Term 2, Week 1

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, RD 1, Hastings 4171

Office Hours: Monday - Thursday - 8:30 am - 3 pm
Phone: 06 876 0923
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084298596659

Kia ora e te whānau,

Welcome back to Term 2! It feels like I have blinked and we are in May! We have had a great start to the year carefully thoughtout classroom programmes up and running and many different learning opportunities and experiences being provided for our tamariki. Thanks to our teachers who have put a lot of time, energy and thought into this terms learning. We are all looking forward to getting stuck into it.

At the end of Term 1, our roll jumped to 27 as we welcomed two new 5 year olds. William and SJ have transitioned nicely from Tots and Dots and are now settled into Kererū School life. We loved seeing such a great community turnout for Owen's farewell at the end of last Term. Owen is a special person to Kererū School. As a postie, he went above and beyond, popping into classrooms, celebrating our students successes and even playing 'the big man in red' at our Prizegiving. We wish Owen all the best for his retirement.

One of our strategic initiatives this year is 'Implement a rich, responsive, localised curriculum that promotes self-directed learning.' We are currently working remotely with a PLD facilitator to develop our local curriculum (what we do here). At the end of May, our staff will be having a Teacher Only Day to work with Keryn onsite to develop a better understanding of the refreshed curriculum, and to create a shared understanding, vision and direction for the learning (local curriculum) at Kererū School.

Our topic/inquiry focus this term links to our strategic goals 'implement a rich, responsive, localised curriculum that promotes self-directed learning' and 'connect to our people, place and local environment.' We will be focusing on 'Kaitiakitanga' which is about guardianship. We will use the context of our vegetable garden and the associated areas. We know there are lots of experts within our community that we may need to call upon during this topic.

Noho ora mai,

Kelsie Allen

Principal

Roll: 27

A big Happy Birthday to the following ākonga (learners) and kaiako (staff):

Lucia G - 02/03

Mrs Marshall - 26/03

Ms Bazzard - 31/03

William T - 02/04

Elly G - 03/04

Jack T - 04/04

Thea H - 20/04

Isaac D - 24/04

Mornings: Please contact Megan on FB Messenger or 027 307 5852 before 7 am if your child is not on the bus. After this time, Megan is on the road and may not check her phone.

Afternoons: Please contact Sheryn (Monday - Thursday) if there is any variation to your termly bus routine. Please message Kelsie on Fridays only. These messages need to come through before 2 pm.

Term 2:

• 09/05 - Kahikatea Farm Trip
• 10/05 - Concussion in Schools session
• 16/05 - Support Staff Day
• 26/05 - Farm Walk Fundraiser
• 27/05 - Teacher Only Day (school closed)
• 30/05 - Ki o Rahi
• 31/05 - HB rugby skills
• 03/06 - Kings Birthday (school closed)
• 07/06 - HB rugby skills
• 26/06 - BOT Meeting
• 28/06 - Matariki Holiday (school closed)
• 03/07 - 5 - Aside Tournament
• 05/07 - Last day of Term 2

This week, Totara students have been working on rewriting sentences so that they 'show don't tell' the reader.

Here are some super sentences;

Original sentence - "It is an unusual cat."

"The beautiful tortoise shell feline raced up the cobble stone path, the splotches of all colours on her back made her one in a million." - Thea H

Original sentence - "Sarah was very sad. She was crying".

"Sarah was on the floor curled up in a ball. The room was dark. Streams of tears rushed down her face and fell onto the cold floor. "Why did this have to happen to me?" - Payton J

Original sentence - "Sarah was very sad. She was crying".

"Sarah's eyes watered as she curled into a small ball. Her hands pushed into her face." - Elsie D

As part of our whakawhānaungatanga focus this term, each newsletter is going to have a spotlight on one of our staff member so our community can get to know us (not just as school staff) a little better.

Name: Sophie Bazzard

Job Title: Totora

Partner: Alwyn

Children: Ella (24) & Alice (20).

Where are you from (originally): Buckinghamshire England.

What is your favourite food: Everything!!

What is your least favourite food: Poorly cooked food.

