22nd May 2020
Tauranga Primary School Newsletter
Principal's Message
Tēnā koutou katoa
Ngā mihi nui, kia koutou katoa - Warm greetings to you all.
Kia ora koutou,
What an awesome week we have had. It has been brilliant to be back at school. The children have arrived with smiles on their faces, lots of stories to share, and ready to get on with the business of learning at school. Everyone has loved seeing friends again and being able to play together. The playground has been bursting with laughter, squealing, jokes, smiles and good times .... very heartwarming !!!
Thank you to our parents for your support this last week, it has been a different routine for us all to adapt to each morning with a "kiss and go" drop off at the gate. This new routine has also resulted in some very positive outcomes that would be good to encourage and continue:
- We have loved seeing the confidence and independence that the children are showing, organising their own bag, belongings and emotions each morning, as they enter the school.
- The traffic at the school gates has been a lot less congested - so much better than ever before.
- We (staff) have also enjoyed meeting and greeting everyone at the gates each day. It's been a lovely way to start our school days.
Modifications to our Level 2 plan for next week:
- Reminder that school gates and classes do not open until 8.30am.
- We are still required to track and trace any adults onsite. Adults are asked to observe physical distancing, no adults in classes, and the aim is that adults move on and off the site with purpose and as quickly as possible.
- We will release junior school students from 2.50pm (returning to our normal release time) - the additional time was not required this week.
- If it is a wet day - please aim to kiss and go at the gate in the morning. It will be too tricky to complete the tracking register in the rain, the children will need to go directly into classes, and adults can not go inside. The only exception is for our newest new entrant students, who have only just started school.
- If it is wet for the 2:50pm and 3:00pm pick up times, please wait in your car and you can enter the site when the music bell goes, and then pick up your child from outside their class. Please collect your child and leave the school site as quickly as possible and observe 2 metre distancing from other families.
We are very keen to meet with parents to discuss children's learning progress, how they have settled back into school and some next step learning goals. We plan to host Learning Conferences on the 17th and 18th of June - 3:15pm-7:00pm. There will be a mini report to accompany this conference, it will focus on Literacy and Numeracy achievement levels and identifying the next learning goals to work on. This report and conference process is different from our normal approach due to COVID-19. We recognise the importance of connecting individually with parents, and would like to do this in a timely manner. Detailed information about the conferences will be sent out on Tuesday June 2nd.
We are making plans to host a school cross country later this term. Once finalised, we will let you know.
This year we have noticed an increase in dog poop left around the school site. As children are playing, rolling around in and (in summer) eating on these grassed areas, we have made the decision to ban dogs from the school site. We have ordered signs, and once these are installed we will be asking that all parents, the farmers market and other after hours users of our site are respectful of this new rule.
A very warm TPS welcome to Kaelin Cox, Jahziah Walker, Estelle Davis, Ashley Garcinez, Aayan Hossain, Florencia Mateu, Kaia Tierney, Harrison Parnwell and Nicole Taka-Underhill who started recently at our school. We are glad to have you and your family as part of our TPS TEAM.
As always, thank you for your continued support.
Ngā mihi
Fiona Hawes
.... back to school this week ......
Huria House are Term 1 winners with a massive 13894 points.
TPS Translators
Some of our school families speak various languages (other than English) as their first language. As we have moved to an online learning environment, we are relying heavily on phone calls and emails to communicate with parents. At times, this has been a barrier for some families to gain a comprehensive understanding of what we are trying to communicate. We thought it would be good to set up a TPS database of parents, who speak languages other than English, and would be confident to help us share school information with other school families if needed. For example, a teacher might ring you to ask you to help explain how to log onto seesaw to another parent in their first language, or maybe just to enquire if they are okay and if there is anything they don't understand about school correspondence. If you would be happy to assist us in this way, please email your name, your child's name, and the languages you are confident in to admin@tauranga.school.nz . Thank you
Sports newsletter-Week 6 T2 2020
How exciting is it, that due to the hard work of our team of 5 million, we can now begin the journey back towards life as normal (whatever that may look like after Covid-19). This means there is now the potential to play sport again, and we can start planning the reintroduction of sport for our budding young athletes.
Sport New Zealand has created three clear phases that our local sporting associations will use as a guideline, to produce a timeline for the winter sports season.
