From the Principal's Desk
Kia ora e te whānau!
Welcome back to what promises to be an action-packed Term 4.
Some key 'save the dates' for your diaries are:
Thursday 24th October - EAST Day at The A&P Showgrounds. Students exhibiting animals will need to be transported by a whānau member; all other students come to school at the usual time and travel by bus.
Friday 25th October - Athletics: Run/Jump/Throw held at Southbridge School. Come along from 09:30 to support your child as they rotate through a variety of athletics-based activities culminating in the ever-exciting Y4, 5 and 6 sprint finals at 2 pm. The PP day for this event is Wednesday 30th October
Wednesday 6th November - Zones Athletics held at Southbridge School. Come along and support our Y4, 5 and 6 athletic champions as they take on the winners from Leeston and Dunsandel School. The PP day for this event is Friday 8th November.
Tuesday 19th to Friday 22nd November - Y5 and Y6 Sailing and Kayaking held at Rakaia Huts. Depending on the weather, students will spend 2 days learning to kayak and sail with Karel Nurse; whānau help is required to make this activity possible.
Saturday 23rd November - Tūhono Kapa Haka Festival held at Christchurch Town Hall. Don't forget to book your tickets for this event as they always sell out fast.
Thursday 28th November - Children's University Graduation Evening held at Christchurch Town Hall. If your child completed the C.U. activities this year you will have received an invitation to this event.
Monday 2nd to Friday 6th December - Water Safety Week held at Southbridge Pool. All students will be taking part in various water safety activities to prepare them for being near open water this summer. Lots of whānau help is required for this event so please let your child's teacher know if you are available to help.
Wednesday 4th December - Christmas Performance held at Southbridge Church. Come along and enjoy an evening being entertained by our Jump Jam Teams, School Choir and Kapa Haka Group. Refreshments will be available for purchase throughout the evening.
Wednesday 11th December - Final Assembly and Fence Paling unveiling held at Southbridge School. Come and celebrate the amazing achievements of our students throughout 2024 and see the beautiful fence palings the Y6 students have been creating.
Friday 13th December - 2024 Prize Giving held at Ellesmere College. Please be seated by 6:15 pm in the College Gym to find out who the deserved winners are for 2024. 2025 Student and Cultural Leaders will also be announced during the Prize Giving ceremony.
Monday 16th December - Values Picnic Day held at Southbridge School. All whānau are invited and encouraged to come to school and celebrate the end of the year with their child/ren. Lots of fun activities and maybe a surprise visitor in a red and white suit....
Tuesday 17th December - Last Day of School; closes at noon.
I look forward to seeing you at as many of these events as possible and please remember that we can only continue to offer events such as water safety and sailing if we get enough support from whānau as supervisors.
As we enter Term 4 we are finishing off preparations for 2025; this year that mainly means ensuring we are set up and ready to go with the various curriculum refreshes being mandated by the MOE.
Staff are currently looking at the four options being offered for structured maths; once this has been confirmed I will be able to provide more clarity on what this means for your child in 2025.
I can confirm that the whole school will be moving to the iDeaL approach for structured literacy in 2025. This means a change in the scope and sequences currently used for Junior roopu students - I will explain this in detail in the next newsletter.
Attendance continues to be a major government focus and in 2025 the expectation is "80% of students attending school for 90% of the time". This means that including sick days, each individual student should miss no more than 20 days across 2025.
A Stepped Attendance Response (STAR) will be implemented and far more formal (and financial) penalties will be put in place by the MOE for whānau where attendance continues to be a concern. If you have any questions about this or would like support to improve your child's attendance please let us know.
Ngā mihi nui
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