E te whānau, tēnā koutou katoa,

Tomorrow we will be holding our school cross-country, fingers crossed for more fine weather, and on Friday we are celebrating Pink Shirt Day.

Pink Shirt Day 2023 - 'Kōrero Mai, Kōrero Atu, Mauri Tū, Mauri Ora – Speak Up, Stand Together, Stop Bullying'

This Friday 19 May is ‘Pink Shirt Day’. We are aiming to have the whole school; staff, children and possibly parents/caregivers wearing pink and getting involved. The aim of the day is to make it clear that at KNS we are an inclusive place, where diversity is celebrated, and all people feel safe, valued and respected. You can find out more here.

Please encourage your children to get involved.

The KNS Values and Positive Behaviour for Learning School-Wide

This year we are working on refreshing our values at KNS and introducing the Positive Behaviour for Learning School-Wide programme (PB4L School-Wide). This is perfect timing as the two are so closely linked. Developing values that are important to our school community will help strengthen the PB4L School-Wide programme.

PB4L School-Wide is a positive behavior support system that is implemented in schools to help create a positive and supportive learning environment for all students where they feel safe, valued, and respected. By focusing on positive behavior and providing support for students who need it, the programme aims to help students succeed both academically and socially.

School values are an essential part of the PB4L School-Wide approach, as they provide the foundation for positive behaviour and a positive school culture. The values of our kura are the guiding principles that shape how students and staff behave, interact, and learn within the school community. We are looking to honour our treaty partnership and school charter by using Te Reo Māori to identify our new ngā uara / values.

Collecting whānau and community voices is important to us. We will keep you updated for opportunities to find out more about PB4L School-Wide and to contribute your thoughts as we refresh the school values.

In the meantime, if you have any questions or would like to know more about PB4L School-Wide, please email Kath Walrond (kwalrond@kns.school.nz) or visit https://pb4l.tki.org.nz/.

Kāhui Ako Teacher only Day – Friday 02 June

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 Normal 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

Next Friday 26 May, we will be conducting a lockdown practice, with support from 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 swarm of bees, a 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

• Kotahi te hoe, ka ū te waka ki uta Paddling in unison the waka will reach land

A thought to share with your children:

• “If you believe it will work out, you’ll see opportunities. If you believe it won’t, you will see obstacles.” (Wayne Dyer)

Ngā Mihi

Conrad Kelly

Principal