriving.
Staffing 2025
We are currently working to find a replacement for Michelle Douglas, these are certainly very big shoes to fill. We will advise you of our new appointment when we have finalised this. Hopefully we will be able to do this by the end of next week.
Nachos
As a change from pizza we are doing nachos for lunch on the 3rd of December. You can order via Kindo and orders need to be in by 11pm on the 28th of November.
Planning for 2025 - Out of Zone Positions
We have one out of zone position for Year 5 remaining and two year three positions. If you know of anyone considering changing schools and may be interested in a position at our school, please have them contact Chelsea via email kaurienrolments@gmail.com or give us a call.
If you know your child will not be returning to Kaurihohore next year, please let us know as soon as you can. If you know of any families planning to move into our zone, please encourage them to get in touch. This allows us to plan more accurately for 2025.
This information is vital to us as it directly impacts our funding and staffing. When we know in advance we can offer places to others to cover any spaces that have been vacated.
Hats
Hats must be worn in Term 1 and 4. Hats must have a full brim or a flap at the back. Please name your child’s hat and help them to remember it each day. Please no caps at all, thank you.
School Kapa Haka
Our kapa haka group did so well at the recent festival held at Hurupaki school. When you take into account that they only formed again this year, their efforts were even more awesome. Thank you to Jo Kake for ensuring our children were able to benefit from this opportunity.
Attendance
The government's target for attendance is 80% of children attending school regularly. Regularly is counted as 90% of the time. This is less than 5 days of absence in the school term. As I reported in our last newsletter, we had 50% of our roll attending regularly in Term 3. We are finding many of our children are having up to 10 days of absence in a term, some even more than this. Added up, this equates to them only attending school for 8 weeks of the term. If children are having more than 10 days then a referral to other agencies needs to be made. We are becoming really concerned by the amount of children having Mondays and Fridays off from school. We understand if children are sick or already have arrangements with us to support your child at school by having rest days, but we know that in most cases of ongoing absence, sickness is not the reason for a child not being at school.
You will be able to note your child’s percentage of attendance on their upcoming school report. Please take note of this and if it is less than 90%, let's work to improve this in 2025.
Term Awards
These will be held on Monday the 25th of November at 2.15pm. These awards are an opportunity to recognise achievements in class for Term 4, award overall citizens and to award certificates for our recent Senior athletics day. You are welcome to attend. This does not replace our end of year prize giving for junior or senior school.
End Of Year Prize Givings
Please note the dates and times for these. The 13th of December at 1.30pm is the junior event (Year 1-3) and the 16th of December at 1.30pm is the senior event (Year 4-6.)
More information will be sent home about these closer to the time. Everyone is welcome to attend these events and we aim to keep them as short and informal as possible.
Monster Raffle
We need grocery items for the raffle, could you please donate items to the office.
If you are unable to sell these, please return them. If you would like more raffle books, please come in and see Dianne. Return any sold books as soon as you can.
Last Day Of Term
Please note our last day for the year is the 18th of December and school finishes at 12.00pm. Our first day back next year will be Monday the 3rd of February. 2025 finishes on the 16th of December.
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, from here they can quickly answer any questions or make time with you to meet face to face. 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. Please refrain from using Facebook messenger, or our personal phone numbers to contact us.
Our school blog is kaurihohoreschool.blogspot.com
Office emails are:
Chrissie - admin@kaurihohoreschool.co.nz
Dianne - reception@kaurihohoreschool.co.nz
Chelsea/Enrolments - kaurienrolments@gmail.com
Leslee - principal@kaurihohoreschool.co.nz
Reporting Absence - kauriabsences@gmail.com
KINDO
Kindo is an app that allows online payments for items at school like pizza days etc. If you go to the links below to either create an account, or log in. These links are also at the top of our school blog site.
Create and account.
https://shop.tgcl.co.nz/shop/flow_join.shtml
Log in
https://shop.tgcl.co.nz/shop/index.html
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Known Term Dates
25th of November - Awards assembly - 2.15pm
13th of December - Junior awards - 1.30pm
16th of December - Senior awards - 1.30pm
18th of December - Last day of Term 4 (half day, school closes at 12.00, children picked up by 12.30)
First Day Back - Monday 3rd of February 2025
2025 Last day - 16th of December
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…
I have shared this post before, it is not written by me, but is perfectly said and worth sharing again.
DEAR PARENT: I KNOW. YOU’RE WORRIED!
Every day, your child comes home with a story about THAT kid. The one who is always hitting, shoving, pinching, scratching, maybe even biting other children. The one who always has to hold my hand in the hallway. The one who has a special spot on the carpet, and sometimes sits on a chair rather than the floor. The one who had to leave the block-area because blocks are not for throwing. The one who climbed over the playground fence right when I was telling her to stop.
