Welcome back to Term 4. We hope you enjoyed the holidays!

Coming Up

• Monday 21 October - Drop off/Pick Up Zone Closed at 2.30pm (see below for more information)

• Monday 21 October - Y4 Motat Trip

• Tuesday 22 October - BOT Meeting - 6.30pm - (Staffroom)

• Thursday 24 October - NZ Earthquake Shakeout Drill 9.30am

• Monday 28 October - Labour Day Holiday - (School Closed)

• Wednesday 30 October - Whanau Hui - 5.30pm

• Wednesday 30 October - FOTS Meeting - 6.30pm - (Staffroom)

• Friday 01 November - Gumboot Friday Travelwise Day

See attached Term 4 Fridge List at the bottom of this newsletter for more events happening this Term.

Contents

Principal News

• Drop off/Pick Up Zone Closed at 2.30pm on Monday

• End of Day Messages

• School Reviews

• Staff News

AWHI Update

School Notices

• Life Education

• NZ Shakeout

School Events

• Superstars

• Flippaball

• Super Cluster Football

• Year 5 Camp

• Pipiwharauroa Festival

• Kapa Haka Group at Taiaotea Kindy

Principal News

Drop off/Pick Up Zone Closed at 2.30pm on Monday

Yesterday, our local Police Officer notified me that after ongoing complaints to the Police and Council, they plan to trial closing the Drop off/Pick Up Zone from 2.30pm - 3pm on Monday. The intention of the closure is to stop the backlog of traffic around the school before 3pm. Cones will be removed at 3pm so cars arriving at that time will be able to pull in. All cars not able to pull in will need to drive around the block.

I understand that the decision will be difficult initially but he assures me that it has worked well at other schools. Please be patient while this is trialed.

As a school we will support you by having staff in the drop off area until the majority of children have been collected. Children not collected will wait at the office. Please do not worry that your child will be left on their own if you don't make to to the area by 3.10pm.

End of Day Messages

Our processes at the end of the day are that all children should be collected at 3pm. Those children who are not collected by 3.10pm should go to the School Office. Junior children who are not collected are taken to the Office by their teacher. Older children are asked to go to the Office if they have not been met by a parent when this is their arrangement. As we have a shared responsibility for safety at the end of the day, children should not be playing on the playgrounds or field unattended.

At 3.30pm, (when the second bell goes), we ask that the school grounds are cleared. This is for health and safety reasons as well as supporting our teachers to continue their work and hold meetings in a calm environment. This is also a time when we can check playgrounds, have maintenance work done and allow some of our sports teams to train.

You are welcome to return to school and use our grounds after 4.30pm when most of this work is complete.

School Reviews

We have been working through two big reviews of the school over the last two weeks. Karen Cebalo worked with the Ministry of Education to complete an audit and review of English Language Learners support. This includes teaching, learning and the pastoral care of the children and our community. We are very fortunate so have such a knowledgeable and passionate leader supported by a wonderful team. We received great feedback. Thank you to Karen and the ESOL teachers.

We have also been working with an ERO reviewer this week. Jo, Tanya, Liz and I have all enjoyed sharing the great progress that we have made with Structured Literacy, the outstanding academic achievements of your children and the many ways that we work together to make Browns Bay a great school.

The process that ERO work under is responding to government changes, and we expect the Report to be available in the next few weeks. The Board will share this as soon as possible.

Staff News

At our Whakatau this week we welcomed Cara Coetzee to our school. Cara has taken over teaching Room 7. She joins us from Strathallan School and brings a wealth of teaching experience to Browns Bay School.

We also welcome back Jacky Carr who has opened our latest New Entrant classroom. It has been wonderful to see Jacky creating a calm and welcoming space for our new children.

Congratulations to Emma Warren and her family on the arrival of their new baby girl, Zoe Florence Warren born on 29th September.

