Kia Ora, Nĭ hău, Konnichiwa, Anyoung, Namaste, Kamusta, Namaskār, Vanakkam, Salam, Susadei, Talofa, Hallo, Hello, Hola, Malo e lei lei

Welcome back to Marshland School for 2020 and a special welcome to all our 34 new families! We are so happy to be back for another great year at Marshland.  It was remarkable how quickly the children all settled down to work once they arrived,  thanks to all the preparation the teachers had put into their Learning Hubs prior to the children arriving. 

As well as growing in size over the last 4 years, we now have over 12 different cultures in our school! This year, we want to highlight these cultures throughout the year and really celebrate how diverse we are becoming.

In 2020, we have all the same staff which is lovely. There is one change, however, and that is that Ms. Woodham from Korimako Hub got married and is now Mrs. Kerin! She is giving us a term to get used to calling her that!

It was wonderful to see so many of you at the Goal Setting interviews, and thanks to those of you who filled out our survey. The information we got, as a result, was really rich and helped teachers get to know the whole child, their strengths and interests, and what you as parents wanted for your child this year. You also told us about the values you would hope your children demonstrate. See the results in another article in this newsletter.

During the holidays, you will have seen that a couple of new fences have been put up. We are very appreciative of the Ministry of Education for this funding. We are waiting for the gates (which had to be specially made) to be installed. Hopefully by the end of this week. Also, in the New Entrant playground, there is a new lilypad swing that the children are really enjoying!  

This term our whole school value is Respect. We will focus on this during assemblies and in Hubs during Hauora time (wellbeing time). We also acknowledge and reward children when we see or hear them showing respect. Understanding bullying is also a part of our teaching of this value, what it is and isn't, what to do if you are bullied or see bullying. Through this focus, we build a culture where children speak up if they see or hear that anyone is experiencing bullying. Bullying is everyone's responsibility. 

Ka kite āno, hei kōnei ra

Jacqui

Jacqui Pascoe

Principal