Week 3, Term 1 2021
Tauranga Primary School Newsletter
Principal's Message
Tēnā koutou katoa
Ngā mihi nui, ki a koutou katoa - Warm greetings to you all.
Thank you to our school families for your support as we started this week back in Alert Level 2. Our students once again reminded us how very capable they are at organising themselves into the school day; they adapted well to the changes at the school gate.
This year the major professional learning and development focus for our TPS team is in Literacy. Our school teaching staff are working with the team from Learning Matters to learn and deliver an evidence based Structured Literacy teaching approach across our school. We have all attended a professional learning day prior to school starting. We are currently working through online modules to up skill ourselves and will have regular in-class coaching and mentoring opportunities throughout 2021. On the 19th of March we have our next Teacher Only Day where we will continue to extend our skills and knowledge to deliver the programme.
We are very excited about this new development for our TPS curriculum. The research evidence clearly indicates that by using an explicit, systematic and cumulative school wide approach to literacy teaching we should be able to further improve learning outcomes for all students.
Currently, we are administering assessment tasks with the children. The Structured Literacy assessments will give us a baseline for our data collection in 2021, as well as indicating the next teaching steps for each child . Throughout the year some teaching practices will change at TPS; as this happens we will notify parents about the changes, why we are changing, what we are aiming to achieve as well as ways you can support the learning from home.
Email is the best way to contact your child's class teacher. We aim to respond to emails within two working days and inside work hours: Monday - Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm. If it is an urgent matter that requires an urgent response, please ring the office.
Thank you to those Year 1 and 2 families who have been able to take advantage of the 2.50pm pick up and go end of the day option. This does assist with making the exit from school a lot safer, as well as creating accessible car parks for parents of older children. We have monitored the carparks over the first two weeks and carparks do become available on Arundel Street and 5th Avenue from 3:05pm.
We are looking forward to seeing everyone at our Family Picnic on Thursday 5:00-7:00pm. Bring along a picnic dinner to enjoy on the senior site. If it is sunny, shade may be at a premium, so if you have any type of pop up shade it is worth bringing that along. The Friends of the School have organised free rides for the children and ice blocks at the end of the evening. Throughout the evening each team will be hosting a parent session to talk about the year ahead. These sessions are staggered so that parents with more than one child are able to attend each session.
5:30 pm Year 1 (R15, 17 & 19 ) in Room 19
5:30 pm Year 2 (R11, 13 & 12(Year 1 and 2) ) in Room 12
6:00 pm Years 3 and 4 in Middle Hub 4
6:30 pm Years 5 and 6 in Senior Hub 1
If it is a wet evening, then the picnic aspect will be cancelled, however the parent information sessions will still run to schedule.
If we are still in Level 2 on Thursday we will postpone the picnic and information sessions.
We will notify families via email and Facebook if the picnic is cancelled or postponed.
We often get asked about what things parents can do to help with their child’s learning. One element that definitely impacts positively on a child’s ability to learn, and cope with school life in general, is getting plenty of sleep. Primary school aged children need at least ten hours sleep at night. A good night's sleep will help with memory retention, attention span, general well-being and ability to manage emotions, all of which are essential for learning. Top tips for getting your children into a good sleep pattern includes no technology at least an hour before bed and keep to a bedtime routine e.g. a consistent bedtime, bath/shower, brush teeth, story and sleep. You could also ask your child to use their mindfulness techniques to help settle into a ‘calm sleeping mode’. Hopefully as the weather starts to cool in the evenings; it will be easier to get our kids off to sleep, hot evenings are a challenge for us all.
A very warm TPS welcome to William Wanoa, Iziah Te Whata and Tanaya Arora who started recently at our school. Glad to have you and your family as part of our TPS TEAM.
Thank you for your continued support.
Noho ora mai
Fiona
Fiona Hawes
Principal | Tumuaki
my-Kindo app for the school shop
Setting The Scene / Family Picnic
Bring your own food, drink, something to sit on and meet other school families and the teachers in a more informal setting.
During the evening each syndicate will hold a short 20 minute session to give you some information about the coming year. Junior - 5:30 pm (supervision on Junior Playground)
Middle - 6:00 pm and Senior - 6:30pm.
Teachers from other syndicates will help supervise children whose parents are in meetings.
Contact Details
Please notify the office if your phone number, email, address or emergency contact details have changed recently: office@tauranga.school.nz
It is essential that we are able to make contact with every family at anytime.
Email is our most common way of communication - you are able to have up to two email addresses listed to receive newsletters and direct correspondence from the school.
Don't worry if you have moved outside of our school zone, once your child has started at TPS their place is secure no matter where you live.
FOTS (Friends of the School)
MOBILE DENTAL VAN
- 4th - 26th February - Dental van on site
- 18th February - Fots Famiiy picnic and Setting the Scene meetings
- 24th Feb - 10th March - Deep Water Safety - Windermere - See class dates below
- 4th & 5th March - Year 4 camp and activity day
- 16th March - TPS Swimming sports
- 16th March - FOTS (Friends of the school) meeting, 6:00pm-7:30pm
- 19th March - Teacher only day- no children at school
- 23rd March - Board of Trustees meeting 7:00pm
- 31st March - Year 5 Camp- Waimarino
- 31st March - Year 6 Discovery day
- 1st April - Year 6 Discovery day
- 2nd April - Good Friday- No school
- 5th April - Easter Monday - No school
- 6th April - Easter Tuesday - No school
- 12th-16th April - Kids can ride- Seniors
- 16th April Last day of term- school finishes usual time
Deep Water Safety
TPS will be taking part in Deep Water Safety, at the Windermere Pool, as part of our Health curriculum this term. The programme helps to develop your child’s confidence in deep water and introduces them to strategies to survive in water.
You will receive a letter from your child’s teacher shortly to outline further details.
Above are the dates for each group. We need many parent helpers for this trip to go ahead.
On the day you will need:
Togs, rash shirt and towel.
Drink and snacks
Clothes to swim in – e.g. PJ’s, or tee shirt and shorts
Sunblock and hat
If your child has a life jacket – this would be very useful, please bring it along clearly labelled so it can be returned.
TPS Ezlunch is Friday Pita Pit
COMMUNITY NOTICE BOARD
DRAMA CLASSES FOR TPS STUDENTS
CONFIDENCE, GOOD COMMUNICATION SKILLS, SELF-EXPRESSION, TEAM WORK AND SOCIAL SKILLS...
These LIFE SKILLS can be developed in ALL children, through our comprehensive SPEECH AND DRAMA programme. The HELEN O’GRADY DRAMA CLUB is offering a class before school 7:45 – 8:45am on Thursdays for children Yr 2 to Yr 6 starting THURSDAY 11 FEB.
Lessons include speech, music and movement including mime and creative improvised drama in an atmosphere that emphasises cooperation and fun.
For further information including cost of classes and enrolment please email Camilla May (Principal & Teacher) hogradybop@yahoo.co.nz or call/text 0225054400.
Facebook.com/helenogradydramabop
Coding
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
Senior Team Leader
Jo Howard
International Student enquiries
Cathy Ediker
Business Manager
Susan O'Neill
Office Administrator and Enrolment Officer
Barbara Turley