Toko School Newsletter
28th February 2022
Kura Tuatahi Toko
Quality learning for all in a caring community.
Kounga ako mo katoa i roto i te taiao e atawhai ana.
Dear Parents and Friends of our school Kia Ora/Bora Da/Konichi Wa/Hello
In this newsletter I thought I would share with the community what has been going on behind the scenes to ensure our school are meeting public health requirements and preparing as best we can if and when a case may enter our community.
As you know there are lots of things that we are doing at school to prevent COVID-19 having an impact on our school community. These are things like good hygiene practices, handwashing, ventilation, cleaning and disinfecting high touch areas regularly, physical distancing & mask wearing.
The numbers of cases being seen in schools is increasing. Please don’t be alarmed by this. It is only natural as cases in our community increase, they will appear in our school. We have really good systems in place to respond to this and to keep any spread of the virus – should it appear – to a minimum.
The Ministry of Health have shared for every child who is infected and attends school only 3.7% of their close contacts at school subsequently tested positive and that there has been very little onward spread through the school because of the protective measures schools have in place.
This is why we remain open at Red. It’s great for a child’s wellbeing and learning to be at school with their friends and school staff, and we have very good systems in place to keep everyone as safe as possible.
With the number of cases increasing in Taranaki and the high likelihood that at some time in the near future we too will have cases linked to our school, we feel it timely to share with you some of the planning and preparation that has gone into how we will be able to continue to stay open and deliver learning for our children for as long as possible. Also to share with you some useful tools to help you with what to do, should someone in your household have COVID-19 and what we will be doing, should cases start to be linked to us here at school.
We have very clear guidelines from the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health about who is a close contact of a positive case, and what steps we need to follow. Generally speaking this will be what happens:
- Child/ren or staff members who are unwell will be at home and would get tested if they had symptoms. If a positive test result is received the parent or staff member needs to advise us that they are positive. Please call the school office or after hours you can email: principal@toko.school.nz With Phase 3 of the Omicron response, If anyone in your family is confirmed as having COVID-19, you will be asked to notify your close contacts yourself.
- With Phase 3 of the Omicron response, the key change is that it is only confirmed cases and their household contacts who need to self-isolate. Everyone else, including those who may have had close contact with the case but aren’t in the household, must continue to monitor really closely for any symptoms of COVID-19.
- School community would be notified via the schoool newsletter and the community feed on HERO. Please make sure you are logged in and can access this. If not please contact school and we can help you.
- School remains open for all those students not required to isolate, with parents continuing to monitor their children for symptoms and to stay home and get tested should symptoms develop
- Children at home isolating will be able to access their class learning from home. The links to this will be on our school website and the children are being shown how to access everything by their teachers at school and what to do if they lose/forget any online passwords.
- Children in Rooms 1 and 2 will have a mix of hard copy materials and online learning. You may be asked to pop in to school and collect this if your child is absent from school or we will arrange to drop this off to you.
- If you have indicated in the survey we have sent home recently that you will require a device if your child is isolating or learning from home, we will make arrangements with you direct to arrange for this device to be delivered/collected.
As a Board and staff we have talked through and worked out how we will operate the school with less staff and children and planned for a mix of face to face and online learning. We are as best prepared as we can and we will continue to update you via our weekly newsletter and via the community feed on HERO.
As always during these times we will continue to live our school vision, ‘Quality Learning for all in a caring community.
We ask that we all continue to show manaakitanga for each other and the various perspectives that people may have. That we collectively pull together and do as much as we can to support our school by promoting these things:
- Stay at home if sick
- Use good hygiene practices like hand washing, cough/sneeze into your elbow, physical distancing
- Wear a mask if required to do so (provided you don’t have an exemption)
- Keep the school updated if someone in your household gets COVID-19'
Below we have included our schools staged response to cases in our school and Ministry of Health Guides to assist with your decision making.
RELIEF CLEANER
We are on the lookout for an extra person to help us out at school if our cleaner is sick or absent from work. We have a really clear overview of work required if you are filling in. If you might be interested or could help us out this year please contact Kim.
If you have any concerns about sending your child to school, please do get in touch. We are here to help.
Kim Waite
Principal
2022 STUDENT LEADERSHIP TEAM
Well done to this year's 2022 leadership team: Holly, Kirsty, Maisie, Aleah, Aidan S, Shay, Mason C, Mason R, Cullum, Sam, Lucas, Arlo, Amelia, Zoey, Samara and Ella. This year the team will be working in four sub committees- events, fundraising, house leadership and sports. These committees will be rotated each term so that the leaders are exposed to working in all areas. We will announce our head leaders this week.
FRIENDS OF TOKO SCHOOL - TRAIL BIKE RIDE
PIANO LESSONS
FROM THE SPORTS DESK
School Tryathlon
On Wednesday 9th March we will be having our annual school tryathlon, beginning at 11.45am.
All children will assemble on the bottom field where they will be taken to the start line on Wawiri Rd and they will finish back on the field after the swim.
