Newsletter
10th March 2022
IMPORTANT - COVID UPDATE
Children who are sick or showing symptoms of illness should not be coming to school.
Thank you for your understanding and for helping keep everyone safe.
Please use covid@edendale.school.nz to keep us updated around matters related to COVID.
Your tamariki will have received a hard learning pack today for use if you have to isolate due to being a household contact or COVID positive.
Thank you for your feedback around our communications at this busy time. In response, we will be sending an email to all families on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays with an update of classes with positive cases.
Leadership Team message from Marg
Tēnā koutou katoa,
Welcome to our new look newsletter and we are already halfway through this 11 week term. Our Junior teachers (Nest - Y3) are working with Liz Kane’s team on a programme called Structured Literacy. This programme aims to bridge the gap between evidence-based research and the teaching of reading, writing and spelling. This is providing us with a valuable opportunity to reflect on our current practice and to build upon the work we did in 2021 with Resource Teachers for Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) on the Whanake te Kakano phonics programmes. The programme had, as its aim, to increase kaiako knowledge and understanding of phonological awareness, with a focus on phoneme awareness. You will hear more about the Structured Literacy programme from classroom teachers over the coming months.
We continue to be grateful to all of you for following the COVID-19 Protection Framework - red setting guidelines and dropping and picking up your child/ren at school gates. Also, we appreciate your cooperation with keeping your child/ren home when they are not well and keeping us in a loop with the test results and other information. This timely information helps us to plan and execute changes to keep our staff, students and school community safe.
We know it can be tough isolating, and especially when some or all of the whānau are feeling unwell. Here are some strategies for coping with self isolation from Kidz Therapy
Here are the top tips for parents to help our tamariki deal with school life during COVID-19.
Ngā mihi
Nā
Marg
Tumuaki Tuarua | Deputy Principal
COVID isolation information - this information takes effect at 11:59pm Friday 11 March
Positive cases of COVID-19
A person confirmed to have COVID-19 must currently isolate for a minimum of 7 days and until they are symptom-free. If they are still sick, they should stay home until they are well.
Day zero for isolation is from the date they either developed symptoms or were tested if they do not have symptoms.
The case does not need to have any further tests after their initial confirmation test (they have already tested positive).
Household contacts of someone with COVID-19
Any household contacts of the positive case must also isolate for 7 days and take tests on day 3 and 7 of the case’s isolation period.
If a household contact tests negative on day 3 and day 7 and is symptom free, they can return to school on day 8.
A reminder that if someone else in the house tests positive, you do not need to restart your 7 days unless you have tested positive.
There is a helpful tool on the Unite Against COVID-19 website which calculates a person’s isolation period. Find it here.
You might also find the below graphic useful.
Household contacts in shared-care arrangements
A reminder that a household contact is someone who shares a house or flat with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 (a case).
This may be on either a permanent or part-time basis and where the contact has spent at least one night or day (greater than eight hours) in that residence while the case was infectious.
A part-time basis includes instances where someone is part of a shared-care arrangement.
If a child has spent a day or night in a home where there is a shared-care arrangement, and someone in that home was infectious at the time, they are a household contact.
COVID-19: Information for household and close contacts.
If they move to the other home during their required period of self-isolation, they must continue to isolate when in that other home.
A reminder that they cannot return to school until they have finished their period of isolation and have received their day three and day 7 test results and the school has received their day 7 negative test results.
Collecting students from the Shorwell Street entrance
School t-shirts, hats and swim caps
School House t-shirts - $20 each
We have four houses – Whero (Red), Kākāriki (Green), Kōwhai (Yellow) and Kikorangi (Blue) for students and staff. When children start school, they are placed in one of the houses. If they have a sibling already at Edendale, we ensure families stay in the same school house.
Hats and caps - $20 each
In terms 1 and 4, we request students wear a hat during the interval and lunch breaks to protect them from harmful UV rays.
Swim caps - $10 each
All students using the school pools must wear a swim cap. We hope to have our new pools open in term 2 for a few weeks with the heaters turned up.
Office updates
Please contact the office if your contact details have changed recently or if you would like to check what we have on file for your whānau. Postal addresses are especially important this year as the Edendale Board triennial election will be held later this year and your postal address must be correct to receive your voting papers.
Edendale honey from our very own school hives is for sale $14 from the office. This is available to purchase from the office or online via Kindo.
Edendale's whale tail
Thank you to Harcourts Twenty three who sponsored our whale tail so we could participate.
Edendale's contribution to the Whale Tales art trail is "Kaitiakitanga o te Moana' & will be on display at the Mt Albert Library. Our whale tail artists are Apporva, Nina & Emily room 24, Kokone room 25, Edith room 26, Mikey room 27 and Yuta room 28.
Kaitiakitanga o te Moana means to be a guardian of the sea. Auckland's sparkling blue Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana stretches over one million hectares and is home to our precious Bryde's whale, a threatened species with an estimated 135 remaining. A taonga to be respected, protected and treasured by all in Aotearoa.
For more information check out harcourtstwentythree.co.nz/whaletales and whaletales2022.org/
First, we want to send our sincere THANKS to all of Edendale’s Teachers and Staff. We can only guess at the constant juggling needed to manage children at school, children self isolating, yourselves and your families as well in the current environment. We don’t know all you have on your plates, but we do want to thank you very sincerely for all you are doing to keep our children in their best learning space!
PTA events are going to look a little different for a while until cases fall and restrictions ease… but we do have a plan for Term 1… so keep your eyes open for some yummy deliciousness coming your way, there will be details next week…
Oh, and no newsletter would be complete without saying that We Need YOU! We really do. The PTA are looking rather slimline these days, and there aren’t enough of us to put on some of the fabulous community and fundraising events we normally would. So if you are thinking of joining come along to a meeting and see what it’s all about. Third Thursday of the month… St Patrick’s day in fact… 17th March at 7pm. Email the pta@edendale.school.nz for details.
Friends of Edendale PTA
Edendale term dates (note these may change slightly)
- Term 1: 2 February - 13 April
- 14 April - Teacher Only Day
- 15 April - Good Friday
- Term 2: 2 May - 8 July
- 2 June - Teacher Only Day TBC
- 3 June - Teacher Only Day
- 6 June - Queens Birthday
- 24 June - Matariki Public Holiday
- Term 3: 25 July - 30 September
- No public holidays
- Term 4: 17 October - 15 December
- 24 October - Labour Day
Next Board meeting: Tuesday 5th April at 7:00am via ZOOM. Email principal@edendale.school.nz to request an invite
Next Friends of Edendale meeting: Thursday 17th March at 7:00pm. Email pta@edendale.school.nz for more information
Website: http://www.edendale.school.nz/
Location: 419 Sandringham Rd Auckland 1025
Phone: +64 9 846 6340