Kia ora koutou

Welcome to 2024! We have spent the past two Staff Only Days sharing expectations of school organisation, curriculum development, goal setting, preparing classrooms with new furniture, sharing budgets, discussing processes and systems and who does what around our Kura etc. We are really excited about returning to QPS on Monday and welcoming your tamariki.

There are a couple of things you need to know before you leave the house on Monday. Fulton Hogan have been working outside our site over the holidays upgrading the footpath. The road has been closed on one side during this time. You will be pleased to know that this project will be completed by the end of business today. Please read the information below so that you are aware of changes to access to our Kura and how to access the Boundary Road carpark.

Over the holiday break, work has progressed well on creating a wider shared path along Robins Road, opposite the school extending to the intersection of Memorial and Camp Street.

You will notice a few changes when you return to school on Monday 5 Feb including:

• All major construction works completed

• A new three-metre-wide footpath on the recreation ground side of Robins Road, extending from Camp St to Boundary Street

• School bus stop

• Upgraded pedestrian crossing from school to recreation ground.

The steps leading to the recreation ground are still undergoing upgrades and will be out of bounds while construction is completed mid-February. Please use the Boundary Street driveway near the Queenstown Park Boutique Hotel in the meantime.

There will be minor construction works; signage, line-marking, landscaping etc ongoing in the area which we have planned to wrap up by end of February.

This work is part of the Arthurs Point to Queenstown shared path upgrade, one of eight priority trails identified for the Whakatipu Active Travel Network. More information can be found here https://www.qldc.govt.nz/arthurs-point-active-travel

As you are aware the government has mandated a “no phones in schools” policy . At QPS all students and parents are required to sign a BYOD agreement which includes;

All phones will be placed in bags and not accessed at all during the school day”.

If students use their phones at school without permission, they will follow our Behaviour Management plan and there will be consequences. At our Staff Only Day today we discussed the use of Smart watches and how students can access phone use. We recommend students keep these in their bags as well until after school.

I look forward to seeing you next week.

Mā te wa

Fi Cavanagh