Kia ora, talofa lava, greetings everyone

Welcome to the fourth and final term for 2017!  It's been such a great start with lots happening across all teams.  If you have been into school lately, you may have noticed some new additions to our grounds.  During the holidays, we had three new shade/shelter canopies installed which have already provided much needed shade during this sunny weather spell.  We have had two canopies installed in the central courtyard area outside Green Block as well as one installed on the roadside on Broadlands Drive, in front of the 'Kiss and Go' zone.  We still have some seating to install under these canopies  yet and this will be done before the end of this term.

It was a pleasure to host a keen group of parents at our "Going Deeper" Parent information evening.  It was a fantastic opportunity to share how we are aiming to deepen learning opportunities for our students and to present our vision and goals for the next four years.  For those of you who were able to make it along - thanks for coming and I hope you found the evening worthwhile and informative.

Last Friday, we held the Senior Athletics Sports here at school in warm and sunny conditions.  I congratulate all of the children on their efforts throughout the day - it was obvious how much they enjoyed each event and how hard they tried.  From here, we have a large team of Clearview students who have qualified for the Zone Athletics scheduled for Friday 10th November.  I wish them all the very best as they prepare for their individual events.

Tomorrow evening, our Senior Choir are performing alongside a mass-choir of 1000+ children from schools across the Canterbury region.  This event is part of the Christchurch Schools Music Festival being held at The Horncastle Arena.  I will be sitting proudly in the audience cheering our boys and girls on - good luck to them all for their performance.  Furthermore, we have a group of five Clearview students who will be taking centre stage with either the Senior or Junior Representative Choir.  Best of luck to Lydia Hawes, Ashleigh Fisher and Ruth Stevens,  Maile Tupou and Tania McMillan.

Our choir have been practicing really hard each and every week since the beginning of the year under the expert leadership of Trisa Espiner.  Thank you to Trisa for sharing her passion for music and expert coaching with our Senior Choir.  Thanks also to Erin Sutherland for taking such an active support role with co-ordinating and managing the group.

Organisation for 2018

I can now confirm that the school layout/organisation for 2018 has been completed and I shared this with our BOT at the end of last term.  Next year, we will have a drop in staffing allocation due to a our school roll stabilising which means that we will be opening with less homebases at the start of next year.  With this in mind, we have made the decision to have five teams (we currently have six).  In doing this, we have been able to structure the school without the need to split any year groups across teams.  Clearview Primary will be organised as follows:

Discover Team.......... New Entrants / Year 1  (4 HBs)

Engage Team ............Year 1/2  (4 HBs)

Spark Team ...............Year 3/4  (8 HBs)

Quest Team ..............Year 5/6  (8 HBs)

Challenge Team ......Year 7/8  (6 HBs)

Finding the best possible space for larger teams is always a challenge, therefore there will be a little bit of movement with a couple of teams moving blocks to accomodate this.  Given the larger team of Year 3/4s (Spark Team), they will need to be split over two blocks, therefore we have decided to have the Year 3's in one block and the Year 4's in another.  From time to time, we have single year group classes, and due to assessment, reporting and BYOD purposes, we have decided to do so for this team next year.

Teachers have still not been confirmed for each level/space yet but we hope to have this confirmed in the next few weeks.  

There is still much to organise for next year but it is really starting to take shape - very exciting!

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Naku iti nei, na

Rob Rush

Principal/Tumuaki