Kia ora, talofa lava, greetings everyone

We certainly have some clever students at Clearview.  I am constantly in awe of the way they take on new roles, engage in their learning, participate in extra-curricular activities and compete in various sporting events.   Our Year 5-8 Swimming Sports were held last week over Monday and Tuesday with 350 of our students giving it their best effort.  From this event, we had a further 42 students qualify to compete at the  Zone Swimming Sports on Wednesday 14th March.  Congratulations to them all and I wish them well for their race/s.

The year is well and truly underway with class routines established and programmes in place.  The first few weeks of any school year is an important time for teachers and their students to establish rapport with each other and to set up the year with clear expectations and a positive, inclusive atmosphere.

We also place massive importance on establishing strong and positive partnerships with our parents, whanau and community.  There is strong research to suggest that having positive relationships between home and school can lead to greater student outcomes.  I can see so many examples of this across our whole school which is just fantastic.

In order to maintain such collaborative links between home and school, open communication is vital.  Often when things can become a bit unstuck is when communication breaks down or information can be misinterpreted or lost, albeit unintentionally.

If, for any reason, you would like to contact your child's teacher, please don't hesitate to get in touch directly with them.  They are available in their HB's to meet informally with parents from 8:30am - 9:00am daily and again straight after school (depending on whether or not they have meetings).  

In the interests of staff wellness, we must remember that teachers have a life outside of school, therefore if you send an email at night time, please do not expect a reply immediately. They will endeavour to reply within 24 hours.  They can be contacted via email or phone and if required, a meeting can be scheduled to discuss things further with you.  

Please be considerate and respectful of the way you engage with our staff as well as the timing of when you make contact with them.   Like any relationship, for it to thrive, there needs to be effort and respect from both parties.  

On a slightly different note, the Clearview Fete is now only a couple of weeks away (Sunday 25th March) and the team on the organising committee have been putting in a lot of hours planning and preparing for another successful event.  This year's Fete is hoping to raise money to upgrade our library.  The last fete in October of 2016 had over 10,000 people come through the gates and we are once again hoping for another turn out like this. 

 If you haven't done so already, please mark this event in your diary and come along to support it.   There will be lots of entertainment - we will have a number of our arts and cultural groups performing throughout the day as well as some other local performance groups.  There is a plethora of high quality stall holders selling a range of goods and plenty of yummy food for sale.  This event brings our school and local community together for a fun and entertaining day out, so please support this event.

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the rest of your week.

Naku iti nei, na

Rob Rush

Principal/Tumuaki