Kia ora e te whānau, I trust you are all having a relaxing break and have managed to find some time to yourselves. This is a special newsletter that contains key information on work that is taking place on the school grounds this week, a brief Covid-19 update and some general information. Please do take a moment to have a read.

With today also being ANZAC day it is of course a very special day. While we have not been able to hold our own ANZAC commemoration at school due to ANZAC day falling in the holidays, on behalf of all of the staff and students, I would like to take a moment to pause, reflect and remember all of those New Zealanders and Australians who gave their lives during the battle on the beaches of Gallipoli.

I am sure that there were many members of our community who attended ANZAC ceremonies today to pay their own tributes today. 

I thought that it would be appropriate to start this newsletter with the ode that is recited during ANZAC ceremonies. The ode comes from For the Fallen, a poem by the English poet and writer Laurence Binyon and was published in London in The Winnowing Fan: Poems of the Great War in 1914. 

Have a great week. 

Ngā mihi nui

Darryn

The ANZAC ODE

Lest We Forget!

Drainage work  - Wednesday to Friday

We have contractors on site from Wednesday through to Friday this week working on the area outside Katote that is prone to flooding. This is an important project given the amount of flooding that this area can see when we get heavy rain.  

This project is well overdue and we are extremely grateful to the MOE for providing us with some extra funding to get this work done. We are also delighted to have two local companies (Raika Drainage Limited and Kere Marshall Drainage Services) doing this work for us. 

We are looking forward to being able to keep our feet dry once this work is completed. 

School Playground

Work has begun on installing the new playground. The site is cordoned off at the moment. We are expecting the concrete to be poured on Thursday of this week. We are then expecting a large load (46 cubic metres) of soft fall that will be added to the playground area. This is being offloaded out the front of the school and will be moved onto the playground area by a contractor early Friday morning. 

Pump / Bore repairs

The final project that we are having done is a repair and upgrade to the bore and pump in the vege garden. This is vital work as without this we are unable to effectively keep the pool topped up or provide water to our vege gardens. This bore also provides important irrigation for the school.

Please avoid the school grounds while all of this work is taking place

For all of the projects mentioned above there will be construction vehicles and machinery onsite so I would respectfully ask that extra care is taken if you need to visit the school grounds for any reason before the start of the new term. 

If at all possible it would be helpful if we could ask our students to please stay away from the school from Wednesday through to the end of the weekend.

Thank you for your support.

Covid 19 update

As you will be aware we are now at the orange traffic light setting. It is important that we take a safety first approach given the impact that Covid has had on our school so far. We are also mindful that many of our children and staff are yet to be affected by Covid and we want to do everything we can to limit any further impact. 

The senior leadership team are meeting on Thursday this week and will using this time to finalise plans around how the school will operate under ORANGE. Careful consideration will be given to any changes that need to be made to ensure that we are doing our very best to keep everyone safe. 

A newsletter will be sent out after Thursday providing our community with all of the details of how Fernside School will operate from the start of Term 2 under the new setting. 

Ukulele Concert

We were delighted to have the children from the Wheki classes entertaining the us during the lunchtime on the Wednesday of the last week. I know that both of the Wheki classes had been working incredibly hard on learning these pieces. 

I enjoyed the opportunity to join in myself with my guitar and ukulele. I huge thank you to Mrs Leopold for the work she has done with the classes. Thank you also to those who came out and watched and listened.

Ohoka Rugby

Please see the attached flier with information about how to register for Ohoka Rugby Club.