School Newsletter – 31 May 2022

Term 2, Week 5

A Message from Snell Team

Year 6 Camp

Last week, Year 6 had a fantastic time on camp at Lakewood Lodge! Some of our students have shared their experiences below.

“The Year 6 camp this year at Lakewood lodge was absolutely brilliant. Every hour we would be doing an activity – either survivor or the one of the 3 activities we did every day. The all day survival was packed with fun activities from building SOS signs to lighting a fire and cooking on it! The instructors were also very nice and polite to us, and they helped us in the activities. In conclusion, it was a great experience for everyone.” – Zac C

Lakewood Lodge was an amazing experience for all of Year 6. Everyone enjoyed as we had new activities every hour e.g. Kayaking, Archery, Zipline and the Climbing Wall. For one day each group got to do survival which was full of awesome activities like mud run and lighting fires while cooking our own food. Overall, Lakewood lodge was awesome and fun for everyone who went.” – Theo P

“Archery was really fun. We learnt how to do it and lots of us got bullseyes, some of which missed and Miss Young shot hers into the woods behind the board.” – Allie S

“During the mud run, the dirty water surrounded my legs as I waded into mud. It was gross at first sight but it was better than standing on the grass getting cold. Though there were a ton of bugs it was still super fun to go through it.” – Audrey P

“The things I liked most at Lakewood Lodge were Horse Riding, Survival and the Zipline! If I had to choose one, woah, that would be impossible! Survival was so hard because it was literally bucketing down. But the food there was AMAZING! Especially the pancakes for breakfast and for dinner, wow, that’s a whole different level. I don’t normally eat so much but I literally had THIRDS!” – Carlos H

A Message from the Principal

Kohimarama School: Preparing for the possibility of staffing absences during a winter and pandemic.

In preparation of staffing pressures caused by winter influenza, colds and the Omicron outbreak, Kohimarama School has developed a business continuity plan that would support us in responding to any overwhelming staff absence. 

The Ministry of Education understands that schools will be hit hard this year. The lack of Primary Teachers available for relieving is a great concern across Auckland and the country. 

Our plans deal with an immediate need and are not designed as suitable for prolonged periods of time. It supports the health and safety and management of students on our site in the event that we do not have a full complement of teachers to manage the numbers of students present on any day that the school is open.

If teachers are away;

Our Plan A   Check to see if a relieving teacher is available by using our network of relievers to fill teaching places as a result of illness. Have these teachers take the room for the day(s)

Our Plan B The above plus re-deploying part time staff in the school to cover gaps left by classroom teachers who are ill. These few part time teachers are available only between Tuesday and Thursday, or combining a class, for a short time, if the number of student spaces is available in that class or year group or team.

Our Plan C If the above two options have been fully explored and we still have not been able to cover classes then, the school may need to close a class, year group or Team in order to manage the numbers of students onsite. This would mean that those affected classes of students would not attend school on that day(s). 

If possible, and staff are well enough to manage, students would possibly work in a Hybrid model, online and possibly through learning packs until our teaching staff return to work. Where possible we would notify you the day before. If this is not possible we will notify you as early as possible in the morning of the day where teachers are absent.

The decision to implement Plan C would not be taken lightly. We fully understand the pressures that this will create for the families of the students concerned. We would do our very best to manage the teachers away each and every day. So far we have used both Plans A and B.

How can you help?

If your family is planning on being away on holiday or for a non-sickness related absence of longer than 1 day, as is usual practice, please request this from the Principal in advance.  Upon approval your absence will be recorded in our attendance system which will allow us to include expected attendance numbers in our planning.

If your child is absent due to sickness or appointments please notify the school by phone or email of the absence (including the reason for the absence) as early as possible, or before 9.10am on the day of the absence at the latest.  Again this allows us to see expected attendance levels at school.

When advising the school of your family COVID status, please email office@kohimarama.school.nz advising your registered Day 0 and the date that your child/ren will be returning to school.  Also if your child/ren are household or positive contacts and update us of their status.

This information is provided as a ‘heads up’ to you, our parents, as we approach the winter period. Some of our staff have had COVID while others have suffered flu and colds. The above is for the occasion where we have done our very best to manage the staff onsite for a day and been unable to cover all classes. 

Thank you.

