Newsletter 8, Term 3 Week 2 2020

Welcome back to term 3 – we’re looking forward to an action-packed term, with lots of fun learning for all of our learners. We’re particularly thrilled to welcome so many new families to our school community – 121 students now attend our wonderful school, which is the highest that the roll has been over the last 5 ½ years.  It is fantastic to see so many of you mixing and mingling after school at the Adventure Playground each day. A great way to meet each other!

As our roll gets larger, we are having to think about the impact that larger numbers has. 3 areas that stand out at the moment are:

Road Traffic Safety

Being on road patrol duty this week has highlighted just how busy Padnell Crescent has become – chaotic would be the word to describe it! Where possible, we encourage you to either walk your child to school or park on one of the side streets, rather than on Padnell Crescent, leaving these parks for those who really need it e.g. those with babies & toddlers, or problems with mobility etc. Please do not drive into the staff carpark or turn near the crossing – you don’t want to be the driver whose car photo appears in our newsletters because you are inconsiderate about the safety of others.

School/Home communication

We have a problem. Messages we send about important events/information, such as the school being closed, are not being read by all families.  We use a variety of ways to share important messages, including website front page and calendar, school newsletter, class letters, reminder emails and alerts and yet we still had at least 6 students turn up ready for school last Monday. We appreciate that parents are busy and that sometimes English is not the first language spoken at home. So, we need to know – what works for you?  e.g. paper copy on the fridge, notices outside classrooms – please let us know. In the meantime, we strongly urge you to download our free school app on your phone or tablet, via the link on the front page of our website and enable notifications. This app is used to alert you to notices, newsletter and vital information, such as emergency school closures and school reminders about teacher only days, term dates and other events!

Community Meetings & Gatherings

We are very aware that there are sub-groups within our wider school community who may like to meet with each other. This may be those who come from overseas, those who speak languages other than English, new mums/dads or those who now work at home etc. We would like to encourage you to use our school as a place to catch up over a cuppa. If you are interested in running a casual group or would like to be invited to such as group, please email office@rewarewa.school.nz so that we can help connect you with like-minded people. For those who have no family locally or perhaps were not educated in NZ, we appreciate that it can be a challenge learning how things work at school – a smiling, familiar face in a sea of parents might be very welcome.

Gathering – Welcome Assembly for New Families: 9.45 am, Friday 14 August

When new families arrive at our school we would normally welcome them with a traditional powhiri.  However, COVID-19 interrupted the training sessions for our students to learn their waiata, haka and karanga to welcome visitors onto our school marae. We will therefore be holding a mihi whakatau, followed by morning tea in the staffroom to welcome you to our school.  If you are new to our school this year and have not already been formally welcomed, an invitation to your family will be sent home soon. Anyone from our school community is welcome to attend, to support and welcome those attending.

Term 3 Curriculum

Expect to hear your children talking about their learning this term, which will include:

• Maths (DIMC) – learning how to generate and justify explanations
• Digital Technology – learning about coding, patterns and programming Bee-Bots
• Matariki – Māori New Year celebrations
• Friday rotations, when all students participate in kapa haka, dance, singing, science, technology and visual art in mixed year groups, working with each of our teachers. This is also important for developing our R.I.D.E values and key competencies, such as participating and relating to others.
• Magic Show “Be Bright, Eat Right”teaches students to explore their eating habits and create a positive attitude towards food. The show supports the New Zealand Curriculum via a hilarious magic show, full of audience interaction.
• Opportunities to learn a language, i.e. Spanish lunchtime club and the Hindi language school (privately run from our hall on Saturdays)

R.I.D.E. Values in action

BOARD OF TRUSTEES NEWS

Mid-Year Data

At this time each year we gather information about every child’s achievement in the core curriculum areas of reading, writing and maths. This information is reported to the board so that we can see how to support our learners to reach their goals. This might involve providing more staffing, professional development or funding programmes such as Spring into Maths etc. This data is readily available for all parents to access – please email office@rewarewa.school.nz after our next board meeting on Tuesday 11 August for a copy.

