Newsletter

Word Lab (Spelling): The aim of our Word Lab programme is to obtain transference from the word that is learnt and explored during the class lessons and the Learning Partnership at home, to application into reading and writing at school. We want applied knowledge...not simply knowledge.

In class, teachers and students are pulling apart and exploring one word a day to help the children understand the make-up of the words and study the tricky parts of them. These words make up the childrens' list of words to practise at home.

Communication Systems: We provide a range of communication platforms that seek to keep you, our parent community, informed on school events and happening at all levels of the school.

• School App (SchoolAppsNZ - Edendale PS Southland): Great for sending out information alerts and for you to send your absence notice back to school.
• Facebook (Edendale Primary School - Southland): A great place to celebrate the learning that our children do and keep you up to date with school happenings.
• Seesaw: A close up look at what your child is doing and be able to provide direct feedback encouragement to them. We also share school announcements via Seesaw.

In the event of an emergency, we would 'broadcast' on all our channels and so would encourage you to be connected to them all now in preparation.

COVID Setting: The COVID settings have changed once again as we move into another phase of this pandemic.

This week we published a flow chart for what you can do with COVID reaches your household. We are going to keep this the same. Our aim is to keep our school running as long as possible for as many people as possible. These flow chart settings will guarantee this. Please familiarise yourself with this (See below)

Every day that we are fully open is a good day for the children, teachers and school community.

Meet the Teacher Goal Setting Interviews: Thank you for coming in, meeting your child's 2022 teacher and setting learning goals with them. It is a great way to see your child's classroom, chat about learning, and look into the future for this year.

We have two other times that we invite you in and they will be at the end of Term Two for the mid-year reports and the end of Term Four for the final year's report.

Thank You - Team Edendale

• Abby Duffy: Abby is one of the job sharing teachers in Team Kiwi. Alongside Mrs Hayley Clarke, she teaches our younger children providing for them a great learning environment. Abby is the staff representative on the Home and School which the staff really appreciate a lot. Another role Abby holds is the oversight of our support for children with additional learning needs. There is a lot involved with this school-wide responsibility and Abby does it with a calm, caring confidence. Thanks, Abby for all your work at Edendale Primary School.

Staggered Breaktimes: We have introduced stagger breaks this week to help give a bit more physical distance between groups. We have three pods for play. Room One and Two, Room Three and Four, Room Five and Six.

Every day that we are fully open is a good day for children, teachers and school community.

EPS Covid Contact Numbers: Every day we are fully open is a good day for the children, teachers and school community. Good information helps this to occur.

Our COVID contact numbers are...

• Operational hours: 03 206 6959.
• After Hours EPS COVID Hotline is: 027 614 6740.

E-School: We expect to be moving to some type of E-School in the coming weeks and months.

Already 450+ schools and early childhoods are managing cases requiring part, if not all of the school, to isolate.

For E-School to work well we would encourage all families to be ready with...

• Good internet
• Digital devices e.g. iPad, Chromebook, laptop.
• Ensure that Zoom is downloaded onto your device.
• A workspace for children.

All the children have the Seesaw Classroom E-Learning information pasted into the back of their Learning Partnership Book ready for E-School.

We expect that the warning we are moving to E-School will be quick when it comes.

Please be prepared.

Principal's Term One Challenge - Leonardo da Vinci Portrait Artists

My challenge for Term One is to become an artist like Leonardo da Vinci and paint a portrait.

Entry Details

• The portrait is of a person alive today. It can be a self-portrait or of someone else. Maybe even a teacher!
• There will be a filled-in background that places the person in a context.
• The portrait can be by any handcrafted media (e.g. painted, colouring-in pencils, felt tips, pencil sketch, pastel). Not digital.
• Your name, year level and team need to be on the back of the artwork.
• There is an adults section available for any parents or community members who want to submit their work.
• The paper is an A4 orientated portrait (not landscape). We can supply A4 paper if needed for any artist.
• They are due Friday 8th April.
• By submitting a piece of artwork you are agreeing to have the portrait scanned and shared on our social media and website.

