14 April 2022

Kia ora Parents and Caregivers

End of term 1

As we come to the end of term 1 we reflect on a challenging and unique term. This certainly has been a term with a difference as we have juggled children and staff who have become positive with Covid 19 and spent time away from school in isolation mode. In total we have had over 100 students who have tested positive throughout the term and we have averaged 100 students away each day as a result of families isolating. A total of 188 families have isolated this term so far. The goal for all schools has been to stay open despite the difficulty with losing staff along the way who have tested positive. We have achieved that goal thanks to the hard work and dedication of our school team. To be frank, there have been some days where we have struggled to staff some areas of the school.

You will appreciate that there have been a multitude of things going on behind the scenes just to keep the school going during this time. Some of these things have included the ongoing monitoring of the many government restrictions that we have been under during this time, preparation and distribution of home learning packs, ongoing support of teachers in the learning space islands with resources and figuring out how to staff classes when staff have become sick themselves and liaison with families during the isolation period. We have averaged 6 staff away each week for the last 6 weeks. Special thanks to our part time teachers and relieving teachers who have really stepped up during this time to ensure that the school has stayed open. In fact I have to say our whole staff and children have been magnificent during this term as we have negotiated our way through the Pandemic

We are not out of the woods just yet so to speak. We will be monitoring the Covid situation over the holiday period and we will put out another communication to parents on the eve of term 2. Please keep an eye out for this notice of information before term 2 begins.

Staffing

As at the end of term 1 we announce the following staffing changes:

Judy Beal

Judy has left our school team after giving us 25 years loyal service. In recent times Judy has been our Senior Learning Assistant / Welfare Coordinator and she has worked with many of our families and children during this time. Judy has been a most valuable member of our school team for a long time. While we are sad to see her go, we are excited for her as she embraces the next exciting phase of her life.

Mel Fletcher

Next term Mel will take up the position of Senior Learning Assistant / Welfare Coordinator. Mel brings extensive education experience, working alongside children and families and we look forward to welcoming her to our team in term 2.

Fiona Lange ( Year 6 Team Leader )

After 19 years at Queenspark School Fiona has decided that the time is right to move on to explore other career options. During her time with us Fiona has made significant contributions to our school as a team leader and in curriculum development; particularly in the mathematics area. We are sad to see her go but we wish her all the best as she embarks on a new exciting career journey.

Siobhan van Arendonk

Siobhan has been appointed as Team leader for the remainder of this year. We are pleased that she will be able to continue the excellent job that she is doing leading this team and teaching her class.

Karen Brown

Karen has been the Year 6 teacher in Room 20 for term 1 and she also has been appointed as the Room 20 teacher for the remainder of this year. We acknowledge Karen for the positive way she has joined our school team and the great work she has been doing with the Year 6 children in her class.

Holly Graham

We warmly welcome Holly to the office administration team. Holly has already made a great start at QPS and she is super keen to meet all our families over the upcoming terms.

Malcolm Falconer - School Maintenance

During the term we welcomed Malcolm to our QPS team as our new maintenance person. We are pleased with the work that he is doing with ongoing maintenance issues that arise with a big site such as ours

School Evironment - gardens

Ceilia Weavers is working with us attending to our many garden areas. We really appreciate the difference she is making to keeping our outdoor environment weed free and the plants happy.

Vandalism - Protecting our school - Can you help ?

We are having ongoing issues with vandalism damage to our school buildings and grounds. At the start of the term we were greeted with smashed down pipes, broken windows, broken seats, broken glass and evidence of drinking and other activities in various parts of the school. It is heartbreaking given all the great property development work that has happened during the last 18 months. Despite our camera surveillance and additional patrols our PTA are doing, this damage is continuing. Just this week the big gate at the entrance to the Junior School was stolen!

We have recently received some trust funding to put in place a security guard to supervise the school during evening times. We would love it if you could drop by over the next two weeks and do a walk through especially during evening times to create more of a presence on our school grounds. If you see something that has happening that shouldn’t be happening please call the Police. Unfortunately we have had youths who have frequented our site with the sole purpose of causing damage and danger to others. This is simply not acceptable and we are “over” cleaning up after them on a Monday morning.

If you can help we would love to hear from you! Better still if you would like to join our parent patrol roster contact Krissy at queensparkschoolpta@gmail.com.

Reading Recovery

This year we are lucky to have two Reading Recovery teachers, Mrs Simmonds and Miss Elliott. 

They moved our office in the old Dental clinic at the back of the school next to the new build. It is a great area that we have set up for reading recovery and the children really enjoy learning in this space.

The children on Reading Recovery have been working hard on their reading and writing skills this term, making some good progress, despite the interruptions. We are impressed that they are remembering their reading folder most days and practice at home even if it’s reading to their pets, toys or siblings. 

Term 1 wrap up

Check out the term one reflections section in this newsletter from the learning teams. You will see that there has been some great learning happening despite all the challenges we’ve had with Covid. We have been in full admiration of our children in how they have adjusted to the changes that have come their way. They have been positive , resilient and wanting to do their bit to help their team. We have seen many examples of this throughout the term and for that we are grateful. Thank you for the way you have supported your children in this.

Thank you also for the many messages of positive support we have received from our families during term 1. We do this job because we are passionate about children and learning and your encouragement goes a long way. We value the partnership we have with you.

We are hoping that you will be able to spend some quality time with your children over this holiday break. We look forward to seeing the children bright and smiley next term.

Kind Regards

Ross Willocks

Principal