ARDMORE SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

* Hello * Kia ora * Malo e lelei * Namaste * Talofa lava

* Kia orana * Guten Tag * Nǐ hǎo * Sat sri akal * Hola

* Chào bạn * Bula * Hallo *As-salamu ‘Alakum

Welcome back to Term 3. It has been lovely to have a few days without rain! While the school field is still too wet for the children to use, at least they have been able to get outside and use the playgrounds, sandpits and swings.

This term we welcome two new staff members. Mrs Catherine Guyan who is teaching Room 6 and Mrs Michelle Hawkins who joins us as a teacher aide.

The Board has recently been advised that a solar farm comprising 18,000 solar panels is being proposed for the field opposite the school drop off area, as well as land behind the field. As the owners of the school property, the Ministry of Education is supporting the Board in its response to this proposal. Currently the proposal is with Auckland Council where a decision is yet to be made as to whether the proposal will become notifiable or non-notifiable through the approval process.

The field adjourning our school field towards Burnside Road was donated to the area by an old settler family and is known as Bell Field. The land on which Burnside Hall sits on was also donated by the same family. The hall itself was built by the local Ardmore community through the donation of time and materials. Auckland Council now own both Bell Field and Burnside Hall. Unfortunately, a few years ago, there was a fire in hall and the hall has not been available to hire since. The Auckland City Council 3 year plan states that the money from the sale of the hall and the field will go to the Clevedon Hall and surrounds and the Clevedon Cricket Club.

Members of the local community are meeting to discuss the above issues. Members of the school community are welcome to attend.

There are 2 petitions which the community is circulating in relation to these issues. If you want to sign them they can be found in the school office.

A big thank you to staff and parents who were at school before dawn for our Matariki celebration breakfast. Although the weather was certainly not perfect for star gazing the joining together to celebrate and share kai made this a truly special event for our school community.

The sun shone brightly and the weather was warm for the 15 enthusiastic Year 5-8 students, who participated in the Annual E.C.C.S. Cross Country event. The cross country was held at Te Puru Reserve in Beachlands. Last term the students started giving up their lunchtimes to train for the event and their dedication was a credit to them . Congratulations to Josh Emslie-Wood who placed 5th and Ashwal Deo who placed 7th in the Year 8 Boys' race. These results helped the Ardmore Year 8 Boys Team to come third as a team overall. The Ardmore students should all be very proud of not only their efforts, but also their great sportsmanship, as they cheered on and encouraged all the competitors in the various events. A special thank you to Julian Nonu and Nicola Emslie-Wood who were course marshalls for the day.

On Friday August 4th the Ardmore Enviro Group participated in our annual Trees for Survival Planting day! It was a great success with over 750 native species being planted by our determined and hardworking students. We were joined by volunteers from WaterCare who sponsor the Ardmore Trees for Survival programme, helping us with costs and labour.

We got to learn about the local dams, a bit of history of Auckland’s water waste cleaning strategies and share our knowledge of the local species who live in our waterways. It was a beautiful, sunny and successful day and our landowner Kirsten was thrilled to see so many healthy trees going into the ground to help protect the creek and grow habitat for our native species. It was an extra special site for planting as the Ardmore Trees for Survival program planted there 8 years ago so students were able to see some of the amazing growth that is made possible by their efforts!

Thank you to all who helped out on the day and supported their tamariki in joining in!

School starts at 9am. Please endeavour to have your tamariki here on time. The start of the day contains very important routines to help tamariki settle for a day of learning.

The Ministry of Education track attendance and we are alarmed at the number of Ardmore children arriving late regularly every morning.

Please keep sick children at home. If your child has a vomiting bug we ask that you keep them home for 48 hours after their last vomit. Covid is still out there. People with Covid must remain home for 7 days. If there is Covid in the house children may attend school as long as they test negative and are not symptomatic.

We want to keep everyone safe.

To find a copy of the AG Day Information Booklet click on the link Ag Day Information Booklet

Increasingly, we are noticing that many of our students are grappling with personal issues which have a direct impact on their mental, social and academic well being. These issues may include - friendship, conflict, change, resilience, growth mindset or anxiety.

Teachers are not trained to provide professional counselling support we are, however, fortunate to have Auckland University of Technology (AUT) student, Zak, working within our school. Zak is on practicum here whilst studying and therefore receives support and professional supervision from AUT. He will be on practicum at Ardmore School until the end of the year and will possibly continue into 2024. Zak will be able to offer support for our children one day a week. Children can be referred by

• parents who have a concern with their child
• teachers and parents who have discussed concerns together
• Older students who can self refer with permission from their parents

Parental consent will always be needed before any contact is made with your child. Consent forms are available from the school office or your child may ask their classroom teacher. We have also included a consent form below.

If you vape and have these devices in your home please consider that the bright colours and shape of this product can be attractive to children. Our younger tamariki are not always aware of what these things are and can easily bring them to school to show their friends. Older students, who know exactly what they are, may also think it's ok to bring one to school. Talking to our kids about things like vaping is tricky. We need to open a dialogue, and explain to them why this isn’t for them. The dangers of vaping as a child or teen are higher than for adults, as the chemicals and additives can affect their growth and development. Thank you for your support with this issue.

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Public Notices are places in the school newsletter by request. Notices are in no way endorsed by, or reflect opinions or interests of those at Ardmore School