The one who poured his neighbour’s milk onto the floor in a fit of anger. On purpose. While I was watching. And then, when I asked him to clean it up, emptied the ENTIRE paper-towel dispenser. On purpose. While I was watching. The one who dropped the REAL ACTUAL F-word during sports.
You’re worried that THAT child is detracting from your child’s learning experience. You’re worried that he takes up too much of my time and energy, and that your child won’t get his fair share. You’re worried that she is really going to hurt someone someday. You’re worried that that ‘someone’ might be your child. You’re worried that your child is going to start using aggression to get what SHE wants. You’re worried your child is going to fall behind academically because I mightn’t notice that he’s struggling to hold a pencil. I know.
Your child, this year, in this classroom, at this age, is not THAT child. Your child is not perfect, but she generally follows rules. He is able to share toys peaceably. She does not throw furniture. He raises his hand to speak. She works when it’s time to work, and plays when it’s time to play. He can be trusted to go straight to the bathroom and straight back again with no shenanigans. She thinks that the S-word is “stupid” and the C-word is “crap.” I know.
I know, and I’m worried, too.
You see, I worry all the time. About ALL of them. I worry about your child’s pencil grip, and another child’s letter-sounds, and that little tiny one’s shyness, and that other one’s chronically empty lunchbox. I worry that Gavin’s coat is not warm enough, and that Talitha’s dad yells at her for printing the letter B backwards. Most of my car-rides and showers are consumed with worry.
But I know, you want to talk about THAT child. Because Talitha’s backward Bs are not going to give your child a black eye.
I want to talk about THAT child, too, but there are so many things I can’t tell you.
I can’t tell you that she was adopted from an orphanage at 18 months.
I can’t tell you that he is on an elimination diet for possible food allergies, and that he is therefore hungry ALL. THE. TIME.
I can’t tell you that her parents are in the middle of a horrendous divorce, and she has been staying with her grandma.
I can’t tell you that I’m starting to worry that Grandma drinks.
I can’t tell you that his asthma medication makes him agitated.
I can’t tell you that her mum is a single parent, and so she (the child) is at school from the moment before-care opens, until the moment after-care closes, and then the drive between home and school takes 40 minutes, and so she (the child) is getting less sleep than most adults.
I can’t tell you that he has been a witness to domestic violence.
That’s okay, you say. You understand I can’t share personal or family information. You just want to know what I’m DOING about That Child’s behaviour.
I would love to tell you. But I can’t.
I can’t tell you that she receives extra speech help, that an assessment showed a severe language delay, and that the therapist feels the aggression is linked to frustration about being unable to communicate.
I can’t tell you that I meet with his parents EVERY week, and that both of them usually cry at those meetings.
I can’t tell you that the child and I have a secret hand signal to tell me when she needs to sit by herself for a while.
I can’t tell you that he spends rest-time curled up in my lap because “it makes me feel better to hear your heart, Teacher.”
I can’t tell you that I have been
meticulously tracking her aggressive
incidents for three months, and that she has dropped from five incidents a day, to five incidents a week.
I can’t tell you that the school secretary has agreed that I can send him to the office to “help” when I can tell he needs a change of scenery.
I can’t tell you that I have stood up in a staff meeting and, with tears in my eyes, BEGGED my colleagues to keep an extra close eye on her, to be kind to her even when they are frustrated that she just punched someone AGAIN, and this time, RIGHT IN FRONT OF A TEACHER.
The thing is, there are SO MANY THINGS I can’t tell you about That Child. I can’t even tell you the good stuff.
I can’t tell you that his classroom job is to water the plants, and that he cried with heartbreak when one of the plants died over the school holidays.
I can’t tell you that she kisses her baby sister goodbye every morning, and whispers “You are my sunshine …” before Mum pushes the stroller away.
I can’t tell you that he knows more about thunderstorms than most meteorologists.
I can’t tell you that she often asks to help sharpen the pencils during playtime.
I can’t tell you that she strokes her best friend’s hair at rest-time.
I can’t tell you that, when a classmate is crying, he rushes over with his favourite stuffed toy from the story corner.
The thing is, dear parent, that I can only talk to you about YOUR child. So, what I can tell you is this: If ever, at any point, YOUR child, or any of your children, becomes THAT child …
I will not share your personal family business with other parents in the classroom.
I will communicate with you frequently, clearly and kindly.
I will make sure there are tissues nearby at all of our meetings, and, if you let me, I will hold your hand when you cry.
I will advocate for your child and family to receive the highest quality of specialist services, and I will cooperate with those professionals to the fullest possible extent.
I will make sure your child gets extra love and affection when she needs it most.
I will be a voice for your child in our school community.
I will, no matter what happens, continue to look for – and find – the good, amazing, special and wonderful things about your child.
I will remind him and YOU of those good, amazing, special, wonderful things, over and over again.
And when other parents come to me, with concerns about YOUR child … I will tell them all of this, all over again.
With so much love … TEACHER.
