Newsletter No. 8, 20 May 2022

An extra special haere mai to India B who has joined us in Awaroa.

Welcome to the end of week 3! We have had another busy fortnight at Sumner School and it has been great seeing the children getting to grips with their learning under the concept of our School Value of Kaitiakitanga. Over the past fortnight we have had a number of activities taking place including; Years 5-8 Cross Country, Te Onepoto’s visit to Taylors Mistake, Rapanui’s Shoreline visit to the beach, New Zealand's Bully Free Week and Pink Friday. Following our move to Orange Setting, we have also had a number of opportunities for our ākonga to begin again. These have included our Choir, Kapa haka and Hapori Groups getting underway again. Scroll down a little further to watch the Sneak Peek with our Media Team to see all that has been happening.

Today we also had our first scheduled assembly with parents on site. While this was a little different with only Rapanui being in the hall and the rest of the school meeting virtually, it was great to take another step towards ‘normal’ by having Rapanui parents join us. Well done to our School Leaders and our Rapanui ākonga on such a wonderful assembly and sharing their learning so well with us. Over the term each team will have the opportunity to share their assembly in this format with their parents. Please keep your eye on the Calendar of Events and each team’s Pito Pito Kōrero so you don’t miss your child’s assembly!

Over the next two weeks we are looking forward to Rapanui and Tuawera's Cross Country and also the Zone Cross Country event.

Spotlight on community survey results… Many thanks to those of you who submitted feedback to Sumner School Board through the community survey at the end of last year. A summary of these results and the schools progress towards actions from this survey can be found below.

Spotlight on our new website… You may have noticed that this newsletter is in a slightly different format than usual - this is because it is linked to our brand new school website (www.sumner.school.nz)! The feedback we received via the Board Survey at the end of last year has all fed into the new design which we are really pleased with. One of the key features of this website is that it is linked directly to our School App. This means any whole school notifications or notices will automatically appear on our homepage (bottom right of screen) allowing you to read any PDFs on your desktops too.

Spotlight on Bully Free Week… As you will be aware, this week is Bully Free Week across New Zealand. Over the last week teachers have been working with our children to reinforce and re-teach our shared understandings about what bullying is (and isn’t), how we respond to bullying at Sumner School and the language we use at school to talk to our children about bullying. At Sumner School we are committed to ensuring that our school provides an environment free from bullying behaviours. We believe that bullying behaviour is not an individual action, but that bullying is;

• Deliberate and targeted

• Involves a power imbalance

• Has an element of repetition

• Is harmful

Bullying behaviours can be physical, verbal, social and can take place in the physical world or digitally. We believe that bullying involves up to 3 parties; initiators (often those doing the bullying), targets (those being bullied) and bystanders (those who witness the bullying). The role of bystanders is such an important one and it’s really important that our children know that all adults at school are a ‘safe tell’ and that by coming to us they are not ‘snitching’ or ‘tattling.’

As a school we are committed to a zero tolerance of bullying. However, we recognise that there are times when bullying occurs at our school. Research suggests the incidence of bullying in a school is best minimised by fostering a safe and caring school climate where positive behaviours are promoted and explicitly taught and having clear consistent procedures for responding to all incidents of bullying. At Sumner School this is something that we continue to prioritise and plan for during all our learning programmes and processes.

There is a link below to Tackling Bullying - A guide for parents and whānau. There are also links to our WITS and THINK posters to support your conversations with your children.

And finally... Huge congratulations to Emma Williamson (nee Browne-Cole) and her husband Sam who are expecting their first child later this year. Emma will be with us until the middle of August before heading away on parental leave. We will be working to find a suitable replacement for Emma to look after Room 6 in Emma'a absence.

Have a wonderful weekend with your families!

Have a look at what's been going on at school over the last two weeks...

On Wednesday 11 May the Years 5 to 8 students competed in our annual school Cross Country. The Years 5 and 6 students had to complete a 2km run, while the Years 7 and 8 students had to complete the same route but for 3 km’s. It was great to see everyone participating in this event, showing the Character Strengths of courage and perseverance. Well done to everyone, what an amazing event!

Thank you to Mrs Vine (Sports Coordinator) as well as all the parents who came to support the students. It was fantastic to see everyone either at the finish line or around the Cross Country route. The following students will be heading away to the Zone Cross Country on the 31 May in week 5:

Under the CPF Orange setting our amazing Road Safety Team is all up and running. Constable Meg Moynihan was working with a group this week on refresher training and they were all excellent! Please use our crossing and listen carefully and patiently to the Road Safety students who will guide you and your children safely across.

