Albury School Newsletter
25th June 2021 Term 2 Week 8
PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
I wonder – Do you remember when you were 7 years old – what did you want to do when you “grew up”?
Well some recent research (Drawing the Future) https://www.tec.govt.nz/assets/publications-and-others/TEC-Drawing-the-Future-Report-v2.PDF reported that the jobs students are interested in at age 7 will influence their careers throughout their lives. Children form ideas about what they want to be when they grow up from as young as 4 years old. At this younger age the influence on children’s career aspirations is their awareness of and exposure to different careers, usually through someone they know.
For schools, we have a role in shaping children’s future career aspirations through the positive
experiences we can provide and shaping interests and skills. The research indicates that students who are not interested in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) careers at the age of 10 years of age, are unlikely to develop an interest by age 14. These students are less likely to take science subjects at school.
So maybe the message I am sharing is – let’s listen to our kids, and what they are saying about their adult dreams! It is a great challenge for us all to provide the broad experiences that can open up more opportunities for their future.
New Zealand Children’s Top 50 Jobs (are listed in the research). Here are the top 10!
Sportsperson, Vet, Police Officer, Teacher, Social Media/Influencer, Artist/Illustrator, Doctor, Forces (Army/Navy/Air Force/Firefighter), Farmer, Builder.
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Board News (from the principal)
The work of the board is at times complex and time consuming, however it is important for schools to have this governance overview so that each school reflects its local character in its operations, curriculum delivery and strategic goals.
The Albury board work as a team who show great support for Albury School students and staff. The board has full responsibility for everything a business must do – finance, personnel, property, health and safety with the added upline reporting as required by the Education Act. There is a myriad of regulations, Acts of Parliament and bylaws that the board must ensure it operates within. It is great work as we strive to ensure that every day Albury School students are successful.
Some of the recent changes made through the Education (school boards) Regulations 2020 had some name changes. The Chairperson is now the "Presiding Member", and Boards of Trustees are replaced with “Board”. The “trustees” wording has been removed. I thought I’d mention this as I am getting into the habit of just writing “board” and I thought you may be thinking I’ve become lazy with my typing! Not the case :).
The board is currently undertaking a by-election for the position of staff board member
(I nearly wrote staff trustee!).
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Property Redevelopment
At this stage there is no more information to share. There is work going on behind the scenes but no definitive updates.
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Network Upgrade
We have had our internet hardware upgraded this week through the Network for Learning (N4L) programme. They are providing schools with new hardware to keep pace with the technology!
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Forms sent home
Thanks for replying so quickly to the forms that have been coming home. There is a lot of organisation for trips and events and your prompt replies are greatly appreciated.
- Ski Trip: We have the annual ski trip on the 28th July (first week back next term).
- Adverse Weather Plan: Hopefully not needed but we have your plan should we need to use it.
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Bus Students
We had a situation recently where a student was adamant they were not going on the bus. The staff member trusted the student’s judgement and this resulted in a long day for the staff member who had difficulty tracking down the family.
Our school procedure is that we will put all students on their respective bus (if they are a bus student!) at the time of bus departure unless we have clear instructions from parents. Our staff cannot be expected to supervise students beyond 3.45 as they have other duties and responsibilities to attend to.
A staff member is not permitted to take a child home or pass care to another adult. If a staff member has to hand over their “duty of care” responsibility then the procedure is to ring the Police as the agency who would legally take on the care of a student. It is really unlikely in our context but it’s always good to let us know rather than assume we know.
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Kāhui Ako News
Our Kāhui Ako (Community of Learning) is increasing in size, capacity and support.
Jason Reid (Mackenzie College) and I are the joint Lead Principals for Te Manahuna Kāhui Ako. It is a privilege to be in this role as we work alongside colleagues and boards to support the Mackenzie District “places of learning” – this includes schools and ECE providers.
We have two other colleagues who work in the “Across School Leadership” positions.
Kathryn Lett from Mackenzie College and Kelly Eason from St Joseph’s Fairlie. Their work is more directly related to the “on the ground” matters and working with staff and professional development.
Our current task is to evaluate progress to date relating to the Achievement Challenges set back in 2018. A lot has happened since then along with a change of principals in a few of our schools. We will revamp the objectives and share these with you at a later stage.
The Kāhui Ako met last week and accepted Cannington School to join our Community of Learning. Cannington has been participating with us for a while now, so it was a pleasure to make this interaction formal.
Albury School will be participating in the Better Start Literacy Programme in Terms 3 and 4. This is a fully funded professional development programme for students in their first year of schooling. It is a literacy programme that has a well researched phonics and language approach. We will be working alongside other schools in our Kāhui Ako. We are excited about this opportunity to grow our professional kete of skills and knowledge and to work alongside our colleagues on a shared pathway to supporting literacy in our schools.
