Wairau Valley School
Newsletter Week 9 Term 1 2022
From the Principal
Kia ora Parents and Caregivers
We are almost near the end of term one in what I can describe as challenging times for everyone. Challenges aside, I am so pleased to say that the staff and children have been able to participate in getting their classroom programmes truly up and running. Our attendance rate has been 90% on average and thankfully we have not needed to close the school for home learning. While the vast majority of children are attending school and we have healthy staff, we continue face-to-face learning. It would be wonderful if we can get through this term in the same way.
Education outside the classroom has been an important time this term. There has been a senior room Sailing Trip, weekly Kiwi Can, and plenty of outdoor activities from our Move Well Programme. Classes have also begun work clearing and planting the edible garden and the Enviroschools Team has started up again as well. We are so lucky to have such a fabulous outdoor space here at WVS.
Swimming at school has now finished. Thank you to Lisa Lasenby for managing our pool over the summer and most of this term. We appreciate your time and energy.
In the past weeks, we began our local curriculum programme with a focus on Cause and Effect and Learning to Learn. The children have been introduced to a range of activation activities including forces and motion, physics, science, technologies, and events. The next stage (up until mid term 2) of this programme will focus on students taking what they now know and using this to develop something meaningful for them. We are looking forward to seeing the outcomes of all their thoughts and hard work.
From the beginning of this year, we asked parents, visitors and students, to help us manage the current outbreak of Covid. As you know our planning is intended to maintain a safe and healthy place for your children to be each day. However, in order to try and make the end of the term without any cases at Wairau Valley School, we ask that you read through the following guidelines which will remain in place.
From Monday 4th April 2022 Vaccine Passes are removed from our Framework.
Masks
- Staff and children in Years 4 – 13 must wear face coverings when inside at school when we are at Red. Our middle classroom is a composite Year 3-5 class and although we encourage children to wear a mask this will be optional for the Chalice room students. Masks are also optional in the junior Year 0-2 classroom.
When will masks be worn?
- Children in the Senior room need to wear their masks at all times while indoors. They will not need to wear them outside.
- Teachers are very aware that children will need regular breaks from wearing masks and we will build this into our daily schedules.
Will masks be required on the school bus?
- Yes, bus students who are Year 4-8 must wear a mask while traveling on our school bus.
Visitors
- All visitors and parents onsite at school need to wear a mask.
- One change from last year is that we are now encouraging you as parents to wear masks when waiting in the car park outside of your vehicles. Please help us by modeling to our children that we also do it at school around others - this would be a great help.
- Some parents and caregivers will still need to come onsite, for example, to settle in a new entrant into class. They must wear face coverings, register their visit, and in these instances should remain physically distant from others, especially when indoors.
- We ask that parents wait outside of the school gates at pick-up and drop-offs.
Hygiene Measures
- We are taking as many sensible precautions as we can while still wanting to be practical. We will be cleaning classrooms and high-touch areas daily. Providing good old-fashioned fresh air remains the most important thing we can do in our learning spaces to minimise risk for students. We use a CO2 monitor to further support our ventilation plan.
Break Times
- Until there are known cases of Covid in our school we will retain normal playtimes and breaks.
What happens if someone gets Covid?
- As you can imagine, there are fairly tight protocols to follow if someone in our school community gets Covid. There is no set rule about what will happen, as it will depend on who, when and where. The school will not necessarily shut down, we will contact the Ministry of Education and go from there.
What happens if we have to isolate?
- If a student has to isolate at home due to themselves or a family member being a close contact or a positive case, we will provide them with home learning activities. You will need to follow the Ministry of Health guidelines for isolation.
- If a teacher or teachers have to isolate, we will do our best to find relievers in class. If we cannot, we will have to split a class or provide a hybrid (distance and on-site) classroom/s. Please be aware that this is a possibility.
- Please be vigilant around your child’s health – if they are sick, keep them at home. If your child comes to school with cold or flu-like symptoms, we will ring you and ask you to collect your child from school. We have a number of RAT Kits available for families, free of charge. Please let us know if you would like these and we can arrange a collection. If your child is unwell at home, we would prefer a test to be taken prior to them returning.
- Lastly, like we always do, look out for each other.
Thank you for your continued support as we navigate this trying and continually changing time in education.
Please get in touch if you have any concerns or need help in any way - 03)5722715 / 021764687
Nga mihi
Karen O’Donnell
WAIRAU ROOM
Teacher Message
Kia Ora Whanau and Parents
Wairau Room tamariki have been very busy learning to read, write, add and learn how things work around us in Physics. They have been learning to show gratitude, respect and make friends in “The resilience Project”. They have learned Karakia in Te Reo and English and can recite without looking at it. Get your child to say it, they will! Well done Wairau Room tamariki.
Please continue to read with your child and ask questions about what they are learning. Get them to say numbers backwards and forwards up to 10-20 while you are driving, or what comes before and after a number. This will help them to remember and consolidate their knowledge.
Nimmi Kumar
Learning to add on the tens frames and the juniors are threading the numbers with as many rings as the numbers are, by counting them.
Writing a secret message with invisible ink- lemon juice then ironing it after it had dried reveals their secret message. This is part of our science inquiry activation experiments. We had conducted with tops to see what makes the tops spin. It's the force called push and pull. Do ask your child they will explain.
CHALICE ROOM
Teacher Message
Chalice Room has been building an understanding of the relationship between cause and effect of a range of events that have occurred throughout history, whether they have been caused by nature or by humans. Our focus was on the water cycle, earthquakes and volcanoes. Following on from this we are currently working on a project about New Zealand Endangered Animals and we can’t wait to share our findings.
We have started to look at physics, and examples of physics at work in the things we use, see and feel every day.
Lisa McDonald
Valentina Leov
The Newton Colour Wheel Exploring light and colour
FISHTAIL ROOM
Teacher Message
We have been busy in the Fishtail room this term. In maths we have been focusing on developing our addition and subtraction strategies and we have also been building our knowledge of geometry.
Our new Exploration has taken off and we have really enjoyed activating our knowledge. Some of the new learning that we have been doing includes looking at the cause and effect of erosion, protesting, wind force, digital systems, app and digital idea development.
Alongside this we have been working through our resilience project learning and combining the learning with our exploration learning. To do this, we video presentations using the i-movie app and sharing learning from the resilience project.
As we move towards the end of the term we will be doing our mastery spelling testing and moving to using our new knowledge to select some passion projects to work on.
Gemma Allen
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PTA
EASTER RAFFLE TO BE DRAWN ON WEDNESDAY 13 APRIL
Please return all forms to the office before this date.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed.
PTA MEETING ON TUESDAY 5TH APRIL
SCHOOL LIBRARY 3 PM
ALL WELCOME
KIWICAN
Important Dates Term 4
First bell 8:50 a.m.
Finish time 2:45 p.m.
Last Day of Term 1 - 14 April
First Day of Term 2 - 2 May
Reminders
Please remember to call or message the school office if your child is sick
(telling the bus driver is not an appropriate method of informing the school).
Please inform the school if you are removing your child from class early.