Thursday 7th October 2021
Dear Parents and Caregivers
Kia ora all,
I know it is unusual to receive a news post from me in the holidays but these are not “normal times”! The reason is to give you as much information as possible for us to prepare for a return to school. This is not an easy post to write as it is not what we had planned and love doing at Wainui School. But we want to be well prepared when we return to school at the beginning of Term 4, Monday 18th October, even though at this stage no one knows exactly what level we will be in.
The Teachers, FOWS and Board have been planning for this return and have made a few decisions to enable you as parents to plan or unplan!!!
Ag Day and Country Fair – As much as possible we would like the animals to be a priority and to have a fun day within the parameters of COVID Level 3 or Level 2.
Unfortunately, the Country Fair part is fully cancelled. No stalls, games or food will be held on Ag Day. (We are however looking at including more stalls and games at Christmas in the Country – watch this space!) This also means that unfortunately parents/family are not invited to Ag Day as we think the level we will be operating under, will have a set maximum number of people.
However, the Ag Day part will continue in a modified way. The animals will still be judged, as we all recognise the hours of work, feeding, training, and caring that goes into each lamb, kid, calf, or chicken. We will clarify in more detail how this occurs next week.
Ideally, we would like the animal judging to take place on the school grounds – if not, it will be done virtually. The animal judges are booked and will continue and ribbons will be awarded, these are sponsored by Simone du Bernard from Harcourts Cooper & Co. If the alert levels allow, a parent of the student will be able to deliver their animals and children and stay either by their car or distanced. No other family members will be able to accompany the child and their animal. We will clarify this as soon as we know the rules we are operating under closer to the day.
The classes will continue to make traditional arts and crafts. Your team’s teachers will be informing you of what they are doing and what your child will need to bring. Remember you will not be able to get out of the car to help your children get their bits and pieces to their classroom, so you might need to find an easy carry box or basket to bring them all in.
The classroom displays will all be in the hall. This will enable each class to visit the display using correct social distancing measures and ensure that the class doesn’t lose more valuable learning time by having to change the seating and learning space around.
There will be awards for the participants as we always do. The judging will be done by classroom teachers and the year 8’s (years 8’s can often be harder judges than teachers!!).
Each student will receive a sponsored treat from Simone du Bernard from Harcourts Cooper & Co to celebrate our special day. We will film and photograph all parts of the modified day to share with you all.
Next Thursday the organising team is meeting again (on ZOOM) and will update you further on Friday.
Tui Team Camp – Sadly the Board has made the decision we have to cancel the Tui Team camp. With the uncertainty around unknown levels, the health and safety requirements that will be needed at each level, and also the results of the parents’ pre-camp commitment survey, we are unfortunately unable to continue with this planned event. The Tui Team teachers are however planning an EOTC experience at school for the children so that they will still have something to look forward to. The dates will tentatively be the same as planned for camp but this might depend on how the COVID levels progress and what that means we can (and cannot) do.
For now, stay safe in your bubbles, arrange a picnic or go to the beach. This has come as a welcome move forward for us all. We will continue to update you as more information comes to hand. We are looking forward to seeing all of the children on 18th October – all things going to plan!
Nga mihi nui
Gillian Bray
Principal