Please contact the office if you are able to help supervise the Road Safety Team on a weekly basis either before or after school. Email: admin@sumner.school.nz

At the end of last year Sumner School Board carried out a community survey as part of our strategic review cycle. Many thanks to those of you who took the opportunity to complete this for us. The feedback from this survey fed directly back into the development of our 2022 Annual Plan and related actions for the school.

A full summary of results, actions for the school moving forward and our progress towards these actions can be found below.

Our staff have been very busy since the start of the year continuing their professional development linked to the implementation of a Structured Literacy approach, supported by Caroline Morritt (our RTLit) and the University of Canterbury. Earlier this week some of our staff alongside Caroline gave a presentation to the Board updating them on our PD and implementation of this approach.

In Rapanui our staff are implementing the Better Start Literacy Approach (BSLA) to support oral language, reading and writing. Across the rest of the school (Years 3-8) our team has been implementing Liz Kane’s The Code, which is an explicitly taught, structured and sequential programme to teach spelling.

The implementation of a structured literacy approach is an ongoing part of the schools Strategic Plan for the next two years. During this time we will continue to train our staff, develop resources and implement new learning throughout the school. Many thanks to the PTA who have supported us in the purchasing of $10,000 worth of new decodable texts and resources to support our learners.

As you will know, our children have been receiving explicit teaching in either BSLA or The Code for nearly 10 weeks. Shortly we will be re-testing all children across the school in BSLA and The Code to enable us to identify those learners who need additional support, and to re-group children where needed. Teachers will be in touch with parents before the end of the Term 2 for any children who will be receiving additional support.

A huge amount of Professional Development has occurred during Term 1 and into Term 2, and as a staff we are excited about this approach and the new knowledge, skills and support that we will be able to share with our ākonga and the community.

We look forward to continuing to share our progress with you as we move through 2022.

Kia Ora

We are the Sumner School Hapori Group, and we are all about community!

Over the last two years we have been involved in a variety of initiatives. Ranging from fundraisers, clothing donations and delivering 57 gifts to children in need as a part of the Aotearoa Shoebox Christmas. We have always been incredibly humbled and blown away by the support and generosity from our school community. We are excited to be able to meet again and have lots of exciting initiatives lined up for the year! Keep an eye on the school newsletter and posters around the school.

This term we are also going to encourage a Kaitiaki Focus in each newsletter for our whānau to get involved in. If your child is in Year 3 or above and would like to be part of the Hapori group we would love to have them! We meet most Thursdays at 12.30pm in the Waiora Space.

Our Kaitiaki focus for the Fortnight is... Rubbish Free Lunches!

We’d love for the students at Sumner School to have rubbish free lunches.

The benefits of rubbish free school lunches include:

• Reducing your environmental footprint

• Teaching children about reuse, reduce, recycle

• Having fun creating delicious lunches and snacks

Send a pic of your rubbish free lunch into Mrs Reid or Mrs Williamson

lreid@sumner.school.nz or ebrownecole@sumner.school.nz

Exciting news - our preloved clothing sale is back for 2022!!
We would love your help with donations of good quality used (or new!) clothing we can sell at this event to raise funds for our school.

Donations of clothing can be delivered to the school office.
Save the date: 22 June, 5 - 8pm for the sale.

A reminder that Friday 3 June is a Teacher Only Day. MASH will be open for childcare on this day if you require it. Please contact them on 0800 420 520 to book a place for your child.

Parent Drop-ins to see a Mana Ake counsellor/Kaimahi are up and running. Due to Covid Orange Setting these will be organised via Zoom or a phone call.
If you would like to meet with one of the Mana Ake team please talk to your child's teacher and they will book in a time for you.

Mana Ake encourage parents to visit https://manaake.health.nz/supporting-your-child/ and the Free Parent Helpline 0800 568 856. This is available from 9am to 9pm Monday to Sunday.

The Mana Ake website has a section on Big Worries - Mana Ake which is particularly relevant with what’s going on in the world currently.
Parents going to this site can be assured of finding up-to-date and quality information on wellbeing and parenting skills. Another useful link for families and parents. https://realparents.org/

In 2022, we will be reviewing the policies related to Health, Safety, and Welfare throughout the year. In term two, the review focus is on our Healthcare and Behaviour Management sections.
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​Instructions for reviewers:

1. Visit www.schooldocs.co.nz
2. Search for Sumner School (Username: Sumner, Password: Wakefield).
3. Search for the above policies in the search bar.
4. Read the policy.
5. Check the red Policy Review icon at the right-hand top corner of the page. a new screen will appear.
6. Select your role (Board member, staff member, or parent/caregiver) from the drop-down list.
7. Enter your name (optional).
8. Submit your ratings and comments.