Phase 1: Get Ready to Train – 15th to 24th May
During this time TPS has created their own plan on how we can provide a safe environment for our sports teams. I will begin to take sport registrations via email on sport@tauranga.school.nz. Please include the following in the email: your child’s name, sport(s) they wish to play, year group and class number, if you are able to help coach or manage your child’s team, and any other requests you may have.
School shop will open once I have confirmed dates and costs from each sporting code, and you will then need to re-register on school shop with payment.
TPS will enter teams in the following competitions:
Future Ferns Netball
Netball is played at the Harbourside Netball Centre in Mt Maunganui on Saturday mornings. Boys and girls from years 1-6 can play. The games are adapted to suit each year level.
Basketball
Basketball is played on various days of the week at the TrustPower Arena and QEYC. Boys and girls from years 1-6 can play. The games are modified for each grade.
Small Sticks Hockey
Hockey is played on Saturday mornings at various venues around Tauranga. Year 1 & 2 boys and girls participate in a fundamental skills programme, and years 3 - 6 play a 6-a-side game.
Phase 2: Prepare to Play – from 25th May
From this date, TPS sports teams can be established and begin to train. All sport trainings must have no more than 10 team members participating, including the coach. Parents can attend, but must observe trainings from a distance and be mindful of the 2m distancing rule. We must be able to trace all those who attend the trainings, so names must be recorded and a photo of the team taken and sent to Jo Taele via email on sport@tauranga.school.nz. Everyone must hand sanitise before and after trainings. All equipment must be cleaned. Athletes must attempt to maintain a safe social distance, there will be no physical contact. If your child is unwell they must not attend training, this includes the coach.
These guidelines will be updated as information is received.
Phase 3: Return to Play
Sport BOP have given the local sporting associations a competition window to set their start and finish dates. This window is Saturday 6th June to Saturday 4th October. Each sporting code will set their own dates within this window frame.
Game days will look very different as they will be adapted to adhere to the appropriate gathering numbers, sanitation processes, and contact tracing will be carried out. Parents may be required to assist on game days to help things run smoothly.
Please note that I will update any of these phases as changes are communicated by Sport New Zealand.
TPS CROSS COUNTRY
We have decided to reschedule the TPS cross country to the end of the term, with a date still to be confirmed. We are running the event despite the cancellation of the South Cluster cross country event, and the WBOP and BOP cross country events. We feel it will be nice for the kids to do the cross country to top off all the hard work many have been putting in over the lockdown. The courses will be the same as last year, but the day will be formatted differently. Each year group will compete separately, and each year group will leave before the next one arrives to keep in line with the social gathering number limits.
We will send details of the race timings and a confirmed date soon.
Our fabulous Sport Leaders will run with all of our Year 0-4s, leading the way and helping those who need extra assistance.
Spectators will be asked to remain in the designated areas and the spacing and numbers will depend on the Covid-19 level at the time.
Remember the TPS cross country is mainly about fun and participation, but also allows the kids to challenge themselves and be proud of their efforts.
CANCELLED TERM 2 EVENTS
WBOP Inter-school Amazing Race
Friday 15th May
WBOP Rippa Rugby World Cup
Wednesday 20th May
BOP Rippa Rugby World Cup
Wednesday 10th June
BOP Primary School Squash Competition
Thursday 11th June
South Cluster Cross Country Championships
Tuesday 9th June
WBOP Cross Country Championships
Wednesday 17th June
BOP Cross Country Championships
Tuesday 23rd June
Primary Gymnastics Competition years 3&4 and years 5&6
Friday 19th June
Tauranga City Basketball Miniball World Cup years 5&6
Date TBC June
SUMMER SPORTS TEAM UNIFORMS TO BE RETURNED
Please return all loaned PE tops, and any other sports equipment from Term 1, as this will need to be redistributed to our winter sports teams.
Contacts
Principal
Fiona Hawes
07 578 6222
Deputy Principal
Cathy Ediker
Assistant Principal
Robyn Caley
Junior Team Leader
Pam Wilkins
Middle Team Leader
Jason Morgan
Acting Senior Team Leader
Jo Howard
International Student enquiries
Cathy Ediker
Business Manager
Susan O'Neill
Office Administrator and Enrolment Officer
Barbara Turley