The role of Lead Principal provides an opportunity for me to network with local colleagues and those in the wider community. The school is provided with additional funding, staffing and resourcing for this position. When I am out of school, Elsie Greenwood steps in as Acting Principal to attend to any urgent issues.
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Donna Donnelly
Principal
Albury School
Health News
The Canterbury District Medical Officer of Health has sent a reminder to schools around Gastrointestinal Illness. A school environment can let this illness spread so quickly. If your child is vomiting and/or has diarrhoea, then they should be at home. They can return to school after being symptom free for 48 hours. So we would expect any student who has vomited to be away from school for at least 2 days.
For the notice to come out to schools, it is important to heed this message. Some schools have had a lot of students away and staff (and there has been issues keeping schools open without staff!).
Firewise Programme
Calendar
July
- Thursday 1st July: BOT Meeting 6.30pm school library
- Friday 2nd July: Ice Skating
- Thursday 8th: Sushi
- Thursday 8th: Celebration Assembly 2.30pm
- Friday 9th: Last Day of Term 2
- Monday 26th: First Day of Term 3
- Wednesday 28th: School Ski Day, Roundhill
August
- Wednesday 18th August: Albury School Speech and Poetry Day 1.00pm
- Wednesday 25th August: Mackenzie Schools District Speech Competition 11.00am
(representative students)
September
- Thursday 2nd: Timaru District Schools Speech Competition (Lions Club of Timaru)
- Friday 24th : SCHOOL CLOSED Teacher Only Day
- Monday 27th: SCHOOL CLOSED South Canterbury Anniversary Day
November
- Wednesday 24th November to Friday 26th November Senior Camp Living Springs
Piwakawaka Classroom
We have such a lovely bunch of 14 students as I write this.
Next week Jack Mc starts school, we welcome him
and his family to Albury School, happy school days Jack.
It has been a very settled two weeks. We have been busy learning how to graph our favorite things in class, and to make our own bar and picture graphs.
Homework - please read to, with, and listen to your child read every night and fill in the reading log book. There will be no more homework sheets this term, however if you wish your child to do extra at home feel free to contact me :)
On Monday mornings we have news and the students are welcome to bring a toy for
show and tell if they want.
Toys (including soft toys) do not need to come to school on other days, unless it is a birthday
or special occasion. Thanks for your support with this.
We have been working hard on our creative writing. We had to imagine what might be inside
some magical eggs.
Here are some of our very cool stories:
"The man carried heavy and golden eggs in his hands.
It had a spider in it and the spider tried to get out but he could not get out
of the golden egg.
The spider crawled around and tried to find a hole in the golden egg and he could not find a hole. It was too strong for the spider and too tough for the spider to even dig
to get out of the golden egg. The spider was trapped there forever."
By Natalie H
"A long time ago there was a robot. 'Beep bop I am a robot beep bop'.
'I am stuck in this little egg'. The robot wiggled and yelled and he didn't stop.
'I want to get out of here', said the robot. The robot was nearly out.
I tried to put it in the egg. I gave it a piece of bread. It was huge. I let it out.
It was kind. I kept it."
By Maggie B
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Elsie Greenwood
Piwakawaka Teacher
Tui Classroom
The Tui class now has a class website - tuimeke.weebly.com - which provides links to activities and educational websites that may interest our students or help them to practise particular skills.
Over the last few weeks we have been adjusting to a lot of changes, our room is taking shape and we are delving into our learning. The children are enjoying our class chapter book, 'The Way of the Warrior Kid', as well as learning new games, basic facts and times tables. Our recent units include statistics, drawing and physical education movement foundations.
Our 'data card' statistics unit introduced the students to a way of looking at information from a group of individuals, i.e. a data set. 'Data cards' were used to display information about individuals and by sorting and organising a set of data cards, the students could find out things or answer questions about the group.
We have started a buddy learning initiative with the Piwakawaka class; this brings the senior and junior (tuakana/teina) students together for activities such as buddy reading and singing practise. The Tui class seem to enjoy their leadership role and building connections across the school.
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Kent Murray
Tui Teacher
Congratulations to the recipients of awards at assembly this week:
Piwakawaka Class Awards
Sophie has been doing some fantastic writing, adding descriptive words and creating very entertaining stories.
Pippa is making awesome progress with her reading.
Congratulations, Sophie and Pippa!
Tui Class Awards
Lachie for producing some excellent artwork.
Well done, Jack M. and Lachie!
Principal's Awards
Congratulations to:
Dan – for demonstrating RESPECT when around others.
