Newsletter (Lockdown Update 3)

Kia ora koutou.

From the Principal's desk:

• Alert Level Three: New Zealand, excluding Auckland, is at COVID-19 Alert Level 3. The review date for this is Monday 6 September 2021. We await what our next move will be.

• Storytime: This week's Storytime with Mr McKenzie is a popular book The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Dewalt and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers. The link to listen to it is below. It was a lot of fun to record for the children. I hope they enjoy it. All other stories from this year and last year are on our website page under E-School.

• E-School (Seesaw and Zoom-Ins): This continues for all our students. Well done to everyone (parents and children) for maintaining strong learning momentum. We are impressed. A big thank you to our teachers for their work in setting activities and responding individually to all of their children each day. See some of the analytics for our page below. Impressive work.

• Bubble School: Thank you very much for your responses to our attendance survey sent out last Friday night. It helped us see what staffing levels we required and to let Ritchies know what pickups were active. We have three bubbles in operation. Miss McVicar and Mrs Scott are operating a bubble across Rooms 1 and 2. Miss Nicol and Mrs Troster have their bubble in Rooms 3 and 4. Miss den Boon and Tracey Lockhart have their bubble in Rooms 5 & 6. They are supporting and supervising small groups of children, grouped according to their families, with the E-School work set digitally by teachers. Remember, if your circumstances change and you would like your child to come to Bubble School, the original response form is closed and you now need to email principal@edendaleps.school.nz as we need to know for our staffing ratios.

• Office: Andrea Russell, our Office Manager, is now in the school office from 8.30 am to 3.30 pm. At Alert Level Three (and Two) parents are encouraged to keep all the communications with the school to digital (email, app) and via phone. The office phone number is 03 206 6959 and Andrea's email is admin@edendaleps.school.nz. In the rare event that you need to come directly into school, come to the office and we will serve you from there.

• Level Two: If cases continue to decline across the country and the South Island continues to have no cases at all, we will find ourselves eventually returning to Level Two at some stage. A reminder to all around what Level Two looks like for our school.

1. School is open for all families.
2. Buses are running as normal.
3. The playground is open.
4. Classrooms stay as one group with no inter-class mingling e.g. classes eat lunch together outside their rooms, there is no buddy reading.
5. After School Care starts.
6. Peter Power music begins.
7. Launchpad operates.
8. Parents drop off and pick up the children from the designated ' Kiss and Hug Zones'.
9. Communication with the school should be, as best as possible, digital (app, email) or by phone.
10. Due to restrictions on gatherings size, many school events are modified, postponed or cancelled altogether.

• Kapahaka Uniform Design: We have been working with Sharne Parkinson to make our very own kapahaka uniforms. We put in an application to Community Trust South which was successful and combined with funds from Te Hurihanganui work is happening for these uniforms to be made. One item that was created was our very own kapahaka design. See this below. Very exciting. It represents our maunga (mountains) the hokonui and our awa (river) the Mataura. It shows that we are connected together as a community, nurturing and caring for one another.

• Weetbix Stat Attack Cards: The children love collecting different card sets but sometimes it is hard and they get multiples and need to swap. Thank you to those providing your spare cards. I will begin a Swap Meet when we can reconnect again face to face with all the children at Level Two. All spare cards are still wanted to help the children. Drop them into the office when things get back to normal.
  

• Term Three Principal's Challenge: Term Three's Principal's Challenge is below. It is for our creative and artistic children and gives them a chance to have their artwork on public display for years to come. I look forward to seeing the entries. It closes on Friday 17th September (note date change due to Covid). I will accept multiple entries per person. It would be a good activity for lockdown.

Thank Yous - Team Edendale

• Teacher Assistants - Stefanie Troster, Liz Scott and Tracey Lockhart: We could not run our Bubble School without our Teacher Assistants. The Bubble School teachers are still busy with setting and responding to all their own class E-School work (Seesaw and Zoom-Ins) as well as supervising their bubble children, so it can only be done with the support and help of our Teacher Assistants. Thanks for stepping up and stepping in to help our children and families.

