School Newsletter – 26 July 2022

Term 3, Week 1

A Message from the Principal

Dear Parents

Welcome back to kohimarama School for term 3. I especially want to welcome the new students who have started with us this term. I also want to acknowledge our new entrant students who have started in Room 3 with Mrs Ewen. We hope that you thrive in our Kohimarama School learning community.

At the end of last erm I outlined the Kohimarama Way which encompasses our Vision, Values and Learner Dispositions and how this is embedded into our teaching philosophy (pedagogy) across the school.

In this newsletter I want to share with you our Strategic Goal related to student achievement.

Strategic Goal One

Enable our Learners to Thrive

• Continue to improve in academic achievement across the school
• Develop our local curriculum with enough flexibility to respond to change, meet individual needs and grow well rounded students.
• Adapt and get value from new learning tools and approaches Including best-practice e-learning
• Support the well-being of students

What are we doing in each of these areas?

Despite the COVID pandemic bringing with it the changes to our learning environments, we have largely maintained our record of high achievement. Staff continue to work diligently to identify areas of learning for each student so that all experience success  The achievement reports to the Board of Trustees in Progress and Achievement, a nationally normed test for all our students in year 4 and above showed positive results with 95% of students At or Above in Mathematics, 86% of students At or Above in reading comprehension, 94% At or Above in Vocab and 86% At and Above for listening comprehension. 

The report to the Board is currently being prepared for our Overall Teacher Judgements (OTJ) in Reading, Writing and Mathematics. 

In 2022 the school continues to work with experts looking to enhance our local curriculum delivery, teaching and learning especially to address the skills that cannot be left to chance in order to be a successful learner now and into the future. Our professional learning and development focuses on supporting accelerated progress, 

We have a refresh of our learning tools underway including our SchoolTalk Learning Management System. This work is beginning this term and focusing on teachers and students gaining the best experience so that learning can happen anywhere, anytime.

Our focus on wellbeing is multidimensional with staff positive relationships with students being central in the process. Certainly after lockdowns and disruptions, settling students into learning is a key to their new normal. The school has also introduced counselling for our students thereby offering opportunities for students to explore opportunities to manage themselves and develop skills to support them as they grow. We also utilise the Health Curriculum to teach important life skills. We use programmes such as Keeping Ourselves Safe etc.

How are we measuring success?

We use a variety of tools to measure our success that includes both standardised normed tests, teacher professional expertise including moderation of student work against the New Zealand Curriculum, Teacher & Student positive relationships, goal setting and evidence of achievement. 

We engage with our experts who, because they visit a number of times a year over a number of years, are able to provide us with reports on progress over time. This is valuable information that highlights successes and areas that we need to develop next. 

We work with the Ministry of Education and the developers of SchoolTalk to ensure that as the Curriculum refresh is underway that the tools we use are also being adapted to cater for the changes ahead. We also take advantage of professional learning and development that promotes best practice of the use of tools in learning. 

Our students feel safe and happy as we get feedback and feed forward about being at Kohimarama School. Our Kohimarama Way is central and especially the Values are articulated and demonstrated by our students in many settings both inside and outside the school environment.

What are we doing next?

Achievement remains central to our work as a school. Focus areas each year are being planned well in advance in order to have this central focus. In 2023 we are focusing on the NZ Histories Curriculum in terms 1&2 and Mathematics in terms 3&4. Underlying these developments will be a maintaining of our language work and the use of digital tools to ensure our learners are set up for success.

Work will continue on our local curriculum especially building on the integration of NZ Histories with our local Iwi stories and locations of interest in our zone. Integrated curriculum that encourages students to ‘see the connections’ across their learning in different curricula areas to enable a cohesive constructed approach to their learning.  

We will continue to work with the Ministry of Education and SchoolTalk developers teams to ensure that the school is effectively using the E-learning tools to their potential. We have our SchoolTalk team involved and specific work that addresses our next steps as a school.

Learners are at the heart of all we do as a school. Their wellbeing is paramount to their success. Our staff have the opportunity to focus on each student’s needs in their class. Supported by our learner assistants and school counsellors we want our students to feel safe and well in  order to be the best that they can be and so thrive in their learning.   

Learner Conversations – Week 1, Term 3

These will be held on Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th of July.

Bookings for these through the portal have now closed.  Please liaise directly with your child’s teacher if you have any queries.

Please also note that school finishes for students at 1pm on Wednesday 27th July.  We will be operating the same process as we did in term one and ask that you please make arrangements for your children to be collected at this time.

