Newsletter Thursday 2nd February

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

Nau mai, haere mai!

We are excited to be back after a good "summer" holiday break. I have loved seeing our ākonga (learners) reconnecting with their peers, listening to their holiday stories and engaging in fun learning activities over the past couple of days.

This year we welcome a few new faces. We welcome Mrs Sally Charteris to the teaching team. Sally will be in the Senior Room on a Thursday and will be doing the odd day here and there when needed. We also welcome Isabella, Izzy and Violet to the Junior Room and Rylee to the Senior Room. We hope you have all enjoyed your first few days at Kererū School.

For the first couple of weeks, teachers will be focussing on; establishing and re-establishing relationships (whānaungatanga), setting routines, and expectations and teaching independent learning activities. This is a crucial part of the beginning of the school year. Once these important foundations are laid, then formal teaching and learning programmes can begin.

We have lots going on this term and a couple of changes. Please take some time to carefully read through the updates and reminders below.

Any questions or queries, please sing out.

Ngā mihi nui,

Kelsie Laing

Principal | Tumuaki

We are delighted to launch our new communication and reporting system, Hero. Hero is an online sharing platform with a complementary smart app.

Hero allows schools to customise an online environment that enables teachers, students, and families to view and share content anytime, anywhere on any device. The software is secure, easy to use and brings together all school-related information in one place.

With Hero, you have the ability to:

• read and comment on posts relating to your child’s learning
• view information on your child’s progress and goals
• read and comment on school notices sent to the class or groups your child is part of
• respond to school notices such as surveys and trip permission requests
• view school term dates
• view a school calendar of events
• notify the school if your child is absent or late
• navigate to other school-related webpages
• customise your account by adding a profile image
• select how you wish to receive notifications

Over the coming year, staff and students will be posting rich content to our Hero software. We are looking forward to sharing this with you, including you in your child’s learning journey.

For information about Hero including how to log in, follow this link https://hero.linc-ed.com/parents/.

Thank you to all who have paid their invoices so far. We understand this can be a difficult time of the year and I will endeavor to make sure the invoices don't all come home in one hit this year.

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

2023 Bus System:

• Megan Garnham is our new bus driver. You can contact her on FB messenger or on 0273075852.
• Sheryn will be sending home a 'usual bus days' notice early in Week 1. Please fill it in and return to school ASAP.
• We will assume your child is on the bus unless we hear otherwise (or you have indicated on the notice).
• In the mornings: Please contact Megan directly if your child is not on the bus no later than 7:30 am.
• In the afternoons: Please contact Sheryn (or Kelsie on a Friday) directly if your child is not on the bus no later than 2 pm.

We will monitor this new system and if anything needs to change, we will let you know.

In an effort to reduce phones 'ping, ping, pinging' we will not be using the previous bus messenger group. If there is a message to get out to bus students, this will come via the Hero app.

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/

A big Happy Birthday to the following who celebrated over the holidays!

• Arya - 25/12
• Kate - 13/01
• Pippa - 16/01
• Isabella H - 26/01
• Tiahuia - 28/01

Sheryn is looking into adding to our current bucket hats and buying wider-brimmed hats. If you would like your child to wear the wider-brimmed hat, please let Sheryn know by the end of next week so we can get these ordered.

Once we have these hats, the exexpectation will be that students will use the school hats provided.

All students need to come with on sunblock each day. We have some sunblock available at school for students to use as a top-up when needed.

The first day of Senior Tech will be on Friday 10th of Feb. Carlee has kindly agreed to transport our 6 students for the time being.

Going forward we will need to work out a more permanent solution or rotation to get our kids to and from Maraekakaho.

Please let us know ASAP if;

• your child can meet the big bus in MKK in the morning (won't come to school first)
• if you can help with transportation in any way

This year we will only be heating food that needs to be heated (in a microwave) for lunch. Thanks for your support with this.

Date: Wednesday 15th Feb

Where: Mitre 10 Sports Park, Hastings

Entry Age: Entry is open to all 6 to 15 year olds.

More information: https://tryathlon.co.nz/locations/hastings/

Please note: This is an optional event. Parents will need to pay their own way and arrange for their child/ren to get to and from the event.

Please let Kelsie know if you are intending to take your child/ren to this event - via the Hero post.

We will be trialling a new timetable structure this term based on research that strongly supports student wellbeing.

Kura Hui (our morning assembly) will now be starting at 8:55 am.

Staff and students will review this at the end of the term and make any changes to ensure it meets the needs of our students and works for our teaching and learning programmes.

Please ensure your child comes to school with their swimming togs, towels etc. daily. We are going to try and make the most of the summer we have left!

Whakawhānaungatanga means 'the process of establishing relationships'.

