Newsletter

School Interviews: Thank you very much for coming in for our school interviews and being cooperative with our COVID conditions. It was great to be able to have these interviews given the climate of health concerns that currently exist.

Thank you to the teachers for their work in getting the reports ready and all the time committed throughout this week with the interviews. I know how much time goes into this important part of school life.

Classes for 2022: At your interview, you would have received what class your child is in for 2022.

Please remember that teaching is always to the level of the child's ability and that a class room number (e.g. Room 5) does not directly equate to a year level classification (e.g. Year 5). That is why we call the groups of children as teams e.g. Team Kahu.

Further, on a broader scope, we are managing going from seven classrooms to six classrooms, which means in 2022 there is no Room 7 Team Weka class. The effect of this is that may feel like children are moving fast through the school, but that's not the case, their year level is their key anchor for their progress through the school.

Class Swaps: Next week on Thursday we are bringing together the 2022 classes so that children get a picture of who they will be with in 2022. Building that picture for them really helps.

With so many composite classrooms in 2022, there are going to be new combinations and friends to make. This makes our school strong and like a family (and life itself) where friendships span multiple age groups and are not limited to simply the one age band.

Building Resilience in Children: Sometimes, when new classes form, there can be small disappointments. This can lead to children having uncomfortable feelings which then can unsettle us as adults.

I would encourage you to support your child by empowering them to be resilient and confident. This sends the clear message to them that you believe in them to be able to face situations that may not be their ideal outcome. Growing that strength in them now, proves a real asset in their future life, and demonstrates that you are parenting for character and growth which sets them up strongly for their futures. Love takes a long term view.

Through facing and overcoming small challenges, children learn that despite the course of circumstances, they will be okay and can get through. That is how resilience grows: in small steps, facing little disappointments, with the loving support of those around them.

Further, please be encouraged that we have a professional group of teachers who each year, year on year, build a strong team of children in their rooms centred on learning, informed by our school values and focused on building confident, connected, actively involved, life-long learner. Our teachers are experienced in this and do it very well.

Paediatric Vaccination - 2022?: As many will be aware the New Zealand government has purchased Pfizer paediatric vaccinations for children 5 - 11 years old. This is effectively children that attend primary schools. We have received no direct information apart from what is stated in the Covid Protection Framework (CPF) "Schools are prohibited from requiring students/ākonga to be vaccinated to access education."

Christmas Postie Elf - Week 7 and 8: Deliveries have begun and it is a great way to round off a full and productive year. Hundreds of cards are getting delivered each day. Next week we continue, so keep the cards coming.

Make sure they have the name and room number of the child to whom it needs to be delivered to. This makes sorting so much easier for the Christmas Postie Elf.

Word Lab 2022: Next year we are introducing a new spelling programme that will fully replace our existing system. It is called Word Lab. It aligns with Yolanda Soryl's phonographics work.

What you will notice is that the number of words that children learn each week will initially drop down. We are going for deep, secured learning in the classroom supported from home. What we have been finding is that children can master a set amount of words, but fail to transfer these effectively into their writing and reading.

Our aim is for our children to be master readers and writers and Word Lab is one component to support this. We see it as a longitudinal programme (spans six to seven years) and so by the time they leave us, we want them fully equipped for the rigours of high school literacy.

Thank You - Team Edendale

• Andrea Russell: This week we had the accountant visit with us. One of her first statements is that she enjoys working with our accounts as they are so well organised. This is completely the work of our Office Manager Andrea Russell who daily is ensuring that the finances of the school are accurate in all facets. The level of detail around this is intricate and complicated and Andrea has her head around it extremely well. Thanks.

TERM ONE 2022

Week One (of 11)

• Tuesday 1st February - First Day of School

Week Two (of 11)

• Monday 7th February - School Closed, Waitangi Day Observed

Week Three (of 11)

• Tuesday 15th February - Pre School Meeting, 2.00pm

Week Four (of 11)

• Monday 21st - Friday 25th February - Goal Setting
• Tuesday 22nd February - School Board Meeting One, 7.00pm, staffroom.

Week Five (of 11)

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

Week Six (of 11)

• Thursday 10th March - LMV Athletics
• Saturday 12th March - Car Boot Sale

Week Seven (of 11)

• Wednesday 16th March - Kamahi ReserveTrip

Week Eight (of 11)

• Tuesday 22nd - Year 6 Big Day Out
• Friday 25th March - Whanau Day
• Saturday 26th March - Southland Athletics

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.

