Kia ora Koutou,

Wow, I am amazed at the heat we are still experiencing at this time of the year!! The pool is being well used, thank you to Mr. Bray for keeping it so clean!! He has a big wish and we thought we would put this out to the community – Some days it can take 2 hours to vacuum the pool with the old-style hose vacuum. If anyone would like to sponsor a “pool cleaning robot”, Mr. Bray would be incredibly grateful and this would free time for other more productive tasks!!

This is the pool robot – Dolphin 5000

Focus in this week’s newsletter.

• Covid Update
• Student Leaders
• Assemblies
• Winter Sport

Covid Updates – Thank you everyone for continuing to be so respectful with keeping us informed of your family status, as either actually testing positive for Covid, being a close contact, or with your number of days to isolate.  It can be confusing with the rules changing.  Data: This week we have 13.90% of our students that are positive and another 10.90% that are isolating as they are close contacts.

We are starting to have staff members affected, currently, we have enough relief teachers and the means to cover.  We are hoping this continues, hence the vigilance in continuing to wear masks/face coverings, keeping teams apart at break time, and keeping classes separate inside.

Whether we are at the peak of Covid, or nearly at the peak as is being determined across Auckland we are all hoping this will soon be a trajectory to the end.

Please continue to inform us of your first day of a positive test and/ or the first day of your symptoms as this helps us and your family calculate your days of isolation (now they are 7 days).  The Ministry of Education continues to support schools with ZOOM meetings for Principals, bulletins of information, and Q and A sessions to ensure we are well supported.

Student Leaders – Each week one or two of the student leaders will report in the newsletter sharing their journeys and some of the exciting projects they are leading. This is one of the best parts of my job and week.  This week we start with Violet and Samantha sharing a small snippet of what they have been doing:

Art and Games for top concrete – Last Friday, Violet, and Samantha had a meeting with Mrs. Bray. They discussed putting some art and games on the new top concrete and adding a mini court by the kitchen. They also involved Matai class and the Junior school in the decision on what games would be painted on the concrete. 

Assemblies – This term assemblies are all on ZOOM. We have scheduled three per term to be full school assemblies with certificates and the Hellyer Cups.  In between the full school assemblies, we have smaller half-hour virtual assemblies led by the student leaders enabling us all to share and celebrate what has been happening every week at school.

Next week we will have our second full school assembly, (the link is listed below). Takahe and Tui team will be the recipients of the first Hellyer Cups for the year.  These are very special for our school and are the most coveted award each term to win.  Hellyer Cup Criteria – These are the most coveted awards to be given at our regular Friday ”celebratory” assembly.  The cups were given by members of the Hellyer family.  One of the first European farming families in the area.  Teachers have one Hellyer Cup to award each term per class.  Teachers base their award on the student’s achievement/s, the student’s attitude, and effort tied into the school “5R” value system.

Despite only being able to meet on ZOOM these celebrations on a Friday afternoon have brought us together as a school and enabled us to celebrate our learning and values, what we love doing at Wainui School.

Winter Sports – Miss Robinson and Mrs. Howard are organising winter sports teams, so far in netball and hockey.  All the information is included below.  Both girls and boys can play in these competitions.  These sports all rely on parents/ caregivers to manage and coach the team and we are more than happy that practices can start at school as these are all outside.  There will be requirements for parents coaching onsite, to sign in and be vaccinated whilst volunteering at school.  It will be great to be able to have children involved this year in their sports.

FOR YOUR CALENDAR

• Monday 14th March – Friday 18th March – Swimming at Northern Arena – Postponed at this stage and new date TBC
• Tuesday 15th March – BOT Meeting – 6.30pm via ZOOM
• Wednesday 16th March – FOWS Meeting – 7.00pm via ZOOM
• Monday 21st March – Friday 25th March – Swimming at Northern Arena – Postponed at this stage and new date TBC
• Friday 25th March – Whole School Assembly – 2.00pm – ZOOM
• Monday 4th April – Dance Curriculum (whole school)
• Tuesday 5th April -Vision and Hearing Testing – 9.30am – New Entrants who have not had a B4 School Hearing and Vision test at Pre-school.  “Children do not need to be tested if they have completed the B4 School Check”
  11.00am – All Year 7 students
• Tuesday 5th April – BOT Meeting – 6.30pm via ZOOM
• Friday 8th April – Whole School Assembly – 2.00pm – ZOOM
• Tuesday 12th April – Bike A Thon – More information to follow
• Thursday 14th April – End of Term 1
• Friday 15th April – Good Friday – Public Holiday

OTHER

The Otago Problem Challenge – This year some of the children in Tui and Takahe Teams will be completing the Otago Problem Solving Challenge.  If your child has opted to take part in this you will have received a newsletter from them.  The Otago Problem Challenge is a mathematics problem-solving competition.  It has been offered to schools throughout New Zealand since 1991 by the University of Otago.  Children participating in the competition attempt to answer five questions in 30 minutes.  There are five sitting dates, which are done about a month apart.  The children do the problems individually but they can share their answers afterward.  All levels attempt the same problem set although there are separate awards for each of those levels.  All children taking part will receive a certificate of participation.  Those in about the top 10% in each year will receive certificates of excellence and those in the next 25% or so will receive certificates of merit.

The five sitting dates are listed below:

7th April

19th May

23rd June

28th July

25th August

COMMUNITY

Silverdale JUNIOR Rugby – 2022 Registration – Weigh In Details

Kakulama – Arts of Self Defense – See attached flyer.  Contact details: 021 727 971 or [email protected]