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Amesbury School

Amesbury Digest - 10 February 2020

It has been an exciting and engaging start to the year. We have loved watching students show such joy at meeting back up with old friends or making new ones, getting to know new teachers and different learning spaces. In particular it has been good seeing the positive reactions to our new Pōhutukawa learning space. Older students are enjoying having a range of learning spaces to choose from, and teachers are helping them to learn how to make good choices to suit what they are doing and how they learn best. Please see some photos of the learning space in this photo array.

I would like to acknowledge and thank all of the people in our school community who have taken the responsible decision to self isolate for 14 days after travelling from or through China, as recommended by the Ministries of Education and Health. A number of our students and staff have done this, and we thank them for helping to keep all of our students, staff and whānau safe. We ask that people remain vigilant about their own health, and stay away from school or keep their children away if they are showing signs of sickness, regardless of whether or not they have been travelling out of the country.

It is important that we remain mindful of the language we use when talking with our children about this new virus. It is a respiratory virus. It is not linked with a particular culture or group of people. It originated in China, meaning people travelling from or through China have an increased risk of exposure to the virus, hence the self-isolation period in place for people who are at risk. Being careful with the way we speak of this to children will help to ensure that they have clear, correct information about the virus and about how to keep themselves safe. A focus on basic hygiene, such as regular hand washing with soap and water, coughing and sneezing into tissues, and always washing hands after coughing and sneezing, is the most important area to focus on.

Car Park Safety

Along with the new school year comes an old issue for many schools - safety in the car park. Thank you to the many people who are taking care of our students by following the rules in the car park. Sadly, we do have some people who do not follow these rules, and they make the car park a very unsafe place for young children. The car park area has many young children around it before and after school. These children are still learning how to keep themselves safe, and cannot always be relied upon to make the best choices. Therefore, as adults, it is up to us to ensure we are taking extra care to be safe in case unexpected situations arise.

It has come to our attention that some cars are parking on the yellow lines directly opposite the driveway entrance on Amesbury Drive. You cannot park on yellow lines and we will follow up with any cars that do so.

Below are the rules for the school car park. We ask all parents to please pass these rules on to all whānau and caregivers who pick up your child/ren, as it is your responsibility to ensure that they know and follow the rules. There will be a school leader out on car park duty every day ensuring that the car park is safe for students. Some people in the past have let us know that they feel we were being overly official or pedantic when we follow up on car park issues. However, what may seem like a small issue to a single driver can cause a considerable issue for multiple cars all trying to use the area. This all impacts our students and heightens the danger for them.

Car park expectations:

*The pick up/drop off zone is not a parking area at any point of the day. It is only for children who are already waiting at the pick up zone already, or are in the car and ready to hop out. The driver needs to stay in the car. If you need to get out of the car for any reason, you need to park in a parking spot.

*Please drive to the front of the pick up/drop off zone, so that other cars can pull in behind you.

*The two disabled car park spaces are only for cars that have their mobility parking passes clearly showing. This applies at all times of the day, and also on rainy days. It does not matter if you are only planning on stopping for a minute or two - you must have mobility pass to park in the spot.

*Only park in designated parking spots. This includes out on Amesbury Drive.

School Meet ‘n’ Greet

We have a community social evening coming up next Friday 14th February. From 5:30 - 7:30pm we will have a get together for the community. Kelly Club will be on hand to run activities on the school field, and there will be pizza and a sausage sizzle. All three learning teams will hold a 20 minute information sessions at staggered times through the evening so that parents can hear some key information about how the teams are organised. It is also a good time to introduce yourself to your child’s teacher. Please note that for new parents, whānau teachers will be in touch shortly to organise a longer individual meeting time so that we can get to know your child better. Student conferences will be running in the last week of this term for all students, as a chance to share learning and learning goals. The Meet ‘n’ Greet this Friday is a chance to touch base, say hello, and meet and mingle with other teachers and parents. We look forward to seeing many of you there.

School Open Morning

Shortly there will be a notice going out about the School Open Morning which we are holding on Tuesday 17 March. We held our first open morning last year, and it proved to be very popular and useful for parents and whānau who were interested in seeing how learning happened at school. We know that teams and learning spaces have changed since last year, and this is a good opportunity to see how the spaces are operating.

If you wish to attend, it is important for you to RSVP via the School Open Morning form. There is a limit on the number of responses that will be accepted because we do not want to inundate the hubs with too many parents. We would rather offer it again next term. Also, if you wish to attend you must be at the introductory session being held in the hall at 9.10am.

Ngā mihi nui,

Urs Cunningham

Contents

School Notices - 10 February 2020

by John Murrihy

We've had 2 short weeks to ease everyone into 'back to school' mode but for Week 3 it's a full 5 days ....

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Meet ’n’ Greet Parent Evening

by Lisa Bengtsson

Join the school community this Friday, 14 February from 5.30-7.30pm for our Meet the Teacher Evening.

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Pōhutukawa Photo Array

by John Murrihy

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