Term 4 has arrived! No doubt some of the children are coming up with great Christmas present ideas already.

Term 4 is always a busy time leading up to Christmas and the end of the school year. There are lots of activities coming up including our athletics days, trips away and end of year activities, especially for our Year 6 leavers.  So, look out for regular notices and updates as to what is going on.

School Roll and Rebuild:

The Ministry of Education has determined a maximum rebuild roll size for Redwood School of 350 children. Our current roll has grown to 359 so far this year and looks likely to end around 365, so we have exceeded the roll maximum. After a significant drop in in-zone school age children numbers since 2009 and especially immediately post-earthquakes, it is now very noticeable that families are coming into the Redwood area again. We have had many unexpected enrolments.

The school planning is now going ahead and by early next year the rebuild of Redwood School will go out to tender. The start date for the redevelopment is June 2019, starting with making some of our buildings to be retained, water tight.

Although the rebuild will bring challenges as we work around the construction, the outcome will be great for the school and our tamariki.

Class Placements 2019:

An email was sent to all whanau giving the opportunity for feedback/input re class placements for children 2019. This feedback is due back to me by Wednesday 1 November either by note/letter to the office or email principal@redwoodprimary.school.nz

Staffing 2019

Just to recap, staffing for 2019 is in place. New staff members joining us are:

Team Paerangi: Chris Thurlow, Year 5/6 level. He is joining us from Burnham School where he has taught for the past ten years.

Team Whakatipu: Cindy Giddens, Year 1/2 level. Primary teacher currently working in adult education at Lincoln University, ex Merrin, Heaton and St Martins Schools.

Deputy Principal: With the departure of Chris Els to Wellington, Ellie Cherry will join us as Deputy Principal. Ellie has been Associate Principal at Linwood North and Deputy Principal at Wainoni. Ellie will not have a class to teach but will have across-school responsibilities to undertake.

Executive Officer: With the departure of Gabe McIntyre to concentrate on her family restaurant, Megan Lowe will be joining us. Megan has come from roles as an accountant. Megan starts Tuesday 23 October, works Monday-Thursday 9.00am-2.30pm.

A Great Team…

As a community we need to celebrate the fact that we have a great team of tamariki and kaiako at Redwood School. Sometimes this can be taken for granted. We have a staff, both teachers/kaiako and support staff/kaiawhina, which is very professional in approach and really have the children at heart. I am very pleased to lead such a great school.

Our Tamariki SHINE!

I was VERY proud to receive great feedback from the Cultural Festival organisers about how our kapahaka shone through with great behaviour, effort and attitude on the night. 

I have also just received this email from a member of the public about our Team Whakatipu tamariki and staff and their visit to Willowbank, recently:

Hi John,

I happened to be at Willowbank with my daughter this morning when some of your pupils were visiting.

I just wanted to say that I was impressed with how pleasant, polite, and well-behaved your students were. They listened well to their parent supervisors and conducted themselves very well around the park.

The teachers involved obviously planned it well, and from an outsider’s perspective, it allowed my daughter and I to enjoy the park at the same time without disruption.  Keep up the good work!

John Stackhouse

Tumuaki/Principal

Te Kura o te Rakau Whero/Redwood School

Otautahi/Christchurch

We are climbing high, ready for life!