Kia ora koutou

From the principal

On Wednesday last week, the school student council did a fantastic job of surveying the junior school about their 3 most favourite pieces of existing junior playground equipment. NE to Y4 students visited the hall with their class throughout the afternoon. Each councillor held a bucket with a picture of an existing playground apparatus. The junior students were given 3 multilink cubes to put in the bucket of their 3 most favourite playground pieces of equipment. Then they were given another vote on possible new playground equipment to choose from.

The results are below.

Well done to the student council for their confidence explaining the purpose and voting procedures to the junior school. On Tuesday this week, the school council measured the existing playground footprint and equipment footprint. Their homework this week involves asking parents for maths support with scale drawing measurements.

They will come up with some design options of blending some of the old playground with new equipment. Once this has been done, they will send some of the plans to a playground company for professional drawings and quotes.

Billy Young Room 11 For the fantastic effort that you are putting into your writing.

Spenser Foot Room 14 Being determined to achieve his learning goals and showing great resilience.

Jackson Hart Room 6 For his thoughtfulness and kindness.

Holly Duffy Room 6 For her hard work and perseverance in Maths.

Kyrah Wilson Room 8 For her attitude towards learning and showing great progress in Maths.

Isla Attwood Room 10 For your super writing this term. Well done!

Kyle Smith Room 1 Fantastic effort learning his basic facts

Diarrhoea, vomiting, flu and covid are on the rise in many schools. Maungatapere had 50 students away on Tuesday this week. A gentle reminder to parents, to keep children home if they are sick. Staff have been hit over the last few weeks as well. Sick children put pressure on our ability to consistently staff the classrooms with each child’s teacher.

We have recently completed Keeping Ourselves Safe programmes at school with all children. Part of this programme focuses on keeping safe and being with trusted adults. Lately, we have had a steady increase of unsupervised children being dropped off from 7:30am in the morning. These children are not actively supervised by parents or teachers, during this time. The teachers are parents as well, who are required to prepare their work for the day. As principal, I am concerned about children entering the grounds, having access to playground equipment or being exposed to an unsupervised environment. Staff do not monitor visiting adults during these early hours, as they are often inside in resource rooms, therefore student safety cannot be provided. I believe the early hour supervision is a parent’s responsibility.

This would be a good time to discuss with your child what they do and say, if approached by adults they do not know, particularly before and after school. Having this conversation would reinforce the Keeping Ourselves Safe messages, we have recently covered at school.

As a school we are required to have strict safety procedures for Education Outside the Classroom. We require staff/student ratios for our After School Care Programme. There are guidelines around playground supervision and recording of injuries in sickbay books. Therefore, it is worth considering this grey area of handover from parents to the school in the mornings.

I will be raising staff and my concerns at the next board meeting, in regards to a fair and responsible supervision time for students arriving at school.

Alexa shared this very impressive piece of persuasive writing with Mr Brock. It shows her passion and experience in and around her topic and the power of personal belief.

She has agreed to share it with our school community.

An awesome effort.

5 June Kings Birthday Monday

8 June Mathex

13 June Senior Talent Show Auditions

14 June Junior Talent Show Auditions

15 June Talent Show Finals

20June Year 7/8 Science Road Show

28 June Matariki Festival

18 July WGHS Deans Visit

18 July WBHS Deans Visit

30 July End of Term 2

17 July First Day Term 3

During week 9 & 10 the whole school will be involved in a Matariki Intensive, with a Matariki Light/Lantern Festival evening for parents on Wednesday 28th June. The Y5/6 classes will be coordinating a hangi dinner for our community, as part of annual EOTC fundraising, and the PTA will be supporting the evening in special ways.

This open evening is about school community, sharing the terms learning and meeting each other.

They have been studying meteorology. As budding meteorologist they have learnt about weather and climate, weather gauges, weather maps, and have created mini water cycles as well as made clouds in a jar. All good fun in the name of science.