Balclutha Primary School - T4 Wk 8
Newsletter 10 December 2021
Principal's Report
Kia Ora e te Whānau and welcome to the last newsletter for 2021.
What a tumultuous year 2021 has turned out to be as we continue to navigate this crazy COVID world that we are all living in.
Despite bouncing between lockdowns, alert levels and a constantly changing set of health and safety guidelines, 2021 has been a very successful year for BPS and we should be very proud of all we have achieved.
There has been some outstanding teaching and learning across the school this year. Our end of year data shows that 79% of our students are working within or beyond expectations for Reading. This is up from 70% in December last year. Our writing data has also increased from 63% of students working within or beyond expectations last year to 70% in December this year. We are very proud of the progress our students have made this year and look forward to building on this again next year.
Our year has been filled with many highlights, including some great camps, successful sports tournaments and our wonderful music evening in the middle of the year. As well as continuing to build on our academic progress, next years areas of focus for our school include increasing parent involvement in our school (hopefully COVID will allow this!) and strengthening our PE programme. 2022 is shaping up to be another busy but exciting year for BPS.
Next week we farewell our Year 8 students. We have 26 amazing young men and women finishing at BPS this year. We are very proud off all they have achieved and know they will do well as they embark on their secondary school education next year. We would like to thank our Year 8 students for being such wonderful leaders and role models this year.
Finally, a huge thank you to our Board of Trustees, Whānau and School, and our wonderful parent community for your ongoing of our students and staff this year. Your help has ensured we have had a successful year and our school continues to go from strength to strength.
Have a wonderful Summer break and I look forward to seeing you all again in February.
Ngā mihi nui,
Vicki Neave
Farewell to the parents who are leaving BPS
As we get to the end of the year and farewell our Year 8 students who are heading off to High School next year, we also need to say farewell to the following parents who have their last child finishing at Balclutha Primary School.
Farewell to:
Jo and Jim Brown
Kelsey Cain and Kent Walsh
Nicola Matthews and Alister Hudson
Shirley Eggers
Ruth Maber
Sonia Hansen and Paul McKinney
Kristal Meikle and Shaun Condon
Philippa Cook
Natalie and Glenn Paterson
Davina and Grant Robson
Amanda Hansen
Justin Serong
Steven Shanks
Thank you for your many contributions to Balclutha Primary School over the years, through being parents helps, sports coaches, camp helpers and and great supporters of our school.
Regulations for events and activities being held in December 2021
South Otago Principals have met to discuss the regulations for events and activities being held in December 2021.
The Ministry of Education Bulletin dated 2 December 2021, advised that curriculum-related events and activities such as assemblies with students and staff only, physical education classes including swimming and cultural activities during class time, should continue using alert level guidelines until the end of Term 4 2021.
However, as soon as others including parents and caregivers are brought onsite (who are not receiving or providing education services) for curriculum-related events, we need to follow the relevant rules which apply to all events and activities in our region for our traffic light setting.
Under the Orange setting this means:
If gatherings are open to the public, including parents and caregivers, we will require all attendees including children over the age of 12 years and 3 months, to have a My Vaccine Pass.
If no pass is required there can be a maximum of 50 people including all students, in attendance.
As full primary schools, we have students who are over 12 years and 3 months and do not have a My Vaccine Pass. This will make it challenging to hold large community events.
As a result of the points stated, we cannot go ahead with prize givings and other large community events in their usual format. We understand that this is disappointing for schools, students, and their families but we need to do our part to ensure community safety.
Taking into account the guidelines from the Ministry of Health and Education, our school has decided that:
Year 8 Graduation
This will be held in the School Hall on Monday 13 December at 7pm. Unfortunately, only one parent per family is able to attend so we can stay within the 50 person capacity and not require a My Vaccine Pass for all attendees. This event will be live streamed for family members who are unable to attend. Details on the live stream will be sent out on Monday via Facebook and SeeSaw.
Final Assembly and School Prize Giving
This will be held on Tuesday 14 December at 11:30am. As this involves all students, we are unable to stay below the 50 person capacity so parents will not be able to attend. This event will be live streamed. Details will be shared on facebook and the school app on Tuesday morning. Parents are welcome to tune in to see:
- a presentation of our year 8 leavers
- presentation of class awards for 2021
- the golden ticket super draw
- announcement of the winners of the Whānau and School Christmas raffle.
Final day of school
School finishes for 2021 at 12:30 pm on Tuesday 14 December.
End of year reports
End of year reports go home TODAY! Please check your child's bag. For all students returning next year a stationery list is in the envelope with the report. Our wonderful Whānau and School will once again provide all the books for the students next year, but parents are asked to provide the pencil case equipment, (pens, pencils erasers etc).
Whānau and School Update
What a year it has been, a real mixed bag that's for sure.
Term 1 saw us hold our first Jingo Evening and what a great night of fun that was! Term 2 saw us make around 23,000 cheese rolls and what a massive effort that was, I know a few of us were keen to not see a cheese roll again for awhile!
Christmas Raffle
Thank you to everyone who has donated for the Christmas Raffle, your support is very much appreciated.
We need all the raffle cards returned sold or unsold by Monday morning at the latest.
We will draw the raffles on Monday and be in touch with the lucky winners!!
Thank you to Balclutha New World for this generous hamper donation that has been included in the Christmas Raffle.
Thank you to Jason and the Team at Balclutha New World for your continued support over the years.
Lastly, thank you to our wonderful teachers, teacher aides/support staff and BOT's for all that you do for us over the year. It is very much appreciated!! Enjoy your holidays and we look forward to seeing everyone in 2022!!
The Whanau and School group have had some fun this year with going to House and Garden Tours and then last weekend we had a bbq and a few drinks to celebrate this year. If you are interested in meeting some new people, helping our wonderful school community and having some fun please come along to a meeting next year.
Enjoy the holidays and keep safe.
Whanau and School Co-Presidents
Sara Sutherland and Carleigh Frisby
Email: balcluthapta@gmail.com
Room 1 loved the Teddy Bears Picnic!!
Room 2
Room 4
This week was an exciting week for Room 4!
With the School Sports on Wednesday and the Junior School Teddy Bear's Picnic on Thursday. We have also been having fun making Christmas decorations.
Room 3
Room 5
Room 6
Room 12
Room 11
Bank Accounts
- School Saveloys, sport fees and all camp fundraising - 02 0900 0000 452 00
- Whānau and School, fundraising, school uniforms (2nd hand and new) -
- 03 1734 0006449 00
Contact Us
Email: admin@balclutha.school.nz
Website: http://www.balclutha.school.nz
Location: Lanark St, Balclutha 9230, New Zealand
Phone: 03 419 0103
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Balclutha-Primary-School-193822224020032/