We know that we have lots of talented and passionate parents, whānau and community members in and around the Kererū Community.

This term, we are keen to offer 'Whakawhanāungatanga Afternoons' for our tamariki. But to do this, we need your help!

'Whakawhanāungatanga Afternoons' are going to alternate with Assemblies on Friday afternoons. Workshop sessions will run for 1 hour (1:45 pm - 2:45 pm). Workshops can be anything from music to sports skills/games, or gardening, sewing, cooking, knitting, building etc.

We are hoping to have 2 'facilitators' per session so that our tamariki have some choice in which afternoon workshop they attend. First in, first served with the dates.

Dates are;

• Week 4 - 24/02
• Week 6 - 10/03
• Week 8 - 24/03
• If anyone is super keen - we could also do Week 2 (10/02).

Please email Kelsie - principal@kereru.school.nz if you are keen!

...We know you're out there...

We would love to get out and about in the Kererū Community this year to help with any planting or acts of community service.

If you know of anything coming up, please chat to Kelsie.

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

It is so great to be back after an awesome 6-week break!

I have loved hearing about all of your holiday adventures and fun! Over the school holidays, I got up to all sorts, and it felt like the time really flew.

I helped with weaning on the farm (in the pouring rain), spent lots of time out at Castlepoint beach (where Hamish and I are getting married in March) and spent a week in the Coromandel at Cooks Beach and Papamoa/Mount Maunganui. During our week in the Coromandel, we went out in our kayak, did some great walks and went for lots of swims in the warm sea. During the holidays, I also had my Hens Do, which was lots of fun and my friends dressed me up in an old wedding dress and veil!

I loved spending time with friends and family, especially my best friend's little girl, Ivy and our niece and nephew.

I am super excited for another year packed full of awesome learning experiences and fun with you all.

1. My siblings came over from England, Australia, and Hawaii to scatter our parents' ashes at The Three Sisters, Tongapōrutu where we spent our childhood holidays. Because of Covid we haven’t been able to do this sooner. My Mum died at the end of my first week teaching at Kereru School in 2019.

2. This is my goddaughter Megan who turned 18 in January. I bought her the necklace she is wearing. She is off to Waikato University to study ‘Climate Change’.

3&4. This is my son Jonathan and his partner Melissa with my munchkin grandson Theo. They were taken at Hatuma Cafe to celebrate Jono’s 29th birthday.

5. My eldest son Tim flew in from America last Saturday and got diverted from Auckland to Christchurch because of the Auckland floods. He is a Major in the NZ Army. He’s with his Border Collie, Laika in Southern Utah, USA.

What did Mrs Pease get up to in the holidays?

My holidays started with hosting Christmas at the bach in Taupo where we had 15 of us. We all just sat down for dinner on the deck and the rain came down so we had a very fast move inside!! The age range on the day was 3 - 91! We also enjoyed a zoom call with our son Cameron and Holly, his partner who are currently living in London.

Luckily the sun shone more in Taupo than Hawkes Bay which we were very grateful for. We enjoyed fishing from the dinghy, walking the dogs, swimming in the lake, cycling, paddle boarding and cards and board games when it rained again. We had a variety of friends and family come and go over the 4 weeks I was there. All in all a very wholesome, relaxing family time.

I hope you all enjoyed the break regardless of the weather. It is great to see the kids back at school and happy to see each other and get into the activities we have planned for the start of the year.

Shaz Pease

Hi my name is Sally Charteris and I will be teaching in the Senior Room on a Thursday.

I live on Gwavas Road with my husband Grant and my two Children Lottie (7) and Harry (9).

We have a Deer farm and I run a little Air BNB called Hindsight. Having lived just up the road for 15 years I know a few of the Kererū families however I look forward to meeting more!

We have had a busy summer holiday with lots going on. We were lucky to spend Christmas at my parents' place at Porangahau Beach. The weather was actually pretty amazing and we managed to catch a few fish on the Contiki and swim and spend time with all the cousins.

New Year we spent at a friend's hut out the back of their farm. The kids caught so many eels and enjoyed motorbikes, bush walks and a hot tub. Even though the weather was average we had so much fun!

We returned home for two weeks of pretty awful weather. The weather bomb saw lots of damage to our farm which has been frustrating for Grant.

Towards the end of January we managed to get away for a great family holiday in Kinloch. We had beautiful weather and were boating on the lake most days. I even enjoyed a couple skis once the lake turned to glass. The highlight was beating my husband at miniputt TWICE!

On returning to Hawkes Bay we spent the last weekend down in Woodville at New Zealand's largest Motorcross event, where my son Harry was racing. We put up our brand new tent and had a night of no sleep as it poured down all night. We woke to a flood around us, many people had evacuated during the night. All events were canceled and we packed up and went home getting rather stuck on the way out.

