School Newsletter
18 March 2022, Term 1 - Week 7
Dear Parents, Whānau and Caregivers
A special welcome to the new students who have started at Paparangi in the last two weeks in Uenuku: Braeil and Owen - Nau mai, Haere Mai! Kia ora and welcome to our friendly school!
Welcome also to Maryam, Artin and Aylin who have returned to Paparangi School.
Emergency Packs
Thanks to the wonderful families who donated an extra emergency kit for another child. We appreciate your generosity as this means we can provide kits for 20 other children. Thanks to the Home and School Committee who are organising the emergency kits for families who ordered them.
Teacher Only Day
A reminder that school is closed on Thursday 14 April for staff to undertake professional development. Our focus this year is on Literacy and Oral Language. The 14th is at the end of term, the day before Good Friday, Easter weekend.
Ngā mihi nui
Tracey Arthurs
Principal
Thanks to the awesome Paparangi Team!
Thank you to our amazing team of teachers and support staff and students who every day are demonstrating grit (resilience and perseverance) as they take care of one another, implement the latest health and safety plan and respond to any changes as they arise, adapt to learning in new ways and make the best of every situation with a smile on their face! All of this combined with the patience and positivity of our supportive community means that Paparangi School continues to be a safe and happy place for our tamariki. Tino pai rawa Paparangi!
Covid19 Update
Thank you for your support since the notification of our first student cases last week. While we understandably now have a few more absences, our on-going focus is on ensuring our school is as safe as possible for as many tamariki as possible to continue their learning onsite at school for as long as possible.
#10 Covid Notice was published earlier in the week with information for household contacts and about self-isolating. Thanks to the families who are sharing daily health updates with the office. Your information is appreciated and is helping us with our day-to-day planning.
- We have a small number of Rākau Nui students (Y4-6) isolating at home because they are a positive case or a household contact (10%).
- We have a very small number of Y1-3 students from Pounamu and Uenuku isolating at home because they are a positive case or a household contact (5%).
- This week we have had 1-2 staff away each day or working from home. Our hybrid learning programme is fully operational.
School is open for
- those who have no symptoms
- are not being tested
- and are not household contacts
Please contact the school if you have any queries - we are happy to help. Contact the school at principal@paparangi.school.nz or office@paparangi.school.nz or call 04 478 6617 (Mon-Friday, or leave a message after school or at the weekends).
Health Information for Parents
The health sector has developed some excellent resources for parents on the KidsHealth website. New content is being added regularly to COVID-19 | KidsHealth NZ. Check out these links -
https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/covid-19-caring-child-covid-19
https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/covid-19-why-wearing-masks-creating-airflow-helps
KidsHealth also covers a huge range of general child health topics that may be of interest to parents and help to reduce anxiety in our community.
Paparangi School is a PB4L school. PB4L is an acronym that stands for ‘Positive Behaviour for Learners’. We add in an extra A to make our acronym PB4AL – Positive Behavior for Adventurous Learners. PB4L is a Ministry of Education programme that helps schools get the best from their students by recognising, promoting, and acknowledging positive behaviour in children. At Paparangi school, children are awarded kowhai tokens when they are seen to be showing one or more of our school values – Grit, Respect, Others, or Wonder.
The tokens go towards a collective reward for the whole school. We find children love receiving a kowhai token and look forward to our school-wide rewards. These are diverse experiences ranging from discos, onesie days, and whole school play afternoons. The kowhai was chosen as a symbol for our school because the kowhai has a long association with Paparangi School. Previously school leavers were given a kowhai tree as a leaving present and we have many kowhai trees growing that have beautiful yellow blossoms in springtime. By using the kowhai as a symbol we are remembering the past and looking forward to the future.
Tumeke to all of the tamariki who have been recognised for using our GROW values in their learning and in the playground so far this term! Well done for showing grit in your learning, respecting others and being curious about the world we live in!
Uenuku: Archer, Braeil, Brooklyn, Bryan, Etta, Jaxon, Joshua, Julian, Korben, Lily, Lincoln, Paytan, Tazmann, Tidus and Zachary
Pounamu: Alexander, Charles, Chelsea, Damon, Elise, Erin R, Eevee, Evie, Ewan, Holly, Indee, Isaac, Jenson, Kaedyn, Levi, Maddison R, Madoc, Matilda F, Mason RS, Noah, Savannah, Victor and Zara
Rākau Nui: Andonis, Archie, Ashley, Cherrie, Cooper W, Crystal, Evan, Gracie, Isabelle, Jack, Joey, Joshua, Kaitlyn, Max, Nazar, Nex, Oscar, Ruby, Sophia S, Tamati, Toby, Victor, Vincent and Vivaan
Movin’ March
Let’s Keep Stamping!
Don’t forget to bring your passports for stamping every day you walk or wheel to school over the next 2 weeks to go in the WOW passport competition. At the end of March we’ll be sending all passports off to the Movin’March team (remember they don’t have to be complete – even passports with one trip count!). All passports go in the draw to win one of 12 x $400 MYRIDE vouchers. If you need a new passport ask your class teacher.
