FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK

Kia ora Koutou,

The re-emergence of COVID-19 in our country has made for a frustrating past week. Reality bites hard and our pride at being COVID-19 free has taken a battering. We will have a clearer idea on Monday if this is to continue, or we move to Level 2 or 1. I will keep you posted with this information and what we will do as soon as I know.

I want to thank everyone from teachers, support staff, parents, grandparents, caregivers and of course the children for keeping the learning and connection going. I have been on a few Google Meets and ZOOM sessions to see what everyone is up to – how inspiring!! 5-year-olds happily counting and learning their letter sounds. What a different world it is but we are all innovative and we all adapt and try and keep positive.

For those of you at home who are finding it difficult to connect your children with the class in whatever way, please, please let us know, we are here to help and try different ways. At this stage we know 9% of children in the Kiwi team haven’t connected. If you can’t we can arrange for some hard copy books etc for you and these can be picked up from school. It is all do-able!!

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING

FOWS – Met this week on ZOOM, thank you everyone, it was great to catch up. We are definitely planning for Ag Day and Country Fair on Friday 23rd October. We know many have their lambs, kid goats and calves at home and are raising these. The FOWS will be calling for donations to be collected. This will start in next week’s newsletter and can either be dropped at the roundabout or just collected at home and bought in when we return.

The FOWS will make a decision on if we continue to sell the planned chocolate or not next week when we are closer to knowing what is happening going forward. Calendars are in the process of being created in the classes, most were almost finished. Again this will be picked up, we hope in time to sell.

Grant applications are all progressed by Annaliese Hewitt, this must be the most challenging year ever BUT if you have any thoughts, contacts, or ideas please let Annaliese know. She is very proactive in this area.

COMING UP

Baby Chicks Monday – The chicks are being delivered on Monday 24th August to school, can you believe it in these trying times some things still happen!! They are being flown up from a hatchery in Christchurch.

They will be ready for you to collect from the hall deck from 9.15am – 9.45am on Monday 24th August. You can park your car at the top of the roundabout and collect your chicks from the hall deck. Just like “click and collect”, only one person from each family, please. Wendy Taylor will be there to record your name, date, and time of arrival as per Level 3 protocols.

Your chicks need to be kept warm until you get them home and under a heat lamp. Click here for the guide to caring for your chicks. Looking After Chickens 2020 pdf

Message from sKids Wainui – Due to Auckland Regional lockdown, sKids Wainui start has been moved to Monday 31 August. We are very keen to open so hopefully, there is no Level 3 extension. If you have any questions, you can email wainui@skids.co.nz or call 027 846 1725.

Teacher Only Day – We had planned to have a Teacher Only Day to do the Learning Conversations on Friday 18th September, this term, and I had popped the date in the newsletter very recently. Please disregard this if you saw that. At this stage, it doesn’t feel the right thing to do and we will rethink how we do this once we know where we are at next week. I apologise if this caused any worry to anyone.

FINALLY

Have a safe and happy weekend.

Ka kite ano,

Gillian Bray

FOR YOUR CALENDAR

  • Friday 28th August – Kiwi / Pukeko Assembly – 9.10am (To be confirmed)
  • Tuesday 1st September – BOT Meeting – Staffroom – 6.30pm
  • Friday 4th September – Tui / Takahe Assembly – 9.10am
  • Monday 9th September – Boostrix and HPV – Year 7
  • Friday 11th September – Pukeko / Kiwi Assembly – 9.10am
  • Thursday 17th September and Friday 18th September – Learning Conversations
  • Friday 18th September – Teacher Only Day – (To be confirmed)
  • Friday 18th September – Last day to order Calendar Art via Kindo
  • Tuesday 22 September – Photo Day
  • Wednesday 23rd September – FOWS Meeting – Staffroom – 7.00pm
  • Friday 25th September – Whole School Assembly – 2.00pm
  • Friday 25th September – Last day of Term 3

OTHER

Calendar Fundraiser – From Wednesday 2nd to Friday 18th September you will have the opportunity to order fabulous 2021 calendars, diaries, cards, sketch pads and mouse mats featuring your child’s artwork! You can see product examples at the office. Children’s art will be displayed in classrooms Monday 31st August to Wednesday 9th September, then will be available to view at the office. We are also hoping to be able to email photos of class art, in case you can’t get to school.

All items are priced at $15 each: calendar, pack of 8 cards, diary, sketch pad, mouse mat. These make fabulous gifts for family members, or to have yourself as a keepsake of your child’s work.

Orders and payment are made done online via Kindo.

We will be placing our only order at the end of Term 3 – so ensure your order is made via Kindo by Friday 18th September. Items will be distributed in the first few weeks of Term 4 (depends on how quickly the printing company process our order).

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