Newsletter

Covid Attendance Data: Each day Andrea or Liz has been sending through to me the attendance statistics and I've been working through the numbers and putting them up on Facebook for you to see how we are being impacted.

In normal times we like attendance at school to be 90%+. We know that we are not in normal times and our data is showing that. We do expect it to decline even further from this week as more and more children and families contract the virus. We expect that decline to continue for several more weeks and then improve as children return back to school having recovered.

We are in for a bit of a bumpy ride until the end of the term.

Covid and Staffing the School: COVID impacts everyone and that includes our staff and myself (still in isolation as of writing due to testing positive).

I encourage all school families to have in place contingency plans should we need to shut parts of the school or the whole school due to our teachers being sick or having to isolate as they have positive cases in their homes that they need to care for.

I have been posting, along with our attendance data, the number of teachers and support staff that are being sidelined due to the virus. As of today, this has spread to nine staff.

We are grateful for relief staff being able to step in and support our classrooms and programmes (e.g After School Care).

Things are getting tighter.

Thank You - Team Edendale

• Senior Leadership Team: Jenny Coyle, Laura McVicar and myself make up our Senior Leadership Team. I am very grateful for their input into decision making and their support for the school, in weeks like this week, when I am completely out due to illness. Having strong, well-grounded, connected experience ensures that school keeps running for the benefit of the children. Jenny has been Acting Principal all week, with Laura Acting Deputy Principal. We then have Sanne den Boon stepping up to be Acting Assistant Principal. Thanks for your work.

COVID Cases: We have more and more children isolating due to testing positive themselves or due to family members testing positive.

We need to know in regards to all children testing positive. The information that will help us is the following...

1. Symptoms.

2. Date symptoms appeared.

3. Date of test.

4. Date you expect your child to be returning to school.

Our COVID contact numbers are...

• Operational hours: 03 206 6959.
• Email: admin@edendaleps.school.nz

No children with flu-like symptoms should come to school as it is highly likely that this is COVID-19.

Notifying the MOE: We are required to notify the Ministry of Education (MOE) of any positive COVID-19 student cases. This helps them know the stress that the education system is experiencing as we move through this COVID wave.

Thanks for letting us know when your child tests positive.

Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs): We are very grateful for the Ministry of Education's move to provide RATs for schools. Part of this is that we will be able to provide you, our parent community, a RAT if we have concerns about your child's health at school. We may ask you to come and pick the child up, should they be displaying symptoms, and can then also give you a RAT to test them at home.

COVID Communication: We are using all our platforms (Facebook, School App, and Seesaw Announcements) to keep you up to date with the COVID situation in our school. We are also putting up useful links that can help families navigate a COVID case.

We thank you for your vigilance in keeping up to date with the information that we are providing to you.

Good information gives us the confidence to get through these times better.

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.

Week Eight (of 11)

• no REAP swimming Monday 21st March (rest of week will be decided on Monday due to issues with providing instructors)

Week Nine (of 11)

• Tuesday 29th March - School Board Meeting Two, 7.00pm, staffroom

Week Eleven (of 11)

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

Book Club - Issue 2

Scholastic Book Club Issue 2 has gone home.

All orders need to be returned to the office by Monday 28th March. You can also order online.

App for Absences - Download and Use it Today

We have a school app and it is ideal for absence notifications to the office.

If you don't already we would encourage you to use the app for absences.

If you haven't downloaded it yet, go to your App Store and search SchoolAppsNZ. Once downloaded you can search for our school in it. We are: Edendale PS Southland.

SchoolAppsNZ is the same app for Menzies College so you can receive both school notifications in one app.

Mr David McKenzie: Employee of the Month (and the past two years!)

This week the teaching staff and support staff presented a 'Principal Appreciation Basket' to Mr McKenzie as an acknowledgement of our appreciation for the work he has carried out as our Principal in the past two years of the Covid pandemic - especially this term with all the different changes that keep occurring in the Covid-response requirements.

Many of us don't see all that is going on behind the scenes in order to keep our school running as smoothly as possible for the benefit of our children, our families, and our staff - that has been Mr McKenzie's main priority at all times in the past two years.

His working day is consumed with dealing with numerous Ministry of Education emails and notices - trying to make sense of it all and setting up various plans to try and meet the needs of our school community in a range of Covid-related scenarios. Often there has been a huge number of hours dedicated to creating policies or procedures that have then a week later become null and void due to a change in the requirements.

Almost a third of NZ's principals this year are new to the position, with so many having left the profession last year (for a variety of reasons, but many making the decision to leave due to the stresses of running a school during the pandemic). The surprise box of edible goodies and do-able (and wear-able) treats was a small way that we as a staff could thank Mr McKenzie for his commitment and leadership.

Thank you, David! We are fortunate and grateful to have you at the helm of our Edendale Primary School team!

Southland Swimming Sports - 2022

Congratulations to the Edendale Primary School Relay Team, who completed at the Southland Swimming Sports last weekend.

• Stan Hunter
• Iyland Robert
• Fleur Blackmore
• Joshua Smyth

They were 3rd Freestyle Relay and 2nd Medley Relay

Individual Results

Stan Hunter

• 6th Backstroke
• 4th Breaststroke
• 4th Butterfly
• 5th Freestyle

Iyland Roberts

• 11th Freestyle
• 18th Backstroke

Fleur Blackmore

• 26th Freestyle
• 27th Backstroke

Joshua Smyth

• 19th Backstroke
• 24th Freestyle

We had lots of fun for our Market Day last week.