I look forward to teaching at Kererū School and getting to know everyone in this cool community.

Sally

Well, Happy New Year everyone! I had a lovely time back in Aussie for 3 weeks with my beautiful family and friends. It was such a lovely catch up with everyone. I even managed to come home with a tan!

We saw some gorgeous kangaroos at the beach. They were so quiet and let me get pretty close. You can see a Christmas photo of my family here. It was so hot in Newcastle. Another reason I love living in NZ!!

We stayed at my best friend's house for a couple of days...... it was like staying in a resort! Very posh!

I have loved seeing all of the kids back at school. Some new faces, and some old ones that I will miss also.

Have a fabulous year everyone.

Watch this space... we will be putting out information about upcoming Working Bees and offers of help with landscaping around our school.

We had a busy and successful 2022. The year of fundraising, starting with our ever popular Pie fundraiser $1209.47. This was followed with the Kererū Trail Bike Ride $4563 (our share), which was made a bit easier by not providing lunch. Profits were shared this year with the Kererū Hall Society. A quick clean of the new school buildings - FOKS on the inside and whanaū on the outside - was an easy $1500. We then tried something different with the Spice Fundraiser $334. The annual Cross Country Bake Sale $865.24 (our share) was once again hugely popular and was shared with Tots 'n' Dots. We had the opportunity to provide lunch for a Bay Motorcycles tour group who were very grateful to see us! Thank you to all of you who provided bacon & egg pies, quiches and slices $1619.72. A biker's suggestion of having a donation basket resulted in an extra $250 - hooray!

It was a busy week with Athletics and preparing for the dance, which this year was a Garden Party theme. After a lot of rain the evening cleared beautifully and the decoration looked on point as per usual! It was a wonderful evening of catching up as a community and although the Silent Auction probably didn't make quite as much as our usual live auctioneer we still came close to $9500 which is not bad! The highlight was the amazing Maggie providing great live entertainment.

We provided $6747 to school to help pay for the Senior Playground and the Tough Guy & Gal Challenge earlier in the year and with a healthy balance of over $14k will be providing more soon.

To our families who continue to support our Kura with food, time, donations etc. THANK YOU.

A HUGE thank you to the amazing FOKS ladies Carlee, Megan, Emily and Sheryn who go above and beyond to organise and coordinate all of the fundraising events. Your time, effort and drive certainly doesn't go unnoticed - so thank you!

An incredible total yearly fundraising effort of $20,117.34 (with a wee bit more to come!)

A huge thank you to everyone who has helped in all of the fundraising throughout the year. Also to those community members who have generously donated their time and funds to our school. The Crutching working bee was particularly successful.

• New members to the FOKS are welcomed with open arms! If you are keen, please let Sheryn know.
• Our next meeting is on the 7th of February 2023. Please come with some ideas!

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 1:

• Newsletter 1 - 02/02
• Weetbix Tryathlon - 15/02 (Optional - parents to take students if they'd like to attend)
• Junior Gatsby Picnic (Senior Room Only) - 16/02
• BOT Meeting - 22/02
• Wood is Good Visit - 22/02
• Swimming Sports | Waipukurau - 01/03
• Year 7/8 Grip Leadership - 02/03
• Newsletter 2 - 02/03
• Sport HB Pysical Activity Leaders Workshop (Year 5/6/7/8) - 29/03
• Newsletter 3 & Community Newsletter - 30/03
• BOT Meeting - 29/03
• Last Day of Term 1 (2 pm finish) - 06/04
• Good Friday - 07/04

TERM 2:

• Teacher Only Day - 24/04
• ANZAC Day - 25/04
• First Day of Term 2 - 26/04
• Unison Safe Sparks Visitors - 28/04
• BOT Meeting - 10/05
• Intermediate/Senior Chess Comp - 12/05
• Kī o Rahi - 17/05
• Barefoot 7's - 18/05
• Pink Shirt Day - 19/05

I would like to take your kids for some fun hockey skills and games on a Wednesday after school.

All abilities welcome.

Juniors (Year 1 -3) 3:15pm – 4 pm

Seniors (Year 4 – 8) 4pm – 4:45pm

If you are interested, please let Sheryn know via the Hero post that has been sent home today. Looking at starting Wednesday March 8th and going for 5 weeks up until the school holidays. Free of charge but may need a couple of seniors to help play with my boys while I take the little ones.

This has come through to us and is a different competition to the one we normally attend. However, if your child would like to attend, please feel free to go ahead and sign them up.

This will not be a school-led activity. Click the link for more information - LINK