Newsletter 01 09.02.22

.CARING, CONNECTED, CREATIVE, ACTIVE LIFE-LONG LEARNERS

Welcome

Tena koutou te kura whanui a tangata o Puketapu School. Ngā mihi o te tau hou ki a koutou. Happy New Year to you all. I hope you have managed to have a happy, relaxing and safe break over the summer.

We have had a wonderful start to the term despite the complexities of operating in RED traffic light. The staff and children have adapted well. We are enjoying teaching outside more regularly and those who are wearing masks have quickly learned how to manage them.

Thank you to all of the parents who have made the start of the year so positive for our staff and their children.

We welcome Mrs Kerran Hall to our teaching staff. Kerran has hit the ground running bringing her experience and expertise to our staff. She is enjoying the children in Room 7 as they establish good routines and learning habits for the year.

Relationships are extremely important. By working together, we can provide your child with a rich and varied learning programme. We look forward to a positive year.

You are most welcome to contact your child’s class teacher at any time via email.

Our Values for the year are:

Manaakitanga: We care. We show kindness and respect.

Whanaungatanga: We learn together to ensure we can bring out the best in each of us.

Auahatanga: We are creative and questioning participants.

Rangatiratanga: We are self-directed and confident learners.

This term will focus on the value of Manaakitanga – caring and respect.

This starts with the way the students speak to adults, speak to one another and how they look after their equipment and the school environment. We will be having a particular focus on how children are speaking to adults and peers including greetings, manners, and the language they use out and about in the playground. The start of the year is about resetting our expectations and beginning as we mean to go on. We look forward to all of our children showing respect through the way they talk throughout 2022 school year.

Congratulations to the students who have already been noticed for showing manaakitanga. They are proud owners of the first Principal’s Award for 2022.

Covid Response Framework

As you will all be aware we are currently in the RED traffic light setting. In our school setting this means:

● Limiting the number of visitors on the school site- where possible please send your child on the school bus or drop them at the school gate. If you need to come on site please scan in and wear a mask. As your child becomes more confident it would be great to see them dropped off at the gate.

● Year 4 and above- Masks are to be worn by teachers, support staff and students when in the classroom.

● Excellent hygiene will be followed at school with a particular focus on handwashing.

● We recommend that children bring their own drink bottle from home and fill this up during the day when at school. Drinking fountains are out of use.

● All students in Year 4 and above must wear a mask when travelling on the school bus.

● We will be having doors and windows open to increase airflow and we will be learning outside when practical.

● Most importantly, if your child is unwell, please keep them at home. We want to try and make things as positive and normal for children as we possibly can and ask for your support with that.

Pick up. Rooms 1,2,3,4,7 & 8 can be met on the school field at 3.00pm. Those children who are old enough can be met in the car park. Please scan, wear a mask and keep your social distancing if you come on-site to pick up your child.

Meet the teacher:

Touching base with the teacher is important. We just ask that if you come on site you scan in and wear a mask. We will be holding a parent evening (1:1) on the 22nd and 23rd Feb. If you prefer not to attend face to face, let us know and we will consider other methods of catching up. More info to follow.

Absences

• Ring and inform the office if your child is to be absent.

• email: office@puketapuhb.schol.nz

• Leave a message on the school absence phone: 06 8447837

• A note with a brother or sister would also suffice. We would appreciate being informed every day the child is away from school.

Skool Loop Phone App and choose the absentee options

We do our best to ensure the safety of our pupils and would appreciate your cooperation in this very important matter.

Hats: Students are required to wear a hat this term. Please remind your child to bring their hat and to apply sunscreen before leaving home.

School Fees/Donations:

The school fees/donations for 2022 are set at $190 or $47.50 per term. These form an integral part of ensuring we can provide all of the resources we want to for our students. The funds provided by the Ministry of Education do not cover all of the resources we believe are essential for every child to experience success.

Many thanks to those who have already set up an automatic payment on your child’s account. We would encourage the setting up of automatic payments (weekly, fortnightly or monthly) to help you work away at the balance and help spread the load. If preferred you can still pay by cash directly to the office.

The school bank account number is: ASB 123144 0153835 01.

The money will contribute to extra teaching programmes, such as reading assistance and extension groups. Office administration and the running of sick bay. Curriculum resources and equipment, such as library books, ICT equipment, running the pool and sports equipment. We cannot run our programmes without your donations, please make every effort.

