Thursday 17th August 2023

Mā te huruhuru ka rere te manu

Adorn the bird with feathers so it may fly

Email: office@kereru.school.nz
Website: http://www.kereru.school.nz/
Location: 2306 Kereru Road, Hastings 4171
Phone: 06 876 0923
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084298596659

Kia ora e te whānau,

We have had another busy start to our school term with lots of great opportunities for our tamariki, including Totara Room Camp, a Chess Tournament, Sport Hawke's Bay PE skills, and two days with Rachel and Tony from Field Based Stem. I'd like to thank our amazing school whānau who continue to make events like these possible for our students by offering to help with transport and supervision.

As you are aware, we have a couple of staffing changes on the horizon. On Monday, I received Cathy Bentley's resignation. Cathy has been successful in gaining an Early Childhood Teaching position at Launch in Waipukurau. While we are sad that Cathy is leaving our school whānau, we are excited for her and this change in her career. Cathy has been at Kererū School for almost 5 years, and we have loved her warm, kind, and gentle nature, and the quality education she has provided many of our students with over these years. This week I also received Nat Revell's resignation. I'd like to thank Nat for her energy and mahi at Kererū School during her time here and wish her all the very best in her future endeavours. Both Cathy & Nat's last day at Kererū School will be on Friday, 22nd September. I will be working closely with the Board to find the next great teachers at Kererū School.

You will have seen that the Government has announced the removal of the mandatory Covid-19 isolation rule, which took effect on the 15th of August 2023. The last of the Covid-19 restrictions were removed following public health officials' advice that the risk from Covid-19 is now considered low compared to other stages of the pandemic.

What does this mean for us?

As with any other illness, it is recommended that students and staff stay at home if they are feeling unwell and should follow MOH guidelines in order to stop the spread of illnesses and keep others safe. If you test positive for Covid-19, it is recommended you isolate for at least 5 days, even if you only have mild symptoms, starting at Day 0. Isolation means not going to work or to school. Household contacts do not need to isolate, but it is recommended that they do a RAT (Rapid Antigen Test) each day for 5 days.

Next week we have our Western Schools Cross Country being held on Thursday, 24th August. I know it is an event that is looked forward to by many. Please note that there will be a greater volume of traffic on Salisbury Road between 9:00 - 10:30 am and 12:30 - 2:30 pm. We have passed this information onto HDC (Hastings District Council) and roading crews as well. Thank you to the Spall family for letting us use their property again this year. It is great to have such an awesome venue!

Have a great end to the week.

Noho ora mai,

Kelsie Allen

Principal

Roll: 29

A big Happy Birthday to the following ākonga & kaiako:

• Anthony - 03/08
• Fletcher - 05/08
• Tayte - 17/08
• Sheryn - 25/08

This term our specific ADORN focus is going to be around 'Determined - Putohe'. DETERMINED learners are diligent and set high expectations of themselves. They are resilient and have a growth mindset, persevering to overcome challenges.

Thank you to Mary-Anne Bevan for whipping up some ice pack covers for us! They are going to be great to look after limbs that need some cooling!

Lucia - "I like them because they have cool flowers and they feel nicer than the other ones".

Thank you to Speedy Signs for our brand new school sign - we absolutely love it!

Our Collaborative Connects are just around the corner in Week 8. Please use the Hero app to make your booking. This is a great opportunity to discuss your child's learning and next steps with their teacher. If you have any problems booking, please pop in and see Kelsie or Sheryn.

This year, Kererū School is proud to be supporting the Cancer Society this Daffodil Day. The Cancer Society provides free support and information, funds lifesaving cancer research, and advocates for cancer prevention policies to reduce the risk of cancer now and for future generations. The Cancer Society relies on the support from schools like ours to continue to provide free transport & accommodation when treatment is far from home, cancer nurses, and counselling for patients and their whānau.

Our tamariki have been working hard training for Cross Country coming up in Week 6. Thank you to Tony & Elva Perkins for letting us run up and down their driveway daily.

Date: Thursday 24th August 2023

Where: Kererū Hall

Important Information:

• Students are to arrive at School as normal. Cathy & Nat will be at school. They will walk over from School together.

• There will be no bus in the afternoon.

• Marshal briefing is at 10:45 am at the start line.

• The course will be available for visiting Schools to walk around from 10 - 10:30 am.

• Student briefing will be at 10:30 am near the start line.