Teacher Only Days

Thank you for supporting our team to develop their professional capabilities over the last holiday break. This work ensures that our teachers are delivering high quality, informed teaching to your children through a school-wide approach. Topics covered over the 3 call-back days included:

• DIMC maths – deepening mathematical explanations – justifying / generalising
• Learning through Play (Longworth) – how does this fit within the curriculum
• Curriculum Review: R.I.D.E Values and Learning Culture

Property

New fences were due to be erected over the holidays, but due to a couple of unexpected issues work is now scheduled to take place later this term. It will seem strange to have fences enclosing our school grounds. However, we have tried to keep barriers to a minimum whilst still enabling us to keep all students safely within our grounds.

A special needs room is scheduled to be constructed during terms 3&4 in the junior end of the walkway, although we are hopeful that most of this work will be undertaken during the next holidays.

Home & School Parent Group

Each year we have had a fantastic group of parents who have worked to make a difference in our school, such as completing grant applications, organising school triathlon, Easter raffle, garden club, guest speakers, fundraising for camp, etc. Our first meeting of the year will be 6pm, Wed 19 August in the staffroom and we would love to see you there! Please contact Naomi (027 433 1252), if you would like to find out more.

Our thanks to Rochelle Dalziel for organising Scholastic Book Club orders. For every purchase made by families, the school is awarded credits to purchase new books for our library, which we really appreciate.

You might have noticed that several poles appeared during the holidays around the Adventure Playground. These are in preparation for the new shade sails, which will be installed for summer.

Naomi Godfrey, H&S Chair

PARENT HELPERS

Road Patrol Volunteers

It only takes 10-15 minutes of your time and you can volunteer for as little as a term at a time (10 weeks), but we desperately need new volunteers to help with this essential service. Please email charlotte.hills@rewarewa.school.nz if you can help. Thank you.

PTP – Parent Tutor Programme

We would love to have some more parents/grandparents join our wonderful group listening to individual students improve their reading each week. Just 1 session from 9-10.30 am would mean such a lot to our readers. Full training is given. If you are keen, please email Lynnda Bouzaid (tonyandlynnda@gmail.com).

Community Art display

Last term our classes created artwork to display at the Newlands Community Centre. Our huge thanks to Heather Guitry for organising this great showcase of the talent our students have – thank you to our teachers for taking these art classes with your students.

3-Way Parent/Teacher/StudentTeacher Interviews – Week 3, Wednesday 5 August & Thursday 6 August

There are some things on the school calendar that are a ‘MUST DO’ – attending a mid-year 3-Way Interview with your child is at the top of the list. Last week we emailed all families with instructions on how to complete your online booking. As you can imagine, undertaking 121 interviews over 2 nights is a marathon task for our teaching team, but we do it because it adds value to how both home and school can work together, helping your child be the best that they can be. If you are unable to meet with your child’s teacher on either of these days, please contact them directly so that they can arrange an alternative time to meet with you.

Scholastic Book Club

Scholastic Book Club Orders close Friday 14 August – order online now.  Instructions for creating your account were sent home with catalogues.

Email scholastic.orders@rewarewa.school.nz with any queries or for further information.

Wellington Hindi School

We have begun a new partnership with this group who will be using our school hall on Saturday. All students, of any nationality are welcome – see Community Notices below for details.

Welcome to Aiden, Cyrus, Isabella, James, Mia, Noahn, Seb, Sophia & Vikaash and their families.  We hope you will enjoy your time at Rewa Rewa School.

Thursday 30 July              7-8.30pm

Friday 31 July

Monday 3 August

Wednesday 5 August

Thursday 6 August

Friday 7 August

Tuesday 11 August          9-10.30am

Tuesday 8 – Wednesday 16 September

Friday 25 September       3pm

Monday 12 October        9am

Friday 13 November

Tuesday 15 December    1pm

Newlands Intermediate (NIS) Open Evening

Northern Zones Cross Country

Nthn Zones Cross Country Postponement Day

3-Way Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews

3-Way Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews

Nthn Zones Cross Country 2nd PP Day

NIS School in Action morning

Bee Healthy Regional Dental Service onsite

End of Term 3

Start of Term 4

NIS 2021 Enrolments Orientation Morning

End of Term 4

GirlGuidingNZ makes sure their girls are resilient, strong, connected, get involved in the community, learn new skills in a safe environment and make new friends. AND In Term 3 2020 our fees are half price. There is space for your girl to join. Go to  https://girlguidingnz.org.nz/join-us/#joinform to register.