He mihi mahana kia koutou katoa - Warm greetings to all.

Our school —Somerfield Te Kura Wairepo. Kura means school, wai means water and repo means marshes.
This area was all marshes and the Maori used the marshy waterways to travel and trade. This name has been approved by our Board of Trustees after consultation with iwi and whanau.

Welcome to 2021. I hope you managed a break with your tamariki during the holidays. It seems that it was a mixed bag for many weather wise but as we know it's the one thing we can't do anything about!! I managed to walk the Kaikoura Walkway before Xmas and we had rain most of the way. Being entertained by dolphins while walking along the beach meant the rain was forgotten!

This year our theme is "The Show Must Go On" and it will, COVID or not, in some shape or form. We have employed Sam Bates to work with staff and children throughout the year. Sam has also been working on units of work and fun family activities that can be put on our workspaces if we do go into lockdown. But you will get information from your teacher as to the units they are working on during the year, COVID permitting!

We have reviewed all our Pandemic Planning in the last week or so and will be prepared if there is another lockdown. Fingers crossed that this doesn't happen. It is important we be vigilant and we need everyone to COVID trace. We have put out plenty of QR codes for you. Teachers will be going over the procedures with our tamariki.

As part of our planning we need to ensure everyone is on the School APP - this is for short message communication, with more detailed information sent by email. Please update your APP but if you haven't downloaded from the APP store please do so and then email Kellie Englefield to help you get set up -  k.englefield@somerfield.school.nz.

The pandemic continues and we are very lucky in NZ thus far but we need to be prepared, we also need to be flexible as we found that out last year. Unfortunately during a pandemic some things we plan might not happen.

You will receive a survey shortly. Only fill in if you need a device for a lockdown.

Thank you to those who were able to attend the "Getting Connected" class meetings and conferences. Thank you for your feedback, we get to strengthen these conferences each year based on the feedback of your experience.

The BoT and I take the wellbeing of the staff seriously. They work hard but I would like to remind our whanau that our teachers are also husbands, wives and parents and members of their community and need to undertake these roles as well. As I have said in the past, technology has made us more accessible and I continue to be concerned about the creep of work into our teachers’ home life that technology has enabled.

To ensure the wellbeing of our staff the Board of Trustees and I as good employers need to ensure that they can be the best that they can be for your tamariki by ensuring they have a work life balance. Our teachers are highly committed and they work very hard but they
also need a break. If you need to meet with a teacher on an important issue and need to have their undivided attention please make an appointment so they can prepare for the meeting. If you email a staff member in the evening please do not expect a response. We ask our teachers to check their emails at the end of the school day and when they arrive in the morning. They will not be checking or responding to emails after 6pm or before 8am.

We pride ourselves in our partnership with whanau. This doesn't always mean agreeing but we make time to listen and see if we can come to an accommodation.

Welcome to our new staff - Tash Todd who is the Year 3 & 4 ropu leader and is in Space 14. Danielle Thompson joins us from Auckland and is in Year 5, Space 1.  Also Mary deRoy, who was a student teacher with us in 2020 and is taking a Year 2 class in Space 6. Sam Bates joins us as our part time dance, music, drama teacher.

Welcome back to all our staff who have been working hard over the last couple of weeks preparing for the year and undertaking professional development.

The full staff list is attached - see article in the newsletter.

Assemblies are every second week, these coincide with PTA sausage sizzle. So this term the assembly dates are:

12, 26 February

12, 26 March

9 April

Teacher Only Day is on Thursday, 1 April

Easter is 2,3,4,5,6, April. School returns on Wednesday, 7 April

SMART Assemble is Week 11 - 16 April 2pm.

We are looking forward to another great year at Somerfield Te Kura Wairepo. Welcome along for the ride!