25 April 2020
Tauranga Primary School Newsletter
Principal's Message
Tēnā koutou katoa
Ngā mihi nui, kia koutou katoa - Warm greetings to you all.
We hope that everyone is safe, well and happy.
I'm sure, like us, you are looking forward to progressing to Level 3 Alert on Tuesday.
TPS Bubble School:
We understand just how challenging this time has been. Just like you, TPS staff have experienced, loss, sickness, work stress, and the worry for family members who are experiencing tough times.
Therefore, we are looking forward to our opportunity to support our school community to get back on its feet by caring for some of our TPS children during Level 3. TPS will be opening 4 bubble classes on Wednesday, at this stage we have 30 students on that roll.
We will effectively be running two school sites and programmes (online and at TPS), which will mean spreading our resources more thinly across the workload required.
Just like you, TPS staff are juggling our children's home schooling needs, continuing to work, and supporting our extended families through some challenging times.
We will require 7 staff members on site to facilitate our Bubble Classes. This will mean that we will have a reduced amount of teachers in each team to support the online learning set up and feedback. Therefore, you may notice that other teachers from your child's teaching team are commenting on their seesaw account, or in contact with you.
Thank you to the many parents who have taken the time to support our teachers with positive feedback about aspects of the online programme that are working well for you. This small gesture of kindness and appreciation certainly goes a long way and is hugely valued.
Over the last month we have been researching, attending online professional learning sessions, and meeting regularly (via ZOOM) to learn and grow our online learning capabilities and programmes. We are continuing to make changes, learning from mistakes, and striving to improve the content and delivery of our online learning platform.
On Tuesday the Ministry of Education has mandated a Teacher Only Day across the country. We will use this day to meet (onsite and via ZOOM) to plan the next two weeks learning programmes. The new Bubble Class teaching team will go on site and set up the classrooms for the new Bubble Classes starting on Wednesday. These children will continue to learn via the TPS online learning programmes primarily, but with the added challenge of practising physical distancing at all times at school.
The school grounds will continue to be closed for public access (including the playgrounds) in Alert Level 3. Please do not come onto the school site, we have very strict rules and guidelines for activities onsite, and need to be able to track and trace anyone on our site at all times.
Our building contractors also have permission to resume work on A block on Tuesday. Their first focus will be on completing the toilet block, and then re-roofing the entire block (weather permitting).
TPS Translators:
Some of our school families speak various languages (other than English) as their first language. As we have moved to an online learning environment, we are relying heavily on phone calls and emails to communicate with parents. At times, this has been a barrier for some families to gain a comprehensive understanding of what we are trying to communicate. We thought it would be good to set up a TPS database of parents, who speak languages other than English, and would be confident to help us share school information with other school families if needed. For example, a teacher might ring you to ask you to help explain how to log onto seesaw to another parent in their first language, or maybe just to enquire if they are okay and if there is anything they don't understand about school correspondence. If you would be happy to assist us in this way, please email your name, your child's name, and the languages you are confident in to admin@tauranga.school.nz . Thank you
The school ordered 58 Ministry of Education hard copy school packs to send to those TPS students who needed them, they should be arriving in homes now. We have enquired about obtaining further hard copy packs, however, the Ministry of Education has indicated that it is very unlikely that they will have further supplies to issue to families, and at this stage we are unable to order any more. The good news is that in Alert level 3 several business are now open that can provide any hard copy material you may require, delivered to your door, such as Warehouse Stationery, Office Max and various book stores.
TPS has also lent out 70 school devices (chromebooks and ipads) over the last few weeks, to children who either have no access to a device, or have had issues with the device they had at home. These devices will be used by school families throughout Level 3, and will be returned to school once school resumes as normal. We have a limited supply of devices left now, and will prioritise our bubble school students' IT needs next.
Cross Country:
In Term 2 we traditionally run our school cross country. We are unsure if we will be able to run this as we normally do, so are working on a TPS Virtual Cross Country for our students (staff and parents) The cross country will be held between 18th - 21st May. More detailed information will come out early next week, but in the meantime get the running shoes on and start training. If parents participate, they too can earn house points for their family's school house.
I hope you are all enjoying the long weekend, hopefully the weather continues to allow us plenty of time outside.
As always, thank you for your continued support.
Ngā mihi
Fiona Hawes
SPORT update with Jo
I hope you all are having an enjoyable ANZAC weekend with your bubble, and you are adjusting well to the new ‘norm’. Now that the school holidays are over, we are hopeful that we can return to the old ‘norm’ soon and winter sports can get going quickly.
Currently, it is unsure when winter sports will be able to resume, and what shape they will take once they do. However, our local Netball, Hockey and Basketball Associations are working through different scenarios with regard to the format their season may take.
Once these details have been confirmed, you will all be notified, and our school shop will be open for sports registrations.
If you have any questions please contact Jo via email on sport@tauranga.school.nz
Contacts
Principal
Fiona Hawes
07 578 6222
Deputy Principal
Cathy Ediker
Assistant Principal
Robyn Caley
Junior Team Leader
Pam Wilkins
Middle Team Leader
Jason Morgan
Acting Senior Team Leader
Jo Howard
International Student enquiries
Cathy Ediker
Business Manager
Susan O'Neill
Office Administrator and Enrolment Officer
Barbara Turley