Kaurihohore School Week Seven, Term Three 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
Quite ironically in the last newsletter I commented about the term rushing by. Little was I or anyone
else to know, that that would be the least of our concerns. In the blink of an eye, we were all locked down.
No time to think, let alone prepare for what the last few weeks would look like. In a matter of weeks our
lives again were turned upside down, events cancelled, work stopped, schooling once again virtual. This
would have looked different for all of us, but one thing we have in common is a great sense of unknown,
probably a sense of dread and a great degree of stress and trauma for ourselves, or whānau, and our
country. We will all of felt this to some degree, some more than others, but what it has left us with is a
sense of unease and anxiety. Now more than ever it is a time for kindness, patience, respectful
communication and empathy for each other.
If this is true for us as adults, it is also very true for children. There is this old saying, children are
resilient, they bounce back. This is one of those old sayings that is completely untrue.
Children are far more sensitive to trauma and stress than adults, the younger they are, the harder they
will find it. They need our reassurance and love more now than they have ever done. If they want to talk
about how they are feeling, let them, but when they stop, don’t push. Children at a time like this will look
for therapeutic doses from adults around them, this means they may make a statement, or pose a
question, then walk away, they are just looking to momentarily explore how they are feeling, then to step
back out of this feeling. Children look to you for reassurance, to co-regulate with them, to allow them to
have big feelings and to assist them to calm down. Times like these do have an impact on them, they
may melt down more often, or be more anxious, not wanting to take part in activities they usually love,
or not wanting you to be out of sight at this time. Just accept these things may happen, try to be calm,
and give them time.
They may not have any idea why they are feeling that way and that is ok. They just need your support,
reassurance and love.
This newsletter is just intended as a quick catch so we are all on the same page for the remainder
of this term and what impacts there will be for next term with the moving of or modification of school
events.
Communication
In times like the ones we have just experienced and are still experiencing to some degree now,
we rely on you keeping yourself informed. Quick, current and informed communication is important
to us and we do our best to let you know information as soon as it is relayed to us.. We will always
use facebook for urgent communications, along with seesaw announcements to allow this to happen.
For other important information we will also use email. Please make sure you have access to and are
using these forms of communication so that you can stay as up to date as possible.
Level Two Guidelines
A detailed letter was sent out via facebook, seesaw and email. Please follow these guidelines to
assist us to make school as safe as possible for children.
Wear masks if you come on site as a precaution. If you come on school site, please sign in using
the covid tracer app. Please don’t walk into classrooms without a mask and if possible avoid getting
out of your car when picking up or dropping off children. Please don’t allow children to bring in their
bike, scooter, balls or toys to school and in level two we are not allowed to share food or other items.
Children also must have their own drink bottle full of water, as the fountains are off.
Breakfast club does not operate.
We ask that you distance yourself from other adults if you are on site.
If you act like the teachers and students are one big bubble, and that any visitors or other adults
like yourself could possibly be carrying the virus and act accordingly, that will really help us greatly.
Please don’t send children to school if they are sick and please understand that if we suspect they
are sick, we have to send them home.
Family Challenges
Thank you to all those that participated in the family challenges on facebook. I hope that these
managed to break up the time for you over lockdown. I will have the prizes ready for you at the
office for those families that won one of the four challenges, please send your children to the office
window to pick these up.
Teachers Only Day
This has been cancelled due to our lockdown. We did not see this as fair in the current environment.
We will endeavor to have this next term, but will give you lots of notice in advance.
Sponsored Run
We have had to postpone this event, but we urge you to still seek sponsorship. If you have lost your
form, we can give you a new one. We are postponing the event to early next term in the hope that we
will be able to run it under level one conditions. We will advise you of a date as soon as we have it.
Agricultural and Flower Day
This will be held on the first Friday back next term, 22nd of October. The agricultural side of this day
will go ahead. If we are still level the flower/Craft section of the day will be cancelled and there will be
guidelines around distancing and the amount of adults per competitor for the animal side of the day.
We will be guided by how things unfold over the next few weeks.
School Photos
These have been postponed and the deadline for payment pushed back. Shelley will advise you of the
new date and deadline for payment as soon as we have one.
Empty Classroom Day
Due to the disruption in our class based learning we have decided to cancel this for Term 3.
End of Year Awards Assembly
This has been cancelled for this term, any children that have been awarded a Good Citizen nomination
in their class in the first few weeks that we were at school, will be carried over till next term's voting.
School Reports and Assessments
As I am sure you are aware, teachers have not been able to conduct assessments on your child that
would allow them to send out up to date, useful information any time in the immediate future. We will
not be adding to the cumulative report this term as it would just not be possible to do so. It often takes
days to complete assessments and then write the paragraphs up for seesaw comments, so teachers
will be doing this as they can over the next few weeks and then into Term 4. It would also be entirely
inappropriate to throw assessments at children in their first couple of weeks back, given the fact that
they have had such an extended time away from school, so please bear with us as children and teachers
recalibrate and find their feet again. This however is a good time to make an appointment with your
child’s teacher if you have any questions or concerns. They are more than happy to talk to you about
these, so make an appointment via seesaw and a meeting will be arranged at a time convenient to
everyone following level 2 guidelines.
Term Four - Known Dates
Begins 18th of October
22nd of October - Ag and Flower Day (calves, lambs and goats only if level 2)
25th of October - Labour Day
20th of November - School Gala
10th of December - Whole School Prize giving 1.pm
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
