Amesbury Digest - 1st March 2021

Kia ora koutou,

Moving to alert level 2:

It was announced on Saturday evening that we will be moving to alert level 2 across the country effective from 6am Sunday 28th February, with Auckland moving to alert level 3. This is due to further community cases of Covid-19 in Auckland. Please follow this link to the article outlining what level 2 looks like for Amesbury School. We made this move two weeks earlier, with the transition being very smooth and with expectations followed well by everybody. We know that we can do this again - we all know what to do to keep ourselves, our families and our community safe.

Given this quick change in alert levels again, I would like to remind all parents and caregivers with children in Harakeke and Pōhutukawa Hubs to read this article about giving consent for your child to take their school device home in the case of a sudden move to distance learning. To date, we only have about one third of parents in both hubs who have replied. For children who have prior permission to do so, they can take their device and charger home directly following a move to distance learning. If this consent is not given prior to the move, a parent or caregiver will need to return to school at a later date after the alert level change in order to give permission and pick up the device. For a smooth transition to distance learning, and to lower the chances of people coming into contact with others after an alert level change, we strongly recommend responding to the request for consent in advance.

In other news, we have had several communications from our local/school community recently regarding students travelling to and from school. We are delighted that we have more and more students WOWing to school (walking or wheeling) at the moment, greatly helped by Pedal Ready. With more students travelling around the community on wheels, we are noticing some issues with students biking and scooting at speed along local footpaths. We have heard from several people who have had dangerous incidents involving students on bikes or scooters travelling at speed, including a parent very recently who had a student very nearly plough into the side of her car at an intersection. The child was travelling down Erlestoke Road at great speed on the footpath, raced through an intersection and only just managed to stop in front of a stationary car. This could easily have had a very different result, and it is important for us all to be involved with keeping our tamariki (children) safe while travelling around the community. Please talk with your child/ren about travelling safely around the local roads and footpaths. This includes always wearing a helmet, travelling at a speed that allows them to safely stop at short notice, and keeping a close eye out for pedestrians and cars, especially cars backing out of driveways. If you see any tamariki (children) travelling around the local footpaths in an unsafe manner, please do let them know that what they are doing is not a safe practice, if you feel okay and able to do this. If it is not possible to do this, please let one of our staff members know, so that we can be aware of the travel patterns of students.

Last week was the first session of our inaugural staff book club. This term our book club module is exploring a book by Parker J Palmer, an American author, educator, and activist who focuses on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality and social change. Teachers had the option to join this first book club module, which focuses on Palmer’s book ‘A Hidden Wholeness’. The book is about our yearning to lead undivided lives - lives more congruent with our inner truth. Our first session got off to a great start, with some great reflection about people’s experiences and awareness of their integral selves. I will keep you informed of our learnings as we continue to work our way through the book.

Parent events coming up

- Parent Information Session - Tuesday 2nd March: postponed due to shift to alert level 2.  

- Parent and Whānau Open Morning - Tuesday 23rd March. From 9-11am our learning spaces will be open for visitors to come and see learning in action. It will be a chance to see how the learning sessions operate, and also to chat with school leaders and ask any questions you may have. In order to manage numbers so that we do not overcrowd any area of the school, we ask that you fill in this short form if you are planning to attend.

- Parent PE and Health Consultation session - Tuesday 23rd March: 6 - 7:15pm. This session will involve discussion and input from our parent community around the different aspects of our PE and Health curriculum, and about what our community feels is important to cover and explore with our tamariki.

We also have a Board of Trustees meeting coming up this Wednesday (3rd March) from 5:30 - 7:30pm at school. Here is an overview of the agenda for the meeting:

Have a wonderful week.

Ngā mihi nui,

Urs Cunningham