AWHI UPDATE

We hope that you and your families had a good break and that you are looking forward to summer getting into full swing. A reminder that it’s compulsory for students to wear school sun hats after the Labour Day holiday. Please take some time to clearly label your child’s hat so they can be returned to them if lost. Small and medium bucket hats only can be purchased at the school office for $12, or all sizes can be ordered online through Argyle.

We have two great AWHI lessons planned to start off the Term. This week's lesson focused on the expectations around eating times. We want students to understand the benefits of sitting while they eat and why it’s also important for safety reasons. Our lesson next week will teach students how to pause and take a breath before they act. This is an important skill to take with us throughout life. You may want to chat with your child about how you manage your own frustrations. Many thanks for your support as we develop a positive school culture for everyone. 

School Notices

Life Education

The Life Education programme for 2024 is underway and will be operating in the school for the first 4 weeks of this Term. The programme encourages children to adopt a healthy lifestyle with an emphasis on the things children can do to look after themselves. It aims to help children develop respect, understanding and appreciation of the human body. A Life Education Trust Educator, Charlie Pollard ,will work with us to teach some of those important health ideas.  The sophisticated technology and equipment of the Life Education programme supplements and extends the resources that we can offer the children at school.

The mobile classroom will be open for parents to visit on Monday 21 October from 2.45pm - 3.30pm - please feel free to visit and ask any questions you may have about the programme.

The following topics are being covered:

·         Year 0/1  Healthy Eating

·         Year 2     Relationships and Community

·         Year 3     Food and Nutrition

·         Year 4     Identity and Resilience

·         Year 5     Food and Nutrition

·         Year 6     Identity and Resilience

There is a cost involved in having this programme on site and a contribution of $8.00 per student would be appreciated to support the Life Education Trust.  Part of this cost covers related activities that are valuable learning resources. 

Payment for this programme must be made via Kindo.  

NZ Shakeout

New Zealand ShakeOut, our National Earthquake drill, is taking place on Thursday 24 October 2024 at 9:30am. The school will be taking part in the New Zealand ShakeOut. At that time, we will ask everyone to Drop, Cover and Hold for up to one minute. Some areas will practice a Tsunami Hikoi, yet we will not do that this time. 

The children will:

Do the Drop, Cover and Hold drill for 30-60 seconds:

• DROP down on your hands and knees. This protects you from falling but lets you move if you need to.

• COVER your head and neck (or your entire body if possible) under a sturdy table or desk (if it is within a few steps from you).

• HOLD on to your shelter (or your position to protect your head and neck) until the shaking stops. If the shaking shifts your shelter around, move with it.

Other ideas are:

If you are unable to drop, brace yourself in a chair or wheelchair (lock your wheels), and cover your head and neck with your hands and arms. If you are unable to get out of bed, cover your head and neck with a pillow.

Many people are injured while trying to move DURING the shaking. It is safer to Drop, Cover and Hold until the shaking is over. More information on the New Zealand SHAKEOUT and being prepared for emergencies can be found at the

GET READY website.

School Events

Superstars

At the last school assembly, the following pupils received certificates for their achievements:

YEAR 0/1 TEAM -Ellen Weir R7, Avery Collins R7, Ethan Jinn R8, Rory Lin R8,

Lumi Kim R9, Aidan Ma R9, Tyler Meredith R10, Boston Grey R10, Eason Zhang R11, Leah White R11 

YEAR 2 TEAM  - Rosa Yoon R1, Yuna Kim R1, Harry Li R2, Seung Yeon Lee R2,

Evelina Yan R3, Sophia Chen R3, Arlo Brailey R4, Ari Yoon-Lichtwark R4

YEAR 3 TEAM -Ronald Zhu R14, Rhys Hu R14, Adam Hudeib R15, Ryan Lin R15,            Esme Goodinson R16, Lea Langaoi R16, Senwei Ren R17, Vivienne Wu R17 

