Kaurihohore School Week Eight, Term Four News
Manaaki te katoa - be kind to all. Respect - Empathy - Kindness
Kia ora koutou
The end of the year is fast approaching and this will be our last newsletter for the year. In this newsletter I will update you with changes for 2021 and goals that as a school we want to work towards.
I want to thank you for your support in what has been a strange year, we look forward to continuing to grow our school in positive ways next year.
Staffing 2021
We have a lot of changes for 2021 and have only just finally confirmed our staff. As you know Pam Timoko is retiring at the end of the year, we have Laura Stanners on maternity leave for 2021. Kurt Jefferies recently announced that he and his family will be moving up North. Vikki Tuckey was also keen to step back into a classroom to cover maternity leave, so she has taken leave from her learning support role, with Tanya Gwyn taking on her learning support role for the year. Many of our teachers were also keen for a year level change, which will be happening next year. Below is our confirmed teaching staff for 2021.
Room 1 - Room 3 - Room 4 - Room 5 - Room 6 - Room 7 - Room 8 - Room 9 - Room 10
Leslee Allen, Michelle Douglas and Tracey Angelo-Jones
Vikki Tuckey
Jo Kake
Ronda Gibson
Nicky Cleaver
Kelly Glasgow
Cathy Hadfield
Yvette Johnston and Sam Wyrch
- Sue Jensen
Children will visit with their new teacher between 11.30 and 12.30 next Monday. Cathy Hadfield is still overseas, so Pam Timoko will look after her class, with the children having the opportunity to meet her via video.
Teachers have talked about wanting to change the way children address them, they will talk to their
2021 class about this during their visit, with many being happy to be addressed by their first name.
This is teacher dependent and your child’s teacher will let them know what they prefer when they meet
with them.
There will also be a change to how we name the classrooms, with a change to bird names happening next year. This is to accommodate the fact that our Room numbers do not equate to ages in that classroom and to help children get over the fact that moving up a number, means moving up a class. Our classes are mixed level and classroom numbers do not really reflect this fact.
We will send home specific class lists and stationery lists closer towards the end of term.
Reporting for 2021
Over the last two years we have been working on designing a system of real-time reporting. Trying to
ensure you have the information about your child’s learning when you can make the most use of it,
rather than waiting for a report.
We are the first to admit that some classes have done this very well, while other teachers have
struggled a little. 2021 sees us consolidate this process and ensure that every class is consistent with
the information you are receiving in terms of reporting progress and learning habits.
Our intention for 2021 is for every class teacher to report to you twice in the year, when assessments have been completed in reading, writing and maths. Giving you a clear picture of your child’s current achievement and their next steps. We will then report each term on your child as a learner on a report form that will be cumulative. Each term you will receive a comment about your child and it will be added to the previous terms comment, until at the end you have four comments for each term building a picture of your child’s journey through school. To fit with our real time reporting philosophy we will not be holding parent interviews, instead we will be asking you to come in if you need to speak to us and offering an open door policy for you to meet with us if you have any concerns. Responding in real time, means acting now, not waiting for an interview. We are more than happy to talk to you any time about your child and an appointment can be made to do this. This then means we are acting on current information, rather than waiting.
Turangawaewae and Whakapapa
Next year as part of our local curriculum we want to know more about our school whakapapa and turangawaewae. As a school we have a rich European history, with so much documented. Our early Māori history however is limited to the names of the chiefs that sold the land to the government of the time. Next year we want to start our journey into finding out more about the important places and people that have played a role in our history as a school and location. We want to know more about the narratives of the important places that surround us. To genuinely do this we need to establish connections with tangata whenua who can help us, not only to teach staff about the history, the important places, but to connect our children to the narratives. We also want to form a connection with a marae that allows us to deepen our cultural understanding. This is something our whole staff is very
passionate about, but so far we have struggled to find any ‘experts’ that can help us. If you have anyone you know that would like to assist us on our journey, we would love you to put them in touch with us. If you would also like to be part of this work, please let us know. You can email jo.kake@kaurihohoreschool.co.nzo rmichelle.douglas@kaurihohoreschool.co.nzor principal@kaurihohoreschool.co.nz
If you would like to be part of a group that drives this learning, we would love for you to join us on this
journey, please email us if you would like to be part of this with us, we would love to have you on board.
He waka eke noa (we are all in this together.) We intend to have a community meeting early next year to
get the ball rolling.
Our ultimate aim is for our school to have rich narratives to share about our ‘whole’ history and for
children to have an understanding and appreciation for the important places and a connection with the
people that can help them to deepen this understanding.
Reading
As a staff we have been involved in a huge amount of learning this year (for some of us over the last two to three years.) We have learned about the Science of Reading and have been starting to implement a Structured literacy programme based on how research tells us that children learn to read. It has been an exciting journey so far, with a lot of great results. Next year our whole staff will be learning more and ensuring they implement a structured approach so that children can make the progress in reading that they should be making. There will be opportunities for you to learn more about this next year.
Goals For 2021
Along with our focus on finding our whakapapa that is detailed above we want children to learn about our place, our environment and take action to protect it. We will be working on many activities that revolve around reducing waste, understanding recycling and planting trees to extend our current areas. Children will play a major role in this.
End of Year Raffle
This needs to be back ASAP. If you have unsold tickets, send these back to school for others to sell.
Reports
These will start being sent via seesaw in a couple of weeks as teachers have completed them. If you require a hard copy and don’t have access to a printer, please come and see your child’s teacher. If you are not connected to seesaw and need a copy of the report, please make sure we know. Reports are just part of the information that has been sent home throughout the year via seesaw and intended as a short summary about your child as a learner.
Seesaw and Year Six Students
You will need to download your child’s journal, or save the aspects you would like to keep at the end of this year. When we export classes at the start of 2021, your child’s journal will be deleted. It is a good idea to make sure you have a copy of the last few reports and anything else that you would like to keep.
Hats
All children must have a hat with a flap, or a hat with a wide brim at school every day. Please make sure it is named. Having one to leave in their bag is a great idea. No hat, no sun. Please no caps this term.
Empty Classroom Day
This term we will have empty classroom day on the 11th of December. We don’t have any working bee plans for this day, but you are always welcome to come along and join in with the play on the day.
End of Year Prizegiving
This will be held at 1pm on the 15th of December. We will be out on the field and each class will have an item of some sort. This is likely to go until just before 3pm. The next day, the 16th of December is our last day and school will finish at 12pm. There will be a lot of shifting and moving going on on the 16th, so children that come to school on the 16th should expect to get stuck in and help.
Start Date 2021
We start back at school on the 2nd of February. The school year in 2021 will end on the 14th of December. You can find exact school dates by searching term dates online. Year 7 students at Kamo intermediate will start on the 3rd of February.
This year ends on the 16th of December at 12.00pm.
Food for thought...
At this time of year we are all tired, children really feel the change in weather and change in routine, as things become more busy, but also less structured. It is normal for them to have
big feelings, rather than punishing them, allow them to calm and talk them through these big emotions, giving the emotions a label, helps children to understand. Behaviour is just a response to need and while it can be frustrating, it is very, very normal.
Ngā mihi nui Leslee Allen
