Newsletter No. 13, 12 August 2022
12 August 2022
Principal's Kōrero
Kia ora rā koe,
It feels like Spring might be on the way with the mornings getting a little lighter and an easing of the winter bugs… we just need the sunshine to follow suit!
We have again managed to jam-pack our fortnight with lots of opportunities and learning experiences available for our children to take part in. These have included; EPRO8 (Engineering, problem solving and innovation) internal competition for our Year 6s and 8s, a visit from Perform Education, Learning Conferences, the return of PMP for Rapanui, Te Onepoto’s special Commonwealth Day, Maths Week and the Years 5-8 Zone Winter Tournament. There is a Sneak Peek with our Media Team below where you can have a closer look at all that we have been up to.
Spotlight on Learning Conferences… Many thanks to all of our parents and students who attended Learning Conferences last week. We were impressed by the response to these and our teaching team really enjoyed meeting with you all and (finally) putting some faces to names! I hope you found this process really useful and that the conferences have helped you better understand your children’s progress so far this year and their next learning steps. Our focus for reporting this term is on Inquiry learning. These report comments will be shared at the end of term via Hero.
Spotlight on learning… Last term our focus for inquiry was our School Value of Kaitiakitanga which focused on developing our ākonga’s understanding of the importance of working as guardians of our place to actively protect its people, environment, knowledge, culture and language. During the Board Meeting this week we shared a review of this learning for our teaching teams and what was covered. Have a read here about all that was covered.
This term our Curriculum Inquiry focus is on our School Value of Mōhiotanga. This Value focuses on how as ākonga (learners) we are immersed in new learning opportunities and how as such we will work to develop our knowledge, understanding and awareness of ourselves as lifelong learners. Teaching Teams already have their inquiries underway with our students very much within the ‘learn’ phase of our ‘Learn, Create, Share’ curriculum model. Keep an eye on your child’s Seesaw account and the Friday Pito Pito Kōrero from teaching teams to hear the new learning that will be taking place this term as I know there are lots of rich, varied and exciting learning opportunities planned.
Spotlight on Board Elections… This week marked the final Board Meeting for our current School Board. A huge thank you to Tim Lawrey (Presiding Member), Charlotte Harris, Patrick Aldridge, Philip Lamb, Sarah Kerr, Rachel Kahi (Staff representative) and former Board Members Mette Kristiansen and Simon Taylor for all their hard work and dedication in governing our school over the past three years. This Board has supported us through a pretty significant time as we have implemented our new Vision and Values, completed our school rebuild, utilised $260,000 given to the school as our School Improvement Package to landscape our school, and supported our community through the Covid-19 pandemic. They have been a truly fantastic team to work alongside and I would like to thank them all for their support, mahi and unwavering determination to ensure that the learning opportunities and environment at our school is the very best it can be.
Below you will find an update on our new School Board.
Spotlight on Nancy Meherne… As many of you will know, at the end of last term we lost a local legend in the shape of Nancy Meherne. Like many of you we were incredibly sad to hear the sad news that Nancy had passed away on 6 July. Nancy was not only a much loved member of our community, but she was also a former teacher at our school who shared her love of music and the arts with many families, staff and students… so much so that when we opened our hall 12 years ago we named our music room (located at the back of the hall) after Nancy. I have no doubt that Nancy’s passing will leave a hole in our community, but her memory will live on at our school as our students continue to develop their musical skills and talents within our Nancy Meherne room. We send aroha and thoughts to Nancy’s friends and whānau. Poroporoaki aroha Nancy.
And finally…. Emma Williamson, our Room 6 teacher in Rapanui will be leaving us at the end of next week as she heads away on maternity leave. We would like to take this opportunity to wish Emma and her husband Sam the very best of luck for their next big adventure. We can’t wait to meet our newest member of the Sumner School whānau when the time comes! We will be welcoming Belinda Dryden to our team to replace Emma in Room 6 until the end of the year.
Have a wonderful weekend - stay warm and dry!
Ngā mihi,
Anna Granger
Sneak Peek with the Media Team
Epro8 - Week 2
A group of Years 5-8 students participated in the EPro8 Challenge last week (a series of engineering and problem solving competitions). Everyone involved had a great day.
Board Parent Election 2022
At the close of nominations on 3 August, the following nominations were received for the number of parent vacancies on the School Board. This means that there is no need to hold an election and all nominees automatically take office to govern our school for the next three years. We would like to congratulate the following parent representatives to our School Board:
- Philip Lamb,
- Charlotte Harris,
- Jamie Cummings and,
- Tim Lawrey
As we only received 4 nominations for the Board we have a Casual Vacancy for a Board Member to fill the final seat. This position will be filled following a selection process. More information on this process will be shared shortly.
Daffodil Day 2022
On Friday 26 August we will be holding a Yellow Mufti Day to fundraise for the Cancer Society. A gold coin donation would be appreciated. You can also donate directly to: https://daffodilday.org.nz/donate.
Nga mihi nui,
The Hapori Group
Mrs Vines Sports Coordinator Report - South East Zone Winter Tournament
On Tuesday 9 August, 11 teams headed away to the South East Zone Winter Tournament at Hagley Park. It was great to have a bit of a break from the rain, although it was an icy day. Each team played a number of games throughout the day. The games were between 10 and 15 minutes each. Overall it was fantastic to see over 90 students participating in this event, all showing amazing teamwork. A huge thank you to the parents and teachers who refereed games and to Miss Fraser for running the Year 5/6 Netball event for the whole zone.
Well done to all of the teams, your results were amazing! One Awaroa Netball Team placed first, one Te Onepoto Netball team and the Awaroa Hockey Team placed second. These three teams will head away to the Canterbury event later this term.
PTA Parent Evening Fundraiser - Save the Date, 29 October
Term 3 School Docs Policy Review
In 2022, we will be reviewing the policies related to Health, Safety, and Welfare throughout the year.
In term three, the review focus is on our Student wellbeing and safety and Staff wellbeing and safety policies.
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.
Te Onepoto Commonwealth Games Event
Perform Education
Last Wednesday 3 August Perform Education came to Sumner School and gave two fantastic performances to the students. Years 0-4 enjoyed the show 'Bigger, Better, Brighter!' which cleverly wove the love and power of reading in with the importance of maintaining good mental health in a really engaging and interactive way that the tamariki thoroughly enjoyed.
'Time for Tech!' was packed with information for the Years 5-8 students about sustainability and the issue of food security and was also able to deliver a lot of challenging information in an interactive way that enabled the students to take on board an important message.
It was wonderful to be able to provide this opportunity for all our tamariki.
Yvonne Hall
Sumner School librarian
Mana Ake is available to Support families/Whānau
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/
Community Notices
Sea Scouts
Mount Pleasant Sea Scout Keas are now up and running! We have had our first meeting and had loads of fun, met new friends and learned some new skills.
We have a few places left and would love more young people to join us: Keas is for young people from 5 to 8 years old who want to have fun and do tons of great activities!
The first four weeks is absolutely free, so please do come along and try it out. We meet at the Scout Den on the Old School Reserve on Mount Pleasant each Thursday from 5-6pm.
To register your interest, please go to: https://scouts.nz/groups/mt-pleasant-sea-scouts/