Haere mai. Welcome to term 1 2024.

A special welcome to Bluestone School. We would also like to welcome our new students and their families who join us at Bluestone to start the new term. We also have some students joining us throughout the term. It is such a special time beginning school and we look forward to working with you and your child.

Te Tahi staff: Rooms 3, 4, and 5 are all New Entrant/Year 1 classrooms, and we call our team Te Tahi. Discovery Time, PMP, and other activities are undertaken as a team. The teachers in Te Tahi are: Carmen Brown (team leader) and Emma Morton (Rm 3), Asher Bennie-Slocombe (Rm 4), and Corinna Brook (Rm 5). 

General: Bluestone School starts at 8.45am. A first bell rings to let students know to come inside. Students should be inside by the time the second bell rings at 8.50am. Please ensure your child arrives at school with plenty of time to complete their morning jobs. 8.30am is a good time to aim for. In Te Tahi we use the external class door for morning drop offs and afternoon pick ups. This avoids congestion in the common space area and also allows us to ensure entry and exits are from one door only.

If your child is absent, the Hero app allows you to record an absence digitally. Alternatively you can ring 684 3706 and leave a message or text 027 460 7149 leaving your child’s name and reason for absence. All absences need to be accounted for.

A reminder Bluestone School is a nut free zone. Lunch orders are available most days. Please refer to the school website for details.

Morning jobs: Each morning the students will unpack their bags. Reading folders (new students will be given these shortly) will be placed in student's tote trays/boxes, along with their sunhats. School bags are then placed in the appropriate place. Once these jobs are done, the students are free to say good morning to their friends and play until the bell rings.

Communication: Information, messages, samples of work and reporting processes are made via the Hero App. This is an app which needs to be downloaded from the app store.

Please ask if you’re unsure how to do this. School Newsletters are also emailed out.

Sun hats: It is part of Bluestone School’s SunSmart policy for all students (and staff) to wear a sun hat outside during Terms 1 and 4. These must be the navy wide-brimmed bucket hats, which can be purchased from the school office. We encourage students to keep their sun hats at school for the term, so that it isn’t accidentally left at home.

Sunscreen: Please ensure your child has sunscreen on when they arrive at school. We have sunscreen available in the classroom. Students are welcome to bring their own sunscreen to re-apply also.

Library: We visit the library once a week. Students will receive a special Bluestone School Library bag. Our junior students are able to issue 2 books per visit. 

Clothing: Please have all items (hat, polar fleece, polo top, sweatshirt, shorts etc) clearly named. It’s much easier to return to their owner if we can see a name - thank you. We really appreciate the children being able to self manage themselves by taking off and putting on their own shoes during PMP time. Therefore velcro shoes are strongly recommended as this is the most time efficient in a busy classroom.

Homework: Once children have begun reading books they will bring home a book on a Thursday for reading at home. The children have this book until the following Monday, when it is to be returned. They are able to read their book at home daily Thursday to Monday. This system enables us to first teach the correct skills during the week that can then be reinforced at home. All books are to be kept in their reading folder each day.

Structured Literacy: At Bluestone School we use a Structured Literacy approach to teach reading and writing. This approach is evidence based, best practice, and designed to meet all students' learning needs. Further information will be shared at a later date.

Letterland: In conjunction with Structured Literacy we use Letterland which is an interactive and engaging programme aimed at learning phonemes (sounds). Students always enjoy this.

Perceptual Motor Programme (PMP) - PMP is a motor coordination programme for school age children. PMP uses a range of fitness, balance, eye tracking, locomotion and eye/hand, eye/foot coordination activities.

Music: Te Tahi are lucky to have Dale McKay teaching us music. These sessions will be fortnightly on a Friday.

Staff in the Te Tahi team are very friendly and approachable. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any concerns or queries.

Nga mihi

Carmen, Emma, Corinna and Asher