Board Meeting - General Meeting 8 of 8

The next, and final, School Board meeting for 2021 is to be held on Tuesday 7th December at 7.00pm in the school staffroom.

Board Elections - 2022

Board Elections for 2022 have been delayed until September 2022.

We will be looking for parents who have strength in strategic thinking, teamwork and analysis of trends and patterns to help build the school of tomorrow.

Talk to a BOT member and even come along to a meeting to see how this works in practice.

Raffle - Prize Draw

Tickets will be drawn on Wednesday 8 December, so it is vital that tickets are returned prior to this. Thanks for your support.

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.

Schools - Colours and Levels

We are currently at COVID Alert Level Two and the MOE indicated that this is the setting that schools will remain in until the end of the school year.

However, further recent clarification has come through that schools are in fact functioning between both the Alert Level Framework and the Covid Protection Framework (see a link to this below).

We are at...

• Alert Level Two if the activity we are undertaking is a 'curriculum-related event'. This is until the end of the 2021 school year.
• Covid Protection Framework for a 'non-curriculum related event' in 2021 and then for everything from 2022.

Alert Level Two

At Edendale Primary School this looks like...

• If children are sick with flu-like symptoms they should remain at home. We would encourage that they get tested to ensure that it is not COVID-19.
• Classrooms are for school personnel only.
• Kiss and Hug Drop Off/Pick Up Zones: There is a specified point where parents drop off and pick up their children from.
• Communication should be kept as best as possible to email, app and phone.
• Children require named drink bottles as the fountains are turned off.
• Children on buses are encouraged, but not required to wear masks.
• Children eat their lunch outside their own rooms.
• School fitness is with their class only.
• Interclass mixing is kept to a minimum.
• Celebration Time is not occurring if it can't be outside and certificates are presented to each class separately.
• Events that are publicly faced have thresholds of 100. This impacts what we are able to do as a school.

Protocols - Dealing with a Covid Case in our School

The Ministry of Education has updated all its information in regards to what occurs in a school should there be a positive case of COVID-19.

When a case occurs schools are required to identify two groups of people.

• Close contacts
• Casual plus contacts

According to the level of contact and vaccination status of a person (none, one dose, two doses), various levels of isolation and testing are required for both children and family members.

• Close contacts
• Families of close contacts
• Casual plus contacts
• Families of causal plus contacts

To help us swiftly get on top of a case we need accurate contact details for all families. If you have changed your physical address, cell phone number or email please let the office know as soon as possible so we can update our student management system.

Scanning in with our COVID QR code adds that next layer of information enabling accurate contact tracing re locations of interest.

We would further advise that all families have our app downloaded from the App store. Search SchoolAppsNZ and then connect to Edendale PS Southland once in the app.

E-School - Being Prepared With a Strong Home Set-Up

We anticipate continual disruptions in 2022 where we will need to reactive our E-School for our students.

• E-School uses the Seesaw Class app (which is different from the Seesaw Family which you currently connect through.)
• Your child's teacher will provide you with a QR code to directly link your child to their Seesaw Class activities.
• Activities are provided by the teachers for reading, writing, mathematics and inquiry. They are set for a week.
• Teachers will respond back and forth through the school day supporting the children with their learning.

For E-School to work best a home needs to have...

1. Good WIFI
2. A keyboard device such as a laptop or Chromebook. We have found that using a cell phone is frustrating for children as it is too small.

With Christmas coming up we would encourage families to invest in a strong home infrastructure so that we can quickly activate E-School at a moment's notice, knowing that all our school community is ready. Check out the Noel Leeming link below for Chromebooks.

Vaccine Mandate - Parent Involvement in School

We value our parental involvement in the school. It fits in with our vision statement around being 'connected'. We also know that our children value it as well. However, unfortunately, the recent Public Health Order around vaccination has some implications to this that we normally do not have to navigate but now are required to.

The Order does not apply to people/parents who are visiting the school 'being a parent' and as such, there is no need for the school to request vaccination status. This includes the following...

• Parents or caregivers dropping off, picking up, or settling children at a school or kura.
  
• Parents or caregivers attending meetings or events on-site (e.g. for parent-teacher interviews)
  

The Order does apply to people who are 'offering a service' to the school as a volunteer and, as such, the school then needs to request vaccination status to be involved. This is because they are carrying out work (unpaid) at or for a school and they may have contact with children or will be present at a time when children are also present. For example...