News

Please note these dates for your diary in June:

• Friday 3rd June – Grandparents Day.  Grandparents and special older friends are invited to visit your grandchild’s classroom in the morning followed by morning tea in the hall.  See details below
• Monday 6th June – Public Holiday – Queen’s Birthday
• Wednesday 8th June – Photolife Individual and Class Photos.  Note that teams and sibling photos will be taken later in the year.
• Thursday 23rd June – Teacher Only Day.  School is closed for all students while staff join with our local Community of learning schools to explore NZ Histries curriculum, Treaty of Waitangi influences and local Iwi stories to support the teaching on NZ History.
• Friday 24th June – Public Holiday – Matariki – new public holiday for 2022

Grandparents Morning  –  Friday 3rd June

We are very excited that we are able to hold our annual Grandparents’ morning in 2022.  We are looking forward to welcoming back all Grandparents who are able to come and see what their grandchildren get up to here at Kohimarama. If for some reason a child’s grandparent/s is unable to attend, please know your child is welcome to invite an adult family friend in their stead. We strongly recommend that all Grandparents wear a mask for their health and the health of our students and staff.  Below is the outline of our morning programme, can’t wait to see you all:

1. Grandparents are welcome from 8.55 am to 10.30 am.  They will be welcomed at our school gate by some of our School Leaders and shown to their grandchild’s class.  Please make sure your child’s grandparent knows which class/es they are going to.  Grandparents are invited to share in the learning, don’t panic, teachers are not giving them a test, the work will be inclusive for all.10.30 am – 11.00 am morning tea will be provided for grandparents in the hall.  This is an opportunity to enjoy a cuppa, some morning tea yummies and talk with others of similar age and interests.  Students are not part of this, due to our hall size.11.00 am – Grandparents make their way home.

Come cool to school Day  –  Wednesday 1st June

We are looking for colourful socks to be worn with our school uniform on Wednesday this week.  This is an initiative that our School Councillors have put into play, having some fun for free, as part of our team – Kohimarama School.  Really looking forward to finding out how colourful we can go.

Pink Shirt Day – Last Friday

Thank you for the amazing participation we had with students coming to school in pink on Friday last week.  An opportunity for home and school to talk with our students about treating people fairly and respectfully.  A reminder too, if we do see behaviour that doesn’t fit with our Kohimarama Way, that we do something about it – ask the person to stop it, see a teacher, tell a parent.  It takes all of us to make sure our school is the place we are all proud to be part of.  Enjoy the photos.

As we head into winter and the weather gets colder and wetter, we are starting to see more coughs and colds around the school.

Thank you to our parents for continuing to keep your children home when they are unwell.

This along with the hygiene practices we have in school means we are all doing our best to beat the winter bugs.

Welcome to the Library!

Now you  are able to use our library website https://library.kohimarama.school.nz anytime and anywhere.  You can use different functions:

1. Search the books
2. Check your loan and overdues (see the front cover of your issued books)
3. Create the list of books you want to read or research
4. Reserve the book
5. Write a book review for the book you finished

The User ID and passwords emailed to you and your parents today.

Another great addition to our library resources is the eBooks and Audiobooks Collection that is available on our website in the Top Left corner link https://kohimarama.eplatform.co/ .  Now you are able to issue up to two ebooks/ Audiobooks for two weeks.  All resources are manually selected by the team of specialists to support NZ curriculum and to promote the reading for pleasure.  

Your user ID  and passwords emailed to you and your parents today.

Please take time today or this week and get familiar with the Kohimarama School Library website. Imagine, you can now issue an ebook or Audiobook and never worry about losing it!

Certificates & Awards

Class Certificates

Congratulations to these outstanding students from Hillary Team and Snell Team:

• Room 9 – Ollie R, Jasper M
• Room 10 – Jackson K, Anjay H
• Room 11 – Nathan F
• Room 12 – Lilly RW, Frederic G
• Room 13 – Freya C
• Room 14 – Violet H, Liam C
• Room 15 – Jackson H, Kaylie PF

• Room 18 – Claire Z
• Room 19 – Zach G
• Room 20 – Kroum L
• Room 21 – Lucia M, Jenson P
• Room 22 – Benjamin E, Charlotte A
• Room 23 – Harrison V, Joshua C

Caught Being Good  –  “Greenies”

Thank you to our students doing the ‘right things’ in the playground, especially now that the rain has turned up again.  Congratulations to our winners this week: 

• Varvara B              Rm 22               for Reliability         Patteson
• Maddie Mc            Rm 20               for Reliability        Atkin

Sports Results

Flippa Ball Results

• Year 3/4 Sharks
  Loss 1-6 POD Evie
• Year 5 Kinas
  Win 2-0. POD Freya
• Year 6 Blue Bottles
  Draw 6-6. POD Demi 

Netball Results

Results for Kohi Flames

• Grading Game 1
  Win 9-6 POD Sienna D
• Grading Game 2
  Win 22-12. POD Alyssa R
• Grading Game 3
  Loss 12-10. POD Farrah B 

Community Notices

Parents’ Information Evening – ‘2023 Enrolment Process’

Glendowie College will hold a ‘Parents Information Evening’ on Tuesday 28 June 2022 at 7:00pm in the college library.  The purpose of this meeting is to outline the programmes the school offers and to cover the enrolment process for 2023 year 9 students’ enrolments.

This is an opportunity to meet informally with Gordon Robertson, Glendowie College’s Principal, to have any questions answered about the enrolment process.

We look forward to seeing you there.  No RSVP is required.