• There will be no formal prizegiving following the event.

• We would appreciate lots of help packing up after the event, so if you can, please hang around.

• Students will need to stay in the ‘School Zone’ when they are not racing. They cannot wander around the course.

• If you or your child is unwell, please stay at home.

What will my child need to bring?

• Money for food

• Other shoes, towel & clothes to change into (in a named bag)

• A full drink bottle (named)

• Wear: comfortable running shorts, school sports top, old running shoes (bare feet optional and at own risk)

• A warm jacket

Approximate distances of each event:

Year 0/1 1000m

Year 2 1250m

Year 3 and 4 1500m

Year 5 and 6 2200m

Year 7 and 8 2750m

Order of events:

9:45 am All Marshals/School helpers to meet Kelsie at finish line tents

10:00 am Course available for schools to walk around

10.30 am Welcome - Briefing

10:45 am Year 0/1 Boys

10:50 am Year 0/1 Girls

10: 55 am Year 2 Boys

11:00 am Year 2 Girls

11:10 am Year 3 Boys

11:15 am Year 3 Girls

11:25 am Year 4 Boys

11:30 am Year 4 Girls

11:40 am Year 5 Boys

11:45 am Year 5 Girls

11:55 am Year 6 Boys

12:00 pm Year 6 Girls

12:10 pm Year 7/8 Boys

12:15 pm Year 7/8 Girls

12:30 pm Announcement of winning school

12:45 pm Depart

When Rachel came to our school we welcomed her with open arms, certain that she was here to bring lots more exciting ideas and enviro facts… And we were right!

Day 1:

SPLASH! “Ekkk!” The water was freezing as we splashed into the icy current, temp and electricity testers on hand. The most common electricity test was 125 or 124 but I found a place where it was 83 which is good, because the lower the number the better. Really good river water tests at below 50.

A new person was here today, Tony. He knew about rocks and rivers, he showed us where a bank (not the money type) had slipped down and you could see the different layers of earth. At one point the dirt had lots of diagonal lines running through it and we hypothesized what could have made it. We tapped rocks to see how different types of them sounded different; if it was limestone we put vinegar on it to make it fizz.

Day 2:

Hot sun shone down as we worked on the ground by the whare, digging up the stinking irises and chucking them in a big pile…

Later on we were mulching the ground as Rachel put out the trees in preparation to plant them. We took turns, having two seniors at a time filling buckets with mulch, while the others carried them to and from the trailer; getting it spread on the ground where the trees were going to go.

Seniors had to buddy up with a Junior and we worked together to plant; digging a hole, breaking up the plant roots, putting them in the hole and filling it in. When watering, we spread it around evenly, and not putting too much on so they drown and die. Then we had to put stakes by them so we didn’t step on them, because some of them were REALLY small. After we had done that we said thank you and went home for the day.

All in all, it was a really fun two days and I’m sure everyone enjoyed it.

THANK YOU to Rachel and Tony.

By Elly

Michaela from Sports HB has been coming to do some ball skills with our tamariki. Kākano have been having such a fun time. It's a great way to use up some of that incredible energy!

Kākano loved the trip to Ohara River with Tony and Rachel. They learnt so much about the health of the river, and what determines that health. The waster was so cold, but the children were so enthusiastic about doing their tests, they didn't think about it.

Here are some of their comments;

Paige - "I like checking the temperature of the water."

Ziggy - "I liked trying to catch the mandarin".

Isabella - "I like testing the speed of the water."

Lucia - "I was amazed about finding all of the sea creatures in the river under the rocks!'

We love our days with Rachel from Field Based Stem ! Yesterday we had a big day in the garden clearing space next to the Whare. After reported sightings of a gecko that lives there, we cleared weeds, prepared a garden bed, and carted and spread mulch. We then planted some new plants and some of the seedlings we collected from a farm last term. When we walked around our school, we also found some rocks and rotten logs that the lizards can lounge on and eat from. We would love to show any visitors that pop in!

We are so proud of our new 'Lizard Lounge' and hope that we eventually see some native lizards using it!

Each term, we practice our emergency drills with our students to ensure they know what to do in an emergency. On Tuesday, as a school, we ran through our earthquake, fire, shelter and place and lockdown drills. It was great to see that everyone moved quickly and knew what do to do.

