Dear Parent(s) / Caregivers

Kia ora koutou

What a wonderful hot weekend we had, hopefully a taste of the great beach weather to come. I’ve heard the conditions were great for the surf comp and some of our students did very well in some trying conditions for them. Well done!

As mentioned last week, this one is going to be another busy one as we ‘wind up’ to the end of the year. I trust you have all been taking note of the various class / Waka & Team communications. The Wave Riders have their ‘Fun Day Out’ today and the Year 2’s will be having swim lessons this week. We also have the Parent Volunteer morning tea shout tomorrow (Tues), the Canterbury Athletic Sports in Ashburton (Wed), the Junior Athletic Sports (Wed), the Kuaka ‘Fun Day’ at school (Thurs), the Room 0 Kindy Visit (Thurs), the Prefect lunch shout (Thurs) and to finish the week off, the Year 8 Formal on Friday evening. A very full week, with a Board meeting on Wednesday night also! Phew, we’ll all need a holiday to recover!

Next week we have the Ruru Team Domain trip on Monday, The Legends’ Spit Walk (Mon), the ‘Mud Run’ (Tues p/p Wed), the Kuaka Domain Picnic on Friday as well as our Final Whanau Hui farewelling the Year 8’s on Friday afternoon.

2018 Class placements:

As mentioned in previous Snippets, class/waka placements will be put up on Friday 15th December. Next year, SNBS is in the transition area where our Grading Roll is just under the 500 mark. At this number, the Ministry of Education’s formula for staffing means we will have higher than normal student : teacher ratios. Once it gets into the lower 500s it will work the other way and classes will be smaller. Their formula also doesn’t factor in bulges in numbers at certain Year levels. To alleviate having high class numbers in our Year 3 to 6 classes, the Board will once again fund 1 extra teacher, Alex Quinlan. This is an amazing decision and once again shows the wonderful support our Board provides the school and that they have the children at the heart of all their decisions.

As the high numbers range over 2 Teams, we have no choice but to have an extra Kuaka Team class of Year 4 & 5s as well as a Year 6 & 7 class in the Wave Riders. These students will still be involved in all their normal Team activities such as camps, sports, etc., but will just be in a different team. The placements have been made after a lot of professional consideration with Team Leaders talking to past teachers and Management Leaders and those involved will be contacted. Without the amazing Board support where we would have had classes in the mid to low 30s, we will now have classes in the mid 20s. As we continue to slowly grow back to our old numbers, this problem should be alleviated, and with the recent influx of interest, this will happen sooner rather than later I predict.

Reminder about the Parent Volunteer Helpers Morning Tea Shout:

It’s on tomorrow (Tuesday 5th December) starting at 10:45 am. We’d love to see all those wonderful helpers from our amazing PTA members, to all those parents who help out in classes, trips, sports, discovery Friday afternoons, etc. there. Looking forward to catching up with you!

Scooters, skateboards & bikes on footpaths:

Last week I had a member of the public come in and speak to me about our kids on their scooters and skate boards on the footpath. She wasn't angry or upset, but said in their enthusiasm to get home several were travelling together and basically didn't give her any room, one bag actually hitting her as they flew past. She felt it could have been serious if it had happened to an older person.

Her point is that footpaths are there for pedestrians primarily, and that those on bikes, scooters and skateboards, who are travelling a lot faster, should be very aware of the pedestrians and give way to them or at least break into single file and not blast past them at speed as happened to her. I totally agree, so could you please speak to your children about this. Thanks.

Building Update:

Work has continued to progress well. It is expected Room 7 will move early this coming Saturday morning. Staff have been busy working on finalising the interior design for furniture.

Reminders:

Absences: These must be called in giving name, room and reason for absence please.

Clothing: Please ensure all clothes, hats and swimming apparel are named.

School Donations – it’s NEVER TOO LATE: The Board has maintained the School Donation levy the same as it has for the last six or more years. ie $60 for 1 child or $100 for a family. It is tax deductible, so keep your receipt. We are more than happy to accept these paid each term ($15 for one or $25 per family) or as part of an AP. Please discuss this with myself or office staff if you wish to do this. Many thanks to those who have already paid in full or part or established APs, it is greatly appreciated.

E noho ra

John