Back to School Term 2
Tauranga Primary School Pānui 2022
Tumuaki Pānui | Principal's Newsletter
Tēnā koutou katoa
Ngā mihi nui, kia koutou katoa - Warm greetings to you all.
We are looking forward to seeing everyone back at school on Monday (2nd May). We start school under the ORANGE traffic light settings.
The following is an update on what the move to Orange means for our school.
At Orange, face masks are no longer required at school. However public health advice is that masks continue to be strongly encouraged when indoors. Wearing a mask is a key health measure that slows the spread of COVID-19 in indoor settings. For that reason, we ask that visitors to the school, including parents and whānau, wear a mask whenever they are indoors at school, children and staff can continue to wear masks if they choose too.
We ask that your child (if they are Year 4-6) continues to bring a mask to school every day. There may be times that we’ll ask them to wear a mask – for example, when we are having an assembly in the hall.
If there are a high number of cases at school, we may ask that masks are worn in classrooms for a short time.
At Orange, students aged 12 and above are still required to wear a face mask on school or public transport.
We will continue to keep all the other health measures in place at school that we know slow the spread of COVID-19. These include ensuring our indoor spaces are well-ventilated, maintaining good hand hygiene and cough and sneeze etiquette, appropriate physical distancing whenever we can and, most importantly, staying home if we are sick. We are looking forward to a few less restrictions and returning to school life that is a bit closer to normal.
We have RAT tests available to distribute to our school community. If your child is sent home unwell we can provide a box of five tests for the family. If you would like a RAT test box please enquire at the office (they are free).
School opens for students at 8.20am each day. The entry points are the two Fifth Avenue gates, prior to this time teachers are busy with preparation and meetings. Parents are welcome to come onsite, no masks are required outside, however, we ask that they wear a mask when indoors.
Safety at the school gate:
With over 420 learners exiting the school between 2.45pm and 3.10pm daily our major initiative to increase student safety is the Junior School "pick up and go" time of 2.50pm.
- Parents of year 1-2 students are asked to "pick and go" at 2.50pm so that the flow of traffic and availability of parking spots near the school are maximised.
- Junior School students will be supervised until 3.10pm, if you are a parent with children both on the Junior and Senior sites then a 3pm pick up is also fine.
- In Orange pick up is from outside the classroom for parents, or a pre-arranged pick up spot (for older students). Both Fifth Ave and Arundel Street gates are open for end of day exiting of the school site. Parents are welcome on site from 2.45pm - please no earlier than this as it is very distracting for students and teachers if parents are talking outside or pre-schoolers are playing on the playgrounds.
- All students are supervised until 3.10pm - we expect all students to be picked up by then. If it is not possible to pick your child up by 3.10pm, there is the Schools Out after school programme onsite who can provide an after school care service for your family. From 3.10pm onwards staff are engaged in meetings, professional learning or planning, marking and preparation work.
Please note the Learning Conferences dates are the 18th and 19th May. This will be an opportunity for you to meet with your child's teacher to discuss their learning so far this year and set goals moving forward.
Uniform:
We are experiencing some supply delays for our next order of school uniform stock. We do have most uniform items available, however there is chance we may sell out of small sized polos (size 5/6). The new stock is expected early June. If we do not have stock, then your child can to wear an alternative in the meantime.
In term 2, we move into the winter uniform. The significant change from summer uniform is that students are allowed to wear plain navy tracksuit pants or plain navy leggings. Please ensure there is no writing or logos on these. We do not sell tracksuit pants or leggings via the office, as there are several local shops that stock these items at a very reasonable price. In terms 2 and 3 sun hats are no longer compulsory. We do have a school beanie for sale via the office that can be worn outdoors. In winter children mostly wear sneakers, socks should be navy, black or white. Please check and name (rename) all uniform items, we continue to have significant unclaimed and unnamed uniform items each term.
I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday.
He waka eke noa
We are all in this together
Ngā mihi maioha
Fiona Hawes
SCHOOL OFFICE HOLIDAY HOURS
The school office will be open on Friday the 29th April, 9:00am to 3:00pm. The office is open to sell uniforms and answer enrolment enquiries.
Mihi Whakatau - welcome new students and whanau
Tēnā koutou,
We would like to welcome our new families to Tauranga Primary School with a Mihi Whakatau on Tuesday 3 May.
The mihi whakatau is an informal Māori welcoming ceremony and it involves gathering as a group of visitors to meet and join the school community. Our mihi whakatau is mostly student led, It will start with a karanga to welcome people into our kura, then a few short speeches, with a waiata (song) sung for each speaker.
