Week 2, Term 1, 2019
Kia ora ki te whānau o Cobham,
Welcome to Cobham for 2019. I do hope your child's and your experiences as parents have been positive so far this year.
It has been wonderful welcoming our new Year 7 students to Cobham, many with shiny shoes, new uniforms, mixed with anticipation, intrigue and nervousness. I suspect the nerves have abided and that our new students are coming to terms with the richness that is Cobham. We know this phase of your child’s life is hugely important. This is a time of rapid change and challenge for both student, and at times, for parents. The teaching and learning that takes place here at Cobham acknowledges this and caters for this age group in a different way than schooling that has come before and that will follow. We know this is an important transitional period and all staff at Cobham will be doing their best to ensure we provide, for each student, a fit for purpose education which will have the characteristics of quality and be able to help students shape their own paths after Cobham.
Last Friday’s Mihi Whakatau was a fantastic opportunity to officially welcome all of our new students and families. My message to the students was based around an analogy of a start line, the Cobham start line. Basically, each Year 7 student is new, each has a fresh start and their race or journey at Cobham will be different to everyone else, with an ever-changing finish line. Their journey will be littered with obstacles, obstacles that they can't yet see!They were encouraged to start well, to start by looking after the little things. It was stressed that Cobham is a big place but we urged the students to look after the little things like using the names of teachers, saying good morning and listening to the notices. At Cobham looking after the small things will take care of the bigger things. Thanks to those families who attended.
Year 7 parent information evening - Wednesday 13 February 7 pm, in the school hall. Next Wednesday, we plan to outline some key information with new parents about our learning expectations for students, we will share our online education programme for students, parents will be updated on our maths interchange system, the organisation for camp will be communicated and we will share some general information about Cobham. This aim of the evening is to give new parents an overview of how Cobham works. We welcome all Year 7 parents and new parents to next Wednesday’s meeting.
We are pleased to inform you the Canterbury DHB will continue to offer a School Based Vaccination Programme to Year 8 boys and girls, who have not completed their eleven year old vaccinations in General Practice. The School Based Vaccination programme will offer the two dose HPV vaccinations to protect against genital warts, cervical cancer, throat and mouth cancers, and other types of cancers later in life. In 2019 the programme has been extended to include a one dose Boostrix vaccination to provide protection against Tetanus, Diphtheria and Whooping Cough.
To enable students to receive the vaccinations at school, a vaccination pack will be sent home in term one. Parent/caregivers will be asked to complete and return the consent form to school. Please note, the programme is optional.
Ilam Road is a busy place both before and after school. Please do not drive into our school driveway to drop your child off, please respect the yellow lines outside our school and if you are walking your child to school or collecting them, please walk on the paths, not down the driveway. We appreciate your support with these matters.
A number of opportunities have started in the last few days, including Future Problem Solving today with many more pending. Sports information has been added to the website and Chorale auditions start next week. Pleasingly a large number of students have been keen to get involved. My advice would be to encourage your child to listen to the notices as most information is shared through this medium. As parents, from Monday, you will able to read the daily notices through our school website. If you are on Facebook please like our page (Cobham Intermediate Authorised) as this is also a good source of information.
Thank you for making the choice to be part of Cobham. We look forward to working with our new families and continuing our relationships with our returning families to ensure your child's association with Cobham provides them with opportunities and best prepares them for high school and beyond.
In the next newsletter, we will update you on our Positive Behaviour for Learning PB4L systems here at Cobham and on one of our recent initiatives, our digital citizenship teaching programmes.