Newsletter Tuesday 2nd May 2023

Mā te huruhuru ka rere te manu

Adorn the bird with feathers so it may fly

Email: office@kereru.school.nz
Website: http://www.kereru.school.nz/
Location: 2306 Kereru Road, Hastings 4171
Phone: 06 876 0923
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084298596659

Kia ora e te whānau,

Welcome back to Term 2! I hope everyone managed to enjoy some whānau time over the break. It has been great to hear all of the holiday stories and happenings from our tamariki since they have been back at School.

There have been a few staffing changes recently at Kererū School.

This Friday, we will be farewelling Shaz Pease. Shaz has been at Kererū School since 2018. She is a passionate, well-organised teacher who is able to connect and relate to all of the students and staff at Kererū School. We will miss seeing her each week, but feel comforted in knowing we will still see her around from time to time. Shaz and her husband Scott have recently sold their farm and are looking to move closer to town. Our farewell for Shaz will be in the Senior Room at 2 pm if you'd like to join us.

This term we welcome Nat Revell to the full time teaching role in the Senior Room. Nat lives locally with her partner Joe. She comes with a wealth of teaching and leadership experience, knowledge and enthusiasm. We feel incredibly lucky to have Nat working with our senior students. Sally Charteris will remain with in our school for the remainder of the year. Sally will be working in a learning support role 3 mornings per week.

We have lots of exciting learning opportunities coming up for our tamariki. Please keep an eye on our Google Calendar so you are up to date with the latest happenings. This can also be found on our new school website. You can follow the link to check it out - Kererū School Website.

Noho ora mai,

Kelsie Allen

Principal

Roll: 26

Book Club will come home this week.

Closing date is 22/05/2023.

Thank you to everyone who has purchased through the Lucky Book Club. We have been able to purchase several packs of books for our library.

We would love to have a better understanding of who will potentially come to Kererū School in the (near or distant) future. This is to ensure that you, as parents, receive information such as transition visits and school information before your child's start date.

We would love to hear from you if your child is between 1 and 4 years old. To make sure we have you on our 'potential enrolments' list.

Please email office@kereru.school.nz or follow the link to our enrolment section on our website to find out more information.

A big Happy Birthday to the following ākonga & kaiako:

• Elly - 03/04
• Mrs Pease - 19/04
• Thea - 20/04
• Isaac - 24/04

This term we are having a focus on 'Ko wai au? Who am I?'

By the end of this term, we would like our students to have an understanding of;

• A basic version of their pepeha

• Who they are, where they come from and about their family history
  

• How they learn best, their emotions and a better understanding of how to self-regulate their emotions

There will be information that our students will need from you (their whānau) to complete this work.

We will be continuing our important social and emotional regulation mahi (work) each week. This is called The Zones of Regulation. Each morning, students arrive to school and indicate whether they are in the Blue Zone, Green Zone, Yellow Zone or Red Zone. We know that for students to learn best, they need to be in the Green Zone. We are working to give students the skills and strategies to regulate their emotions to ensure they are able to make the most of learning opportunities, and to also recognise emotions and reactions of others.

This term our specific ADORN focus is going to be around 'Active - Ngangahau'.

ACTIVE means more than being physically active. It has its basis in Confucius: I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I DO and I UNDERSTAND. Active students are engaged; they Participate and Contribute (Key Competency) at school and in their community. It implies curiosity, connection, and collaboration - Thinking (Key Competency).

This term, we will be having a weekly club or option that our students can opt into for the term.

We will have 4 options for them to choose from;

• Enviro Club - with Mrs Allen
• Tennis - with Sheryn
• Music - with Ms Bentley & Laura
• Arts & Crafts - with Miss Revell

We are going to do our best to meet everyone's preferences but we will need to make sure our groups roughly even.

We are also keen to make use of the squash court just down the road.

If anyone is interested in running some sessions with our senior students, please let me know - principal@kereru.school.nz.