There will be an opportunity where parents are invited to speak (acknowledge the greeting that they children have extended to new families). This can be in any language, if no parent wishes to speak we will speak on your behalf.
The ceremony should last about 30 minutes. We will end the Mihi Whakatau with morning tea for our guests and new TPS students.
As you arrive at school, please take your child to their class at 8:50am, drop off their bag and stay for the roll. All new children, their parents and new staff will then assemble around the gate area near the office, and the Mihi Whakatau will start at 9:00am. Mrs Savage will be there to guide you.
If you have any questions please email ksavage@tauranga.school.nz
Learning Conferences are in Term 2
Learning conferences will take place in week 3, term 2.
The dates are:
Wednesday 18th May, 3:30pm - 6:00pm
Thursday 19th May, 8:00am -7:00pm.
To book your Learning Conference:
We use an online booking system for learning conferences.
Here is the address: https://www.schoolinterviews.co.nz/
Our school code for this event is: nq66a
We ask that, where possible, all TPS children do not attend school on Thursday 19th May unless attending their Learning Conference with you.
However, if your child/ren will be attending school, please register your child on our School Shop: https://www.tauranga.school.nz/school-shop
Click on Learning Conference, and answer three questions to register your child, so that we know that they need to be supervised on the 19th May.
Each child needs to be registered individually.
He Waka Eke Noa Pathway
Currently we are working on creating our HE WAKA EKE NOA (we are all in this together) pathway. All the children have read the story Only One You by Linda Kranz and are now completing the painting of a garden stone to represent themselves in our pathway.
A big TPS THANK YOU to the Rock Shop in Greerton who have supplied the garden stones for our pathway.
Early in Term 2 we will be setting up the path (digging out and boxing up) to lay concrete for the 450 river stones to be set in. If you or your business have any skills or expertise related to the construction of the pathway that could help us out - please let me or Arlette Goodhue know agoodhue@tauranga.school.nz
Breakfast Club is on in Term 2!
A big thank you to Kate Enright, Michelle Putt, Jenna Southon, Shannon Moores and Emily Gee for volunteering their time to run the breakfast club this term.
Stand Together to Stop Bullying!
Students can wear pink on Friday 20th May, to show their support for Pink Shirt Day. Gold coins are optional. Any donations received will go towards this worthy cause, run by the Mental Health Foundation.
Board of Trustees - election year
TPS Board of Trustees (BOT)
This year is a Board of Trustees election year with elections being held in September. Some of our current board will not be standing for election as their children will be leaving or have now left TPS. If becoming involved in the governance of your child(ren)'s school is of interest to you, please talk with me or Aaron Moores (board chair) Aaron.Moores@craigsip.com. We are happy to talk through what the role involves. Later in the year we will host a meet and greet option where you can talk with current trustees, you are also welcome to attend a BOT meeting.
Some broad information can also be found here.
Friends of the School - FOTS
Our Friends of the School group will start again once we are back in the orange traffic light setting. We will hold a meeting early in the term to sign up whoever would like to join us to help organise and run some 'fun and fund-raising' activities like Pizza Fridays, Donut Fridays, the school discos and so on.
All are welcome, it is a great way to meet other parents and also to get to know the senior leadership of TPS better. Dates will be advertised early next term.
House Spirit Fridays
On Fridays we invite all students to wear their house tee shirt - or a tee shirt in their house colours.
House shirts can be purchased at the school office, however these are not compulsory - any tee shirt in their house colour is fine.
Term 2:
2nd May - Term 2 begins
3rd May - Tuesday 9:00 -10:00 am, mihi whakatau - welcome for new staff, whanau and learners to TPS in 2022.
16th May - Reports sent home - via email
17th May - TPS cross country @ Memorial Park
17th May - Board of Trustees meeting, 7:00pm
18th May - Learning Conferences, 3:30pm-6:00pm (more information to follow)
19th May - Learning Conferences, 8:00am-7:00pm (more information to follow)
20th May - Pink Shirt Day - Gold coin donation is optional
3rd June - Teacher Only Day- school closed
23rd June - Matariki breakfast, 7:30am - 8:30am
27th - 28th May - Huria marae visits, 9:00am- 1:00pm (more information to follow)
8th July - Term 2 finishes
25th July - Term 3 begins
Our Newsletter Sponsors:
Contacts:
Principal
Fiona Hawes
Deputy Principal
Cathy Ediker
Assistant Principal
Robyn Caley
Junior Team Leader
Pam Wilkins
Middle Team Leader
Jason Morgan
Senior Team Leader
Jo Howard
International Student enquiries
Cathy Ediker
Business Manager
Susan O'Neill
Enrolment Officer
Barbara Turley