Favourite Movie: Fours Weddings & A Funeral

Dog or cat: Dog (Sizzles)

Hobbies: Cycling & hiking

Why did you want to work at Kererū School: So I could become a part of the community.

What do you love about Kererū School: The people.

We will be having 3 Assemblies each term. Please note the change of day for Assemblies.

All dates are on the Events Calendar;

• Week 3 - Wednesday @ 2:30 pm
• Week 6 -Wednesday @ 2:30 pm
  
• Week 9 -Wednesday @ 2:30 pm

As you know, we use our Hero Student Management System to report to whānau throughout the year.

Last term, you recieved:

• Snapshots: Writing
• General Comment: Ākonga (student) comment
• Conferences: Whānau Aspirations Hui

This term, you can expect:

• Snapshots: Reading, Maths
• Achievement OTJ Graphs: Reading, Writing & Maths
• Effort Scores: Values & Subjects

We encourage you to pop into chat with teachers or email us if you have any specific questions about your child's progress and achievement.

Samaya (SJ) & William

Our two newest members of Kererū School started at the end of Term 1. SJ is the younger sister of Ziggy and William is the younger brother of Jack.

Taylor Hopkinson - Cleaner

This term we welcome Taylor who has joined the Kererū School team as our cleaner. Taylor's husband Bert is the Stock Managers on Thorn Flat and they have a 9 month old son. We know Taylor will do an amazing job keeping our school clean.

On the last Wednesday of Term, we invited our community in to farewell Owen.

Owen is a close friend of Kererū School. We are going to miss his infectious positive energy, friendly nature and the way he always goes above and beyond for our school and wider community. We also had a bouncy castle surprise for our students which was awesome!

On the last week of term, we harvested yummy potatoes and pumpkin that were planted at the end of 2023. We roasted them in the oven and had a delicious shared lunch.

To celebrate the Easter break, we had an Easter Egg Hunt. The Easter Bunny even went over to visit Tots and Dots children!

Jo is continuing to do an amazing job of our school landscaping. We have a new hedge that is growing nicely. Some of our students have been out helping Jo mulch, and have been keeping our plants watered.

We have been loving getting outside and being 'active'. Macca has been working with our tamariki each week. She has been teaching our students important team work skills, leadership skills and how to play games like Castleball and Ki o Rahi.

It's always fun to make something with your hands. Thanks to Megan and Sheryn for helping out with a masterclass "competition" in playdough making! Thanks to Kellie for being our judge!

Congratulations to all of our swimmers who showed our ADORN value of 'Determination' during Swimming Sports last term against other CHB Schools. We are proud of all of our students who gave it ago, tried their best and who recieved placings either in their heats or final events.

Final Results are:

• 1st Place Boys 12+ 1 Length Freestyle - Isaac Dunn
• 1st Place Boys 12+ 1 Length Backstroke - Isaac Dunn
  
• 1st Place Open Boys 1 Length Breaststroke - Isaac Dunn
  
• 2nd Place Open Boys 2 Lengths Freestyle - Isaac Dunn
  
• 1st Place Boys 1 Length Butterfly - Isaac Dunn
• 2nd Place Open Boys 2 Lengths Backstoke - Isaac Dunn
• 1st Place Open Boys Individual Medley - Isaac Dunn

Our Tennis Cup was in Term 1 this year to try and tackle the busy Term 4!! It was fought and won by both Isaac & Elsie Dunn. The finals for the girls cup was between Elsie and Elly. Elly both girls played beautifully throughout the tournament that went for over a week. Jack and Isaac played so well against each other. the final score didn't do the game justice. Each point was played right out.

To all of the other students who participated in our Tennis Cup, I thank you for your amazing sportsmanship. Everyone was respectful and gracious in defeat and victory. We will continue throughout the year to improve on our tennis skills.

Mrs Marshall and Ms Bazzard had birthdays around Easter time. We celebrated these amazing ladies at school with cake!

Congratulations to these students who received certificates at our Assembly at the end of Term 1.

