E te whānau, tēnā koutou katoa,

Last week was very busy and successful.

On Wednesday our KNS Chess Team took part in the Regional Chess Power Tournament. The tournament involved secondary, intermediate and primary schools, with our team of Alex, Nate, Joshua, Eason, Oscar and An Vinh, coming a very creditable 3rd in the senior and intermediate category. This category included a number of secondary schools. A huge thank you to James Appleton for coaching and managing the team, who have now qualified for the national finals. There are further details about the day in this newsletter.

Last Thursday we held our school cross-country at Ben Burn Park. I was fortunate to be stationed on the finish line and it was wonderful to see so much effort, support and enjoyment throughout the morning. A huge thank you to our organisers Bhavik Patel and Ros Ross, as well as to our parent/caregiver volunteers, without your generous donation of your time and enthusiasm, events like this wouldn’t be possible.

Congratulations to the first six runners in each competitive Year 4 to 8 race, they will now go on to represent KNS in the Western Zone Cross Country.

On Friday, KNS was alive with pink and bright colours, as we celebrated ‘Pink Shirt Day’. It was great see so many children and staff making it clear that we all want KNS to be an inclusive place, where diversity is celebrated, and all people feel safe, valued and respected. There was a focus on being an upstander rather than a bystander in situations where bullying occurs, this is a message we reinforce regularly, particularly with our older children.

It has been pleasing recently to make phone calls to parents/caregivers of children who have been upstanders and taken action when they have seen others in potentially difficult situations.

“Korero Mai, Korero Atu, Mauri Tu, Mauri Ora!, Speak Up, Stand Together, Stop Bullying!”.

KNS Values Refresh

As mentioned in last week's newsletter, we are reviewing and refreshing our school values. As a part of this process, we would like to hear what our parent/caregiver community would us to consider.

Below is a link to with the question: What would you like us to consider when refreshing our school values?

Link

There will be an opportunity for parents/caregivers to provide further feedback back on possible values at a later point.

Kāhui Ako Teacher only Day – Friday 02 June (Reminder)

We will be holding a Teacher only Day on Friday 02 June, so KNS will not be open for students on this day. Our teachers will be working with teachers from the other primary schools in our Kāhui Ako; Brooklyn School, Karori West Normal School, Kelburn Normal School, Northland School, Wadestown School, and Makara Model School. The day will focus on approaches to teaching literacy and will be held at Kelburn Normal School.

Wellington College and Wellington Girls’ College will also be holding Teacher only Days on Friday 02 June.

Lockdown Practice Exercise – Friday 26 May (Reminder)

A reminder that we will be conducting a lockdown practice, this Friday 26 May. We will be supported in the practice by an independent company, Harrison Tew®, who specialise in emergency management planning for schools. We expect the exercise to run smoothly and for the children and staff to be reassured that they know what to do if we need to ‘go into lockdown’.

Please note that Harrison Tew® personnel are very experienced and present a range of age-appropriate scenarios for our children, about why we might need to go into lockdown, e.g. a dangerous dog on site etc. We ran similar practice exercises in 2021 and 2022 and both were well received and reassuring for children and staff.

• Conrad Kelly ckelly@kns.school.nz
• James Appleton jappleton@kns.school.nz
• Phil McIntosh pmcintosh@kns.school.nz

Whakataukī o te wiki

• He taonga rongonui te aroha ki te tangata - Goodwill towards others is a precious treasure.

A thought to share with your children:

• “Always stop to think whether your fun may be the cause of another’s unhappiness” (Aesop)

Ngā Mihi

Conrad Kelly

Principal