Amesbury Digest - 27th September 2021

Tēnā koutou,

We are now heading into the final week of a term that has certainly kept us on our toes. As I write this, I can hear co-curricular drama and keyboard lessons happening in the admin area. As I walk around the school, there is high jump practice happening in the hall, and other athletics practice happening outside for Pōhutukawa; they are all geared up for Whānau Olympics. In Harakeke ngā ākonga are learning Mandarin, creating memes in te reo Māori, and learning different elements of dance. For our younger students in Koru Hub, maths is in full flow. In Kōwhai there is lots happening around forming patterns with shapes, cubes and numbers. In the main group further down in Koru Hub, there is lots of maths discovery and exploration happening, along with a number of small group workshops with teachers. I joined in with a very intense discussion with a group working out what 1/4 of 68 was, and outside several boys were working on the ground with chalk working out what 200 + 300 + 500 was - lots of discussion happening. All in all, a very buzzy feeling across the school this morning.

School charter consultation

This year we are in the final year of our current three year school charter. We are now looking to set a new charter for the next three years, mapping out our key focus areas for our school and school community. Our first step (given that we are in alert level 2) is to run an initial online consultation about what is currently going well and what we can improve or focus on for the next three years.

For this stage it is important to have a wide range of input, so that we can be sure we are representing our whole community in our plan. From there we will run face to face consultation to explore these ideas a little more. Please see the article included in this week’s digest post for more detail and for the link to the online consultation survey. Thanks for getting involved with this process and ensuring that we have input from a wide representation of our community in our new charter.

Staffing update

We have made two new appointments for our 2022 teaching team.

• We have appointed Hannah Sadler as our new release teacher across the school. Hannah will be working largely in Koru Hub, but will also do some release in our other two hubs. Hannah has been part of the Amesbury team this year as a student teacher on the Masters of Teaching and Learning programme. She is already very much part of our teaching team, and we are very pleased that she will be joining us as a full time teacher next year.

• Our second appointment is Brent de Saxe, who will be our fifth teacher in Pōhutukawa Hub, replacing Michelle. Brent was born in South Africa and grew up in America. He has been in New Zealand with his family since 2017, living in Brooklyn. He is passionate about music, social justice and sports, and has the good sense to be an avid Liverpool FC supporter. We think Brent will be a fabulous addition to the team, and he plans on visiting the hub several times next term before he starts.

• Gina Quintero, who is currently our release teacher in Koru Hub, will become a whānau teacher in Krou Hub next year, replacing Elena. Gina is already a well established member of Koru Hub, and she loves working with the team. We are delighted that she will be part of the teaching team in Koru next year.

Reminders for the final week of school this term:

- Online connection conferences Wed 29th and Thurs 30th September. Please check you have booked a conference for your tamariki. See the link to the article on how to book a conference in this HERO post.

- No Hindi lessons on Thursday 30th due to conferences. Even though conferences are online, teachers still need spaces that are private and quiet where they can hold their conferences. As such, all spaces across the school will be in use.

- Wear your onesie or pyjamas to school FUNdraising day: Friday 1st October (last day of term 3). Fundraising for Wellington Free Ambulance - bring a gold coin donation.

- Final day of Term 3 - Friday 1st October

Kia pai tō wiki - have a good week and a lovely holiday break with your whānau.

Ngā mihi, 

Urs Cunningham