PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
Kia ora toku St Albans whānau,
What a break it has been these holidays experiencing all that Ōtautahi Christchurch has to offer, getting away to see whānau and spending some valuable (essential) time focused on health and well-being to ensure that I am the best version of myself for the students, for the staff and for the community.
We are so excited to be back next week kicking off the year with our 'Getting Connected Days' which is more than just an opportunity to meet the teacher (they may be your teacher from last year), but seeing the space, asking questions about what to expect from the change of year level and building the crucial relationship and team that supports your child's success at school.
The teachers and staff are working hard this week to get the classroom environments 'LEARNING' ready, up-skill in the area of 'Structured Literacy' which is the whole school approach from Year 1-Year 6 in the core area of literacy. This is being delivered by our external experts from iDeaL. We will be sending information to our community regarding this throughout the year.
On Friday we will be immersing ourselves at the Tuahiwi Marae learning all about Ōtautahi, our local area, and stories so that we can add these to our own Localised Curriculum giving effect to both the Treaty and the New Zealand Histories curriculum.
Then we can ALL enjoy Waitangi Day before the term starts on 9 February.
We have a few important reminders for 2023:
- School starts at 9am and the gates are open from 8.30am (students should aim to arrive at school NO earlier than 8.25a m and MUST sit on the hall deck till the bell goes
- School finishes at 3pm and if walking, scootering or biking children MUST leave the grounds when the bell goes
- If you are picking your child up make sure they know, 'from where' and if it is Sheppard Place, ensuring you keep the traffic flowing by only staying 3 minutes in the drop off/pick up zone
- We are a Sunsmart school so hats are required Term 1 and 4 as are togs and towels for swimming (teachers will let you know further details)
Important Change - Birthdays
One of our key foci at St Albans is 'well-being' which is why this year we do not want any birthday cakes, lollies or gifts delivered for classes. We have looked at this carefully as a leadership team and have several reasons for this change:
- An increase in allergies and high health needs and the health and safety risk to students
- Key message to students regarding NO lollies (sugar) or juice at school (water only) as this supports our physical wellbeing
- The disruption to the learning that parties within school cause in particular when it occurs for many children in a class
- Pressure for ALL students to supply the class with food and/or gifts
We do however CELEBRATE birthdays in every classroom in different ways for every child - even children who have had a birthday in the holidays!
Whānau Engagement
We want to ensure we are connecting and engaging with our whānau and we have loads of NEW initiatives in the pipeline to bring you in, let you see what is happening, answer questions and queries, team up to support your child and celebrate all the progress together.
We will be changing our NEWSLETTERS to fortnightly starting next week with our Week 1 Panui. These newsletters can be accessed on the website, through Skool Loop and on Hero. They have information to support learning, upcoming events, community notices and celebrations of all kinds. If English is your second language we have the translate feature for most languages in the top right corner.
We will be releasing our new WEBSITE this term and will finalise our Cultural Narrative in image form. This will drive the kaupapa of our school - what we are all about and how we teach and learn. Our new values will be a key feature to look out for this term: Rangatiratanga (self), Manaakitanga (others) and Kaitiakitanga (our environment).
2023 is set to be a remarkable year at St Albans and we are delighted to kick start the year with our Pōwhiri where we will welcome new students and their whānau on Day 1: Thursday 9th February at 9.30am. An email will be sent to all new students/whānau.
We look forward to seeing our ākonga/students and whānau during the connection days and throughout the term at all the events, at the Oak Leaf Cafe, in the mornings during drop off or after school at pick up.
Ngā mihi nui,
Andrea Harnett
Tumuaki - St Albans School