Digital Citizenship Contract

Your child will have brought home a Digital Citizenship contract. This supports the importance of safe on-line practice which is vitally important for all of our children to learn. It also outlines what will happen if children abuse the privilege …

Please take time to read through this with your child and return the form asap.

Here are Netsafe’s top tips for parents wanting to manage how much time their children spend online:

§ Understand what they’re doing: Not all time spent online is created equal. Talk to your children about what they are using digital technology for so you have a better understanding of how they are spending their time.

§ Help them to self-manage screentime: Children need to start managing how long they spend online themselves and so talk to them about how they are using the online space and things they can do to find a balance between being online and offline.

§ Set boundaries: Talk about expectations and set clear boundaries, just like all parents do with bedtimes and chores. Set limits together and think about how you can model those screentime expectations. You can also look into using parental controls or scheduling or restricting access via the router.

§ Technological solutions: Internet content filtering tools are important tools and play a role in online safety and often include features or settings which allow time online to be limited. Many platforms also offer options which include time online trackers which help children understand how much time they are spending online and what activities they spend the most time engaging in.

§ Look out for changes: If your child’s technology use is affecting their ability to take part in normal activities (such as sleeping, engaging offline or participating in other hobbies) or has changed their behaviour then it’s important to discuss and put in place supports for managing time. This could include restricting where they can use their device, for example not allowing it in their bedroom at night which can prevent sleep.

Buses - Preparing for disruption. A note from the MoE.

Preparing for disruption – please alert your caregivers

It is important that your students’ caregivers are prepared for the possibility that their school transport service is cancelled at some point over the next few months.

Please ensure that your caregivers are aware of the potential disruption and that they’ll need to have their own plan in place for transporting their children to and from school in the event of their school transport not operating.

What happens when a school transport service is cancelled?

Your transport service provider has been instructed to let the school know as early as they can if a service is going to be cancelled. They have also been instructed to let school know the duration that they expect the service to be cancelled for. School will then pass on this information to affected students and caregivers as soon as possible.

FROM THE OFFICE

Clothing

Please take the time to name all items of clothing your child wears to school. We place any lost property in the office foyer for tamariki to search through. If it is still there at the end of the term, it is donated to local charities.

Student/Whānau Information

It is important that we have up-to-date information on our records. An email request will be sent home for you to indicate any changes to: address, landline, mobile or work numbers, emergency contacts, email addresses.

Thanks to TIMU

Puketapu School is an authorised recipient for the TIMU community sponsorship programme. Please nominate Puketapu School if you purchase anything from TIMU ITM. Last term we received $126.54 from this scheme. Thanks to everyone who nominated us.

If you want to help by being part of this scheme, please register at www.tumuitm.co.nz

HOUSE POINTS SO FAR THIS TERM

1st - Kouturoa 4pts

2nd - Turirau 3pts

3rd - Tuhirangi 2pts

4th - Tutaekuri 1pt

PUKETAPU TRAIL RIDE

Sadly due to the restrictions of being in Covid RED Traffic Light setting, it has been decided that the Trail Ride for 2022 has been cancelled. It is not known when or if this will occur again in the future.

Mark Morice will be stepping down from co-ordinating this event. Mark, along with a fantastic team, have built this event from scratch. Over the 15 years that it has been running it has gained a reputation far and wide as one of the best Trail Rides around. The numbers and feedback support this fact.

No-one can under estimate the enormity of the task and the responsibility that goes with planning, running and executing this successful event. Over the years it has got harder and harder to pull it off, but with Mark's tenacity, energy, and ability to motivate others the team have not let bureaucracy get in the way.

The time and energy spent by the Trail Ride Committee every year has brought the community together, provided a day that 100’s of people look forward to and given many, many, memories to many people as well as raising thousands of dollars.

They have raised an enormous amount of money for the school. The Puketapu School children have benefited in so many ways – new swings, solar panels, teachers being trained in dyslexia, an extra teacher to alleviate class sizes, playground bark, swimming pool, plants and painting. The list goes on.

I'm sure that you would like to join me in congratulating Mark and his team on a job well done.

Thank you.

TEACHER ONLY DAY CANCELLED

The Teacher Only Day for Thursday 14th April has been cancelled with no new date as of yet.

LUNCH ORDERS

There will be changes to the lunch ordering system this year. More details will be sent in the next few days.