We run our event in the following order: Cycle, run, swim, run to the finish line. The event order is as follows: Year 7 - 8, Year 5 - 6, Year 3 - 4, Year 0 - 2,
As in the past we will be utilising Waiwiri road for the cycle leg.
The event will be viewed, by parents, from the bank on the far end of the field parallel to Waiwiri Road. We are asking that parents only attend this event as a spectator. No grandparents or other spectators this year sorry. Parents will be asked to sign in at the gate by Room 6. Mrs Eagar and Mrs Waite will be there to direct you. From there you are asked to walk to the allocated area for viewing across the top of the field. Please refrain from leaving this area until the end of the event. If you wish to take your child home at the end of this event you will need to wait until the tryathlon has been completed by all children, we will then bring your child/ren to meet you at the top of the field or at the gate with their bikes and their bags. Please do not come down to your child during this time. Staff will direct your child to you.
Please make sure that your child’s bike or scooter ( Year 0-2) is fully prepared for this event, checking that it is well serviced and that the brakes are in good working order. All children will be expected to wear a helmet, covered in shoes and swimming gear for this event. If your child does not have a bike to bring to school please contact your child's classroom teacher asap so we can make alternative arrangements.
Bikes/scooters will need to be dropped at school on the bottom field, Ahuroa Road Entrance, on Wednesday morning. Gates will be open to assist you with this. All bikes need to be collected after school. If this is a problem please contact your child's classroom teacher.
For children new to our school we have a very small course set up for our 5 year olds. It’s all about having a go and all Room 1 & 2 students will be supported by our senior students. If you have any further questions please talk to Miss Mancer or Mrs Oliver.
Netball Taranaki Announcement
Great news for Netball Taranaki. All year 1-4 netballers will not have to pay fees this year :)
WORKSHOP FOR OUR TAMARIKI
We are super excited to have a new student workshop that we are using to create projects that support all aspects of the curriculum. We are looking for preloved tools that are still in great condition but people no longer use that we can use when working on our projects. Some things we would love are:
metal rulers, drills, hack saws, vices, hammers, rope, cut off axels, wheels, mesh, wire, ear muffs, pliers, wire cutters, saw horses, sandpaper and blocks, builder pencils, tape measures, and screws.
We are still getting ourselves sorted in the workshop and will share more photos and the learning that will be occuring in a future newsletter.
Many thanks to TET for providing the funds to turn our school garage into a workshop.
A FEW REMINDERS
Scholastic Book Club
These have been given out to the children and are due back on 1/4/2022.
If you have cold, flu or COVID-19 symptoms, stay home. Call your doctor or Healthline on 0800 358 5453 for advice about getting tested.
TEACHERS ONLY DAYS REMINDER - JUST A REMINDER THAT SCHOOL IS CLOSED ON THURSDAY 10TH AND FRIDAY 11TH MARCH
COMMUNITY NOTICES
EASTERN DISTRICTS NETBALL
Netball 2022
If you would like your child involved in ED netball this year, register your interest by completing this Google form - click here.
This must be done by Friday 25th February.
Additional information about the programmes that are run for each age group will be sent to you and another link will be sent in due course to register with Netball Taranaki and confirm your commitment to the 2022 season.
The AGM of the Eastern Districts Netball Club will be held on Thursday 3rd March at 7pm,at the Toko Tavern. This will be followed by a short informative meeting about the upcoming season.
Could all parents, coaches and interested parties please come along.
We require at least one person from each school to be at this meeting and to be a part of the committee.
Toko & Eastern Districts Junior Rugby Football Club
Hi All and welcome to the 2022 season of Taranaki rugby. We are extending an invitation to any children keen to play Ferdie Rugby this season. Ferdie rugby will be running throughout Term 2.
Ferdie Rugby includes age-grades for every year, and Toko/ED usually field teams in the 7-aside grades (Under 6 & Under 7) and 10-aside grades (up to Under 11s). Our goal this year is to field a minimum of 3 teams.
Toko and Eastern Districts RFC is a club with a long standing history in Taranaki. We provide a great country atmosphere enjoyed by children and parents alike. Rugby is a great way for children to get outside, get fit, socialise and learn to work in a team environment. For all those interested we have a Facebook page named Toko & Eastern Districts Junior Rugby Football Club, and invite you to join and follow our updates.
Registrations are now open through the TRFU and you can use the following link to register your child https://www.sporty.co.nz/viewform/104943. We would like as many registrations as possible in by February 28. You can contact myself Grant Worthington 0276669970 or grantworthington@hotmail.com if you have any questions.
Under the red light system rugby should be all go as we are outside. All coaches will need to be vaccinated is the only requirement at the moment.
------- SENIOR RUGBY ----------
We would also like to use this ad to extend any expressions of interest for those wishing to play senior rugby for Toko RFC. The Toko Senior RFC provides our children with a local club and social activity for the future and brings our communities together. If you are interested please contact Neville on 0277777189
Please talk to your children, register your interest and get involved.
Toko School
Email: office@toko.school.nz
Website: www.toko.school.nz
Location: 1057 East Road, Toko, New Zealand
Phone: 06 7622849
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TokoSchool/?ref=bookmarks