Grant Forman, Brooke McKay, Toni Booth, Danny Hillary (behind), Steve Ladbrook, Aaron Taylor, Trish Patten

Kia ora koutou, welcome all to 2021, and our first blog of the year. We are excited to be working with you and your child to make 2021 a successful and enjoyable year.

This blog will be one of our main avenues for communicating with you.

We will share our plan for the week, upcoming events, student learning, and all those notices that keep you up to date with what is happening in the Year 5/6 team, and the wider school.

Sun hats 

We are a 'SunSmart' school and as such , a friendly reminder that sun hats are compulsory for term 1. There are 2 types of Oaklands green school hats - wide-rimmed and bucket. Please ensure they are named. Some students use hats passed down and these often have the name of the previous student. It would be much appreciated if the name reflects the current wearer.

Q&A

When will teachers be available for meetings?

--> Should you wish to meet with a teacher, we are available after school. Please contact your child's pastoral care teacher ahead of time as often teachers have after school duties or team/staff meetings. Days when Kōmingo teacher have no after school meetings are Monday, Thursday and Friday. 

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How is the Yr 5/6 team set up?

--> The Year 5/6 team will be based in the Kōmingo block. There will be two sections: Kōmingo Rāwhiti (East) and Kōmingo Uru (West). Kōmingo Rāwhiti (East) is the space nearest to the swimming pool.

The following teachers are based in each space:

Kōmingo Rāwhiti (East) - Brooke McKay, Grant Forman and Steve Ladbrook 

Kōmingo Uru (West) -Aaron Taylor, Danny Hillary and Toni Booth 

What should my child do when they come in to class each day?

--> We will be working with students to establish the morning routine, but this will include:

- putting their bag into their assigned space

- bringing BYOD devices into class and placing it in their book box space (please note that the Cybersafety programme is delivered in week 1 and 2, with BYOD devices being able to be brought to school from week 3)

- signing themselves in on the digital roll

- checking in with teachers

- organising any resources they will need for the morning learning sessions

- then they can take up one of the 'before school in class options', or go and play with friends.

What do I do with my child's stationery?

--> Much of the stationery included in the stationery list will not be used straightaway. We ask that students have a couple of pens and pencils and other essentials in a pencil case, available to be used in class. With other pens and pencils etc, we ask that they be placed into a named bag and handed in to the teacher. We will place these in a cupboard and when a student requires a new pen or pencil etc, we will get that for them. 

We will not be collecting in stationery to be communally shared.

We will collect in 2 of the Kupu Words 3 book which we will give to students when they fill up their current exercise book.

Note: Please name all stationery as they all look the same

• Overview of Term 1 learning

Our key focus for term 1 is our Integrated Learning unit.

                    Integrated Learning - About Me

Learning activities will include

• Food for Thought - a national school-based nutrition education programme for students in Years 5 and 6, educating them to make healthier food choices. Using inquiry-based learning, both in the classroom and a supermarket, programme nutritionists help students understand ‘why’ the choices they’re making will improve their health. Students will visit a local supermarket, plan a healthy lunch, which we will all share together to conclude the programme. Here is a link to the national website.

• Cybersafety - In the first two weeks we will deliver the school cybersafety programme, preparing students for the introduction of BYOD and school devices in week 3. Students will need to complete the programme successfully prior to use a school device or bring their BYOD device to school. More information will be made available to support students and families with getting this sorted.

• Keeping Ourselves Safe - This programme, including a visit by a community constable, is a comprehensive programme for school focusing on teaching students a range of safe practices that they can use when interacting with other people, both online and face to face

Other regular school based programmes which we will cover are:

• KIVA

• Pause Breathe Smile

• Our CARE programme

• The Zones of Regulation

Students will be doing daily SSR (sustained silent reading) where they are able to read a book of their choice. For some students we will support them with reading material at their appropriate level.

We ask that students bring in a book (or 2) that they can use for the first week or two until our class library system is up and running.

We will have some books from teacher collections available as well.

Contact details:

Should you wish to contact a teacher, please use the following email:

komingo@oaklands.school.nz