Tena koutou katoa. It has been a lovely week at school. A highlight was to see the Year 4-6 students wearing their production t-shirts that were given out, they looked so good!

A few parents have asked about the class placement system, Pluto, that we are using this year so I thought I would explain it a bit more. The current teachers have filled in a form which has each child’s information (gender, ethnicity) and then added other important information such as any behaviour or learning needs, or specific notes about any student combinations etc. The system then generates the class lists into balanced classes. The leadership team and current teachers then have a final look. Once this has happened, the lists become final. Your child’s 2022 class placement will be going home in an envelope, along with next year's stationery list, on the last Monday and Tuesday of school (13 and 14 December). Those who are distance learning and not at school will be emailed by their teacher with a timeframe in that last week that they are able to come to school to collect this and their child’s personal belongings from the year.

Our 2021 Yearbook (which looks amazing) will be going home with each child in the last week of term where the activity contribution has been paid (it was included in this). If you have not paid this contribution but would like to purchase a copy, limited numbers are available for sale, please contact the school office.

Distance learning continues until the end of next week, Friday 10 December. For the last few days of school, teachers will have Christmas activities available for them to complete if they wish. These won’t be assessed, they are designed for creativity and fun.

On Friday 10 December, we are holding the Year 6 Graduation. As expected, this will be different from in past years, but we wanted to celebrate these students in the safest way possible. They will all come to school from 11am - 1pm, and the event will be held on the school field. Unfortunately, parents are unable to be on site but we will take photos on the day and are looking into having a live stream also.

School closes for the year at 12.30pm on Thursday 16 December, with the school office remaining closed until Friday 29 January 2022. School restarts for the learners on Wednesday 2 February, however these are 10-minute meetings with teachers, parents, and children meeting together to get to know each other and set possible goals. All students will be back in class from Thursday 3 February 2022.

I am aware that some of you are wondering when the school pool will be open for community use. I am currently awaiting an answer from the Ministry about that and as soon as I have it we will let you know. The complication is that while Auckland moved to the traffic light system from this morning (pools can open), schools have been directed to stay in level 3 (pools can’t open) until 1 January 2022. Common sense would be that we can give out keys for swimming from 17 December onwards, once school closes, but we need to wait for confirmation before we can do that.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Ngā mihi nui

Sue