School Newsletter – 5 April 2022

Term 1, Week 10

A Message from the Principal

Dear parents and caregivers

You will have heard the Prime Minister announce yesterday afternoon that New Zealand would remain in the Red Setting of the COVID Protection Framework (CPF) until the end of the school term. On Thursday 14 April, cabinet will review and make a decision then, on any movement in the CPF for the holidays and potentially the beginning of Term 2. 

For Kohimarama School this means that we will be holding the current settings until the end of the term.

We have been reviewing our current COVID Safety Plan given the changes to the Health Order last evening. Our plan manages the risks in the Red setting and keeps our school community as safe as possible by minimising the known risks. Our plan includes; 

1. Knowing that we have students and staff who have underlying medical conditions, and that we want to ensure we have the school learning environment as safe as possible, we all follow these health guidelines namely;
   • Mask wearing for all staff and all students in Years 4-8
     • Any visitor to the school must also wear a mask.
   • Maintaining separation in the school. Teams remain separated in their different play and learning areas during the day and leave in teams at the end of the day.
   • Providing sanitiser at entry and exit to all areas and soap within classrooms for students and staff to use.
   • Surfaces are cleaned regularly by teachers and cleaned thoroughly by our cleaning crew at the end of each day.
   • Having appropriate signage around the school to remind visitors and staff/students about our protocols. 
   • Managing the environments in our classrooms through good ventilation.
     • We are using a CO2 monitor across the school. So far all readings that have been taken since the beginning of the year, are in the normal range.
   • Limiting the numbers of adults on site. Thank you for operating the drop off and collection protocols each day. This has been very helpful. 

You will have seen that we are able to hold the Assessment Snapshot meetings next week, face to face. Again, this is possible due to the COVID Safety Plan and the risk mitigation that we have in place.

The protocols for the Assessment Snapshot meetings are as follows;

• When onsite, masks are to be worn at all times by staff, students (Yr. 4-8) and visiting parents with the exception of Year 1-3 students.
• Please sanitise your hands when entering and exiting the classroom
• Teachers will sanitise surfaces between meetings and have the seating area set up to provide adequate separation.
• Ensure you maintain social distance while waiting, when you are inside the classroom with the teacher and moving around the school site.
• Please wait outside and the teacher will invite you into the classroom once any previous families have departed. This gives them time to sanitise the area. 

The purpose of the Assessment Snapshot meeting is to; 

• Share with families an up-to-date picture of where their child/ren is/are at currently. We felt that this was important due to the fact that there was no formal testing at the end of last year. 
• Teachers will share with you recent testing and discuss what it means 
• This focus is a little different from the past where the students were the ones that shared the learning they had done with you all. Instead, the teacher will be leading these chats. We would still like students to be at the chats.
• The interviews are 15 minutes long and students may attend although these are not the same format as Learning Conversations which will occur later in the year.

I look forward to catching up with you next week at the Assessment Snapshot meetings. As you know the portal is open to make a booking on either Tuesday 12th from 1.45 until 5.45pm and Wednesday 13th April from 3.30 to 7.45pm.

Reminder

As we are currently separating our teams out across the school during entry, exit and play, we are unable to supervise students on Tuesday 12th in the  afternoon. Please make  arrangements for your child/ren on this day.

COVID Update from MOH

Health officials and modellers are currently indicating that Auckland is over the crest of the wave with regards to cases of Omicron. Schools have had their peaks over the last few weeks. Currently we have over 90% attendance of students at Kohimarama School. Thank you parents for working with us to track and monitor the small number of cases that we have experienced.  

Illness and RAT Testing

As we head into our last weeks of school, we would like to thank all our parents for keeping children home when they are unwell.  While parents have been using RAT tests to confirm that they are COVID free, we are now starting to see seasonal coughs and colds and ask that if your child has cough, cold or COVID symptoms, to please keep your child/ren at home until they are symptom free.

Thank You to Louise Gray

A big thank you to Louise Gray Skin Care in Kepa Road who have donated a large number of RAT testing kits for us to use.  These are a really valuable resource for the school and we appreciate your generosity.