Ka kite

David McKenzie

The Project

We have been approached by the Southland District Council (SDC) to help design a 'wrap' for a new toilet that will be going in at the Recreation Grounds in early 2022. See an example of the toilets with their wrap in the photos below.

The Design Brief

The design brief that we have been given is 'Something that will represent Edendale'.

The Challenge

Design a picture that can be incorporated into an Edendale mural 'wrap' that can go around the toilets.

It must in some way represent the area that we live in.

Questions that may help with your creativity...

• When you think of Edendale you think of...?
• What makes us in Edendale special and unique?
• What would you tell a person about Edendale, if they asked you?

It is open to any Edendale Primary School student.

The artwork needs to be able to be scanned in high resolution so do it on white paper (not pre-lined paper).

Do not include any words on it. It is straight artwork.

Due

Submissions are due on Friday 10th of September. (So there is plenty of time).

Submissions need to include your name and age on the back of them. (Not the front, that's for your artwork).

The Process From There

I will gather the submissions up and work with the SDC to select the best and most appropriate to become part of the Edendale mural artwork for the toilet.

Then in 2022, the winners will see their artwork on public display for all at the Recreation Grounds to admire. Very cool.

TERM THREE

Please Note: All up and coming events are subject to Covid-19 pandemic alert levels.

Week Eight (of 10)

• Tuesday 14th September - Board of Trustees General Meeting, 7 pm (Staffroom)

Week Nine (of 10)

• Tuesday 21st September - Sports Activator

Week Ten (of 10)

• Monday 27th September - Polyfest
• Tuesday 28th - Thursday 30th September - Life Education

General BOT Meeting - Meeting Six

The next BOT meeting is Tuesday 14th of September starting at 7.00 pm in the school staffroom. We await notification as to whether this meeting can be held face to face or a digital virtual meeting will need to be held.

The BOT elections are next year. If you are interested in standing for the BOT and taking a strategic governance role for our school, please contact the BOT chair, Jacob Smyth. It can be helpful to attend a few meetings as an observer to get an idea of what school governance looks like.

Out of Zone Enrolments - Term Four

Enrolment at Edendale Primary School is governed by an enrolment scheme.

The Board has 20 places available for out of zone students for the 2021 school year. The exact number of places is subject to the number of eligible in-zone enrolments received.

Term Four enrolment period - Monday 18th October to Monday 13th December

• Out of zone students seeking enrolment within this enrolment period, the deadline for receipt of applications is Monday 18th October.
  

Information and application forms can be picked up at the school office and are also available on our website www.edendaleps.school.nz.

If the number of out of zone applications exceeds the number of places available, students will be selected by ballot. If a ballot for out of zone places is required, it will be held on the following Monday from the deadline dates.

Parents will be informed of the outcome of the ballot as early as possible (and within three school days of the ballot being held).

Home and School Fundraiser - Winter Wood

The Home and School has cut 50 cubic metres of old man pine. This is $70 per cubic metre.

If you want to put an order in please contact Hamish Blackmore 027 636 0421.

Student Council - Daffodil Day

The overall total for the Student Council's Daffodil Day fundraiser was $2853.29. This broke all records for Student Council fundraisers.

We are so impressed with the Edendale Primary School parent community and the support from our wider community. It was amazing.

Well done to Mrs Coyle, the Student Council mentor teacher, for her behind the scenes leadership with this.

The aim of our values is to nurture positive, purposeful and meaningful relationships of aroha.

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

Excellence means we aim for a high standard and continuous improvement and is shown through reliability, consistency, flexibility, reflection, change, innovation, accuracy, completion, dedication, practise, effort and attitude.

We show excellence tohungatanga when we...

• Work hard, have a go and do our best.
• Leave everything how we would want to find it.
• Wear our uniform with pride.

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 Tracey Lockhard, Stefanie Troster and Liz Scott for being strong contributors, living out our school values every day.

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

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