Tēnā koutou e hoa ma,

We have had our first few days back onsite at school in level 2, and it has been lovely having everyone back with us. Ngā ākonga (our students) seemed very happy to be back later last week, and I may have detected a certain spring in the step of many parents as they dropped their tamariki off at school on Thursday! Once again, a big thank you to staff, parents and tamariki for being so flexible during our various shifts through the alert stages.

I would also like to acknowledge our parents and caregivers for showing thought and consideration as you drop off and pick up children from school. Many parents and caregivers are staying offsite or coming just to the edge of the level 2 boundary. Many of those who are coming past the boundary into school are wearing masks and scanning in. Just as a reminder, it is mandatory to scan or sign in if you come past the level 2 boundary (shown in the attached picture). You do not need to come to the office to sign in - just sign in with a teacher in your child’s hub. We also strongly encourage you to wear a mask if you are coming into the school buildings, as this helps to reduce the spread of airborne droplets and particles. Thanks to you all for keeping our school community safe and healthy.

We may have some more information about possible alert level changes after the Covid-19 update on Monday. Whilst we remain in alert level 2 we are planning for learning programmes and events that just involve our Amesbury ākonga (students), staff and the wider educational team. We will not be running any events that bring parents, whānau or other non-educational visitors onsite. Hopefully this will not last for too long, and we will be able to welcome you onsite again very soon. In the meantime, here are some brief details of several events coming up that may look a little different:

- Student conferences on Wed 29th and Thurs 30th September (last week of term): These conferences will be run as online connection conferences between parents and whānau teachers, rather than student conferences where our older ākonga present their own learning. It will be a chance for you to catch up about your child’s learning and social development, and to ask any questions or discuss any noticings you may have about this, especially after working with them at home during lockdown. I have included an article with all of the details for student conferences, including how to book a timeslot, with the HERO notification that advised you that this Digest was available. Please read the article and make the booking.

- Inquiry 2 learning celebration and Amesbury Awesomeness Awards: Sadly, ngā ākonga were just ready to share their fabulous learning from their second inquiry this year, ‘Living as Me in the Universe’, when we went into lockdown. We have since moved onto our third inquiry around ‘Living Consciously’ and we are aware that our students have not yet had the chance to share their previous learning. As such, we will run the learning celebration for inquiry 2 as an in-school event this coming week, meaning tamariki will share with each other and have a chance to talk about their learning with children from other hubs. We will take lots of photos and share them with you through Hero and also through an article about the learning that happened in our second inquiry.

For our Amesbury Awesomeness awards that usually happen as part of the learning celebration, these recipients were already appointed by each hub and ready to go. We feel it would be a shame of parents and whānau were not able to see their children receive their awards, and so we have decided to hold them and present them in the learning celebration at the end of inquiry 3, along with the final set of awards for the year. This means a double set of awards will be presented.

- Co-curricular lessons and Four Year Old Programme: these events will run as usual in level 2. It is fine for other staff and students to come onsite for learning purposes, as long as the usual level 2 protocols around scanning/signing in and sanitising are followed.

Fundraising events coming up

- Wear your onesie or pyjamas to school day: Friday 1st October (last day of term 3). Wellington Free Ambulance had to cancel their annual onesie fundraising event this year, due to Covid. They are looking to raise $250,000 to fund a new ambulance; we were planning to be part of their original fundraising day, and we would still like to help them with this. More information will come out a little closer to the time about this, but to give you some advance notice: all tamariki are invited to wear their favourite onesie or pyjamas to school on the last of this term, and bring a gold coin or small monetary donation - all money received will go to Wellington Free Ambulance. There will be fun activities across the school in the morning block as part of this FUNdraiser.

- Pack the Bus donations: The annual Wellington Breeze toy and food donation drive will be happening in November, helping our wider Wellington community who may struggle financially this Christmas. If any parents are willing to help organise or oversee this endeavour, please contact Urs. We have signed up for a pick up date of all donations on either Nov 30th or Dec 1st.

These are uncertain times, and things will need to keep changing and adapting as the situation with Covid-19 continues to evolve. We will continue to do our best to meet the needs of our ākonga and keep learning programmes at school as settled and safe as possible. We will also keep working to communicate clearly with you about changes and events as they arise.

So, kia pai tō wiki - have a good week, and here is hoping we can begin to get back into some settled routines for the last few weeks of term.

Ngā mihi, 

Urs Cunningham