Newsletter - WE 28/08/20

Janine Jack

— Aug 28, 2020

Tēnā Koutou

We were sad to continue the seemingly never-ending series of cancellations this year with the HPSSA 7-Aside tournament and the CASA Kapa Haka festival being the latest victims of the changing alert levels. The organisers of the Nelson netball tournament scheduled for next week have also decided to cancel which will of course affect our players who were heading up that way. This is an enormous disappointment for the coaches and players who have worked hard preparing for this tournament with the small consolation that the weekly Wednesday netball in Christchurch is still happening.

On a more positive note, we were pleased to see the architect on site this week working through plans for the upcoming work connecting Rooms 5 and 6 on the primary side and the conversion of the old boiler room into an office for our Learning Support Co-ordinator. The initial concept plans look great and we are still hoping this can be completed over the summer break.

With the summer term approaching it is a good time to consider getting your sunhat ready for Term 4. These can be ordered through Mainland Uniforms online and we have a limited stock here at school.

Our mufti day this week is in support of the Cancer Society and the annual Daffodil day. With the world focus on Covid it would appear that an unfortunate consequence is that the charities that have relied on donations in a more normal world are struggling to reach their normal level of fundraising. Whilst Covid is very serious and should rightly demand our attention, we should not forget that far more people each year are affected by cancer and we need organisations such as the Cancer Society to survive the economic uncertainty of this time to help those that are truly in need of it. I was happy to hear our Student Executive had chosen Daffodil Day as the recipient for this mufti-money.

In these uncertain times we understand families may be under increased stress both emotionally and financially. We certainly chose a good year to focus on Wellbeing as a school within class programmes and specialist support being a part of our normal programme this year. If you are finding school related costs difficult to manage you can access our student support fund with a confidential chat with either myself or our Finance Manager, Glenys. Our thinking on this matter is simple ... We want no child to miss out.

One central core of wellbeing is the concept of gratitude and we are encouraging students at all levels to take time to notice the good things they have in life. This would be a great dinner time starter conversation as we ask our children "tell me something about your day that was positive or good". Taking time to notice and to acknowledge these things is proven to lift your mood and outlook so I encourage you to give it a try each day. As I look out of my office window at a clear blue-sky day and compare my situation to others I know around the world, finding things to be grateful for is not overly difficult.

On the issue of masks on public transport, we have received guidance from the Ministry on the use of them on school buses. I have pasted this below for you to read.

As we know from Monday 31 August face coverings will be compulsory on public transport and Minister Hipkin’s outlined more detail on the use of face coverings on this today.

They don’t need to be worn:

Ø By children under 12

Ø On school buses

Ø On charter or group tours

Ø On interisland ferries

In addition, face coverings do not need to be worn by:

Ø Passengers of small passenger vehicles, such as taxis and uber. But drivers will be required to wear masks.

Ø People with a disability or physical or mental health condition that makes covering their face unsuitable do not have to wear face coverings also.

Ø There will be other times when it is not required – such as in an emergency, if unsafe, if people need to prove their identity or to communicate with someone who is deaf, or if required by law.

Have a great weekend. Once again, our thoughts and support are with those in Auckland and let us hope that they can resume normality next week and get business and education back on track.

Kia Kitea Toikaka

Have a wonderful weekend.

Kia Kitea Toikaka.

James Griggs

Principal

>>>>

JUNIOR SCHOOL NEWS

We are still adhering to our Level 2 restrictions so primary assemblies are still postponed until further notice. Class teachers are awarding their own Strive certificates in class until we can get back to normal. Please also remember if you are entering the school grounds that you must sign in at either the school office, or use the national app. There is also a paper register in Room 1 for parents collecting students from Te Kooti.

Sadly our second debating team was eliminated from the North Canterbury debating competition at Ohoka School. They were debating the negative side of the moot “That restorative practice is better than punishment.” It was a difficult moot and both teams were very strong, the score ended up only 5 points in difference. Congratulations again to Catalina Serrano who was the best speaker of the debate. We look forward to having more teams for another attempt in 2021.

WE are still running our reading book amnesty and thank you to all the whanau who have looked at home and returned books. We have had about 30 books returned which makes a massive difference to our reading room boxes. If you haven’t already done so, please encourage your children to have a look at home and return any school reading books so we can make up our book sets again. There is a container in my office where the children can return any books they find, alternatively they can be left with Janine at the office. Thank you!

Last week our Year 7/8 girls started a four session self-defence program to help them learn to protect themselves. We run this program each year for our girls here at school and find the girls learn many skills to take into the future. Lynda is the facilitator and has been thoroughly enjoying teaching new skills to our ‘delightful girls’ as she has fondly called them. Lynda is here for another fortnight on a Monday to complete the program.

We would like to welcome Aggie who has joined Mrs Johnson in Room 1 and is beginning her school journey. Scarlett has joined Room 5 and her sister Rhiannon has joined CBN7/8 and then Elyza-Lee who arrived this week into Room 3. Welcome to Amuri!

Nga mihi nui

Kylee Habgood

>>>>

ICAS 2020

The assessments are now fully online and sittings will be in October. The following subjects are available this year:ICAS Science – Years 5-11

ICAS Digital Technologies – Years 5-11
ICAS English – Years 5-11
ICAS Mathematics – Years 5-11
ICAS Spelling Bee – Years 5-11

The cost for each assessment is $17.00. Supervised practice sessions and the assessments themselves will take place during the school day.

Should you wish to enrol your child in one or more assessments, please e-mail susan@amuri.school.nz. Entries must be received and paid for by 4th September 2020. For more information see unsw.global/icas.

>>>>