School Newsletter- 24 March
Endeavour School - March the 24th, 2022
Principal's Message
Earlier this week I picked my oldest child (Flynn) up from school. Flynn, has recently started secondary school and is building his fitness towards learning the machine that is secondary school. On the way home has asks "dad, what do you think is the most important subject to learn"? In my head, my quick response was Maths (a subject I have always had a bias for).
However, knowing that Flynn has the same bias and probably needs to give more attention to other areas, I caught myself. Without boring you with the entire narrative, the conversation developed into while at secondary school subjects are distinctly compartmentalised, the power of learning is seeing how the subjects are interdependent and that being able to make connections with the knowledge that you build is actually where the value sits (at this stage he probably wished he hadn't asked!)
However, this conversation made me reflect on the learning here at Endeavour School. As I walk through our Learning Environments, I take comfort seeing the many balanced cross curricular learning opportunities happening with our children. Our team put much care and thought into their programme design to ensure that it is a: balanced and b: meeting the learning needs of our tamariki, both emotional and academic. Building our learning dispositions of Explorer, Thinker and Citizen is a key element to this and has consistently been a focus for us here at Endeavour. Seeing these embedded into the learning programmes throughout our school gives me comfort that our children are not only building their knowledge, but also learning how to connect and apply that knowledge with thought and care. They are behaviours that will empower them for years to come.
Last week we held our Whaanau/ Teacher Catch up's via Zoom. Thank you to the many families who made a booking and connected with their child's Ako Teacher. The relationships we have with you are important to us and we value the time commitment you gave to prioritise and attend these.
Finally, as the rain sets in, I want to acknowledge our wonderful children with their adaptability to resilience with the many protocols that are being placed on them. At times it is not easy and they are all doing so well.
Warm Regards
Geoff
Covid Update
Currently we are still operating under the Red Setting.
Red
- Masks remain a requirement for staff and children while learning indoors in Years 4-6 (This includes all learners in LC3/4).
- Masks will not be required outdoors. This means you will no longer need to wear a mask when coming onto to school grounds for pick up and drop off.
- Capacity limits will be removed for outdoor events and activities.
- Indoor capacity limits for extra-curricular activities increase to 200 people, or a maximum capacity based on the maximum number of people who could occupy the space if each person was one metre apart (whichever is lower).
- There is no change to masks in education settings from the existing Orange setting. Masks are strongly encouraged to be worn when indoors and are required for children aged 12 and over on school transport.
- As at Red, there will be no mask requirements when outdoors.
- There will be no outdoor capacity limits.
- Indoor capacity limits are also removed. However, for non-curriculum related events and activities you are strongly encouraged to use allocated seating for large events (such as those with more than 500 people) or apply a maximum capacity limit based on the maximum number of people who could occupy the space if each person was one metre apart.
- There will be no face mask requirements and no capacity or gathering limits in any setting, indoors or outdoors.
In addition: From Monday 4th April vaccine mandates for Education have been lifted. This means there will be no requirement to show vaccine passes when coming onto school grounds for non curricular related activities.
Staff Changes
Earlier in the term Mrs Lisa Spaans accepted a position at Rototuna Senior High School as their ELL (English Language Learning). Lisa was one of our foundation staff members and while disappointing for us, we are obviously delighted for her and the opportunities this new role brings to her. Lisa has held many roles over her time here and has had a positive influence on hundreds of children. We wish her all the best.
In addition, we also say farewell to Krishna. Krishna is one of our support staff members and is often found in LC1/2. Unfortunately, Krishna's health needs to take a priority at this stage and is therefore resigning from her position. We thank Krishna for the many hours she has given our school and support of our children.
Over the past couple of weeks, Kylee and I have been going through our recruitment process and I am delighted to write that as of Term 2 we will be welcoming Sanam Singh into our LC 3/4 teaching team. After spending some time as an accountant, she decided to go back and study teaching. Sanam, has had experience in ILE environments and is very much looking forward to becoming part of the Endeavour whaanau. Throughout this term she will be popping in and out and possibly doing some relieving. A more detailed introduction will be communicated in our first newsletter of Term 2.
2022 Term Dates
Term One: Tuesday 8th February 2022 - Thursday 14th April 2022
Term Two: Monday 2nd of May 2022 - Friday 8th July 2022
Term Three: Monday 25th July 2022 - Friday 30th September 2022
Term Four: Monday 17th October 2022 - Friday 16th December 2022
Administration
How To Report Your Child As Absent From Endeavour School
Schools, along with parents and caregivers are legally responsible for making sure students attend school. Of course, sometimes a student will need to be away from school. This could be due to illness or doctor/dentist appointments, planned holidays during term time or for family related reasons. When this happens - you need to inform our Endeavour School administration team.
It is important to let us know when, why and for how long your child/ren will be away, as this is loaded into our school student management system and reported to The Ministry of Education every week. If we do not receive a notification regarding an absence, you will receive an automated text message that you are able to directly respond to. If there is no response to this, then that student is automatically marked as truant for the time of the absence.
You can report your child’s absence through the school App (NZ School Apps). This will give you the option to either email, text or call the school office.
Please note that even if you have informed your child’s absence to their Ako teacher, you will still need to inform the school office via one of the above ways.
COVID-19 Reminder : If your child has tested positive for Covid-19 OR if a member of their household has returned a positive case and they are now a household contact, we ask that you please report this via the Endeavour Covid Response email: covid_response@endeavour.school.nz.
Whats Been Happening?
Whare Tapa Whā
This term in LC6 we have been doing Whare Tapa Whā. We have been learning about our mental and physical wellbeing, as well as our relationships with others. At the start of this term, we made two whare houses. Now we're doing worksheets to help us remember the four pou or pillars. The four pillars are whānau (family/relationships), hinengaro (mind and emotions), tinana (physical wellbeing) and wairua (spiritual connections to self). We look forward to doing more Whare Tapa Whā work.
By Harper E, Holly M, Josh D and Lennox P.
Community Notices
Gotta catch'em all!
Pokemon Club is back in session at Endeavour School! If you haven't heard yet, this club is a great place to introduce students who love everything Pokemon to learn how to play the Pokemon Trading Card Game.
Alvin & his wife Alicia (a Teacher Aide here at Endeavour) show the students how to play the game in a step by step format. They also learn about trading their cards with each other. Alvin gives them some variety throughout the sessions by introducing other Pokemon related games & activities.
The club is open to Year 5 & Year 6 students. There is no cost to join the club & students don't need to have cards to join in. Alvin has supplies for the students to learn but if they have their own cards, they're welcome to bring them along to play with and/or trade with others. The club is a great way for students to learn about strategy games & how to improve their strategy skills. The club is also a great avenue for students to expand their social skills & make new friends.
If your child loves Pokemon, contact Alvin to be added to the club's mailing list for more info & details about upcoming events - aaliew@gmail.com
Contact Us
Email: reception@endeavour.school.nz
Website: https://www.endeavour.school.nz/
Location: 86 Endeavour Ave, Flagstaff, Hamilton, New Zealand
Phone: 64 (07) 855 5257
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EndeavourSchoolHamilton/