School Newsletter – 7 February 2018

Term 1, Week 2

Upcoming Events

Update from the Principal

Dear Parents

Welcome to Kohimarama School

Firstly, welcome back to our learning community. It has been great to meet many of you and to catch up on the wonderful holidays that you have had as a family. It was especially good to meet with students as they arrived at school. Students who were here in 2017 had already met with teachers and their classes on Thursday 14 December, so they were keen to reconnect. We held a brief assembly with students on Friday 1 February and noted their positive attitude. It’s going to be a positive year of learning.

I would especially like to welcome new families to Kohimarama School. Our community has grown as we welcome families from across New Zealand and the world. We also welcome a new group of five year olds beginning their time with us in Rooms 4 and 5.

You heard from Simon Tucker, our Chairperson, and news reports over the holidays about the difficulty across Auckland, and across communities, in having sufficient teachers to staff schools. Fortunately we have a full staff of professionals for this year. I thanked the teachers for their commitment to our school.

Teaching staff undertook four days of professional learning and development from Friday 26 to Thursday 31 January. During the days they; renewed their First Aid certificates and had three days on teaching and learning. The providers gave us insights into structured environments to enable student voice, and a focus on enabling student agency where the learner is at the centre of all we do. We also focused on wellness for our teachers and students. In the middle of this we held our own MasterChef competition where we cooked lunch together on Wednesday. This was a great team building event.

New Staff

We are pleased to welcome to Kohimarama School Mr Jim Dyer from Scotland. He and his family moved to New Zealand mid-January. Mr Dyer is teaching in Room 20, Year 7 & 8. He has a background in boys’ education and is a great asset to our Kohimarama Year 7 & 8 team. The staff have welcomed Jim and made him feel at home, please do the same when you meet him.

In Term One, we have third year teachers’ college student Megan Busciglio with us. Megan is a student at Winona State University, Minnesota, USA. Megan elected, along with three of her compatriots to undertake her final practicum within the Educator’s Abroad programme. Megan is working in Room 2, with Mrs Bradley as her mentor. Please say hello to Megan if you meet her. You cannot mistake the accent. You might know that Superbowl was played in Minnesota over the weekend and her team did not win through. So commiserations as well.

Shaping Communication at Kohimarama School

At the end of 2017 we had collated the survey which you, the parent community, responded to so well. From this a group of parents with articular skill in communications, web design, photography, and graphic design set about responding to the survey and developing a communications plan.

Over the past two months, we have been working on the first stage. This is to focus on developing a new website which has new content and is mobile friendly. We hope to launch this over the next two weeks. Look out for a calendar of events to give you as much notice as possible, lists of after school activities, and a A to Z for those little questions on how the school functions.

Stage two will be looking into a school app so you can get notices and events, specific to your year groups, straight to one central place on your phone. We are also assessing moving permission slips online.

Some of these changes are easy wins, and some will involve some big process changes on the school-side. So bear with us as we trial some new ideas and let us know how they are working for you. (There will be a feedback form on the site once it launches). So look out for the new e Kohimarama School website coming soon.

Paul Engles

News

The Kohimarama Way – Commitment

Commitment is caring deeply about something or someone. It is the willingness to give your all to a friendship, a task, or something you believe in. It is the ability to make decisions and follow through on them. It is keeping your promises.

Using our Road Patrol Crossings

Please use the pedestrian crossing on Kohimarama Road and the kea crossing on Rawhitiroa Road when leaving our school grounds. This ensures that everyone arrives on the other side of the road safely. We appreciate your support in this, thank you.

Caught Being Good – “Greenies”

Thank you to all our students who ‘do the right thing’ at break times, especially including others when they play and giving a smile to those who walk by. Our winners this week are:

• Alexandra for Reliability – Atkin
• Jasmine for Compassion – Colenso
• Stephanie for Respect – Colenso

Medication

If your child requires any medication either on a day to day basis or a once off, the school office must be made aware by the parents/caregivers. If your child requires medication for a day to day basis ie. For asthma, allergies etc., you will need to bring your child’s medication into the office and fill out the required forms. This medication will be stored in our school sick bay for emergencies. Medication for children needed for a short time must also be brought into the office by an adult, with the correct form filled in. No medication can be sent into or out of the office by your children. The office will not be able to administer any medication until the correct forms are filled in.

Absences

We are in the process of updating our school Absentee Line. In the meantime, if your child is going to be Absent from school please call the school office on 528-5306 or you can email the office at office@kohimarama.school.nz. Please call or email before 9.00am. Any parents taking their children out for holiday will need to email the office to request leave from the school. Please address this email to the principal.

New Recruits for Flippaball

We are looking for kids in years 3/4 and 5/6 to join our school Flippaball teams. To join in the fun and to find out more, contact Kirsten at klhunt@xtra.co.nz.