HAWERA INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL
NEWSLETTER 26 July 2022
Contact Details
Email: office@hi.school.nz
Website: hi.school.nz
Location: 245 South Road, Hawera, New Zealand
Phone: 06 278 5030
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HaweraIntermediate/
Kia ora koutou
Welcome back to Term 3- what a wet start we have had! Students don't seem to mind, they are back enjoying interaction with friends. 90% of students are present at the start of the term, others away with illness.
Wearing masks is a strong recommendation from the Ministries of Health and Education over the next four weeks to keep the bugs away. Mask breaks occur and it is business as usual.
We have lots happening over the term. During the first eight weeks we have hands on science experiments, sporting events and trips away. Week 9 is our Student Celebration Week and Week 10, staff and students head off on camp.
Term 3 is a bitter sweet time for Intermediate Staff. As we look forward to relocating at the High School site in Term 4 and then the opening of Te Paepae O Aotea next year, staff reflect on their time here at Hawera Intermediate. Some have been here 18years and many memories have been made.
To farewell our time at Intermediate, staff, board, students and community events are planned
- Celebration Week for Students- September
- Staff Function- September
- Community Event- Labour Weekend
- Board and Staff Dinner - December
Term 4 planning for our transition to the High School is underway, we will update you once finalised.
Technology components of the curriculum will be integrated into planning for term 4 as stand alone technology will not take place. Students will receive a taster of the two outstanding techs over the term- one for a 5 week block, the second for a four week block.
Students are always at the heart of the matter and their interests come first to ensure as smooth a transition as possible.
Let us hope the weather soon improves and we get to dry out the grounds.
Ngā mihi nui
Neryda Sullivan
Principal
Does Science change?
As we move into Finding Out and Sorting Out we have three two week foci, Actions and Reactions with quite a lot of food, Changes in Matter (also with some food), and Life is a Process, where we look further into the damage predators do to our natural environment and visit Lake Rotokare as well as learn about Puberty and how we change.
Lots to cover and all by Week 8 so we can have fun celebrating the closure of our school in Week 9 and go on camp in week 10.
We are using this scientific method to record what we learn, and our writing focus is to write descriptively while accurately recording our observations/experiments/wonderings - as we grow our understanding of whether the actual science changes. Some of the Tuning In experiments include Elephant's Toothpaste (we appreciate the support of Caroline in the Hawera High Science Department with this one) the fire snake, dancing popcorn, potato and lemon batteries (and why they do/do not work), making bath bombs, ooblek and more......exciting!
Please note that all advertised school events are subject to COVID Framework conditions at the time of the event
- Thursday 4th August - Manukorihi Winter Sports Exchange
- Monday 19th September - Celebration Week
- Monday 26th September - Teacher only Day - SCHOOL CLOSED
- 27th - 30th September - School Camps
- Friday 30th September - Term 3 End
Free flu jabs for tamariki aged 3 to 12
Children aged 3 to 12 years old can get a free flu vaccination from their GP, healthcare provider or at most pharmacies.
Free flu jabs for tamariki – Ministry of Health
Most tamariki aged 9 years and over need one vaccination each year to get good protection against flu.
If you have a child under 9 years old, talk to your healthcare provider as they may need one or two vaccinations depending on whether they’ve had a flu vaccine before.
If tamariki have recently had COVID-19 they can have a flu jab as soon as they’ve recovered.
Kia ora e te Whānau
The team at Te Paepae o Aotea took a well earned break during the first week of the school holidays and are now back into their planning. Their focus in the last two weeks has been on preparation for the school prospectus. I know a number of you are eager to find out this detail and our plan is to have this available to you mid Term 3.
In the prospectus the following information will be available:
• Principals welcome
• Our school story
• School staff structure
• School values – PB4L
• Learning Environment – Facilities available – Updated school maps
• Pastoral Care system
• Curriculum design
• BYOD
• Student leadership
• Graduate Profile
• Uniform requirements
• Extra-curricular opportunities
• Bus routes
• Stationery
• Learning Support information
• Home school partnership information
Our team has done an enormous amount of work to date in this area and we are looking forward to finalising this information and having it available to you mid Term 3. At the time the prospectus is published enrolments will also be available to complete either hard copy or online.
All of our planning is underpinned by our school story and our eight guiding principles. I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to attend our consultation sessions and give us feedback on these principles. Your voice is extremely important to us and we have been using this voice as we prepare information for the school prospectus.
Our eight guiding principles are:
• Culturally Inclusive
• Personalised Learning Journey
• Social, Physical and Emotional Curriculum
• Authentic Connections
• Future-focused curriculum
• Expert Teaching
Further information on these eight guiding principles can be found later in the newsletter. If you have unable to come along to our evenings then you still have the opportunity to contribute through our online survey https://forms.gle/RDC5aYa1XHXLfKAY8. This survey is open until Friday 29 July.
Our Business Manager Jim Brown started on Monday, I am personally delighted with his arrival as I can hand over the day to day running of property and finance. Jim’s focus this week has been on familiarising himself with our property and finance requirements for next year to ensure a smooth transition for our 1100 students who are going to be on the Camberwell Road site next year.
We were given the opportunity to speak at one of our community groups this week which our leadership team thoroughly enjoyed. We spoke about our school name, logo and story. We would be delighted to have the opportunity to speak with other community groups, please connect with one of us if this is something you want to organise for your group. Information on our school name, whakatauākī and logo can be found on our school website with a video explaining the significance of being gifted our name.
In Term 4 Te Paepae o Aotea staff will be looking after all Year 7 – 10 students currently enrolled at Hāwera High School and Hāwera Intermediate. This will give us an opportunity to unpack our school name, logo, whakatauākī and values with students. Students will also experience what their day will look like next year at Te Paepae o Aotea so that they are familiar with expectations and what they are going to do before they start next year. We will also have some staff who are not familiar with our community and students and so the Friday sessions will give staff and students an opportunity to form positive learning relationships.
Year 6 and 8 students coming from our feeder schools will also be having transition visits in Term 4 run by Te Paepae o Aotea staff. These dates are not yet confirmed but will be from Week 4 onwards in Term 4. They will focus on unpacking our school name, logo, whakatauākī and values. However, a large portion of these visits will focus on students becoming familiar with the site so that in the new year they are confident in knowing where to be and when.
Senior students subject selection is going to be held later in the year as we need to wait until Term 4 until we have our middle leaders onboard. Subject selections will be done in interview form either before Christmas or in the New Year. These interviews will involve students, whānau and staff to ensure that each student has a learning programme that best meets their needs.
The learning village on Bayly Park will accomodate Year 11-13 students, these students will move to the main school site when they need specialist classrooms (eg workshops, labs etc). This means that the Year 7 – 10 students will be staying on the main site, some alterations will need to be made to accomodate this.
Uniform has also been an area of real interest to students and families. Next year we will have an interim uniform, what this means is that there will be a reduced number of uniform items available to purchase, we are also liaising with the Ministry of Education to get funding to subsidise costs for families. This now gives us an opportunity in Term 1 next year to consult with students, whānau and staff about the uniform ready for a full uniform in 2024. In the next couple of weeks we will be in a position to share more, however, we can share that our interim uniform will be able to be paired with the current navy bottoms that the students at Hāwera High School have, so if students currently have these you will most likely want to keep them.
We will be putting a newsletter out like this one every second Friday to keep you up to date with our progress. If you have not liked our Facebook page please do so as this will give you a good idea of where we are at with our planning.
I would like to thank all those in our community that have supported us in so many different ways, we are very appreciative and look forward to continuing this journey with you all.
Ngā mihi
Rachel Williams
Tumuaki