Newsletter Week 5 Term 4 2021

Look us up at www.karāpiro.school.nz and like us on Facebook

Welcome to Week 5 Term 4 2021

Welcome back!

It was wonderful to welcome our students back on Wednesday and to hear the sounds of children playing throughout the school. We have taken the time to check in with every child to find out how they are feeling and if they have any worries about coming back to school. The children tell us they missed their friends the most and they are excited to be back and just want to get on with things!

The Karāpiro Staff team would like to extend our thanks to our families for all the work you have done throughout lockdown - we appreciate this has been a challenging time for parents, schools, communities and of course our entire country. We think it's important to share our plans with you, from now through to the end of the school year, so you can have as much certainly as we can possibly give you, about how things will be ticking along here at school.

Planning for the final weeks of term

We have considered advice from the Ministry of Education on our approach to the next few weeks and have decided that the final 4 weeks of the school term will be safe, fun and stimulating for the children, based on what we have all been through in recent weeks. It is not our intention to complete the final testing and assessment that we would normally undertake at this time of the year. Our plan is to move our assessment schedule to March 2022.

We plan to report to parents at the end of the term using two tools: the first is an ‘overall teacher judgment’ (or OTJ’) of where your child is currently learning in the curriculum (to be confirmed when we assess in March); the second tool will be a key-competency-based comment that is co-constructed with families when we meet at Student Led Conferences on Wednesday 8 December and Thursday 9 December. Reports will be uploaded to your child’s Seesaw page on Wednesday 15 December. Whole school student achievement data will now be reported to the board of trustees in term 1, 2022.

We are taking a cautious approach to events held at school and will be following Ministry of Education advice to not hold events that bring groups of people into the school site. We are also aware that there is concern in the Cambridge community about recent Covid cases and the impact on families of the vaccination mandate. For this reason we have decided to hold our Prize Giving this year for students only, however we will be producing a 2021 Yearbook for families to take home that will include photographs of the classes throughout the year and featuring students and their achievements. Along with this we have postponed the Karāpiro Community Playgroup to 2022. Our school Beach Education trip has been moved to February 2022 also.

Here is what we have planned for the students in the coming weeks:

Week 6	Thursday 25 November Friday 26 November	Trees for Survival Planting Day - We have hundreds of little seedlings to plant for our nursery Card Making Day - This year we are not holding our annual Thank You Morning Tea - instead Karāpiro students will design and make beautiful thank you cards for all the people who have helped and supported us throughout the year
Week 7	Friday 3 December	Prize Giving STUDENTS ONLY - Students are asked to dress up and wear something special for our photos
Week 8	Friday 10 December	Athletics Day - A fun day organised by the students of Pohutukawa Class
Week 8	Monday 13 December Tuesday 14 December Wednesday 15 December*	Monday FUNDAY! Students design their own fun day at school! We are also expecting a visit from our new teacher Mr Daniel Churstain :) Crafts Day! Today you can bring along your Ag Day creations and join in a whole lot of creative fun at school. Wet & Wild Day! Bring your togs and towels for a fun water day at school. Today is our last day of the year.

* We are aware that Wednesday 15 December is the day the Auckland border is set to open and this may impact on our families and community. Please let us know if you children will be leaving school early so we can organise their gear to take home.

To book your Student Led Conference:

You can book your Student Led Conference now at www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and use the event code st46f OR
Go directly to the site click here https://www.schoolinterviews.co.nz/code/st46f OR
Scan the QR code below

Board news

We are delighted to welcome Ayesha Newport and Silvana Ferreira as our new board members. Thank you to Lynda Smith for her role as returning officer. The next board meeting will be held on 7 December 2021 at 4pm.

Pool Keys

Pool keys are now available from the school office. They are $50 for the school community and $70 for the wider community (including a $10 bond which is refunded when the key is returned. If you would like a pool key please contact Lynda on 07 827 7642 or office@karapiro.school.nz

School Calendar

Keep an eye on our School Calendar which has been updated with new times and dates of school events due to the recent lockdown and Alert Level changes.

Do you have a family member (grandparent? Aunty or uncle? A relative overseas?) that would like to receive email notification of our school newsletters? Please email Lynda Smith at office@karapiro.school.nz if you would like to add them to our mailing list.

Oxford Pie Orders

Pies will be available for collection from the school office between 1pm-3pm on Tuesday 23 November.

Student Absences

Did you know you can notify us of your child/ren’s absence from school on our website: Student Absences. You can also email Lynda in the school office office@karapiro.school.nz or phone 07 827 7642. We appreciate you letting us know by 9am if your child/ren will be absent from school.

Your Contact Information & Enrolment Information

Please remember to update us with any changes to your contact details. If you have a preschooler who is not yet enrolled with us please complete an online enrolment form now to assist us with our future planning. Thank you.

Ngā mihi

Tina-Maree and the Karāpiro Staff team

Find us on Facebook