Newsletter 4 – Term 2, Week 3 2023

This newsletter has a health and wellbeing theme which has come about through our programmes, recognising what is current for our ākonga at the moment. Thank you to all of our parents who continue to support the school as a vital part of your child’s life; a place to learn, a place where they can continue to thrive and a place where they feel they belong. In the term ahead we will continue developing conversations around how we keep ourselves safe.

LEARNING at Rewa Rewa School

Life Education Trust Programme

When Harold the Giraffe and Marsha visited us last week they talked about the importance of valuing one’s own identity, how to keep ourselves safe and what being resilient looks and sounds like when we are faced with challenges, such as peer pressure. Poor Harold had to use a lot of resilience navigating our doorways!

Yr 4-6 Feeling Safe at School Survey

At the end of term 1 we surveyed our senior girls to find out how they felt they were being treated by others within the school environment.  Overall, 87% felt safe in the playground and 90% felt safe in the classroom. Delving deeper into this data, we then identified two keys areas where further support was needed. Some of our girls found it hard to let others know when they don’t like the actions of others and secondly, they don’t always let an adult know when it happens. Some mentioned some of our boys not being respectful towards them and we will be addressing this during the term ahead. To support these findings, we also ask that each family takes the time to have similar conversations at home so that you know that your child knows how to treat others with respect and what to do if they are not treated well by others. Our teachers will be listening and will follow-up on issues where students are not being treated respectfully.

The Resilience Project – Wellbeing

As part of The Resilience Project programme our Yr 4-6 students, recently completed an online survey. These anonymous responses are collated and analysed by Melbourne University.  We have just received our second year of data for comparison and can see wonderful growth in some areas, as well as identified next steps that we now need to teach. Our data is also compared against NZ norms.

This reporting provides our teachers with valuable ‘just in time’ information and influences which class lessons will be delivered from this programme.  Each student from Yr 1-6 has their own journal which can be viewed at any time by parents and at the end of the year, these will be sent home.  For parents who would like to read more about the The Resilience Project click here.

Student Toilets

When Covid-19 was at its peak and we were using ‘Bubbles’ to keep different year groups isolated from each other, this included our toilet blocks. Over time, our gender-neutral toilet blocks became the accepted norm.  However, after listening to both parent and student voice, in the interests of privacy and hygiene we have reverted back to girls’ and boys’ toilets for now. We are hopeful that as the last of our MOE property projects come to an end, there will be enough funding left to modernise the student toilets, possibly finding a way to return to gender-neutral toilets which also offer better privacy. The staff toilets, also built in the 1970’s, will just have to wait.

Teacher Only Day – Fri 02 June

A reminder to families that there is a teacher-only day Friday 02 June – school will be closed for instruction that day.  This is attached to King’s Birthday Weekend which will enable families to take an even longer weekend, if they wish to.

ANZAC Day and Gallipoli Studies

Over the past 2 weeks our students have been fully immersed in widening their understanding about the resilience needed from NZ troops who have been to war. Under Captain Pine’s careful watch, our junior troops prepared for battle and then reflected on the bravery of those who have gone into battle for their country.

Technology Challenge – Building and Designing New Cities

I think we need to ask Ahi to design more classrooms for our school – their work looks amazing!

Maths Curriculum Refresh – Professional Development for Teachers

Last week 3 of our classes were lucky enough to work with Rob Proffit-White (The Learning Centre) and 15 teachers from other schools in our Newlands Cluster who we hosted onsite for Maths PD. Our students certainly tested the thinking of the adults!

Board News

The Board has given their support for the Bike & Athletics Track development to begin. You can expect to see diggers and trucks on the top field near the end of this term. Parents – please ensure that your children stay out of this area during out-of-school hours whilst construction is underway!

Classroom Learning Spaces

As our roll grows, so does our need for more teaching space. The Board is in dialogue with the Ministry about this and will continue to do so until we have an outcome which supports our school to thrive. In the meantime, we will use the spaces that we have, as creatively as we can, to meet the needs of all our students.

Reporting to Parents

As we move closer to Mid-Year Reporting to Parents and 3-Way Interviews (Parent/Teacher/Student), we encourage all families to attend these meetings. Good communication between home and school is vital if we are to see the best results for your child. This year our teaching staff will be using a new way of sharing student progress as we move towards using student outcomes, rather than curriculum levels. A letter will be emailed home on Friday 19 May to explain these changes before named envelopes containing your child’s reports for writing, reading and maths are sent home the following week, just before the 3-Way Interviews.

Meanwhile, our Board continues to wade through pages and pages of MOE draft documents, such as Reporting to Parents and the Curriculum Refresh, which outline the many changes impacting on Education in NZ.

We welcome Brandon Liam, Jithendra, Samarpartap, Thu Huong, Tila and Zara, along with their families, to Rewa Rewa School.  We hope you enjoy learning with us!

Mon 15 May

Wed 24 May            3.10-8pm

Thu 25 May             3.10-6pm

Fri 02 June

Thu 29 June             7-8pm

Thu 20 July               9-10.30am

Tue 12 – Fri 22 September

Mon 09 – Wed 11 October

Whole-School Te Papa Trip

3-Way School Interviews

3-Way School Interviews

Teacher Only Day – SCHOOL CLOSED

NIS Open Evening for 2024 Yr 7 Students

NIS School in Action Morning

Bee Healthy Region Dental Service Onsite

Bee Healthy Region Dental Service Onsite

Term 1

Tuesday 31 January—Thursday 06 April

Monday 06 February – Waitangi Day Observed, School Closed

Friday 07 April—Good Friday, School Closed

Term 2

Wednesday 26 April – Friday 30 June

Monday 24 April – Teacher Only Day, School Closed

Tuesday 25 April—ANZAC Day, School Closed

Friday 02 June—Teacher Only Day, School Closed

Monday 05 June—King’s Birthday, School Closed

Term 3

Monday 17 July – Friday 22 September

Term 4

Monday 09 October – Friday 15 December (School closes at 1pm on the last day)

 Monday 23 October—Labour Day, School Closed