• Parents, caregivers or volunteers at an Education Outside the Classroom (EOTC) programme or excursion.
• Parents, caregivers and members of the community who are volunteers at a school.

Paediatric Vaccination - Schools Always Open

Please note, that whilst there are governmental moves to provide a paediatric vaccination for children in New Zealand, schools will always be open and enrol students whatever vaccination status a child may be.

Menzies College is having a Teacher Only Day on Wednesday 8th December.

Ritichies have said all buses are running but please expect earlier pick up and drop-offs due to fewer students being on the buses.

Wow! Term 4 sure is flying by!

This term we have been busy swimming twice a week for three weeks, learning T-ball with the Sports Activator and practising our song for the school concert.

Team Weka have kept up their great learning working through their PR1ME books and writing great stories and are currently performing plays that are a big hit. In DRIVE we have learnt how to keep safe in the bush.

We are lucky to have Tracey Lockhart and Liz Scott help out in our room most days which benefits all the children in different ways.

Each day we talk about the day, date, month and season. We are all very excited that the season is now SUMMER!

Team Weka have been enjoying getting chapter books read to them each day after lunch. Last term we read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and this term we are reading The BFG. Both great novels by Roald Dahl.

Thank you to all Team Weka parents for coming in for interviews this week. It really was lovely to have you in the classroom and able to see the lovely work your child has been doing as it has been a long time since you have been in.

This week we are excited to have the Christmas Postie Elf visit each day with cards!

Regards

Mrs Abby Duffy and Mrs Hayley Clarke

Teachers Team Weka

When we come from so many different families our values draw us together as one big school whanau.

Integrity means behave to a high standard of character everywhere we are and is shown through honesty, truthfulness, accuracy, consistent behaviour, selflessness and self-discipline.

At all times and in all places we can show integrity when we

• Are honest and trustworthy.
• Do the right thing even when no-one is looking.
• Make positive choices that we are proud of.

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

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

Charlotte Omadle is Team Kereru’s MVP this week for Ponotanga - Integrity.

Charlotte is a happy and friendly member of Team Kereru, with a great sense of humour. She walks in the school gate with a smile on her face, and straight away gets herself ready for the start of the day.

Charlotte consistently shows our school values and has proven that she is a young lady that I can trust to be honest and reliable. She is mindful and respectful of those around her and she actively listens to adults and classmates alike.

Charlotte participates in all classroom activities and completes her work by staying on task and making sure it is finished to the best of her ability. She asks questions if she is unsure of something and is resilient if things don’t go right the first time. Charlotte listens to feedback and makes changes to help with her learning.

Charlotte, it is wonderful to have you in Team Kereru, keep up the great work

and you can achieve anything you set your mind to.

Tino pai!

Erman Singh is this week’s MVP for the value of Ponotanga – Integrity.

Erman is a young polite boy who definitely deserves this award as all year he has shown integrity.

Erman walks in with a big smile on his face each morning and gets onto his morning routines straight away. He gets along with everyone as he plays fairly and treats others how he would want to be treated.

Erman is always the first one to the mat and onto his learning tasks straight away. He knows what is right and wrong and does the right thing even when no one is watching.

Erman has worked extremely hard to achieve his home learning partnership goals and in-class goals this year. Erman perseveres with work that might be challenging which is a great attitude to have.

Erman, I am extremely proud of the progress you have made in Team Kiwi this year. I’ve loved watching you grow as a learner and watching the enjoyment and passion you have on your face when we dance and sing in class.

Emma Penney is Team Pukeko’s MVP for Ponotanga - Integrity.

Ponotanga - Integrity is shown when a person can be trusted to be doing the right thing, in the right place, even when no-one is looking.

Emma has proven herself to be a young lady who I can rely on to follow my instructions quickly and accurately, and to get her learning tasks and class jobs done without needing to be reminded.

At all times, both in and out of the classroom, Emma shows honesty in her interactions with others, and we have learnt that she is a trustworthy classmate.

Emma is always polite and friendly; she is quick to offer to help others and she shows compassion when others are hurt.

Our team and our school are much richer for having people like you, Emma, to help us have a place that we all enjoy being in.

Otlichnaya rabota! Well done!

The Runaway Dinner by Angus McRae

It was a quiet Christmas Eve and the time was 6 o’clock and I was starving to eat my breakfast and then… Pop! My breakfast ran away!

My breakfast was Nutri-Grain and one pie.

The food ran away as fast as they could. They hopped in a tractor and drove off in it!

The next day the tractor was here but no food to be found.

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