Kia ora koutou

Yesterday we announced a new Whanau House Leader for Douds House. Congratulations to Ashlyn Woodley (photo opposite), you will be a wonderful leader and role model. It was lovely to be able to share your badge presentation with Mum via Facebook Messenger.

So, we are in a new phase of regulations which means we can have whānau more easily back on site, and what a week to have that happen. On Thursday the Māhuri and Te Whanake teams, plus the Year 4s in Kōhuri have their athletics day. This too will be a rotation-based event, and we welcome you to come along and cheer the children on. They certainly love having you there (even if they say they don't!).

We had also planned to have the tamariki in Kākano and Pihinga, and the Year 3s in Kōhuri run their Junior Athletics day tomorrow, but the weather is against us and it has been cancelled. Arohamai.

We have a whānau House Event in planning for next Tuesday - an opportunity for the children to dress in house colours, join in and compete as members of May, Douds, Murray or Good House. Again, we look forward to you joining us on Tuesday - more details to come via Hero and our school Facebook page.

On a different note, we have noticed a number of concerning incidents in the Health and Safety space. I want to bring these to your attention.

• PLAYGROUND: please, if your child wants to stay and play on the playground after school, we ask that you supervise them. Staff are often in meetings and planning their next day at that time, so cannot always be available. Children who are not whānau-supervised are expected to be offsite by 3pm

• CYCLISTS: Tamariki must not ride a bike on a road (defined in law as anywhere you ride your bike - including the footpath) unless they are wearing an approved safety helmet that is securely fastened. We expect all children who ride bikes to school to wear a helmet. It is all about keeping them safe from themselves, not necessarily about the traffic they may encounter.

• CARPARKING: The carpark between us and Waiopehu College is a staff carpark. There are two designated spaces to support whānau who have a Levin East School parking pass that allows them to park in these spaces. Any other pass is not valid. We know that parking can be an issue, but we ask that you respect the safety of all and the needs of those using the designated spaces by parking on the roadside. And finally,

• ROAD CROSSING: Our year 5 and 6 students do a remarkable job as Road Patrollers, and sometimes that is made difficult by driver and walker behaviour. Please use the crossings when the flags and signs are out, it is really quite scary watching people cross directly from dairy to school when a few extra steps will keep your child safe. Speaking from personal experience, the "it won't happen to me, I know what I am doing" mindset, just isn't the case. If you are dropping your child off, please also ensure that you use a car park. there have been many incidences of double-parking and parking on yellow lines and across driveways that simply make the crossing a more hazardous space.

Apologies for noting the concerns above, but we really care for all the tamariki at Levin East and need you to follow the points above so they get to and from school safely each and every day.

Please feel free to catch up with us via email, phone or text- they are the safest ways at present.

Kiā pai tō wiki. Have a great week. Hopefully see you on Wednesday or Thursday.

Rikki Sheterline

1st: Douds

2nd: May

3rd: Murray

4th: Good

Congratulations: Douds Whānau House, winners last week (three weeks in a row!!!)

This is how you access your child/ren’s reporting information.

We also use this app to keep you up to date with our community notices. Download ‘Hero by Linc-Ed’ at the app store and let us know if you need help from there.