Nearly there!

Tuesday 26th May, 2020

Kia ora koutou,

The new play space is VERY close to completion with the final paths and gardens being completed this week (25/5/2020). Tony (from Greenscapes) and the rest of the Greenscapes team aim to be finished by Friday 29th May. We are in the process of being gifted a name for this area from Ngāi Tahu and hope to have this finalised by the end of the week, too.  The development of this play space has taken a long timed due to the complex nature of the ground and we are so excited to have it ready to be used by our tamariki next week!





At this stage, our plans (still to be confirmed) are to open the play space next Tuesday, 2nd June, just before lunch. At this stage with the Level 2 restrictions, this will just involve the students. We have asked Greenscapes to keep the fences up until Tuesday morning to prevent people from going on it until we have formally  opened the space.



We need all of our community to look after and care for this space by being the Kaitiakitanga - the guardians - of the area. We will be teaching the children the importance of doing the following to nurture and care for this area.

We only walk on the paths 

We stay off the gardens
Only one person on each slide at a time and we only go 'down' the slide
We can play in the river
The bark needs to stay on the ground

and, for the meantime, we stay off the grass (whilst the Ready-Lawn is taking)


Moving Forward...


We will be planning another working bee to install some small huts in this play space and in the gardens by the hall. The new area still needs the Sensory Garden, nets for the balance play area and some willow tee-pees to be installed. However, the ready-lawn grass needs to be established before we layer anything else on top.

The Outdoor Spaces team will be working on the next staging plans across the school on Friday. Some of the plans we will hope to action next include; 
* Creating a new all-seasons mini football pitch at the end of Tahaki
* line markings for games on the asphalt across the school
* Seating for students and parents

That's all for now. We just wanted to keep you 'in the loop' with where we are at. 

Ngā mihi nui
Outdoor Spaces Team

Health update from the Ministry of Education

The following information was received from the Ministry of Education late on Friday (28 Feb)...

Help us to keep you and everyone else safe

The Prime Minister has announced the first case of COVID-19 has been confirmed in New Zealand (see the full media release at the end of this article). The Ministry of Health has noted that although we have our first case of COVID-19, the chances of community outbreak remain low.
This case was identified because the person affected and their family did the right thing and got in touch with health authorities.

For now this doesn’t affect what you (schools and families) already are doing and the plans you and health authorities have in place. Schools need to continue to reinforce messages about hygiene practices. Practising good hand and sneeze/cough hygiene is the best defence:


  • wash your hands often with soap and water before and after eating as well as after attending the toilet
  • cover coughs and sneezes with clean tissues or your elbow
  • put used tissues in the bin.
  • Encourage staff and students to stay home if unwell.


We are still focused on keeping it out, and now stomping it out through track, trace and contain. It’s important we all continue to be alert but not alarmed.

Updated information from Health

As announced this week by the Ministry of Health, there are now two categories for travellers arriving in New Zealand:

Category 1 – People who have travelled from or transited through countries in category one in the last 14 days are required to self-isolate for 14 days and contact Healthline after they have left the countries. Mainland China and Iran are the two countries included in this category (with Iran added to this category on Friday 28 February).

Category 2 – People who have travelled from or via countries lists in category two who develop symptoms of fever, cough or shortness of breath should seek medical advice by first phoning Healthline’s dedicated COVID-19 number 0800 358 5453 or contacting their GP including phoning ahead of their visit.

As at Friday 28 February countries in this category are Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Thailand.

Anyone who has travelled from or transited through any of the countries listed in both categories with clinically compatible symptoms should be considered a suspect of COVID-19 case and testing performed.

What you need to do

For schools, this new information from Health should not change significantly how you are currently supporting the health and wellbeing in your school or early learning service community.

For any children, students or staff who have recently returned from Iran or China, they will need to go into a stay away period of 14 days (from when they left Iran or China).

Please continue to encourage anyone who is not well, to not attend your school or early learning service and to seek medical advice.

If you are concerned that someone is showing symptoms of fever, cough or shortness of breath, encourage them to first ring Healthline (0800 358 5453) or contact their GP by phoning ahead of their visit to explain symptoms and travel history.

If schools have any concerns about the possibility that someone does have a communicable disease, your first step is to contact your local district health board for advice and support. Contact details for specific DHBs can be found here. If the individual with a suspected case is still in your school or service, isolate them from others, until you have received medical advice.

We encourage you to keep updated about the status of COVID-19 on the Ministry of Health website.


Working Bee

THIS Sunday1st March 8.30am - 12.30pm

Come along with your gardening tools to help us get the school grounds in shape for the up and coming school fair.  Any time that you are able to give will be greatly appreciated.

We hope to...
Weed and stain the seating area by Tahaki
Distribute mulch around the gardens
Weed gardens around the school
Painting the back shed behind Tahaki
Sweeping pathways
Staining seats

Bring your loppers, brooms, shovels, hand tools, wheelbarrows, painting clothes etc.

Main play space re-development has begun!

Greenscapes have begun the development of the main play space outside Tahaki. Over the next few weeks, they will be creating the mound, slide, pathways, the river and the balance area. As most of the work requires heavy machinery, this area has been fenced off for safety. If your child(ren) want to come to school to play unsupervised, please take some time to discuss the importance of keeping away from this area. The Junior Playground is still accessible and free to play on.  Here are the pictures of the progress so far.
 
Mound and the River Bed
 
Balance Play Area
 
The balance play area
 
Sensory Play Space
 

CELEBRATION- Work is going to begin in 2020!

This week, we have met with the firm Greenscapes who have successfully won the tender to redevelop the main play space. At this stage, the landscaping of stage 1 will being in early January. This will involve the creation of the river, the hill with slide and the pathways in the main play space.
As this is a large area being redeveloped, it will be fenced off while construction takes place. Feel free to pop in to take a look.

We are really thankful to the PTA for the fundraising they have done to make this happen and we are aware that this has been a long time in the making.  Here is the play space plan for your reference.



We will have our first working bee on Sunday 1st March where we will construct the smaller huts for this area. We will send out a form early in Term 1 asking for assistance with the construction of these.
The children will be excited to see the changes in the current playground over the holidays. Have a wonderful and safe Christmas!

BOS Team