Poipoia te kākano kia puāwai: Nurture the seed and it will bloom. We all need love and care to fully realise our potential.

We have settled well into the start of the school year. We have had a significant amount of positive feedback from whānau about the refurbishment of our classroom spaces. We have really noticed how quiet it is at school without all the machinery and without navigating the fencing system, it has been very peaceful. Our staff have been excited to be in their new spaces in the Pīwakawaka and Kererū teams. Over the next few weeks our staff are focusing on getting to know each other and establishing routines.

Connecting with our community is a key focus for us in 2023. We are enjoying spending time together as a community and have been delighted with the number of whānau who have joined us at our most recent events. We were able to welcome all our new whānau at our mihi whakatau on 3 February thanks to Josh Pretty, our Presiding Chair, Shaun and Deb Ogilvie, who supported our new tamariki, whānau and staff and Hoani who shared the karakia kai to the whole school over our tannoy. You can read more here.

We were fortunate to have beautiful weather on Monday evening to enjoy our community picnic that the PTA organised, it was a great way for whānau to mix and mingle and our children enjoyed games and utilising our school facilities. Thank you to Louisa and Jaime, the co-chairs of our PTA team. 

We held a ‘Keeping Ourselves Safe’ parent session with Community Constable Richard Brunton last week as part of sharing with whānau the work we will be teaching over the coming weeks. You are able to view the Keeping Ourselves Safe resources online here.

Strategic and Annual Plan

Last year we consulted all the stakeholders in our school community in regards to our Strategic Plan. We worked with the Springboard Trust programme to develop our Strategic ‘Plan on a Page’. We were fortunate enough to work with Mark Bowen from ASB who mentored us through this process. Our Strategic and Annual Plan for the 2023 school year is found here.

Lunches available

We have access to a small number of lunches for whānau who require support. The lunches are provided by an organisation called Full Bellies. If you would like your child to receive lunch twice a week please email your childs’ Homeroom teacher and lunches will be provided on Monday and Wednesday.

Parking reminder

You may have seen the student video on parking down Juniper Place. You can find it here  Please make sure that you are safely and correctly parked when collecting your child from school and not over our neighbours’ driveways.

Swimming pool roster

Last post we acknowledged our pool helpers and omitted the Wenmeckers and Frickletons who also assisted with the pool roster over the holidays, sorry we missed your names. This has been a great facility for whānau over the break, thank you to the team of families who made time to open and close the pool and monitor the chlorine levels.

Mana Ake

Over the last few years we have had Mana Ake workers available for all our whānau. Our Key Worker is Tania Gilling who is available to speak with whānau. If you would like to meet with Tania please email your childs’ teacher or email ap@roydvale.school.nz or dp@roydvale.school.nz

Mana Ake is a service in Canterbury that provides early intervention for children in years 1-8 and their families/whānau, to support their wellbeing. The Mana Ake service is provided by people with a range of skills including social workers, whānau ora kaimahi, counsellors, youth workers, nurses and psychologists. They are available to support children and their families/whānau at school and at home and they will be part of our school for the next 3 years. The service provides support for teachers, families and whānau when children are experiencing ongoing issues that are impacting their wellbeing or have mental health concerns. The Mana Ake service can support individual children, groups of children and provide advice, information and workshops for parents. They are committed to providing some level of response as fast as possible. A representative of the team will be available by appointment to talk with parents / caregivers confidentially in our interview space. If you would like to meet with workers or learn more please pop into the office.

Policies for review

It is important for us that our whānau are familiar and know how to access our policies and procedures. All of our policies and procedures are on our website, see the link here. If you would like to know information about particular policies you can find them on this site. There is a section for parents including information about communication and reporting, community conduct expectations and social media guidelines. This term we are reviewing ‘Student attendance’, ‘Enrolment’ and ‘Uniform / Dress code’.

Welcome

We would like to welcome Priscilla to Te Ara Maurea Roydvale School.

Congratulations to Charlotte who received a distinction award in her Entry Level Award in Graded Examination in dance at the end of last year