Newsletter No. 4 Week 8 Term 3
Tokoroa Intermediate School 15 September 2022
Principal's Pen
Kia Ora Koutou,
You will be aware that New Zealand has moved to a new, long-term approach to COVID-19. These changes have been made based on public health advice and reflect high levels of immunity and declining case numbers across New Zealand.
This new approach will only result in minor changes to the way schools will operate.
The very positive news is that household contacts of a person with COVID-19 do not need to isolate, but instead are asked to complete a COVID test (RAT) each day, for five days.
Therefore, children who are household contacts but test negative and do not have COVID-19 symptoms, should continue to attend school. We believe school is the best place for our children to be (paired with regular attendance), as it enables our learners to be engaged in their learning, and connected with their teachers, classmates and friends.
Mask wearing is NO LONGER required.
All the other recommended public health measures will stay in place as we know they reduce the spread of infectious illnesses including COVID-19. These include ensuring our indoor spaces are well-ventilated, maintaining good hand hygiene, encouraging everyone to cough or sneeze into elbows and, most importantly, staying home and getting tested if they have COVID-19 symptoms.
Thank you for your ongoing support in protecting our community.
Parents Cyber Safety Evening Tonight @ 6.30 pm
Because of the growing challenges our tamariki are facing in the online world we are bringing in the NZ documentary filmmaker Rob Cope, co-creator of "Our Kids Online" to talk to our parent community about the reality of the online world our kids are growing up in and how to keep them safe.
He will be covering...
- Cyberbullying - How cyberbullies can reach our kids 24/7
- Social media - The need to build an online brand that is often far removed from their authentic selves. FOMO, Highlight Reels
- Gaming and the developing brain - An oversupply of dopamine leading to dopamine deficiency, synaptic pruning , and the underdevelopment of social skills and empathy
- Naked Selfies - The pressure to send nudes from intermediate up through high school
- Online predators - The methods they use, how to spot them, and how to get out from under their control if your child has been trapped
- Online porn vs healthy sexuality - How consuming online porn as a child or teen can create a sexual template where violence, aggression, and dominance are seen as normal and consent can become very blurry
Solutions
- Filters - Which filters are best and how to install them
- Smartphones - How to lock down a smartphone to make it a safe phone
- Boundaries - How to put good boundaries in place around device use
- 3 golden rules - The 3 golden rules that will keep your kids safe
- Talking to your kids - How to have the difficult conversations with your kids
- Challenging our own phone and device usage - Reconnecting as a family.
We would love one parent from every family to attend as it's of little use teaching our tamariki about being safe online if we as parents don't also know the full extent of what they are facing and how to keep them safe.
We have two options for you:
Option 1 - Rob will be speaking at Tokoroa Intermediate on Thursday night (SEPT 15) from 6.30pm - 8.30pm. He is a funny and straight-talking presenter who is also a parent of four kids himself aged 12 -18 check out his promo video here Being a School Principal in the 80 v's now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTiFiJkr6no
Option 2 - If you are unable to attend the in-person presentation this week we will be showing a video version in the next couple of weeks.
As we are running this event as a joint hosting with other schools you will need to get there early if you would like a seat. We are asking for a $2 donation
Waikato Intermediate Kapa Haka
As tutors, teachers,parents and whanau we should be extremely proud of them and congratulate the group on a fantastic day both on and off the stage.
Many thanks to the parents who travelled over to support the group on Tuesday. To the tutors Whaea Paerakau, Matua Here, Whaea Atapo, Miss Awheto and Anton we can not thank you enough.
Life Skills Group
The students participated in fitness programmes around the community including BBM Tokoroa, MC Studios, Tokoroa Squash Club and Fighting Fit Club.
They enjoyed themselves and displayed perseverance and a positive attitude. We thank all those who have been involved in making this possible for our tamariki.
Visitors to the School
Give A Little Page
One of our former students, Nooroa Paora, has been selected to represent Basketball Pacific NZ in the 2023 Koru Tour going to Australia. Congratulations to Nooroa for his achievement. If anyone would like to support him to get there - the family has set up a Give A Little Page:
Garden Project - Seed Donations
We would be very grateful if our school community would like to koha any of these seeds with us to grow in our gardens. They can be dropped off at our school office.
We are very excited about this project as it helps children connect with nature, grow food and learn science.
Achievement Awards Week 6 & 7
Congratulations to the following students who have received achievement awards this term for improvement and effort in various areas of school life:
Te Whare Manaaki
Room 2: Natalie Barraclough, Tinofara Shadaya
Room 12: Brandy Dowling, Jayde Bartie, Lillyan Barlow, Lachlan Davis
Te Whare Pono
Room 10: Tarani Kaitai- Meacheam, Charlie Turia, Broc Taylor, Maria Ryder
Room 11: Elle-ay Charlie, Tania Pal
Te Whare Tika
Room 5: Nathaniel Beer, Anna Robinson, Archie Tangimataiti, Tewi Brown
Room 8: Rayah Takiri-Nichols, Rosie Metekingi
Te Whare Honore
Room 17: Xanthe Paulussen, Kydash Ngatai-Pere, Lennox De Vorms, Kara Tahere
Room 19: Robbie McFarlane, Tyler Kopa, Taylor Smith, Titus Green
School Calendar Events
- Cyber Safety Presentation for Parents - Thursday, 15th September
- Rooms 2 & 12 Hamilton Museum - Wednesday, 21st September
- Trustee Meeting - Thursday, 22nd September
- Culture Fest - Saturday, 24th September
- Public Holiday (school closed) - Monday, 26th September
- School Social - Wednesday, 28th September
- Term 3 ends - Friday, 30th September
Contact Us
Email: office@tokoroa.school.nz
Website: http://www.tokoroa.school.nz/
Location: Billah Street, Tokoroa, New Zealand
Phone: 07 8867687
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialTIS