Newsletter 9, Term 4 Week 1 2021

Welcome back to term 4 everyone – we have a fun-packed programme of learning ready for our tamariki this term. Although we are disappointed that public events such as Dancesplash and the ukulele orchestra cannot go ahead this year, we have an evening celebration planned for later in the term  – dependant on being able to meet Level requirements at the time – so that all of our families can meet and watch our talented children share their ukulele, dance, cultural and kapa haka presentations. We thought we’d finish the night by sharing kai/food together, if possible, so get those favourite recipes ready to whip up!

Curriculum

Exciting curriculum coverage this term includes DMIC problem-solving maths, science (solids, liquids and gases), social studies (where we get to explore our own cultures and how wonderfully unique we all are), as well as swimming, cricket, drama, kapa haka and digital technology learning opportunities such as Minecraft* and EPro8* (*senior classes only). Our Dancesplash group will also be treated to a privately funded hip hop workshop to extend and encourage all their hard work last term. End of year student reports on progress and achievement will be sent home on the last Friday of term.

Our teachers are attending a wide range of professional development opportunities this term, including English as a Second Language (to support our ESOL students), Life Education – Anxiety in Children wellbeing workshops, as we investigate how to better support those in our community, Leading by Learning MOE workshops and Digital Technology. All of these opportunities help to ensure that we are delivering top quality, evidence-based programmes to support our students.

COVID-19 Delta

Last term, on Ministry recommendation, our school began compiling a Covid-19 vaccination register of all staff and regular volunteers who work onsite at our school. We will continue to keep this up-to-date, in response to last week’s announcement that all adults in schools (that is, staying longer than drop-off or pick-up), whether employees, contractors or volunteers will be required to have their first dose of the vaccine by 15 November 2021 and be fully vaccinated by 01 January 2022.  So, if you are a parent helper (eg. patrols or junior swimming), please email office@rewarewa.school.nz by Wednesday 20 October with the dates of your first and (possibly) second jab, so that we can meet requirements and keep our kids safe.

As we are still in Level 2, we continue to follow the MOH and MOE guidelines for this level. We ask that all parents/visitors who enter our school grounds wear a mask and that between the hours of 9am and 3pm you report in to the office on arrival. Students should arrive no earlier than 8.30am and must be out of the school grounds by 3.15pm, unless attending After School Care. Thank you for your support with these protocols.

We have added a few more options between the hours of 9am-3pm. These include:

• The adventure playground will now be open to our students to play on. However, we encourage all those who use this equipment to apply hand sanitiser before use.
• Due to the lack of grass area to play on near the lower quad, we will start to use the top field at lunchtimes. Yr 4 – 6 students will have the first opportunity to do this in week 1.

Property Developments

Heavy trucks and a digger have been seen in our school grounds over the holidays, as the surface for our new Learning through Play Junior Playground is prepared. This has been paid for by a $115,000 grant from The Trusts Community Foundation. Stage 2 will involve adding items to support water play, building, and other creative outdoor play.

Please be very mindful that over the next 2-3 weeks heavy machinery will still be active inside our school quad area throughout the working day.

We are in the process of repairing over $2000 worth of damage caused by vandals to our property during the last lockdown, as well as the $2500 garage door that was kicked in and beyond repair.

We appreciate our community keeping a watchful eye on our precious school!

2022 School Term Dates

We have had a few queries about 2022 term dates. Local primary schools in the area have been working together to develop a cohesive approach to these and it is expected that our school board will ratify these at their next meeting on Tues 9 November.  Dates will be advertised as soon as they have been confirmed

A reminder that this term we finish at 1pm, Wednesday 15 December. ASC will be operating as from 1pm, but we expect that places will need to be booked early to avoid disappointment.

Kathryn Berkett fundraiser evening

There are still a number of tickets available for this entertaining event – book online here.  Not only is it going to be a great night to learn more about how to support your children in a digital world, but there will be some amazing raffles to be won! Bring your gold coins to buy your tickets – see you there.

Sunhat Orders

Orders are expected to arrive in the next 2 weeks – we received very late notice after the end of term 3 that an alternative supplier was going to be sourced for navy hats. So, we apologise for the delay.  We will be looking to open another order for hats this term, if you missed out on the last order.

All students and staff are expected to wear wide-brimmed hats when outside throughout terms 1 and 4. We have sunblock available, but it is a good idea to apply this to your child before they arrive at school each day.

ASC OSCAR Programme

In week 3 our new provider for the ASC programme will begin. If you are a regular user of after school care, please make sure that you have made your online booking for your child’s place well ahead of Monday 1 November at https://ycentral.nz/outofschoolcare/

Out of Zone Enrolment

Out of Zone enrolments for Term 1 2022 have now closed.  If your child is due to start school in the second enrolment period of 15 April – Friday 08 July 2022, applications will open 09 February 2022 and close 12 noon Friday 11 March 2022.

We welcome Dav, Hamish, Tai Te-Ariki and Zoe to Rewa Rewa School, along with their families.  We hope you enjoy learning with us!

Friday 12 November         9am-12 noon

Monday 29 November

NIS Orientation Day

School Photos

Term 3

Tue 27 July – Fri 01 October (school closes at 3pm)

Term 4

Mon 18 October – Wed 15 December (1pm)

Labour Day Mon 25 October – School Closed