An important skill for all people is to read the situation and to make judgements around when and what to say.
Dan has been demonstrating this skill and it is a pleasure to acknowledge this on-going growth. Well done Dan!
Amy – for showing great leadership in class. Amy has stepped up into a mature role in class and has been supporting our new students with kindness and care.
Amy demonstrates empathy and integrity and has managed the change of class composition (not having big sister around) with strength and admiration. Amy is a fabulous Albury Kid!
South Canterbury Cross Country Championship
We are very proud of your efforts in representing Albury School
at the South Canterbury Cross Country Championships this week!
Hayley placed in the Top 20 and will compete in the Regional Cross Country event.
fairlie Kindergarten Transitioning Visit
Fairlie Kindergarten this week.
They had a great morning catching up with some old friends
and the kindergarten teachers.
Matariki Evening - Mackenzie College
Sharing kai and celebrating Matariki.
Where: Mackenzie College Hall.
When: 5:30pm, Friday 2nd of July.
How to register interest: $10 to the College office.
All are welcome.
Kia ora te whānau!
The wānanga roopu, Whiria ki te Rangatahi, are holding a hāngi on the Friday 2nd July.
This is a night for whānau in the Mackenzie Schools community to come together and share kai and celebrate Matariki. We also encourage you to welcome your friends and whānau to this night.
Over the last two terms there has been a group of six students from our school that have been working with Karati Metcalfe and students from Twizel Area School and Maniototo Area School to create connections and safe places to fully express how we feel as young māori students in today's society.
Wānanga is one way we have been able to do this. We gather for a few days in a place that is a dedicated area for us to be fully immersed in Māori culture. Matariki is a special occasion in the New Zealand calendar which marks the start of the Māori New Year. Signified by the Matariki cluster of stars reappearing in our night sky, this is a time of celebration and reflection.
The night will begin at 5:30pm in the hall with a karakia to open the night and kai will be served shortly after. This will be followed by a performance from the kapa haka group and an explanation of what Matariki means to Māori.
There will be kēmu māori (māori games) running on the night as well which we encourage you to join. We will then close with karakia to end the night.
This hāngi will be $10.00 for a plate. This will include meat (lamb, chicken or pork), bread stuffing, vegetables, fried bread and a cup of drink. This will have to be paid to the Mackenzie College office, in cash. The deadline for orders will be Monday 28th June.
When the money comes to the office, we will also need to know what choice of meat you would like. So if you are ordering 5 hāngi in total, write down 3 x chicken, 2 x pork.
The money raised will be going toward the next two wānanga which will be held in September and December. If you are unable to make the whole evening, you can still order a hāngi plate and pick it up at 5.30pm.
Tēnā koutou katoa, we look forward to seeing you there.
Xarnie Reihana
Te Kaiawhina Tikanga Māori of Mackenzie College (Cultural Leader)
Albury School Ski Day - Roundhill
Our annual ski trip is coming up in the first week of Term 3.
We are booked in to Roundhill Ski Area at Tekapo on Wednesday 28 July.
The lessons with the Ski School start at 10.30am
It is advised that we arrive at the ski field by 9.00am, so Roundhill staff have plenty of time to sort the children with lift passes and the correct gear.
We look forward to a fun day on the snow!
Albury School Winter Optional - Roundhill Ski Programme
Term 3, Friday afternoons, 30 July – 17 September 2021
A very exciting and popular optional every year, the opportunity to strengthen your child's skiing ability is available again for 2021.
Roundhill Ski Area (for those who are not familiar)
- Large beginner’s area is perfect for learners and the intermediate slopes are wide and gentle with all trails leading back to the base lodge.
- Sunny aspect means plenty of sunshine on the slopes.
- Just 32km from the Tekapo Village – a 24km lakeside drive which leads to the 8km super wide gradual access road, which is great for buses.
- A huge range of excellent quality rental equipment, the children’s safety is priority so they custom fit each child dependent on their height, weight and ability level. Helmets are included in the pricing, it is recommended that helmets are worn by all children.
- Internationally qualified ski school instructors teaching all ranges of ability levels
Each Friday:
- Depart Albury School carpark at 11.30am. This allows for travel, ticketing and rental time.
- Each student will be assigned to a group lesson matching their skill level.
- Lesson 1.30 – 3.00pm
- 3.00 – 4.00pm free range skiing
When registering for this optional, attendance is expected every week.
NB: Each student must have a parent/caregiver attend every session.
2021 Rates:
Ticket Type Child
Lift Pass, Lesson & Rental $51.00
Lesson & Rental $42.50
Lesson & Lift Pass $42.50
Lesson only $17.00
As well as rental equipment being available on the mountain,
The Ski Shack in Fairlie offers rental equipment for the whole season.
