Whanau Harakeke is a part of the Town Team which will move into the downstairs learning areas next term. They have two teachers, and a growing roll as they include our new entrants.

Francie: My husband Justin, and I, are the parents of 3 big boys (Finn, 22; Jonty, 20; and Henri, 16). We all enjoy tramping, a bit of running, and travelling. I also like reading, cooking, and I guess I should admit - buying vintage dresses! francie.graham@lyttelton.school.nz

Jane: I have recently returned from the UK after 4 years teaching at a school in inner city London. I am enjoying being back with family in Christchurch and teaching in New Zealand. Like Francie I love travel, the outdoors, yoga, and I have enjoyed getting back into tramping, ticking off a few over the summer break. It’s been great getting to know you and your children over the past few weeks and we look forward to the year ahead.  jane.morrison@lyttelton.school.nz

In the mornings we have instigated play from 8.30am - 9.15am. This has been very well received by all the children as they settle in with their new friends. The conversations between the children during this time have been so lovely, and we teachers have valued being able to talk freely with parents as well.

Maths follows at 9.15, for our  whole school. Our whanau group has devised the PEGS programme, which gives the children the opportunity to make choices within Maths when they are not in a group with a teacher. They can choose P (puzzles, and patterns), E (exhibiting their numeral formation on card/paper/ipads/whiteboards), G (games), and S (sheets). When they have completed one of these choices, they attach a peg with their name on it, to the poster.

After morning tea, we have the Literacy programme, entailing reading and story writing. Your child will be bringing home a reader each night (Mon - Thur), and we are thrilled by how many of you listen to your child’s reading. This should never be a test, but a time to read together, and enjoy their progress. On Fridays, the week’s poem will come home. At the moment there may be an overlap of books from last term. It is great for them to have some books they are familiar with, to get back into the swing of reading. New books will be arriving soon. Spelling lists are attached to the back of the homework reading log. If you have time, encourage your child to practice these words.

Self management is a focus for the whole school this term. In our whanau group we will be encouraging children to do things like put their Reading Folder in the right place at the beginning of the day, put their lunch boxes on the bench (in the upstairs room), look after their hats, packing their bags at the end of the day, applying sunscreen, as well as make choices during Maths and Literacy times. Over the course of the year we want to also provide our whanau group with strategies to enable the children to cope with situations that might not work out as they hoped. Building emotional resilience will underpin a lot of how we present learning in the classroom. More on this during the year, but it includes things such as teaching them to problem-solve, engaging them in figuring out how they can handle challenges, giving them opportunities, over and over, to figure out what works and what doesn’t.

Our whanau group is lucky to have Rhona as a support worker. Rhona has a speciality and love of literacy and will be a bonus for our children.

We have also been fortunate to have been able to book the swimming pool once a week, for the next 4 weeks. During this time the emphasis is on greater exposure to water for our whanau group, with particular attention paid to putting our heads under, floating on our backs and fronts (with or without a board), and kicking.