Tēnā koutou e te Whānau

What a busy couple of weeks we have had here at Te Kura o te Tauawa Halswell School!

With much excitement the children of Ōrongomai participated in a House of Brick’s programme. This involved a whole day of creating, making and exploring with Lego. Many of the activities were designed to tie in with the team’s visual art focus such as making mosaics and mobiles.

Our Year 6 students have been learning all about cycle safety. This programme includes developing an understanding of cycle maintenance and helmet fitting, basic cycling skills and understanding the rules of riding safely on our roads.

Our Year 7 & 8 team have returned from a very successful camp at Lake Tekapo/Aoraki. Despite the crisp temperatures, the children ventured into the outdoors, learning about this unique area of Aotearoa. Check out some photos here. Thank you to Lisa Dovey and the Ōtūmatua teachers for all of the hard work they have put into organising this year's camp and also a big thank you to all the parents who volunteered. We couldn’t do school camps without you!

It was wonderful to see so many students and staff supporting Pink Shirt Day last Friday. Our school wide PB4L (Positive Behaviour For Learning) focus for the first half of this term is anti-bullying. You can read our Halswell School definition of bullying here. All T groups are having lessons on what bullying is/isn’t, how to respond to bullying and how to be an “upstander”. Upstanders get help if they see any incidents of bullying. Research shows that teaching students to be upstanders is one of the most powerful approaches a school can take to reducing incidents of bullying.

Unfortunately bullying happens at times in every school and research suggests the incidence of bullying in a school is best minimised by:

• Fostering a safe and caring school climate where positive social behaviours are promoted and explicitly taught

• Having clear consistent procedures for responding to all incidents of bullying

At Halswell School, our participation in the PB4L programme run by the Ministry of Education supports our approach to bullying prevention by:

• Ensuring a strong focus on our school values with students at each level being taught what these values look like in action. Prosocial skills are acknowledged and promoted through our whånau card system.

• Clear and consistent procedures for dealing with inappropriate behaviour.

“Tackling Bullying: A guide for parents and whānau” from Bullying Free NZ is an excellent resource for tips on how to support your child whether they be a victim or a bully.

If you are concerned that your child is being bullied, please contact their T group teacher as soon as possible so the issue can be addressed immediately.

Ngā mihi nui

Cathie Zelas and Tracey Mora

Acting Co-Principals