Simply post a pic and comment under the weekly theme on the Movin’ March Facebook page and you’ll be in to WIN 1 of 5 x adult or child Micro Scooters! There’s also TEN Family Passes to Staglands Wildlife Reserve or Zealandia being given away. A new theme is posted every Monday morning. Enter as many times as you like! Winners announced by 11th April.
Park & Stride:
If your family lives too far away to walk or wheel all the way, why not park away from the school gate and walk or wheel the rest? For more information, go to the Park & Stride Guide or try parking around the corner in Mark Ave, further up Beazley Ave or over in Catherine Cres.
Learning at Home?
We know some families may be home-based if isolating or feeling unwell this week. Check out these gentle fun ideas on the Movin’ March Family Activities page. There’s Jack’s activity passport, a scavenger hunt and lots to design using the Movin' March library of art templates and te reo colouring posters.
Introducing our Part Time Teachers
Paparangi has a high calibre team of teachers who work part time in our school each week. These teachers provide leadership, professional development or classroom release for full time teachers. Some are specialist teachers who support diverse learners in their classrooms, teach music and singing, work with English Language Learners or provide Reading Recovery for our tamariki. Our teachers collaborate with each other to ensure a smooth transition between teachers.
Top Row: Andi Fancy, Carolyn Collis, Christine Newton
Second Row: Jason Middlemiss, Judy Hardy, Kath Leach
Third Row: Leah Fuimaono, Trudy Strom, Vanessa Janes
Other Part-time Teachers: Clare Adams and Marilyn Daly
Donation reminders - End of Tax Year
With the end of the tax year fast approaching any donations paid now can be claimed quickly. A big advantage for families (and for our school!).
Claiming back your Donation rebate for yourself
You can claim back 33.33c for every dollar you spend on donations (where donations are greater than $5). Here’s how to find our school donation receipts for this years’ tax rebate claim:
- Log in to myKindo.co.nz and go to My Orders.
- Choose record type ‘Donation Receipts’.
- Set the date range
- Select Download Summary for IRD tax return to get a PDF document suitable for attaching to your tax return (containing all school donation amounts paid in the year). Individual donation receipts can also be downloaded as required, or several can be selected and downloaded into a zip file.
Information is available on support.mykindo.co.nz
Concerns and Complaints Process
This policy provides staff members, parents/caregivers/whānau and the wider school community with clear procedures for raising concerns and making complaints. Our concerns and complaints procedures enable us to:
- maintain a safe environment for our students and staff
- treat all people fairly and with dignity and respect
- resolve matters of concern early and at the lowest level, if possible
- respond to feedback and concerns constructively
- deal with complaints fairly, effectively, and in a timely manner
- take into account individual circumstances
- maintain privacy and confidentiality
- preserve and enhance school and community relationships
- check that solutions have been implemented and are working, including feeding back to the person who raised the issue where appropriate
- monitor and record concerns and complaints about student safety and wellbeing
- meet our legal and ethical obligations.
We encourage parents to contact the school when issues arise. If you have a concern, please let us know before sharing negative personal views online. To read the full concerns and complaints policy and flowchart go to School Docs https://paparangi.schooldocs.co.nz/. Parents may also request a copy from the school office.
Term 1 Dates:
- Friday 8 April - Applications close for Term 3 Out of Zone enrolments
- Monday 11 April - Board of Trustees meeting at 6pm
- Last Day of Term 1, Wednesday 13 April at 3pm
- Teacher Only Day, Thursday 14 April
- Good Friday, Easter Public Holiday, Friday 15 April
- Term 2 begins - Monday 2 May at 8:55am
Community Notices
Positive parenting during COVID-19
To support mental health, resilience and emotional wellbeing for our tamariki, the Ministry of Health has partnered with Whāraurau to offer Parents, Whānau and Caregivers free online versions of the Triple P: Positive Parenting Programme across the country. These programmes provide families and whānau with a toolkit to help guide behaviour positively and encourage children’s learning.
Find out more about Triple P and register for programmes.
There are three free Triple P online programmes available to help positively support children to reduce anxiety, build emotional resilience and life skills and cope with challenges:
- Fear-Less Triple P Online – for parents and caregivers of children and teenagers (aged six to 14 years) who have significant anxiety
- Triple P Online – for parents with toddlers to 12-year-olds
- Teen Triple P Online – for parents with ‘tweens’ or teenagers aged 10 to 16 years.
Marrzipan Drama Classes
Goodtime Music Academy - Music Bus lessons
Contact Us
Parents, please use the App to send a message about a student absence. It is our preferred method of contact for non-attendance and is quick and easy to do.
Email: office@paparangi.school.nz
Website: https://paparangi.school.nz
Location: 57-59 Beazley Avenue, Paparangi, Wellington 6037, New Zealand
Phone: +64 4-478 6617