Ngā mihi nui,

The team from TWM send our thoughts to all whānau during this second lockdown. We hope you are all well, it has been great to catch up with many students online. Our students' key teachers have made contact with all families and are supporting them the best they can. You will have seen that we have been able to transition to online learning, thanks for all your support with this.

We look forward to getting back to school and having many more adventures in our community. Please enjoy viewing this month's newsletter. If you have any questions or queries, please contact us.

Support for Families

Many families may find it tough going back into Alert Level 4. It can be challenging having children at home, being cut off from family and friends, trying to make ends meet and have high stress levels.

For people with disabilities or autism and their support people, the Explore 0800 000421 phone service available to provide advice or support. This includes advice or support around challenging behaviours. To access this service, you don’t need a referral and it doesn’t matter whether you’re new to Explore, currently on their waitlist or you’ve worked with them previously. The service is available Monday to Friday 9.00am–5.00pm. When you phone the 0800 number you will be connected with an administrator who will then book you an appointment with one of the specialists.

If you or anyone you know wants some advice or support over this time here are some further options that might be useful.

Support services that remain open:

Women’s Refuge 0800REFUGE or 0800 733 843

Shine 0508 744 633

Alcohol and Drug Helpline 0800 787 797

Oranga Tamariki call centre 0508FAMILY

CADS 0800 367 222

Narcotics Anonymous 0800 628 632

Alcoholics Anonymous 0800 229 6757

Lifeline 0800 543 354 or free text 4357

Youthline 0800 376 633 or free text 234

Samaritans 0800 726 666

Outline (LGBT) 0800 688 5463

Depression Helpline 0800 111 757

Suicide Prevention Helpline 0508 828 865

The Fono West (Social Services) 09 837 1780

Counselling Free Call or Text 1737

Healthline for COVID-19 health advice: 0800 358 5453

Work and Income services centres are closed. However, you can apply for assistance via MyMSD or phone the contact centre on 0800 559 009.

If you need some assistance with food these food banks may be able to help Call first for instructions of how they are operating to ensure physical distancing:

If you know someone who needs financial assistance, please tell him/her/they to call the free government helpline 0800 779 997 (8am–1am, seven days a week).

If you know someone is feeling anxious, frustrated or needs a listening ear, they can call or text 1737 to talk with a trained counsellor. It is free 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Something interesting

Reflective listening is:

Keeping rapport with someone verbally, saying back with empathy key words and phrases that the person uses, ( helps people feel heard)

• Why is Reflective Listening important?

• Show that feelings matter

• Show that it is possible to talk about uncomfortable or complicated feelings

• Show that we care about a person’s feelings

• Teach that all feelings are acceptable, even though certain behavior is not

• Defuse an uncomfortable situation

• Reduces the urge to act out because the feels person heard

• Teach the person vocabulary for articulating how they feel

• Reduce whining, anger and frustration

The link below is some work done by a parenting group in London. You may find it interesting.

We welcome David West who has come onboard as a teacher aide. David has had experience working at Motorua Primary school and Devon Intermediate. We would also like to welcome Paula Matheson. Paula will be working as the Occupational Therapist for our cluster.

Principal

Whaea Nicola email: nng@spotswoodcollege.school.nz

Deputy Principal

Mr Daryn Shaw email: dsh@spotswoodcollege.school.nz

Deputy Principal

Mr Chris Lapworth email: cla@spotswoodcollege.school.nz

Senior Leadership

Mrs Paula Cast email: pca@spotswoodcollege.school.nz

Senior Leadership

Mrs Hilary Takarangi email: hta@spotswoodcollege.school.nz

Senior Leadership

Mr Darren Scott email: dsc@spotswoodcollege.school.nz

Year 13 Dean

Ms Tracey Laurence email: tlr@spotswoodcollege.school.nz

Year 12 Dean

Mr Wayne Cribb email: wcr@spotswoodcollege.school.nz

Year 11 Dean

Mr Carlin Kumeroa email: cku@spotswoodcollege.school.nz

Year 10 Dean

Ms Rebecca McKerchar email: rmk@spotswoodcollege.school.nz

Year 9 Dean

Mr Darren Scott email: dsc@spotswoodcollege.school.nz

Junior Dean

Ms Jana Robertson email: jrb@spotswoodcollege.school.nz

Senior Dean

Ms Stephanie Julian email: sju@spotswoodcollege.school.nz

International Director / Careers

Mrs Nicola Healy email: nhe@spotswoodcollege.school.nz

Life Skills - our kitchen in Te Waka Manaaki is a hive of activity and delicious winter fare as the students create food they like to eat!

Classroom activity:

Lewis, Logan & Ryan doing some sensory story mahi with Hamish & Sarah- Lee

Together staff and students are on a journey learning New Zealand Sign Language. We are learning everyday greeting signs, and also how to express our needs, wants and emotions, linking this into our Zones of Regulation class. We are lucky to have Tori as a student leader in class, Tori knows a considerable amount of sign and is a great help.

To support our ‘Out and About in the Community’ we are looking at road safety. We will head off again soon on another much anticipated bus trip around New Plymouth, as well as practising safe road practices while out and about in the community.

There was plenty of excited chatter as a group of students took to the road by bus. Becoming familiar with local bus routes and the etiquette of using public transport are all important steps toward gaining more independence and self confidence.

Weekly sessions at RDA continue to be a beneficial and much enjoyed experience!

Farewell Amy Parrish:

Staff and students shared morning tea with Amy and her mum last week. Georgie presented Amy with a special gift from us and several students gave heartfelt speeches. The Parrish family are relocating to Australia. We wish them safe travels … we will all miss you Amy!

These are available now from the Finance Office, ID cards cost $8.00, this charge has been placed on all students accounts.

TERM 3 Monday 26th July – Friday 1st October

(10 weeks)

TERM 4 Monday 18th October – 10th December
Labour Day Monday 25th October

Our expectation as a school whanau is that our young people are in the correct uniform at all times. As we are now heading into cooler weather, it is important that students have the correct winter school uniform. Items can be purchased from our Uniform Shop.

We also have a large accumulation of uniforms that are a part of lost property that is kept in this space, If your child has a missing school item, please encourage them to check the lost property racks.

Uniform shop hours

Uniform shop hours each week are as follows:

8.00 am to 9.00 am & Interval - Monday to Friday.

Phone 751 2416 Ext 721.

Reminder school finishes at 2.10 pm every Wednesday.