Principal's Patch
Kia ora koutou
I hope that you are all enjoying the long weekend.
Attendance Matters
You will probably have heard a discussion on the news this past week about the declining school attendance rates of NZ students, both in the primary and secondary sectors. This conversation was prompted by the release of a report by the Education Review Office this week, and you can read the summary or the full report here.
Regular attendance (90% or more) at school is something that we want to see for all of our tamariki.
Please do look carefully at your child's attendance when you get their report next week. 'Regular attendance' is classed as being 90% or more. We know that there can be specific reasons why a child's attendance may drop from time to time including illness and, this year, Covid being very likely reasons. However, when average, yearly attendance drops below 90% year after year, this has a significant impact on your child's ability to access the education they deserve and are entitled to get.
- If a student has an average of 90% attendance, over ten years they will miss a year of school.
- If a student has an average of 80% attendance, over five years they will miss a year of school.
- If a student has an average of 75% attendance, they are missing a term of school each year.
- Being at school every day matters because of the sequential nature of learning, especially in literacy and numeracy.
- By law, students must attend school.
- One of the highest predictors of education success is attendance levels at school.
We know that every family wants their children to be successful in learning and in life. As whānau, you play a huge role in ensuring your child attends school regularly. If you have concerns about your child's attendance, or would like to discuss ways that we can support you to improve your child's attendance, please make contact with your child's teacher and we will be happy to meet with you.
Upcoming Roadworks - closure of Sandwich Road...
From Tuesday 15 November the intersection of Sandwich Road and Norwood Street will be closed for roadworks. This is likely for the remainder of this term.
Vehicle entry into Sandwich Road, from Eastern Tce, will be for residents, school staff, and those with accessibility needs.
To help keep the traffic flowing as easily as possible at school drop-off and pick-up times, there will be two drop-and-go zones on Eastern Terrace, on either side of Sandwich Road. The map below also highlights other areas near the school that would make good drop-off places if you usually drive children to school where you could park and walk or, for older children, drop them off.
Pedestrian access will still be available from both ends of Sandwich Road.
We encourage whānau over the coming weeks to walk or bike to school as much as possible. Alternatively, park on Fisher or Martin Ave and walk to school.
Seipp Construction Ltd is aware of the changes this will have to morning and afternoon routines. To thank the school community for their patience and understanding they are providing a prize draw next week. Everyone who walks some or all of the way to school will receive a token to go into the draw for a prize.
The following week Seipp Construction Ltd will be providing spot prizes to be given out at the school entrances to people who are walking, scootering or biking.
Please see the map below and the attached information from Seipp Construction Ltd.
End-of-Year Reports
These are being proof-read at the moment and we expect to publish these through HERO this coming Friday, 18 November.
Reminder - school closes at 1pm this Thursday 17 November
Our teachers are expected to attend a paid union meeting this coming week, along with all of the other teachers in Christchurch. Due to us having almost 100% union membership, finishing at 1m on Thursday 17th will allow them all to attend at the same time; the most workable option with releivers also attending the meetings.
Year 7/8 students are on a trip that day - they will continue with that and return to school for the usual 3pm finish. The Y7/8 teachers have the option of attending another meeting.
If you have a student in NE-Year 6 who:
- needs to stay at school after 1pm on Thursday, OR
- is being collected by someone else, OR
- is going to BOSCO, OR
- you give permission to travel home independently...
Whole School Picnic and Kapa Haka Performances Wed 30 Nov
On Wednesday 30 Nov, from 5pm, we invite you all to attend a school picnic which will then be followed by three kapa haka performances. (NB if the weather is wet, the picnic will be cancelled but the kapa haka performances will continue as outlined below)
Everyone is welcome to attend all of the kapa haka performances and, we have scheduled each group in it's own time slot, so that families can just attend the one that their child is in if that works better for them. We also know that our hall can't accommodate everyone if we run a single concert with all of the groups performing! Each groups' performance will run for approximately 20 mins
The timetable for evenng will be:
5pm onwards - Whānau Picnic in front of the Admin area and beside the hall. The Student Council will be runing some activities for children, using games that the PTA had made for the school fair 2 years ago!
6pm - Year 3/4 Kapa Haka group performance
6:30pm Year Y5/6 Kapa Haka group performance
7:00pm Te Whānau Mahi Tahi kapa haka performance
Ngā mihi nuiSandy Hastings
Tumuaki (Principal)
Tumuaki (Principal)
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