Week 3:

• Rachel from Field Based Stem coming to do some mahi transplanting, a lizard lounge and nature track
• Y7/8 Chess Comp

Week 4:

• Road safety week
• Constable Chris visit
• Kī o Rahi
• Pink Shirt Day

Week 5:

• Physical Activity Leaders (Y5-8) workshop at MKK School
• Rugby Skills with Sport Hawke's Bay

Link to our Google Calendar - This Calendar updates regularly.

Recently our Senior Students have been working alongside Mrs Sally Rice to develop their chess skills. Sally is a chess coach and whizz! Lots of 'tricks of the trade' are being shown. Next Friday some of our Year 7 & 8 students are heading into town to compete in the Intermediate/Senior Chess Competition. We wish them the best of luck!

At Kererū School, students have been working to develop leadership skills. At the beginning of each term, senior students plan for daily Kura Hui, lunchtime clubs and fortnightly assemblies.

During Kura Hui, 2 students lead the school in karakia, waiata and they share their pepeha. They prepare a google slide presentation for the week they are assigned to.

Lunchtime Clubs are a real hit! Senior students choose an activity they would like to lead one day per week. Our club options this term are; Indoor Games, Art Club, Yoga Club, Coding Club & Go Noodle Club.

Students work collaboratively to plan, lead and prepare slides/the script for our assemblies. It has been awesome to see confidence growing and skills developing.

Assembly dates this term are;

• 19/05 @ 2:30 pm
• 02/06 @ 2:30 pm
• 16/06 @ 2:30 pm

The photo below is of our Tuesday Art Club with Thea, Libby & Elsie

With colder weather on the horizon, we are happy for students to bring food to be heated in the student microwave. For this system to run smoothly, we will need your help.

NE - Y4 students will get their food heated by a senior student. Y5-8 students are responsible for heating their own food.

We will not be heating toasties, sandwiches or foods that would normally be eaten cold.

Please consider;

• Food that needs heating needs to come in a microwavable container, along with the appropriate cutlery
• We have one student microwave and it takes a lot of time out of our monitors lunchtimes to heat food for others if everyone brings food that needs to be heated everyday. Please consider limiting hot food options to only a couple of times per week.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our yummy welcome back breakfast last Wednesday! It was great to catch up after the break and start the term with full tummies!

Run! Jump! Hold the plank!

Our fitness time is 10:00, and it’s so fun!

7 different things to do and 14 people to do them. 2 people on each station, we race through different activities such as:

High knees and burpees,

Press ups and the plank,

Jogging on the spot, and just plain old jogging,

Leg raises and step-ups.

It's all so amazing!

On rainy days we can still do the activities… Inside! Miss Revell puts on some music and we jog along to the beat. Miss Revell hopes that the whole Senior Room enjoys it as it’s a good time to improve our fitness.

Maybe you can try it at home!

By Elly Grady

So far this term, the Junior Room have been thinking about our topic for this term, 'Ko wai au?' or 'Who am I?' We are beginning to make connections to our prior knowledge about ourselves and our families and use this information to describe ourselves in our writing.

Connected to this theme, we are also exploring our own health and wellbeing by honing our running skills to build fitness. We are using Station Cards from the Fundamental Movement Skills (Sports Hawkes Bay) programme, to work with a buddy, encouraging each other and building our Kereru School values.

A bus student code of conduct will be coming home in the coming days. Please keep an eye out for this and return to school ASAP.

A reminder of responsibilities for bus whānau:

• Meet your children off the school bus on the same side of the road as the bus stops.
• It is your responsibility to get their children to pick-up locations and to collect them from drop-off locations.
• Stay with your children while they are waiting for their school transport in the morning and meet them in the afternoon as they get off the bus.
• Please discuss any school transport related issues with Kelsie in the first instance.

On Friday 19 May 2023, Aotearoa will become a sea of pink as schools, workplaces and communities join the Pink Shirt Day movement.

By taking part we will be helping to stamp out bullying by celebrating diversity and promoting kindness and inclusion.

We encourage everyone to wear a pink t-shirt or outfit to show our support on Friday 19th May.

Saturday 13th May 2023

1 - 4 pm

Come for as little or as much time as you can.

If you aren't able to make it, we will have a list of jobs that you could help with either prior to the date or after.