Prizes

• Year 1 & 2
• Year 3 & 4
• Year 5 & 6
• Adults

TERM ONE 2022

All activities and events are subject to the government's Covid-19 'Traffic Light' settings and local requirements when there is an outbreak within our community.

Week Five (of 11)

• Monday 28th February - Home and School Meeting 7.30pm, School Staffroom

Week Seven (of 11)

• Wednesday 16th March - Kamahi ReserveTrip

Week Eight (of 11)

• Tuesday 22nd - Year 6 Big Day Out

Week Nine (of 11)

• Tuesday 29th March - School Board Meeting Two, 7.00pm, staffroom
• Wednesday 30th March - Student Council, GRIP Leadership Conference

Week Eleven (of 11)

• Friday 15th April - Good Friday. School Closed Easter.

Got an Absence - Use the App

The school app is a very easy and efficient way to inform the school if your child is absent. Simply fill out the form and it turns it into an email that is sent to the school office. We love it.

Thank you to parents for providing a reason. It is a Ministry of Education that we input a reason for every absence.

School Lunches - Thursday

Thank you for all the orders that are coming for Edendale Dairy school lunches on Thursday. This is going very well and the children are enjoying some variety in their weekly lunch routine.

Kia ora koutou.

Team Kereru has 26 students, 14 boys and 12 girls. There is a wide range of personalities and it is great to see them start to show their personalities more and more often.

To start the year, we did “All About Me” art bags. Each child had their own paper bag to paint, draw and stick things on. Some children really took the time to use detail with finer drawings on their bags, which is fantastic to see. This Friday, each child will be sharing their bag in front of the class and are allowed to bring a couple of items from home that have meaning to them, to share as well. I am looking forward to knowing more about the children!

At the end of Week 2, the children performed plays that they have been practising; the class was laughing and enjoyed watching each group perform.

We have been doing jump rope where the children run into a big rope and try to jump a few times, then run out. Everyone enjoyed this as it was challenging and it allowed the class to motivate and encourage each other. This has been continued at lunchtimes and playtimes with the children organizing it themselves and other students joining in.

The class enjoys physical competition so the introduction of timed-tag has been fun for fitness time.

Mrs Shepherd has been coming in on Wednesdays to teach the class while I have been on release. Starting this week, mini inclusion lessons have been taught. It is great to hear about the involvement from children with these. The class has also been going swimming in the afternoons. It is lots of fun.

It has been good to meet parents in person at the goal-setting interviews that have been happening over the last few days. Setting goals for children is a great way to understand what they believe they might need to work on.

I hope everyone has had a lovely week and will enjoy their weekend!

Miss Botting, Teacher, Team Kereru

The aim of our values is to nurture positive, purposeful and meaningful relationships of aroha. Respect helps us to do this.

Respect means we honour other people equally as we would honour ourselves and is shown through manners, courtesy, politeness, self-control, co-operation, obedience and participation.

At Edendale Primary School respect is demonstrated when we..

• Use our manners and talk politely to each other.
• Follow rules and instructions.
• Listen actively.
• Are aware of the needs of others and offer to help.

Every time our values are shown they make our school a great place to be for children and adults.

When we use our values on a day by day basis, in the relationships that we have, one with another, in our school, we contribute to making our school a great place for all to come along.

This week the Principal/Tumuaki would like to acknowledge Jada McKinnel for being a strong contributor, living out our school values every day.

Showing respect to those around you is an important aspect of building strong relationships and helping with being able to have a positive learning experience.

Skylah is a member of Team Pukeko who demonstrates our school value of Manaakitanga-Respect. She always has a positive attitude to learning and shows respect to her teachers and team-mates in all the right ways.

Skylah greets others politely and cheerfully, and she is happy to have a conversation with anyone. She listens carefully and is always interested in finding out more.

Skylah listens to and follows instructions quickly. She is a kind, caring friend and she often helps others with any jobs that she sees need done.

