Kia ora Koutou

Thank you again for all your support and effort with your child/ren’s learning at home during Level’s 3 and 4. We really appreciate all you have done. It’s been great to welcome students back to school, along with a number of new students who have joined us too. For those of you still supporting your children at home with their learning at level 2 – thank you! We look forward to your children joining us again soon. A BIG thank you to the staff for all they did during the lockdown period too!

A reminder that at Alert Level 2 you must sign in and out via the Skool Loop app or on a Contact Tracing Register at the classroom. Thank you for making sure you are doing this!

COVID19 – impact and response

We are very aware the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on wellbeing and resulted in economic pressure on many families too.

• Michelle Cole, an experienced Mental Health Worker from Meaningful Health Hurunui, is available to talk to parents and caregivers in the staffroom each Monday morning from 8:30am. You can just drop in. Please contact Jenny Fraser (DP) if you want to talk some more about this support, or if you would like to book a set time to see Michelle. We greatly appreciate receiving funding from the Salvation Army to enable this to happen.
• Megan Flutey, who runs our Art Programme is doing an extra day a week in term two to work with students who may be feeling anxious about things and also to work in classes doing some mindfulness.
• Food Vouchers – for immediate assistance. These are available through the St Vincent de Paul Kaiapoi Conference, Rotary Club of Belfast Kaiapoi and Catholic Parish of Waimakiriri. Please let me know if you would like to access this support via an email: principal@kbs.school.nz.
• Food Boxes – each Thursday afternoon, starting from 28th May. One of our parent’s has arranged a donation of food items to KBS through the Canterbury Foodbank. Thank you to all the volunteers who have signed up to help with the packing and distribution of the food donations. If you would like a food box, or would like to nominate someone to receive a food box, please contact Marian at the school office.

Level Two playground zones, duty cover and break times.

• While we are at Alert Level 2, in order to lessen the number of social contacts students have, we have designated play areas for students to use during the breaks. This is going well and may be something we continue with.
• Usually our 5 Technology Centre staff assist with duty supervision during the breaks, however they are not able to do this in term two. To manage Alert Level 2 requirements, and the 600 Year 7/8 students using our Technology Centre, the Centre timetable has had to be adjusted for the remainder of Term 2. Schools who come to us for Technology are now coming for full days, rather than two hour sessions. These students need to have breaks and be supervised and cannot have these breaks at the same time, in the same spaces as KBS students.
• To accommodate the above, we are trialling a slightly longer morning break from 10:30–10:55am and a slightly longer lunch break from 12:00–12:35pm. The second lunch break is being managed either with individual classes taking a break when it works for them, or in some cases teams are having a break together. We will continue to review this as needed.

Drop Offs and Pick Ups

• A reminder that students should not be at school before 8:30am. Also students need to be picked up on time at the end of the day – school finishes at 2:50pm. If you need to do an early drop off or late pick up, please contact Debbie who runs the OUR KIDS OSCAR programme to arrange for your child to join them, telephone (03) 327-7470, Mobile: 021 0274 6031 or email: ourkidz.oscar@outlook.com.
• Please don’t text or talk on your phone in the car when you are driving in and out of the school drop zone!
• It’s great to have more of you using the drive through to drop off and collect your children – thank you! The drop offs in the morning generally go very smoothly as the arrival times are spread out. Please do remember to drive as far forward as you can, even if there are no other cars there.
• Pick ups in the afternoon are a bit more of a challenge. We often need drivers to go around the block to keep the traffic moving. This can be problematic if there are cars parked on both sides of Rich Street, here are some suggestions to help with this:
  • Be prepared to do a loop around the block if your child is not there.
  • Maybe do a ‘longer loop’ by going down to Black Street to go around the block.
  • Park your car close by and walk to pick up your child.

Thank you for your patience and support in keeping things as safe as possible with traffic movement around our school.

Computers and Ipads

During the lockdown a number of families were issued with Chromebooks and Ipads to assist with learning at home. Thank you everyone who has already returned their loaned devices.  If your child/ren has returned to school, any devices that are still at home need to be returned as soon as possible, including the box and charger.

Board of Trustee (BoT) approved Property Projects

• Last year the Ministry of Education announced additional funding support for property work in schools. This has been put in place to assist with projects that are not normally funded. Our BoT has decided to fund following from the $228,000 we will receive:
  • A significant upgrade of our senior playground. The existing playground beside Studio 15 will be demolished and replaced with a larger playground with a number of components targeting fitness and agility for older students. A separate double basket swing is also being purchased, the placement of the basket swing is still to be confirmed. This project will cost $142,000. Thank you to the senior students who have helped with the design process of the new playground.
  • Complete the work on the school pool. The remaining work on the school pool will be underway soon. This includes the skimmers being replaced, a membrane added to help with leaks and other work on the filter and drainage system. Changing sheds will also be completed. This project is expected to cost around $40,000
  • Completion of work in the Administration block. As you know we now have a Learning Support Coordinator, the Ministry of Education provides some funding to create an office space, the BoT has agreed to meet any shortfall on this. The drawings and costs are still being confirmed.
  • If there is any funding left after the completion of the above projects it will be allocated to more landscaping or other projects. 🙂

Learning Hui

These are coming up on Tuesday 30th June and Wednesday 1st July. This is a great opportunity to meet with your child’s teacher. Bookings are essential and can be made using the 'Interviews' button on the Skool Loop app.  If you need assistance with making a booking, please contact the office. 🙂. Bookings will close on Friday 19th June.

New Technology Centre

Last week information was sent out about the new Technology Centre that is being built on our site. We are excited that this project will be underway soon.  A copy of the information sent out last week, including the design plan can be found in this newsletter publication.

New Entrant Enrolments

We are continuing to take a steady stream of enrolments for 5 year olds (and other students!). If you know of anyone who is starting their child with us at any stage this year, please encourage them to complete an enrolment form as soon as possible.

Teacher Only Days

A reminder the Teacher Only Days for term 2 have been cancelled.

General Information

School Uniform - Thank you for ensuring your child has the correct school uniform to wear to school each day – our school uniform policy was updated last year. You can find a copy this on the school website, or click here.

Whānau Time - we will not be having whole school whanau times this term. Teams will be holding their own hui and Learning Hero certificates will continue to be given out at these gatherings.

Lunch Online – Fridays (Sushi).
To setup an account, view the menu and order online go to www.lunchonline.co.nz. Lunch Online contributes a percentage from sales back to KBS so your support is appreciated.

OUT OF ZONE ENROLMENTS, INCLUDING SIBLINGS, PLEASE NOTE:

Enrolment application dates for out of zone enrolments for Terms 1, 2 and 3 2020 have closed. For children who wish to enrol in Term 4 2020 (12 October to 11 December) the official notice will be in ‘The Press’ on Wednesday 22 July 2020. The deadline for receipt of applications is 4:00pm Wednesday 19 August 2020. If required, a ballot for places will be held on Friday 21 August 2020 with successful applicants notified after that. If you have questions about enrolment don't hesitate to ask.

As part of our regular review for our emergency management, please make sure you read the Emergency Management Information included in this publication. If there is anything we can help with, please let us know.

Ngā mihi nui
Murray Overton
Principal
principal@kbs.school.nz

Please note that community notices for the wider community are publicized via our Facebook Page.