‘E ako ana, ā, e tipu tahi ana tātou’ - Learning and growing together.

Kia ora koutou

This week is Support Staff Week. We are incredibly fortunate to have such an amazing support staff with such a diverse range of talents and strengths.  It's great to see the recent proposed pay equity settlement properly valuing Teacher Assistants for their skills and responsibilities. Those in the TA team, invaluable in providing extra learning support for our students are:

Kate Cotter, Christine Wright, Donnya Blair, Katherine Brooks, Michelle Day, Susan Irvine, Kerry Bristow, Amy Moir, Kylie Dallas, Tracy Ruddenklau, Diane Hyslop, Anna Gilchrist, Sue McDowell,

 Along with our Teacher Assistants team, the contribution that Annette MacRae our Administration Manager and Ross Ballantyne our caretaker make is also invaluable, as is the work of Kelly Lesa and Malcolm Richardson, our cleaners. Jacinta Grey and Michelle Day also assist in the office, while Diane Hyslop is our librarian - all helping to contribute to our great learning environment.

Life Education Bus

Life Education programme starts this week. Students always enjoy their sessions with Pip and Harold in the Life Education Bus. Life Education educates and empowers over 250,000 New Zealand children each year to embrace positive choices for a healthy mind and body.

Moving to Level One

A big thank you to everyone for being so cooperative during the recent Covid restrictions that we were required to put in place at school. We have had such positive feedback from so many parents about how much more independent and resilient their children are and how much easier it is for parents to leave children. We would like to ease back gradually into normal routines if possible. Teachers will still be available to meet Junior children on the court in the mornings and the early pick up will continue to be an option for this week.

The positives for teachers are that they have found that classes are ready to start learning earlier, as sometimes there had been up to 40 extra adults in classrooms in the mornings, quite overwhelming for our Junior children. We have not had the congestion down Junior Lane after school, also quite daunting for children leaving their rooms in the afternoon. 

Moving forward, if parents are meeting their children after school could they please wait on the court area to avoid the Junior Lane congestion.

Thank you again for your cooperation and understanding.

Mid Year Interviews:

Mid year interviews will take place on 23rd and 24th of June. These catch ups will be different from our usual mid-year interviews and 3-way conferences. As we are not carrying out our formal mid-year assessments these interviews will not be assessment based, rather a general catch up and sharing of information about your child's year so far, how distance learning went and how his or her transition back to school after lockdown has gone. The focus will be on well-being and looking ahead to Terms 3 and 4. These will be 10 minute sessions. You can book your times at www.schoolinterviews.c.nz

Password: bsvt9 See article later in newsletter.

Ngā mihi nui

Jennifer Horgan