School Newsletter – 5 July 2022

Term 2, Week 10

A Message from the Principal

Dear Parents

As we approach the end of the term I want to acknowledge the efforts of the teaching staff and Learner Assistants. Covid has impacted staff heavily and yet they continue to give 100% to maintaining the learning here, onsite. Our enrichment and intervention programs have been maintained as best we can.  We see these as being vital considering the time spent away from school over the last 2.5 years. However, at times we have had to redeploy our Intervention/Enrichment Teacher and Sports Coordinator into class teaching roles. Staff, as always, have been flexible and supportive of students’ learning. They know their students and their classes and have positive relationships with learners, all of this enables a positive learning environment for our students. Our school counsellors have been working alongside staff to ensure that we support wellbeing and address any uncertainty. 

Currently both our Deputy Principals, Meegan Hill and Debbie Ellery are away with Covid 19, we also have one of our Team Leaders away. Alongside this, individual staff are also away with colds and flu. Both Teachers and Learner Assistants are frontline recipients of catching bugs that are present. Given the additional organisational loads placed on the school, I know that staff will assist over and above their daily work, to step into the breach at a moment’s notice. Thank you to our wonderful staff. You are all great examples of the Kohimarama Way.

Why is our Kohimarama Way important? and Where did this come from?

In 2019 our Kohimarama School Board of Trustees made changes to the Vision and Strategic Goals of the school. This was based on their consultation with the community, staff and students in the school. 

At that time they said that the school vision needed to be future focused and aspirational while being integral to the learning and ‘way of being’. Coupled with this vision were the school values that formed who we are and supported our motto; Enter to learn, Leave to Serve. Our Learner Dispositions were seen as the ‘what cannot be left to chance’ for creating learner agentic capable, life long learners.

We have developed our DICE Inquiry Model supported by SoLO Taxonomy;

This means that our vision is directly tied to our learning. It is a reality for our teachers and learners and is alive in our learning. 

The school looked to symbolise the Kohimarama Way and settled on the Pohutukawa Tree as we have a number of these in our grounds and are readily accessible.

By incorporating the Vision, Values and Learner Dispositions it sets out our ‘Way of being’ as a school. Our ‘Way of Being’ sets us apart from other schools and focusses the whole learning community on a growth mindset that is continuing to develop and flourish as students progress through the school. 

Our students were involved in symbolising our Learner Dispositions by associating these with a native bird. You may have seen the sign up near the senior playground. 

These are supported by metal birds in and around our school.

Finally you will have seen that we wanted to clearly show that the values in our school are clearly described for all who enter our school. You will have seen these at the Rawhitiroa Road and Kohimarama Road entries. They are in the form of an emoji and are written in New Zealand’s official languages, English, Maori and NZ Sign.

So, our Kohimarama Way symbolises the ways that we are continuing to grow and develop learners that will be successful, agentic and responsive to the changing world that they are inheriting. Our task, with you, is to enable them to seek continued success, be great citizens of New Zealand and the World and to thrive in whatever context they find themselves in. 

In the first four newsletter in term 3 I will break down each of our Strategic Goals to be able to show you progress to date and what is planned next. Look out for these articles.  

The Board and Principal roles in our school.

I wanted to give you the opportunity to hear from me how our Board and Principal work together, in partnership, to ensure that our student achievement, teacher practice, learning environment and legislative requirements are enabling our continued success. 

The Board, Presiding Member (Chairperson), have a close relationship, meeting often to ensure that the governance, board role and management, Principal roles are working harmoniously together. This leads to a cohesive plan each year that ensures we are focused on the strategic direction of the school. Board members are there to ensure that the needs of the whole school are considered when planning and reporting. The reports at Board meetings summarise the work taken to meet our strategic and annual goals. 

You will be aware that the school is currently working with the Ministry of Education to undertake a Master Plan for the school. This piece of work will become a critical document for future developments of our Ministry of Education property. This is occupying the Board’s agenda this year along with student achievement.

Rawhitiroa Crossing

As you will have seen, Auckland Transport (AT) have commenced works to complete the crossing started in January this year. Unfortunately they have been waiting for Chorus to shift a line.

AT has closed off a considerable amount of footpath and access into the school and so temporary crossings will be in place until the end of the term. The crossing is expected to be open for the commencement of Term 3.

Please see map below;

Again, thank you parents for your continued support of the school as we travel these uncertain times. We do appreciate your help and support particularly with ensuring that our school community remains safe, active and learning in 2022.

I wish you all a wonderful term break and look forward to seeing you all again in Term 3.

