Newsletter No. 9, 2 June 2022

Kia ora rā koe,

This term is flying past and at a great rate of knots and it is hard to believe we are already halfway through Term Two! Over the last fortnight our children have again been incredibly busy getting involved in learning opportunities both inside and outside the classroom! These have included; Pink Friday, Awaroa speech writing enrichment at Tūranga, Rapanui and Tuawera Cross Country, Rapanui and Te Onepoto Kaitiakitanga visits, Year 8 visit to the brand new Te Aratai (formally Linwood College), Te Onepoto’s sharing of learning assembly, the return of Rapanui’s PMP programme and the South-East Zones Cross Country event. You can catch up on all that has been happening with our Media Team’s Sneak Peek below.

Over the last few weeks Cross Country has been a bit of a focus for us with the Years 5-8 event taking place a couple of weeks ago, our postponed Rapanui and Tuawera events taking place earlier today and 48 of our Years 5-8 students representing the school at the Zones at Ferrymead Park. It was absolutely fantastic to see so many whānau members out in force to celebrate and support our children. I was yet again blown away and made so proud by the skills shown by our students during all of these Cross Country events. There were of course some impressive running skills on display by some of our ākonga, but there was also plenty of evidence of our School Values being shown… and it was these skills that made me most proud. I know that for some of our students these events are a highlight of their school calendar - and for some they really aren’t. However, whether you were one of the fastest or the slowest runners the atmosphere was one of inclusion and support. A HUGE thank you goes to Gwen Vine for her work behind the scenes as Sports Coordinator and organising these events and good luck to our students who will go on to represent our school at the Canterbury level competition in a couple of weeks time.

Spotlight on gratitude… Huge thanks to all of our school whānau for your continued support in the fight against Covid and winter bugs! This week we saw some increased numbers of children away, with a peak on Monday of 85 children absent from school. We really appreciate your support with this as we work to keep our community and staff healthy and the school functioning as normal for our children.

Spotlight on Teacher Only Day… A reminder that school is closed tomorrow to students for a Teacher Only Day. The additional Teacher Only Days that we have had in recent years were allocated from the Ministry of Education as part of the Collective Agreement negotiations through the teacher’s union to support teacher workload. Schools were given 8 days across the term of the Collective (1July 2019 - 30 June 2022) that do not affect the length of the school year. Tomorrow is the last of our Accord Teacher Only Days. Tomorrow our team’s focus will be twofold; the first part of the day will be spent on continuation of our maths Professional Development with our external facilitator Sarah Cobb, and the second part of the day will be spent on assessment moderation and reporting ready for sharing with families within the last week of the term.

Spotlight on Matariki… Please save the date for our first school wide community event of 2022! As a school we would like to invite you to join us in an evening celebrating Matariki on Thursday 30 June from 5.30pm - 7pm. More information can be found below.

And finally… Remember school is closed tomorrow for a Teacher Only Day. Enjoy the extended Queen’s Birthday weekend away from school and I look forward to seeing all our wonderful children back on Tuesday.

Ngā mihi,

Anna Granger

Costs associated with term activities have been loaded onto your child's account. We would appreciate your contribution towards these. Payment can be made by credit card through Hero (fees apply), by internet banking or by eftpos at the school office.

The Hauora Fund is available if you need financial assistance. Please email me if you wish to access this.

Sue Stevens

Business Manager

E: sstevens@sumner.school.nz

Nomination round

Our school will be undertaking a parent election for 5 School Board vacancies. This process will start with the issuing of nomination papers to our caregiver community by Friday 15 July 2022. Please check your email and postal address are correct on HERO or you won't receive voting papers.

We have employed CES to undertake the election process on our behalf. This year with legislative change, our nomination form and full instruction on how to place your nomination into our own School’s Election website will be emailed to you if we have your email address in our database or you will receive it by post if we don’t have your email in our database.

Nomination papers will also be available at the school office. The school will send those on to CES for processing upon receipt from candidates.

Nominations close on Wednesday 3rd August at 12 noon. Election day is Wednesday 7th September.

We look forward to your participation in this process.

Wayne Jamieson

Returning Officer

CES

89 Nazareth Avenue | Middleton | Christchurch | PO Box 414 | Christchurch 8140

P (03) 338 4444 | Cell 021 399 744 Web www.cessl.org.nz

On Tuesday 31 May the Year 5 to 8 students who qualified for the Zone Cross Country event headed to Ferrymead Park to race. The Year 5 and 6 students had to complete a 2km run, while the Year 7 and 8 students had to complete the same route but for 3km’s. The weather was warm and perfect conditions for running. In total of 46 students represented Sumner School, competing against 12 other schools within our zone.

Thank you to all of the parents who came along to support the students and a huge thank you to Mrs Kearns who was a marshall for the morning. Below are the results for the top 10 placings. Well done to everyone who took part in this event, you did yourselves proud. The top 6 placings will now have the opportunity to attend the Canterbury Cross Country event being held on the 22 June at Ngā Puna Wai.

World Vision's 40Hr Famine will take place over the weekend of 2nd and 3rd of July and our School Council students are busy organising an awareness campaign. Ideas for challenges and sponsorship will be coming your way soon. Please join our team by signing on here.

We need your help!

Our PTA are running very low on members at the moment and so are sending out this survey to find out how we can make it easier for parents to get involved with the PTA. Over the last 10 years Sumner School PTA has provided funding for building the school hall, the Years 3&4 playground, our wonderful school library and our new shade sails.

We are currently raising funds to pay for decodable reading books and resources for Structured Literacy which the school does not receive Ministry funding for. We’d also love to build a pump track on the school field as part of the next phase of fundraising. But we can’t achieve these things without you!

Many hands really do make light work and we want to continue to raise funds for the school that will support our children's learning and experiences while at Sumner School.

We would really appreciate you taking 5 minutes to complete the short survey so we can figure out how to get this thing humming again.

Many thanks to those who have already completed the survey! Please note the survey will close on Tuesday 7 June.

Ngā mihi,

Sumner School PTA

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.

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.

A Kea Club is a section of the Scout Association of NZ for children aged 5-8 years old. Fun and friendship are the cornerstones of the Kea programme. It is filled with a little bit of everything: outdoor activities, games, music, and crafts.

Your local Scout group, Mt Pleasant Sea Scouts, doesn’t have a Kea section at the moment, but we’ve just found a new leader for the Kea Club, and to get us off the ground we need one or two other enthusiastic, committed people to become assistant leaders. If you have a child in the Kea age range you would like to become a Kea and would be able to commit to an hour a week, probably a Thursday from 5 until 6pm, we would like to hear from you. All training and a uniform shirt is provided and a fun filled time is guaranteed.

Is there anyone out there who’d be up for getting involved?

If so, please contact me at mtpleasant@group.scouts.nz for further information.