Last week we had a wonderful start to the term. Our 122 students arrived back from their holiday break bursting with enthusiasm about seeing their friends, teachers and starting their learning for 2022. Likewise, our staff were equally excited to see them.
Thank you for the huge turnout that we experienced on our Meet the Teacher interview day on Monday. The connections made have definitely set a positive scene for the year ahead. My huge thanks to the classroom teaching team who worked a 7-hour day to undertake this task as, well as undertaking home visits to some families during the week. Your dedication to our community is outstanding.
We welcome all of our new families to our school. With faces hidden under masks, and no class picnic gatherings, it is difficult to make connections. However, if you notice a new face, please say ‘hi’ and introduce yourselves to these families.
We welcome Liz Martindale to our teaching team this year. Liz is our Hau Class teacher (Yr 3-4).
Covid-19
Thank you for your amazing support with reading and putting into practice the new measures in place this year with the emergence of Omicron. Our staff are also making adjustments as to how they group and teach their students, as well as making themselves understood under a mask. We are thankful that our children are incredibly resilient and flexible – they remind us that we can adapt, we can continue to live our lives in relatively the same way as usual and we can still connect with each other. We appreciate those parents and caregivers remaining outside the school gates for drop-offs/pick-ups. A reminder that all those aged 12 years and older coming onsite must wear a mask.
We will continue to keep you informed throughout the term ahead. Our Covid Response team (see the school website for Covid-19 Bulletins), is wading through daily pages of documentation from the MOE and other official sources. We meet to discuss these and then send key information to our parents, but in a more succinct version. We are very aware of the importance of getting the balance right between too much/too little information and keeping you informed in a timely manner, but not overwhelmed. It is our intention to make the best decisions that we can for our school and to try to remain open as long as we can. Just expect that changes may occur very rapidly. Please ensure that you refer to the Covid-19 bulletins as they roll out. Bulletin #3 (published yesterday, 08/02/22), outlines the steps that we intend to follow to help us manage learning (onsite or at home), if/when Covid-19 affects our community. Please stay in touch with Jan Otene, our principal, if you need any support.
Localised Curriculum @ Rewa Rewa School
The results of the November 2021 survey to our parent community (see attached), gave us a clear message that our parents want to know more about the curriculum topics that their children are being taught. With this in mind, we are introducing initiatives that we hope that you will find useful.
School Newsletter where curriculum will have its own section in our 3-weekly newsletters. This may include topics such as assessment data and national priorities, such as a change in emphasis from ‘achievement’ to ‘progress’ in school reporting, as well as community survey results etc.
Class Newsletters which will sent by your child’s teacher/s at least twice per term to keep you informed about the curriculum topics that each class will be undertaking. Parents who are experts in an area being taught, such as marine biology or cultural dance are welcome to let us know they’re available as a source we can tap into. If you know of outside experts or places that we could visit, please tell us about these.
Curriculum chat groups will take place either online (ZOOM sessions) or in person at hui held at school, depending on the Covid-19 environment at the time. A range of topics such as Learning through Play, English Language learners, local Maori curriculum and Wellbeing have already been earmarked for the year ahead.
Book into your diary now: Monday 21 February 6 pm – Learning through Play (LTP).
This session will be facilitated by Sarah Aiono, CEO of Longworth Education. She will be talking about why LTP is an important programme for us to continue to offer our students. LTP also supports our Active Learner Skills focus where we aim to develop lifelong learning skills in our students. This is the 3rd year that our school has undertaken professional development in LTP. This year our yr 1 – 4 classes will be undertaking LTP at a shared time and yr 5 – 6 will begin their Passion Projects, through an LTP lens.
For those who would like to know more about LTP, and would like the opportunity to ask your own questions, we’ll be sending out invites to the LTP ZOOM session very soon.
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