TaxGift and School Donations – end of Tax Year

In 2021 we were able to increase our school revenue by utilising Tax Gift to give the tax credit component of their school donation back to the school.

With TaxGift, your donations to the school are boosted by up to 43% at no cost to you. 

Here’s how: As a NZ taxpayer you can claim a tax credit of 33% on the school donations you make, but if you choose to give that tax credit to Kohimarama School, TaxGift will turn it into even more for our school – all as a gift in your name. 

It takes less than one minute, and you won’t need to do anything further. TaxGift will make your donation grow.

Click here to TaxGift today or if you have paid through Kindo then you can sign up via the Kindo App. Thank you for your generosity. This is very much appreciated by the school

News

Sunglass Thursday – Student initiative

Our Student Council has noted that over the last two years, a lot of different types of fun have been missed.  So to counteract this, a couple of times a term, they will be having a day when they ask students who want to, to have a bit of fun and this Thursday 7th April they are asking students to wear sunglasses to school.  Don’t go out and purchase sunglasses if your child doesn’t have any, we are looking for homemade sunglasses as well as typical sunglasses.  Toilet roll holders, cardboard, and our very own hands can be made into sunglasses for the Team photos we will be taking to go in our school newsletter.  It is not meant to be extra work for parents and I know that teachers have been talking with their class about what they could make or use.

PTA Auction

Thank you for our PTA for bringing the Centennial Auction to us all online. Thank you parents for taking time to bid on our great items and contribute to the school.

https://www.32auctions.com/KohiSchool

Welcome to the Library!

Finding Dory Scavenger Hunt

Two of our student Librarians Freja and  Emma have organised a fun scavenger hunt in the Library this week for our students.  We are encouraging those who are interested to go to the Library during their Teams’  Library big break (1.10 to 1.50 pm) to see if they can find Dory and get House points.  A BIG thank you to Freja and Emma who have worked on this during their own time – awesome leadership.

• Tuesday = Kiri Team
• Wednesday = Snell Team
• Thursday = Hillary Team
• Friday = Cowley Team

Certificates & Awards

Class Certificates

Congratulations to these outstanding students:

• Room 1 – Isla A, Anna S
• Room 2 – Irmuun B, Tasman L
• Room 4 – Isaac M
• Room 5 – Finn M
• Room 6 – Wren L
• Room 8 – Nils J
• Room 9 – Harry B, Victoria E
• Room 10 – Blake J
• Room 11 – Giavanna M, Bella C
• Room 12 – Theo 
• Room 13 – Matilda C
• Room 14 – Leo M

• Room 15 – Alegra Z
• Room 16 – Estee V
• Room 17 – Marlo PB
• Room 18 – Max H, Tania W
• Room 19 – Hunter D
• Room 20 – Lincoln C
• Room 21 – Lachlan F, Scarlett B
• Room 22 – Demi C, Carl S
• Room 23 – Zaha U, Jake S
• Room 25 – Willem W
• Room 26 – Sammy M
• Room 27 – Freddie C

Caught Being Good  –  “Greenies”

Congratulations and thank you to all our students for doing the right thing in the playground.  We are still not back to ‘normal’ yet, and our students are doing a great job of keeping to their areas and sharing the grass or concrete – they rock!  Special congratulations to:

• Harry                Rm 20              for Respect             Selwyn
• Nicolas             Rm 21              for Respect             Selwyn
• Arno                 Rm 23              for Respect             Patteson

Sports Results

Flippa Ball Results

• Year 3/4 Sharks
  Win 3-0 POD Franklin
• Year 5 Kinas
  Loss 0-3. POD Bella
• Year 6 Blue Bottles
  Loss 7-4. POD Allie 

All 3 Kohimarama School teams made it to the gold medal final in their age group. Considering that this league includes teams from all over Auckland, this is such a testament to the skill, team spirit,  talented coaching and family support involved. Congratulations to all Players, Parents and Coaches on a stellar season! Even though your usual league and practice sessions were canceled due to Covid,  we found a way to play and play well!

Community Notices