Dear whanau/families

Welcome back for the last (and busiest) term of the school year. It is wonderful to be back at school to see the children's smiling faces and to hear their holiday stories! It is also lovely to reconnect with whanau as well. I would like to thank you all for following the rules by wearing your face mask whenever you enter our school site. Unfortunately remaining at Alert Level 2 means this will need to continue. So much of what we have planned to do this term either cannot take place now or has to be modified to ensure that we are not breaking any rules and regulations as set out by the Ministries of Health and Education. With no known cases of covid in the South Island I do understand the frustration felt by many of you but please understand that as a school we must follow the rules as instructed. 

I was hoping we would be moved to Alert Level 1 so we could push ahead with the activities we have planned but it is unlikely to change within the next week or 2 so we now have to change how we were planning on running our Grandparents Morning planned for next Friday. Originally we were inviting our grandparents to come into school to 'read to the children' and be 'read to'. We were then going to give them scones that the children made and a cuppa to wash them down. Unfortunately we can no longer do this, so we are coming up with alternative ways in which we can still connect with these special family members. Keep an eye on your child's Home Communication Book for ways in which we will celebrate this.

At this stage the Rural Schools Athletics will still go ahead for the seniors only on Thursday the 25 of November. Rural School Athletics for the juniors have been 'cancelled'. The Kakapo children won't attend as they will be at camp, therefore the only children from our school attending will be the children in the Tui class who were 8 years old at the 1st of January this year. This year we cannot allow parents to attend either; therefore we will bus the children in and back again.

The SC Mountain Biking which is usually held at the Scenic Reserve has also been cancelled.

We will go ahead with having Top Team here on Friday the 5th of Nov but can't invite parents to come and watch. We will make sure we take loads of photos and videos to share with you.

We hope to go ahead with having our Agri Kids competition but once again this will need to be a modified version and parents won't be able to attend.

Once again we will have to film assembly and share it with whanau on Seesaw and Facebook. 

The Combined Parish Mass planned for Sunday 14 November has also been cancelled and unless we move to Alert Level 1 we won't plan to have a Whole School Mass this term.

Our Kakapo camp and Tui sleepover are still going ahead. We can take parent helpers with us as we only need up to 4 parents, and we can ensure that all health and safety precautions are adhered to with that small number. Unfortunately we can't invite all whanau to join either the camp or the sleepover at Level 2. On the topic of the Kakapo camp I have had a couple of parents express their dismay at the fact the Kakapo class camp does not include the year 5 students. Before I made the decision that the Kakapo class camp would just be for the Kakapo students I did my research and found out that historically 'camp' has always been for Years 6-8. However, when the school dropped to 2 classes a couple of years ago, the year 5 students were also included because of how the classes were made up. This year we went back up to 3 classes and the split of class levels across the 3 classrooms meant that year 5 were not in the Kakapo class. It is also a huge ask of a teacher to take a group of students from another class away on a school camp. It makes sense that teachers take camps or sleep overs with their own class. That is why I suggested the Tui class should have a sleepover this year, so that the year 5's would still have a 'camp' experience. This is taking place on Wednesday the 17th of November. The Pukeko class will spend a day at the Orari farmyard on Thursday the 18th of November. 

No decisions have yet been made on how our classes will be made up for next year but I do have a few scenarios I am considering and will work on this with staff later in the term. We will inform whanau of this later in the term. 

With so much being cancelled, in and out of school, we will endeavor to do our very best in having fun events and celebrations continue albeit done a bit differently. Let's hope and pray that a return to normality is not too far away! 

It was really exciting to return to school after the holiday break to see the work you have all done around the place. The place is looking a whole lot tidier with the church fence moved back, the sandpit covered with the shade cloth, hedges trimmed, gardens weeded, and trees removed in preparation for the new ramp. Thank you all so much. The only jobs left to do now are weed in and around the vegetable gardens and the back of the school. If anyone can spare some time to do this, it would be very much appreciated - thank you.

This weekend is Labour weekend so it is a long weekend; but for our students it is an extra long weekend as we have a Teacher Only day on Tuesday the 26th. We look forward to welcoming everyone back to school on Wednesday. 

Have a lovely weekend everyone and if you are travelling, keep safe.

Kai tau te rangimarie e ranga ia koe - Blessings and peace.

Aroha Stewart