YEAR 4 TEAM - Max Wang R30, Jean Cronje R30, Lian Kim R31, Jack Liu R31,

Hunter Zhang R32, Jessie Huang R32, Dawn Yip R33, Mason Du Plessis R33

YEAR 5 TEAM - Ana Regotti R18, Brian Duong R18, Alexa Weeks R19, Cyrus Yii R19,    Kora Ren R20, Richie Jones R20, Armin Tamasi R21, Hollie McDonald R21

YEAR 6 TEAM -Ethan Teng R24, Chani Kim R24, Finn Billinghurst R25,

Sierra Smith R25, Jessica Fincham R26, Jerry Luo R26, Mary Barber R27,

Harvey Gui R27

VALUES AWARD - Daisy Shimmin R24

SERVICE TO THE SCHOOL – Tasmin Violich R27

ACHIEVEMENT CUPS -Jerry Luo R27

ARTS AWARD - Ivy Zhuravlyova R26

SPORTS CUPS - Maia Andrews R24, Finn Billinghurst R25

Flippaball

Congratulations to our Year 6 Marlins Flippa Ball team who came 3rd in A Grade to end Term 3. All the best for the coming Term and wishing you every success along with our Year 4 and 5 teams. 

Super Cluster Football

In the last week of Term 3, we took two teams to the Super Cluster Football Tournament, at Ashley Reserve in Long Bay.

The boy's teams were in a very competitive grade and demonstrated huge talent and skill. They gained a win, a draw, and a loss by only 1 goal in the pool play, but unfortunately, that loss took them into the plate final. They won the final to come 5th. 

The girl's team lost most of their experienced football players to the Year 5 camp (after the first day was postponed). However, the girls that played, some for the very first time, did exceptionally well. They were placed in a very challenging pool but managed to move on from their first loss to gain a draw and then to win their last game. 

A huge thank you to all the parents who transported the children on the day and to Pedro David who coached the boys. 

Year 5 Camp

During the last week of Term 3, Year 5 went to Peter Snell Youth Village for an overnight camp. It was a huge success with activities like the Initiative Course, Masterchef, Archery, Bivouac Building and the Slippery Slide. This year we were fortunate to have Bigfoot Adventures come along and give all of the students a taste for Rock Climbing with their Portable Climbing Wall. This was a real highlight for many of the children. We couldn't have asked for better weather, with the sun shining each day and the stunning view out to sea was beautiful. A huge thank you to the students for being so well-behaved and giving all the activities a go. We are so proud of you and pleased you had such a good time. Our camps would not be possible without the help of the parents. Thank you so much to all who gave up their time to volunteer and lead the activities so that our kids could experience Camp this year. You were all amazing and we appreciate your help so much. We hope you enjoyed the experience as well.

(see photos in gallery below).

From all the Year 5 teachers.

Pipiwharauroa Festival

110 of our BBS Kapa Haka Year 5 and 6 students performed at the Pipiwharauroa Festival, held on an outside stage at Rangitoto College. The weather was lovely, and a large crowd enjoyed lots of cultural performances from a number of schools. Our school were the 6th group on stage and from the moment they walked up, they absolutely gave their very best in performance – with their vocals, movement, poi and haka all superb. So very proud to have these students performing and representing our school the way they did.

Every single one of them should be very proud and know that it is their hard work

and commitment that has got them to this standard. Thank you parents for ensuring that they all looked their very best and could be there to participate – Karen Warren.

Kapa Haka Group Performing at Taiaotea Kindy

20 of our Year 6 Kapa Haka students represented our school at Taiaotea Kindergarten’s finale to their Heritage week.

They performed with such enthusiasm and confidence, doing themselves and our school proud. They were also respectful and encouraging when the very young kindergarten students stood up to perform. It was such a pleasure to be part of the evening and thanks to the parents who took time out on a Friday evening to ensure our students could take part – Karen Warren.

Community Notices

Thinking Caps