Newsletter - WE 29/05/20

Tēnā Koutou

Catching Up?

We have had some conversations this week around the lost time whilst students were not at school. Particularly those in the high stakes end of NCEA. Whilst some students excelled in the home learning environment, for many, the sense of not being on track is evident. The first thing to remember is that we are in MAY and the year is not over. There is time to refocus, to set goals and priorities based on our new normal and to achieve. There have been some concessions made to support students with exams being moved to later on in the year and the change in some moderation requirements.

As a school we have also looked to seek ways to support students here at school. In the next term break we have arranged for extra credit first aid courses to run and we have brought in some extra standards to support certain students with their learning. Our Outdoor Education and PE students have an intensive three weeks of practical to make up for lost time and to complete valuable assessments. Later this year we will not be sending our senior students on study leave as we normally would. We will expect students to attend on-site tutorials right up to the day of the exam in that particular subject or attend school to complete any unfinished internals. This relieves pressure on both staff and students to rush through any content or assessments.

This all gives us back what was lost.. TIME and with all of these things in place AND with hard work and awesome attendance from the students themselves in the coming months, we can and will overcome all obstacles so please reassure your child that it is not too late…. it is worth trying…. and they can get there.

Winter Clothing

Some students are coming to school with precious few layers on to keep warm. This will lead to sickness and under current conditions lengthy absences from school, so we encourage you to look at our full range of uniform options and layer your children up for the winter. Black Thermals for Year 1-8 and white thermals for Year 9-13 are a great place to start!

Queens Birthday Weekend

Don't forget it’s a long weekend so no school Monday. Enjoy the weekend I hope some of you managed to grab one of those cheap campervans for a fun weekend away.

Summary of results from Parent Survey around Remote Learning

Thanks so much to those who contributed to this survey. We have used this information to sharpen up our practice should we ever have to go down that particular road again. The remote learning plan was essentially built as we were flying it. Your comments were incredibly valuable and very much appreciated and were generally affirming of the work that had been completed.

· In terms of rating the provision overall, 90% of parents who responded rated the delivery as having met or exceeded their expectations.

· Internet and device access was an issue but only for a select few parents.

· The greatest support (75%) for the implementation age for BYOD (bring you own device) was for Year 9 and above with some support (17%) for this to start at Year 7 and 8.

· Parents and caregivers utilised all the forms of communication we used showing that all were valuable in some way or another.

· The survey rated communication overall strongly with 96% of respondents noting it as having met or exceeded their expectations.

The comment section was perhaps the most useful for us in refining our provision moving forward. Issues with Zoom schedules and comments around the difficulties in managing multiple children in one house were but two of the areas we can now consider in our planning and delivery. We have now developed a revised remote learning plan based on this feedback. Let us hope we never need this again, however, should we need to, we feel we are now much better placed to do so.

Once again I would like to take this opportunity to thank the team here at Amuri for the effort they made during this period and the willingness to adapt and change and teach in ways they have never even tried before. They really are a great team and I am privileged to work with them!

Kia Kitea Toikaka

James Griggs
Principal

Junior School News

One word to summarise our start back to school post lockdown – PLEASED. The buzz from the children on Monday showed how much they had missed their friends and classmates and they were so excited to be back together. The teachers were excited to have smiling faces back in their classrooms and I think it is fair to say we all missed the daily interactions we have with other people. In summary, it is good to be back. Things are changing constantly as the government loosen regulations. In saying that, we also have regulations that we must continue with, such as contact tracing registers. We appreciate the support of our parents and whanau as we continue to adhere to these.

Louise and Harold the Giraffe from Life Education have been visiting this week. All classes in Year 1-6 have had two lessons in the Life Education trailer. These lessons are based on skills for handling conflict and situations where there is peer pressure. Harold was and is a firm favourite in our school and the children were delighted to see him back. And one wee dot noticed that Harold had his own car! The children were very impressed by this. Thank you to Louise for her work and time this week.

The school has purchased a food warmer for the primary side of the school. It will be located on the primary side for children to have warm food at 2nd break each day. Monitors will distribute the food to the children. All food must be contained in a covered foil dish or foil wrap and be clearly named along with your child’s room number. Please make sure your food is not able to leak. The food warmer will be available from next week.

The school cross country will be held on June 24 and at this stage it will be a closed event, meaning parents will not be able to attend due to regulations on large gatherings. The children have been busy practising and walking the course. Please ensure your children are wearing some good footwear for running or bringing it to school. The ground is a bit wet and there is a plenty of mud about.

Welcome to the new people who have joined our primary syndicate. Welcome to DJ to Room 1 and Taylor in Year 8. We hope you will enjoy your time at Amuri!

And to add further excitement to our restart, Gypsy Day is fast approaching. We appreciate knowing if you are intending to move out of the area in advance, please contact the school on 03 315 8233. Likewise, if you are employing staff who are moving into the area and who have children, please ask them to contact the school for an enrolment form. Advance knowledge helps us to plan for and to transition our new pupils.

For the next two weeks we will be following protocols to ensure safety of students and staff.

· In Year 1-6 we will not be sending home any reading books until further notice. Reading lessons will continue as normal in the classroom and the books will remain at school to track and contain items. We apologise for the inconvenience, but I am sure you are aware that books are quite hard to sanitise and keep intact and it is easier to track them if they remain at school.

· We are asking parents to complete a contact tracing register if they wish to come onto school grounds and, also not to wait within the school grounds at the end of the day. Please wait outside the gate if you are collecting children.

· The playground will be closed after school as this will need to be cleaned and sanitised, so we ask that children do not remain after school to play there.

There will be no primary assemblies until further notice due to crowd restrictions.

Kylee Habgood

Hurunui Junior Football League: Registration

After a successful inaugural year of age 4 - 8 football in 2019, we are again running the league in 2020.

Here is the registration form link: https://forms.gle/B1nRH8MzMVfzeFEq8

I would be grateful if you could please share this link with your community, along with the following information:

This Hurunui Junior Football League will again run in 2020. This league is for kids aged 4 - 8 and runs for all of Term 3. There are two 'competitions': Ages 4 - 5 and ages 6 - 8, although students can move between the two to find a level that suits their ability. In this league the focus is on participation and developing skills. Nine year olds and older should register with our parent club, Hurunui Rangers.

Games will be held at Amberley, Hawarden and Culverden schools’ in rotation, on Saturdays at 10am.

We will try to form teams of players who come from the same area, but this will depend on the number of players registered.

Some areas/schools will run mid-week training for their players, depending on the availability of parents or teachers to coach the kids.

The cost for registration is $10 per child for the term - please pay on Day 1 of the competition. Funds will be used to provide equipment for the competition. Players will need to bring boots and shin pads. There are plenty of smaller football boots available for loan on game day. Team jerseys are provided.

Please register your kids well in advance of the competition.

Thank you

Tim Kelly (League Manager)