Kia ora whanau

I hope you all managed to have a restful break over the holidays and are ready for our exciting last term for 2019. I was privileged to attend the blessing for the new classrooms at Breens early on Sunday morning. The new spaces are amazing and I know the team were looking forward to getting everyone settled into the new spaces this week.

Athletics Day

Next Friday we have our school athletics day and annual PTA bake sale. This is always a great day with lots of parent and family support to encourage the tamariki. Please see the separate athletics article with the attached documents and come along for the day.

Cultural Concert

Our kapa haka group is looking forward to performing at the Hereora Cultural Celebration next Wednesday and Thursday evenings. This is a wonderful opportunity for the students to perform but also to enjoy the performances of our other local schools' kapa haka groups. The children have been practising and were sounding amazing in the last week of last term so I’m really looking forward to seeing them up on stage.

Christchurch Schools' Music Festival

Our Year 5 & 6 choir will be performing in the Christchurch Schools’ Music Festival on 5 November. Another opportunity to showcase some wonderful musical talent.

PTA Colour Run

On Sunday 3 November the PTA are organising a colour run. It would be great to have families supporting this event which will be in the afternoon. Please see the PTA News section for more information on the event and how to register.

Staff News

We have been busy appointing staff for 2020 and are excited to announce the following appointments:

Miss Erin Gribble Junior Team Leader from the start of 2020.

Mrs Janine Kroening and Ms Andrea Smith have given up their job share and will both be teaching full time from 2020.

Miss Jess McColl has also been appointed to a fixed term position for 2020.

Phoebe Sopp and her partner have decided to move to Hanmer Springs and so Phoebe will be leaving Harewood at the end of this year to take up a position at Amuri School. We will miss Phoebe very much and have really valued all she has contributed to our school over the last four years.

Due to Phoebe’s resignation we still have one appointment to make for 2020 before levels that teachers will be working at can be announced.

Please see the separate article in this newsletter for a little bit about each person who has been appointed to positions.

Education Outside the Classroom - EOTC

Education Outside the Classroom has always been extremely important and valued by our Harewood School community. It is timely, with the review of our EOTC policy and with discussions about parents contributing towards cost of the these experiences, to consult with parents to see if they still value the EOTC experiences we provide.

Many of you will be aware of the talk in media about schools and donations. Some Decile 1-7 schools are able to opt into the government scheme where, in agreeing to not ask parents for donations, the government will give the school $150 per child. This is not something Harewood as a Decile 8 school is able to participate in.

Unfortunately, the negative consequence of this could mean schools withdraw from providing some of the wonderful opportunities currently provided because payments for curriculum related activities can be requested from parents but cannot be compelled.

We believe that EOTC activities greatly enhance learning, develop key competencies and are often the aspects that children remember for many years.

We would not be able to offer the rich range of activities our students participate in without a contribution from parents.

Trips costs have increased in the last few years with the need for us to use buses, rather than taking private cars, due to car seat requirements.

EOTC activities that our students participate in include:

· class trips and visits (all levels)

· Gym School (Matai team)

· Cultural and sporting activities (eg choir, kapa haka, zone sports representation)

· Offsite swimming lessons (whole school every second year) - cost approximately $65

· Winter sport transport (Y5&6)

· Ski-ing (Year 5) approx cost $100

· Sailing (Year 5 & 6)

· 3 day Camp (Year 6) approx cost $180

To help ensure we are listening to the voice of our community and to help guide our decision making around providing continued experiences for our students I would appreciate all parents completing a very short survey by Friday 25 October. https://forms.gle/mLQcHmD1HmAgbcqW7

Ngā mihi,

Julie