Learner Conversations – Week 1, Term 3

These will be held on Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th of July. Please book now to avoid missing the times that work best for your family. The booking portal will be closing at 3pm on Thursday 7th July.

You can book your Learner Conversation as follows:

https://www.schoolinterviews.co.nz/

Click to make a booking and enter the School Event Code:  htk3k  

Then follow the instructions.  You will get a confirmation email to indicate your booking has been made successfully.

Reminder, each booking is 15 minutes long.  Please leave a gap between meeting bookings for your children to allow you to move between the classrooms if you have students in multiple levels of the school.

Please also note that school finishes for students at 1pm on Wednesday 27th July.  Please make arrangements for your children at this time.

News

Thank you for your generosity with Cans for the Auckland City Mission

You can see from the photo that we got a good amount of cans to share with families who need some support.  It is not too late to send your can in if you forgot last week.  Thank you so much to all of you who sent in cans of food with your child/ren, they will really help out.  You can also see photos of our students who had fabulous hats on last week too – awesome effort.

Road Patrol Supervision Needed please

If you are able to support our students and community crossing the roads safely in the morning from 8.25 to 8.55 am would you please contact Meegan Hill mhill@kohimarama.school.nz  We have two trained Road Patrollers on both Kohimarama Road and Rawhitiroa Road each weekday morning and they need support in their role.  I am happy to support you with training so you know what to do and another adult until you feel confident to do the role on your own.  Thank you in anticipation.

Term 3 Upcoming Events from your Student Council

Book these dates into your calendar so your children don’t miss out on all the fun for Term 3:

1. We start next Term with a bang!  Week 1, Friday 29th we are raising funds for Red Nose Day.  This 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, New Zealand.  We are asking students to bring $2 and wear as much red as they can.  We have some prizes from the Red Nose foundation to give out to students – so dress red.
2. School Disco Friday 26th August.  Our theme this year is Starry Night and we encourage all students to come along and enjoy dancing and having fun with their friends.  Years 0-4 = 5.00 – 6.00pm.  Years 5-8 = 6.30 – 8.00pm.
3. Thursday 1st September – Come Cool to School by wearing Pyjamas.  There is no cost for this, just a fun day when if students and staff want to they can come dressed in their PJ’s.

Welcome to the Library!

What a wonderful term we had!  We celebrated Matariki and Mother’s Day together.  Students enjoyed challenging games and practiced relaxing yoga.  Thank you everyone for coming to the school library and making it a lively and welcoming place.

Please make sure you return all the overdue books and issue the new books for your July school holidays.

Remember you can read and listen to the books from our special online library collection.  Just follow the link

https://kohimarama.eplatform.co.  Please use your school email address as your login ID and your password is the same your school account passcode.

HAPPY WINTER SCHOOL HOLIDAYS FROM TEAM LIBRARIANS!

Certificates & Awards

Class Certificates

Congratulations to these outstanding students from Kiri Team and Cowley Team:

• Room 1 – Alex H, Oliver A
• Room 2 – Tessa F, Max P
• Room 4 – Anna T
• Room 5 – Ethan S

• Room 6 – Damen AH
• Room 8 – Bhuvan C
• Room 16 – Ella A
• Room 17 – Luka T
• Room 25 – Aria S
• Room 26 – Xanthe H
• Room 27 – Robbie C

Caught Being Good  –  “Greenies”

Thank you so much for all the student who have been caught doing the right thing in the playground, you are incredible!  Special congratulations to:

• Orban           Rm 4             for Respect           Selwyn
• Logan           Rm 2             for Commitment    Patteson

Sports Notices

Bay Suburbs Netball Tournament

Last Wednesday four netball teams competed at the Bay Suburbs Netball Tournament at St Johns.

Despite some marginal weather we had a safe and successful day.

Our Yr 5 Pukekos won the Yr5 Girls B Grade, pipping our other Yr 5 team, the Keas, in the final.

Our Yr 6 Emeralds came 4th in the Yr 6 girls B grade, and our Yr 6 Diamonds came 7th in a large and competitive A grade event.

Thanks to all the parents,students and ex-students who provided coaching, transport, umpiring and general support.

Sports Results

Flippa Ball Results

• Year 3/4 Sharks
  Win 3-0. POD Theo
• Year 5 Kinas (Term 2 Playoff – placed 1^st equal)
  Draw 1-1. POD Bella & Maddie
• Year 6 Blue Bottles (Term 2 Playoff – placed 3rd)
  Win 4-1. POD Whole Team

Netball Results

• Year 6 Diamonds
  Win 12-2 POD Stephanie G
• Year 8 Flames (28th June)
• Win 13-6 POD Olivia

Community Notices