Grey Lynn School is committed to quality teaching and learning. We value our staff and we are committed to recruiting and retaining the best staff. Our students deserve this!

We invest in our teachers through ongoing professional learning opportunities which align with our school goals. We commit to being a learner ourselves and always striving to be the best that we can be. This is what we expect from our learners and our families as we stretch to reach and realise the goals which we have in mind for our students over the next three years. You have an opportunity to feedback about these goals through our draft Strategic Plan 2019-2020 which our BOT and staff have come together to create. We look forward to hearing from you about these ideas so that we can realise these goals by working together to achieve them.

GLS Picnic
It was great to see some of our whanau at our ‘Meet the Teacher picnic’ last Monday and was another opportunity for whanau to connect with each other and meet our staff. Keep talking to your teacher about the social, emotional and learning needs for your child as they change. Communicating challenges or concerns early is our best tool as we strive to understand the diverse needs which our students require.

Extracurricular Activities at GLS
At Grey Lynn School, we believe that extracurricular activities provide a critical component to a well-rounded educational experience. With that in mind, our staff are excited to offer extracurricular activities that may appeal to the interests, talents and needs of our students. All students are encouraged to participate in these activities for his/her own enjoyment and development. These activities may run before school, during our lunchtimes and after school.

Week 4 is just around the corner and next week we will be starting these opportunities for our students.

Looking forward to the sound of laughter and joy around our school, and if you can support in any way PLEASE COME IN and see us. Please see the article in this newsletter for the timetable of extracurricular activities for Term 1.

NZEI Negotiations
NZEI Te Riu Roa and the Ministry of Education have agreed to return to negotiations for the primary teachers' and primary principals' collective agreements next week.Negotiations for both teachers and principals will be held together and be conducted with a mediator. They are expected to start on Tuesday 19th February.Teachers last year took strike action twice and rejected three offers from the Ministry because they failed to address teachers' key issues, particularly around time to teach and time to lead. After a request from the Secretary of Education to return to negotiations, NZEI's National Executive agreed to return to the bargaining table.The parties have agreed not to comment about the negotiations while they are taking place.

Swimming
Swimming is a compulsory part of our programme at GLS. How lucky are we to have this special resource in our school grounds? ALL students are expected to participate in swimming instruction. If your child is sick please let your teacher know on those one-off occasions. If students forget their togs they can see if they can borrow some from the office, but these should be washed and sent back to school. We are accepting a donation of quality swimwear which your child may have outgrown to form part of our lending library of togs.

The landscape is taking place
If you have a skill set in landscaping, the supply of plants and/or landscape materials or can offer your ideas to create a future landscape in our school grounds please email the office, we want to hear from you!

Enjoy the wonderful sunshine ahead with your children.

Nga mihi
Alicia Whata
Grey Lynn School Principal