We are lucky to have a bubbly, friendly team-mate like you, Skylah - you are exactly the kind of person who helps make our classroom a lovely place to be!

Iyland Roberts is a young lady who can be relied on and she is a student who cares for those around her. She consistently demonstrates our school value of Manaakitanga-Respect in all areas of her learning and daily life.

Iyland is a kind and well mannered individual. She always greets the teacher in the morning and shows enthusiasm for the day ahead. She is a student that we can count on to do the right thing and to remind others about our school and classroom expectations.

Using our manners is a part of everyday life that many forget to use. Iyland is a great role model for using her manners, thanking the teacher or peers when items are handed out. Iyland also thinks ahead and gets books organised for herself and others before heading out to play.

Iyland works hard in school and pushes herself in her learning. She approaches tasks with a positive attitude and actively listens to instructions and class discussion. She is persistent when things become more difficult and always shows a can-do attitude.

Iyland, it is a pleasure to have you in Team Kahu this year. You are a great role model to others and a fantastic friend. You have really impressed me with your work ethic and attitude.

Keep up the good work!

A long long time ago when dragons existed, there lived five dragonets, all very powerful and graceful: Clay the Mudwing, Sunny the Sandwing, Glory the Rainwing, Tsunami the Seawing and Starflight the Nightwing.

“Humph” I’m bored. I’m staring out the window. Suddenly my bracelet started to glow, wind started to fill the room and then it clogged together and swirled around me. I screamed in horror. What’s happening? I thought. Where is it taking me? The wind calmed down.

I opened my eyes and saw a small shed standing before me. The door creaked open and the wind pushed me inside. There was a beautiful bright blue portal. Again, the wind nudged me and I fell in. I landed in soft sand and looked around. The only thing I saw were lots of dragons...

Meeting Report - Tuesday 22 February

The School Board met on Tuesday 22nd February for their first general meeting of 2022.

The following is a summary of the meeting.

• The school roll stands at 122 with six classrooms.
• Mrs Jenny Coyle tabled the Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) report for Term Four 2021.
• Solutions and Services provided their financial update.
• The Principal provided his Compliance Report and Actions Against the 2022 Annual Plan Report. A lot of work has been occurring behind the scenes in readiness for COVID cases in the school.
• Ministry of Education COVID-19 Red Traffic Light Setting school processes were tabled.
• The School Board has agreed to access the RATs testing programme to help us, as best as we can, to staff the school when isolation requirements start to bite in.
• Plans for the replacement of the pool roof continue to be worked on and final plans hopefully will be tabled by the next School Board meeting.
• Plans for the remodel of several classrooms are in their developmental stages.
• Plans for the replacement of the school boiler are going slower than anticipated and this replacement does not look like occurring until later this year or early into 2023.
• Work for the Learning Support Coordinators space has had some partial progress with the shifting of the data cabinet. We anticipate further on-site work later this term.

Next School Board Meeting - 2022

The next School Board meeting is to be held on Tuesday 29th March at 7.00 pm in the school staffroom. All material for this needs to be in the week before so that it can be sent out to the School Board members before the meeting.

Situations Vacant - After School Care Job-Share Coordinator

The position of an After School Care Job-Share Coordinator has come up.

If you are interested please send a CV with all your details to the principal at principal@edendaleps.school.nz. Include references, referees and evidence of identity (copy of your passport and driver's licence).

Employment is conditional on vaccination and a clear police vet. An up to date First Aid certificate would be helpful. Training will be required around child safety procedures.

Next Meeting - Term One 2022

The Term One 2022 meeting of the Home and School is scheduled for Monday 28th February starting at 7.30pm in the school staffroom.

Email: admin@edendaleps.school.nz
Website: https://sites.google.com/edendaleps.school.nz/edendale-primary-school
Location: Edendale Primary School, 24 Salford Street, Edendale 9825, New Zealand
Phone: 03 206 6959
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EdendalePrimarySchool
Twitter: @EdendaleSchool