Each class planned, designed and constructed items to sell to each other. The children really enjoyed this authentic and creative learning experience.

Well done to all the teachers for making this happen.

Each term our plan is to head up to the Kamahi Reserve, walk through the bush, and undertake an activity up there. This week on Wednesday, was our Term One visit. It was lots of fun, getting out into the great outdoors and exploring our native bush as part of Bush School.

Thank you to Laura McVicar for her work in organising this. Thank you to Jodie Whitson-Morris and Cheyenne Ballantine from Active Southland for being up there with us. Thank you to the parents who came along and joined in with us. Thank you to the Southland District Council for their support of us and our Bush School.

Team Kiwi has twenty three Year Ones and Twos this year, 18 of these are boys. The students have settled into our new routines and they are learning the new expectations of Team Kiwi.

We started the year off with some self portrait art, which the children all did a fabulous job of.

We have been working really hard in writing where the children are learning to sound out and write the words independently with the correct letter formation.

Each day we listen to the children read and we really value the home partnership where the students then read the same book at home.

We have a mixture of students working on Pre-PRIME Maths concepts and a group that has now started using the PRIME books which they are really enjoying.

This year, we are all learning our new spelling programme, Word Lab. Students are beginning this once they have learnt all their sight words. With the extra teaching of spelling patterns in class we are already seeing an improvement in writing, especially as the children are sounding out the words - we can see and hear them using the skills being learnt in class.

Last week we had our In-School Market Day. We painted stones and made the game Noughts and Crosses (or Tic Tac Toe) and sold these. We came up with this idea and created this product to sell as part of our DRIVE Technology inquiry, Being Product Designers. The day was a huge success with us nearly selling out after just the first class had been around our stall!

We enjoyed meeting all our new Team Kiwi parents at our goal setting meetings earlier in the term too.

This week we have started survival swimming which the students are really enjoying. Thanks to Southern REAP for providing us with these lessons. We are so lucky to have our own pool to do this in and thank you to the parent helpers each day too.

We have had a great start to Term One!

Mrs Abby Duffy and Mrs Hayley Clarke, Teachers, Team Kiwi

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 Bonnie McCauley for being a strong contributor, living out our school values every day.

Team Pukeko - Lexie Mainland

Lexie was new to our school this year and she immediately showed that she is a person who knows how to show Manaakitanga - Respect!

Lexie consistently and naturally uses her manners when interacting with all others that she meets. She waits politely to speak to the teacher if the teacher is already busy talking to someone, and she always says “Please” or “Thank you”.

Lexie shows respect by being an active listener, and she is quick to follow the teacher’s instructions. Lexie is a great role-model of a student who works hard on her tasks and always tries to do her best.

Lexie is an interested and curious learner, who works well on her own or in a group - she respects the ideas of the others, and works cooperatively to make sure the job gets done. Lexie is also quick to offer to help others if she sees they need a hand, and we appreciate that.

We love having great learners like you here at Edendale Primary School, Lexie!

Keep up the great mahi!

Mya McKelvie is Team Kahu’s MVP this week. Mya is a wonderful young lady who shows our school value of Manaakitanga - Respect.

Mya always shows her manners, putting up her hand and waiting patiently while others share. Mya is respectful during learning time by always following instructions and listening. Her positive attitude makes her an excellent role model for her classmates.

Mya works hard to make the most of her learning opportunities and is always willing to give everything a go, showing she has a great can-do attitude.

Mya you are a valued, kind and caring friend in Team Kahu. You often help others and can be spotted doing the right thing.

We are very lucky to have such a great learner in Team Kahu.

Keep up the amazing work!

I don't like the rain because when I go on my scooter I get wet.

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 Two 2022

The Term Two 2022 meeting of the Home and School is scheduled for Monday 23rd May starting at 7.30pm in the school staffroom.

Boys Outreach - Friday

• When: This Friday 18th March
• What Time: 7-9pm.
• Where: Christian Activity Centre, George Street.
• Who: Anyone aged 9 years old and up welcome. Just turn up on the night.

All Covid regulations will be followed.

Contact: Johno Ferguson 206 6878

Girls Rally is cancelled for Friday 18th March

Youth Group - Saturday

• When: Youth Group is Saturday 18th March
• What time: 7.30-10.30pm
• Where: Christian Activity Centre, George Street
• Who: Anyone year 9 and up welcome. Just turn up on the night

Going to Alvin's Bush so please wear old, warm clothes.

All Covid regulations will be followed

Contact: Becs Ferguson 0274 124 941

Year 4-6 Hockey Team

Any year 4-6 boy or girl wishing to play HOCKEY on Wednesdays in Invercargill. We have a very experienced coach Dean Ritani. Starts week 2 term 2. Cost tbc but around $20-30 per player.

Contact Marg Dale to sign up!

mdale@menzies.school.nz

0212233322

Edendale Community Pool Society - General Meeting

An end-of-season general meeting will be held on Monday 4th April, at 7.30pm in the Edendale School staffroom.

All members welcome. Apologies to ecpscontact@gmail.com

Attendees are to please wear a mask and follow other sanitising and distancing protocols. Please do not attend if you have cold or flu symptoms.

A reminder also that the pool will close at the earlier time of 6pm every night as from Sunday April 3rd.

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