Rawhitiroa Crossing

As you will have seen, Auckland Transport (AT) have not completed the works on the crossing at Rawhitiroa Road. 

A considerable amount of footpath and access into the school is removed and barriers are still in place. It will be helpful if you follow the footpaths and the directions of our parents, students and teachers who are manning the two crossing points before and after school each day. The crossing is expected to be open by week 3 of the term.

Please see map below;

Board of Trustee Elections 2022

Our school is undertaking a parent election for our School Board. This process has started with the issuing of nomination papers to you our caregiver community.

We have employed CES to undertake the election process on our behalf. This year with legislative change, our nomination form and full instructions on how to place your nomination into our own School’s Election website will have been emailed to you if we have your email address in our database or you will receive it by post if we don’t have your email in our database.

Nomination papers will also be available at the school office. The school will send those on to CES for processing upon receipt from candidates.

Nominations close on Wednesday 3^rd August at 12 noon. Election day is Wednesday 7th September.

We look forward to your participation in this process.

News

Red nose day fundraiser – this Friday 29th July

This is a student fundraiser organised by our Student Council.  We are inviting students to dress in red and bring $2.   The Red Nose Appeal is Cure Kids’ biggest fundraising campaign where incredible kiwis across New Zealand come together to help fund big research for little lives.  This July the charity is hoping to raise $1,000,000 to fund research into a wide range of health conditions to improve, extend and save the lives of children in Aotearoa.

School Disco  –   Starry Night

A reminder that our school Disco is Friday 26th August.  Mark it in your family calendar, it is going to be super fun!!

5.00-6.00pm = Years 0-4

6.30-8.00pm = Years 5-8

We encourage all our students to take part and have fun with their friends.  Students are able to dress based on the theme of our Disco or come in mufti.

Changes to Account Holder Terms

The Growth Collective Limited (known as Kindo, myKindo and ezlunch) has recently been classified as a Financial Services Provider. This means that there are additional responsibilities we must undertake, including compliance with the strict regulations imposed under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act (AML). 
 
We have negotiated exemptions, which are awaiting approval, however there is a change that we need to bring to your attention.
We will no longer be able to return unspent funds to you in cash. As such, we recommend you only top up the amount that you will be able to fully spend before finishing school. (Hint: your Kindo balance can stay with your family from year to year and as you move from one ezlunch/Kindo school to another, so you may have lots of time yet!).

Here’s a little more detail:

• If you have received a refund from your school or registered charity, e.g. in relation to a cancelled event, you can withdraw that value at any time within 12 months of the refund. 
• Otherwise, cash withdrawals will no longer be available, including when you are closing your account.  
• Credit balances may be spent, or you have the option of donating to your school or a registered charity.  

We will be updating our Terms & Conditions on or around 31 July 2022.
Should you have more funds than you expect to use on your myKindo balance, you may wish to withdraw these before the terms change. You can do this easily on the ‘top up account’ page.

Are there other changes?
There are some other compliance requirements, but these are less likely to affect you. All changes to the Terms will be outlined when they’ve been completed and you’ll be able to read them when you first log in to myKindo after their publication.

How do I withdraw my balance?
Login to myKindo and go to the “top up account” page. You will see a button there to withdraw your balance. Further information is available here.

Certificates & Awards

Class Certificates

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

• Room 9 – Hayden C, Isabella R
• Room 10 – Ollie B
• Room 11 – Mason T
• Room 12 – Hobson R
• Room 14 – Mahiro S, Emile S, Teagan H
• Room 15 – Ryan C, Rachel C

• Room 18 – Luke W
• Room 19 – Blake S
• Room 20 – Lalita Z, Rachael T
• Room 21 – Louisa W
• Room 22 – Isabella B
• Room 23 – Juliette P, Bella P

Sports Notices

 Cross-Country Parent Help

The Kohimarama School Cross-Country is scheduled for Friday August 19 at Madills Farm, with Monday August 22 as our back-up day.

If you are available to assist with marshalling duties, please email dforbes@kohimarama.school.nz

Basketball Umpires

Kohimarama School is hosting two basketball tournaments this term at the Barfoot & Thompson Stadium. A year 7&8 event for girls on Monday August 15, and a year 5&6 event for boys and girls on Wednesday September 7.

If anyone is able to umpire, please email dforbes@kohimarama.school.nz

Sport Results

Netball Results

• Year 8 Flames
  Loss 6-9 POD Maddy M

Community Notices