Chess Practice: The Intermediate students have been practicing hard for their upcoming Chess Tournament in Hastings next week. There are a lot of strategies being tested!

ANZAC Day Learning: Totara students should be proud of the gorgeous artwork they have been working on this week to commemorate ANZAC Day. They have been having rich, insightful discussions about the importance of remembering our servicemen and women. Their writing explains the importance of ANZAC Day to New Zealanders and Australians. Lest We Forget.

Last term we read the novel 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' by Roald Dahl. Our tamariki were hooked by this classic story and practised important comprehension skills such as; visualising, predicting, questioning, inferring and summarising. Reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has also sparked a big interest in chapter books. We love seeing our students excited about books and reading, and asking to take chapter books home from our library for their parents to read to them at home.

We finished reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in the last week of term. We celebrated by watching the movie (to help strengthen connections) and by doing some Willy Wonka themed activities such as; colouring, a golden ticket treasure hunt and art.

This term we have started reading 'James and the Giant Peach'.

On May 26th, Ru & Kate Gaddum are hosting our Kereru Hill Country Walk on their farm. This fundraiser will be a great way to get a lot of people from Hawkes Bay up to see our beautiful part of the New Zealand. We are going to need a lot of helpers during the lead up and on the day. The money will be evenly split between the Hall Committee and Kererū School.

Can you please call Sheryn on 06 876 0923 or office@kereru.school.nz and let me know what jobs you can do.

The following jobs are:

1. Sandwich makers on the day of the walk 7:30-10am (10 people)

2. Parking marshalls (3 people)

3. Walking marshalls 8:30am - 3:00pm (8 people)

4. Bakers of slice - one gluten free please (14 slices needed)

5. Sign in people (3)

After the walk is finished, Rural Support Trust will be putting on a BBQ for the whole community. We really appreciate their support. It's a good time for anyone from the Kereru district to come on down and have a chat & something to eat. All are welcome. If you know of anyone that you think might like to come, please let them know.

We raised $860 for the school. I hope you are enjoying the ease of having pies in the freezer. I know I am!

Thank you to Emily Gaddum & Hawke's Bay Hockey for the generous donation of mouth guards for all of our students to use. We have loved seeing our students being active during breaktimes and playing hockey! To make sure everyone is safe, they will now have their own mouthguard to mould, keep at school, and wear when playing hockey. These will also come in handy during our winter sports practices for our upcoming 5 Aside Tournament.

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.

Policies are up for review each term. You can access, view & review our policies and procedures anytime.

http://kereru.schooldocs.co.nz

Username is “kereru”

Password is “kereru1912”

If you ever find the need to raise a concern or file a complaint with a member of our staff, we value open communication and encourage you to follow our concerns and complaints process.

We recognise that we can't always please everyone. We appreciate your understanding that we are committed to doing our best. We value diverse perspectives and acknowledge that opinions may differ.

We encourage you to reach out to your child's classroom teacher, who is your first point of contact for any concerns. They play a crucial role in addressing issues promptly and effectively.

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

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/

School is open for students to arrive from 8:15 am - 3:15 pm.

Our staff sometimes arrive late or need to leave straight after school. Please ensure you can pick your children up no later than 3:15 pm, otherwise you will need to make alternative arrangements.

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.

You can find out more information about our Student Attendance & Attendance Procedure policies by heading to School Docs and searching the above headings. Link to School Docs - https://kereru.schooldocs.co.nz/

Just a friendly reminder to help us with the end of the day organisation, please ensure you let us know if your child/ren will not be on the bus in the afternoons.

Unless we have heard otherwise, or you put on your sheet at the beginning of the term, we will assume that your child is on.

You need to contact Sheryn (Mon - Thurs) or Kelsie (Fri) before 2 pm with any changes.

We would love to have a better understanding of who will potentially come to Kererū School in the (near or distant) future. This is to ensure that you, as parents, receive information such as transition visits and school information before your child's start date.

We would love to hear from you if your child is between 1 and 4 years old. To make sure we have you on our 'potential enrolments' list.

Please email office@kereru.school.nz or follow the link to our enrolment section on our website to find out more information.