What an awesome turnout last Friday to help with planting and landscaping. Thank you to everyone who donated their time and resources. The gardens are looking great and it is such an exciting time for our school.

A big thank you to the FOKS committee who have generously given $3600 to go towards our landscaping. This money will go towards planting, landscaping, purchasing plants, establishing a fruit tree & vege garden area, picnic/lunch area for the kids and a sandpit. Without this financial support, we wouldn't be able to make our school look so amazing.

We are looking for helpers on the day to help with the following

• Parents to help with the set up of the food stall (from 8:45 am)

• Parents to help with the food stall/ BBQ

• Parents to help with the tidying up of the food stall/ BBQ

• 2 Dozen of baking per family (see poster attached)
  • Make this attractive for children
  • A decent size - worth $2 per piece
  • Note any of the main allergens (e.g. milk, eggs, nuts, dairy, gluten)

An order form will come home today. This is a great fundraiser that will also help the environment! The school gets 40% of the profit. It will be nice and easy to get lots of orders!

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If you or anyone you know are able to help sponsor the dance this year, please get in touch with Sheryn in the office.

We will be asking soon for the following;

• sponsors
• auction items

This will be our major fundraiser for the year. We understand it's been a tough year for our amazing community, we are hoping this will bring us all together for a great night out.

More details to follow.

The school works on a subscription basis with SchoolDocs to maintain, update, and review our policies. SchoolDocs provides us with a comprehensive core set of policies that have been well researched and follow the Ministry of Education National Administration Guidelines. The policies and procedures are tailored to our school, and the school supplies specific information such as our charter, and procedures for behaviour management, reporting to parents, etc.

SchoolDocs updates, modifies, or creates policies in response to changes in legislation or Ministry guidelines, significant events, reviews/requests from schools, and regular reviewing from the SchoolDocs team. Our board of trustees has the opportunity to view changes/additions and comment on them before they are implemented. We will advise you when policies are up for review and how you can take part in the review.

http://kereru.schooldocs.co.nz

Username is “kereru”

Password is “kereru1912”

TERM 3:

• 22/08 - Science Roadshow
• 24/08 - Cross Country
• 25/08 - Daffodil Day
• 08/09 - Y5/6 Mathletics Competition
• 13/09 - BOT Meeting
• 22/09 - Last day of Term 3

These links will give you some ideas on how to help your child's learning at home:

• Ministry of Education Website: https://parents.education.govt.nz/primary-school/learning-and-development-at-home/ideas-to-help-with-reading-writing-and-maths/
• Maths at home: https://nzmaths.co.nz/maths-our-house
  
• Writing prompts and ideas: https://app.pobble.com/auth/
  
• Mindfulness: https://www.smilingmind.com.au/
• Early letter formation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=609NcinTkGI

Hero gives you (parents) the opportunity to send through your child's absence with a click of a button. This is a quick, efficient way and gives our staff a notification and message of the reason your child is away.

This is the way we would like you to let us know if your child won't be here. If there is additional information that the school needs to know, please contact Sheryn directly.

Just a friendly reminder to help us with the end of the day organisation, please ensure you let us know if your child/ren will not be on the bus in the afternoons.

Unless we have heard otherwise, or you put on your sheet at the beginning of the term, we will assume that your child is on.

You need to contact Sheryn (Mon - Thurs) or Kelsie (Fri) before 2 pm with any changes.

We would love to have a better understanding of who will potentially come to Kererū School in the (near or distant) future. This is to ensure that you, as parents, receive information such as transition visits and school information before your child's start date.

We would love to hear from you if your child is between 1 and 4 years old. To make sure we have you on our 'potential enrolments' list.

Please email office@kereru.school.nz or follow the link to our enrolment section on our website to find out more information.

If your child is unwell, please keep them at home to prevent the spread of the illness.

Gastro

• "People with gastro should not go to work, school and early childhood centres until they have been well (symptom free) for 48 hours. There will be viruses in your poos for several weeks after you become well. You should continue to wash and dry your hands thoroughly after you have been to the toilet."
• Here is the link for a brochure: https://www.rph.org.nz/public-health-topics/early-childhood-centres/current-illnesses/gastroenteritis/gastro-brochure.pdf

Covid-19

• If you or someone in your whānau tests positive for Covid-19, please let Kelsie know ASAP and then follow the MOH guidelines: https://covid19.govt.nz/testing-and-isolation/if-you-have-covid-19/