Kia ora koutou... this week we celebrate the Setting Up For Success whānau conferences, ask for you to join us to support safe travel to and from school, inform you about our emergency drills, and remind dog owners about our expectations if you are on-site with your pooch.

Setting Up For Success Whānau Conferences...

It’s been a great start to the year. Over the last couple of weeks, we have completed the Setting Up For Success conferences. The feedback from whānau and staff around the timing of these has been really positive. Having the opportunity to have quality time to sit down and discuss and share information is so important in the success of your child and the relationship between home and school. Whilst there is another set of conferences scheduled at the end of Term 2, please know that you can schedule a conference with teachers at any time during the school year.

Safe Travel to and From School

This year, we are revising our Safe Travel to School agreement with the Christchurch City Council. The School Travel Plan is a practical approach to improving road safety and encouraging the whole school community to use active modes of transport to get to and from school.

The benefits of school travel planning

• Improved safety for students on their journey to and from school

• Reduced congestion outside the school gate

• Cost savings for parents through reductions in fuel

• Higher awareness and uptake of travel choices and alternative travel modes by the school community

• Students safety, health and well-being.

Recently, I had a student make suggestions about things we could do to improve aspects of safety around our school, especially with road safety and parking. With this in mind, I am setting up a group to work together to help revise our plan with the CCC with the ultimate aim of making our community roads and footpaths safer and therefore fewer students coming to school in vehicles. If you would like to be part of this group, please contact: chris@mtpleasant.school.nz

Related to this, we have had some community members contact us regarding some unsafe practices on bikes and scooters. If your child does scooter or bike to school, please discuss with them your expectations for safe use of these. It is pretty disconcerting for community members seeing students scootering down the hill at the end of the day… and potentially being one distraction away froma serious injury. We will also reinforce this message in our school hui next week.

Emergency Drills...

Over the last two weeks, we have held emergency drills for fire and lock-down (with an earthquake one scheduled for next week). With our new buildings, it was a good opportunity to ‘shake out all the bugs’ and ensure we are ready for any event should it happen. As part of this, we will be holding another lock-down drill where we test our whānau communication systems to ensure they work. We will put out a message prior to the drill so you are aware this is happening.

Dogs on Site…

We have a number of whānau who walk their dogs to school for drop-off and pick-up. This is just a reminder that they need to be under close-control on a lead and should not be near building exits. This allows all our students to feel safe around the beloved family pooch, while ensuring those who are not so sure around dogs to have a safe exit at the beginning and end of the day. We appreciate your support with this.

Kia pai tō rā whakatā. Hei te Rāhina, na

Chris Nord