For all questions and to register your interest, please contact Annabelle Bray.
036855743 / 0212200711
Albury School Speech and Poetry Day - Term 3
This year we have a slight change to our programme for speeches.
The Kāhui Ako discussed the topics last week and agreed that the speeches for the
District Competition (held at Albury school on the 25th August) will be in line with the
Lion’s Club topics which are set as part of their competition for Year 5/6 students,
being held on the 2nd September. This way the students can align their speeches.
Students in Years 3-6 will present speeches on one of these topics and will be supported in their writing of these through the language programme at school (and support from home!).
Students NE-Y2 will recite a poem.
Topics
What makes you happy?
Vegetables have feelings too.
The world would be a better place if …
When I grow up I want to be ……… because ……….
What my Grandparents have taught me/what they mean to me
Nap time should be a compulsory subject at school.
We know that there are some Year 3-6 students who love the poem section of the presentations and we want to encourage them to present these. However, these
will be presented at a different time to the “speech” competition and this will be on
a voluntary basis.
We have had to restructure the event as we have some time restraints because it is also SCIENCE FAIR early next term as well as the Lion’s Club Speech Competition!
Even though the days will start lengthening out, we don’t gain any more hours in the day!
So at this stage students can be thinking about Science and Speeches and we will come up with a presentation date for poems/songs at a later stage.
Dates:
- Albury School Speeches – 18th August 1.00pm start
- Mackenzie Schools District Speech Competition - 25th August 11.00am
- Timaru District Schools (Lion’s Club of Timaru) – 2nd September
Race Tekapo
Have you heard about the Race Tekapo event being held on September 11th?
Every student in the Mackenzie District who enters the 5km or 3km Kids Dash gets a 20% discount per entry.
If you are interested in entering please get in touch with the school office and we will issue you with a special code to use when you enter.
This offer runs until the 1st of July so get in quick and make the most of this opportunity right on your doorstep.
Every finisher gets a medal!
All the details on the race are available at www.racetekapo.com
T&C:*offer available to students enrolled in St Joseph’s School, Aoraki Mt Cook School, Lake Tekapo School, Fairlie School, Cannington School, Albury School, Twizel Area School and their immediate families only.
Swimming Pool Season 2021/22
With our upgrade all completed we will be able to open the
pool (weather permitting) towards the end of Term 4.
We are committed to making this wonderful facility available
for our community over the summer period and weekends. However, in order to be able to do this, we need help. The compliance issues around the use of school pools outside of school time is treated as though the pool was a “public pool” and there is a requirement for regular testing and cleaning. Even though this is a compliance, I for one wouldn’t want to swim in any pool with water that wasn’t at a healthy level!
We will require personnel to be available for water testing and treating the pool with the chemicals as determined by the checks during the weekends and holidays. This is a daily task (probably twice a day). It would also involve cleaning the pool shed and vacuuming the pool. If you are interested in helping out or know of anyone, please make contact with me. During the school day, the pool operations are my responsibility, but I am not always around on weekends and during the summer holiday I will have some time away.
There is a significant cost to the BOT to operate the pool during the summer, with additional chemicals, power and personnel, so we will be gauging whether there is interest from our community to open the pool and what the acceptable level of financial contribution from users may be. We will survey you shortly, but in the meantime if you have anyone interested in managing pool operations (during out of school hours) please let me know. Many thanks.
Senior Camp 2021- Living Springs
The Board has approved the senior camp to Living Springs later in the year.
The dates booked are Wednesday 24th November to Friday 26th November. We will be attending the camp with St Joseph’s School, Fairlie. The approximate cost is $120.00. You can start payments for the camp at any stage through online banking into the school’s account:
ALBURY SCHOOL BOARD OF TRUSTEES – 123- 159 0137213-00.
Please put NAME/CAMP in the reference line.
Wheelers E-Platform Books
Albury School Kids now have access to free online books and audio books through the Services 2 Schools platform.
Go to: https://s2s.wheelers.co
Students have their own log ins and passwords. If they wish to access their books from home devices, they can do this. If they have forgotten their passwords contact us and we will send log in information to you.
School Policies
Protected Disclosures
Reporting to Parents on Student Progress and Achievement
Albury School Policies are located online at School Docs.
User name: albury
Password: queen
Contact Us
Piwakawaka teacher- Elsie Greenwood: Elsie@albury.school.nz
Tui teacher- Kent Murray: Kent@albury.school.nz
Email: office@albury.school.nz
Website: https://www.albury.school.nz/
Location: Albury School Station Street, Albury 7984, New Zealand
Phone: 03 685 5844
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alburyschool