A huge thank you to Mason Elliott who came and removed some tress for us over the school holidays. We really appreciate your help.

Thank you to Kate & Ru Gaddum and Nigel & Anne Ormrod for clearing the felled trees.

We expect our pies to be arriving on Thursday 4th of May. Pies will need to be collected on this day. If you can spare an hour or 2 to help to sort the pie orders out, please let Sheryn know in the office.

A time will be confirmed and shared on our Facebook page.

Thank you for our support.

Our FOKS AGM was on the 27th April. Thank you again to Carlee Olsen (Chairperson), Emily Hunter (Treasurer) & Megan Garnham (Secretary) for putting your hands up to do it all again this year. Even if you couldn't make the meeting, we encourage any whānau and/or community members with a passion for fundraising to come along with fresh ideas and offers of help.

We have an amazing school community that always chips in when needed.

A friendly reminder that our school is 'fees free' so ALL of our students benefit from the fundraising that our FOKS do. It is important that they have plenty of support and manpower.

The school works on a subscription basis with SchoolDocs to maintain, update, and review our policies. SchoolDocs provides us with a comprehensive core set of policies that have been well researched and follow the Ministry of Education National Administration Guidelines. The policies and procedures are tailored to our school, and the school supplies specific information such as our charter, and procedures for behaviour management, reporting to parents, etc.

SchoolDocs updates, modifies, or creates policies in response to changes in legislation or Ministry guidelines, significant events, reviews/requests from schools, and regular reviewing from the SchoolDocs team. Our board of trustees has the opportunity to view changes/additions and comment on them before they are implemented. We will advise you when policies are up for review and how you can take part in the review.

http://kereru.schooldocs.co.nz

Username is “kereru”

Password is “kereru1912”

TERM 2:

• Pie Delivery Day - 04/04
• Shaz's Farewell - 05/05
• BOT Meeting - 10/05
• Field Based Stem - 10/05 & 11/05
• Intermediate/Senior Chess Comp - 12/05
• School Working Bee - 13/05
• Police in Schools Visit - 15/05
• Kī o Rahi - 17/05
• Assembly - 19/05
• Pink Shirt Day - 19/05
• Unison Safe Sparks - 29/05
• Tough Guy/Gal Challenge - 01/06
• Assembly - 02/06
• King's Birthday Weekend - 05/06
• BOT Meeting - 14/06
• Brain Injury Educator - 26/06
• Last day of Term 2 - 30/06

These links will give you some ideas on how to help your child's learning at home:

• Ministry of Education Website: https://parents.education.govt.nz/primary-school/learning-and-development-at-home/ideas-to-help-with-reading-writing-and-maths/
• Maths at home: https://nzmaths.co.nz/maths-our-house
  
• Writing prompts and ideas: https://app.pobble.com/auth/
  
• Mindfulness: https://www.smilingmind.com.au/
• Early letter formation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=609NcinTkGI

Hero gives you (parents) the opportunity to send through your child's absence with a click of a button. This is a quick, efficient way and gives our staff a notification and message of the reason your child is away.

This is the way we would like you to let us know if your child won't be here. If there is additional information that the school needs to know, please contact Sheryn directly.

If your child is unwell, please keep them at home to prevent the spread of the illness.

Gastro

• "People with gastro should not go to work, school and early childhood centres until they have been well (symptom free) for 48 hours. There will be viruses in your poos for several weeks after you become well. You should continue to wash and dry your hands thoroughly after you have been to the toilet."
• Here is the link for a brochure: https://www.rph.org.nz/public-health-topics/early-childhood-centres/current-illnesses/gastroenteritis/gastro-brochure.pdf

Covid-19

• If you or someone in your whānau tests positive for Covid-19, please let Kelsie know ASAP and then follow the MOH guidelines: https://covid19.govt.nz/testing-and-isolation/if-you-have-covid-19/

Thank you to all who have paid their invoices so far. We understand that recent events have created some difficult times for some of our families. Please let me know if you would like to set up a payment option for your invoices. This is very easy to do.

If you are having trouble with your payments, please come and see either Sheryn or Kelsie so we can make a plan.