Building our School Community
Term One: Week One
Wednesday 1st February 2012
Dear, Whanau, Parents and Caregivers,
A warm welcome back to all our families and particularly to our new families who are joining us this year for the first time. The Clevedon School family welcomes you all to our place. We are sure you will love it here and establish new friendships quickly both within the school and the wider Clevedon community.
It was lovely this week to see all our families return and students very excited to be back at school. We have a very purposeful term one programme prepared for the students. I wish to thank all of our teachers for their dedication and hard work over the past two weeks preparing both their classrooms and their programmes. It fills me with pride to see them all in here working over the long weekend and throughout all of last week.
Our School Focus…….
2012 sees the staff and Board of Trustees continue our focus on raising the progress and achievement of all students across the curriculum but with a particular focus on writing, e-learning and positive behaviour to enable the best learning opportunities for all students.
We began our focus last Tuesday with a Professional Development day on writing. This was facilitated by Mrs Kate Birch, a facilitator with Cognition Education group. Kate will be working in the school for 12 days this year – alongside teachers and students up skilling us on current best practice in teaching and assessing children’s writing. It is an exciting opportunity which we have taken up and one which will see positive benefits for all children across the school.
Last Wednesday we welcomed Mrs Jacqui Sharp into the school. Jacqui is a well-known e-learning facilitator and we have contracted her to work alongside the staff in 2012 to ensure we are keeping our practice up with the latest expectations for e-learning. Our aim is to ensure that our students leave Clevedon School prepared to take their place as 21st Century learners. We will keep you updated on our school progress and I am sure your children will be coming home with new learning in this area.
We discussed ways students can begin to use the internet and e-learning for homework, spelling, mathematics, handwriting, key board skills and a wealth of other things.
This year we are also on a contract with the Ministry of Education entitled PB4L (Positive Behaviour for Learning) It is a three year programme which supports the school to develop a positive learning culture. We have a behaviour team established and training will be taking place during term one. We will keep you posted on the developments in this area and will be hosting parent evenings later in the year.
EOTC Week…..
Next week sees all students from year 3-8 involved in activities outside the classroom both on and off site. We have contracted Manukau on the Move instructors to work in the school for the week. It is a very exciting programme for all students and one which has taken a lot of planning.
As with all EOTC – there are costs involved and we understand that this is a very expensive time for families as you start up the term and the year. We have options for payment of EOTC week and as this is part of the curriculum it is expected that all students attend the week. Each team will be sending home notices regarding next week with the outlines of the programmes, costs and requests for parent help. It would be great if we could have as many parents as possible assist us while the weather is great. The EOTC week also provides teachers with another opportunity early in the year to observe students in a variety of situations understand friendships and build learning relationships with them.
Please watch out for the notices and return them as soon as possible to school. If you have difficulty paying for this – please do not hesitate to call into school and make an appointment to discuss it and we can arrange something to suit your family.
I apologise for the short notice for this EOTC week. As a school we have decided to run our senior camp bi-annually and then EOTC weeks in the other year. Our senior school parents were given a heads up on the EOTC week at the information evening at the end of last year. The planning and preparation was completed over the January holidays and teachers all felt it important to run this week early on so that each team and class could build their learning relationships and develop clear expectations in the first two weeks of school. Please understand the rationale behind this week and support the staff as they work hard to provide experiences for your children.
We are also looking to build the programmes for year 5/6 and 3/4 so that our children are experiencing as much of the outdoors and local area that they can. This was clearly asked for by our parents at our annual consultation evening last October. We are looking to include a year 5/6 camp in 2013 and an overnight stay somewhere local for our year 3/4 students in 2013. It is all part of Clevedon School building teaching and learning programmes which challenge and excite our students.
Stationery….
Thank you to everyone who has purchased the stationery pack – the teachers have reported it as the smoothest year yet in getting the classes up and running this morning. Student diaries are being distributed to all students from year 5-8 who have paid for their stationery today and maths homework books will be issued in week three when the normal class maths programme begins.
School Uniform……
A reminder that all students MUST have a hat on at school and we do have a school hat. We have given today as a reminder day but as of tomorrow – no hat, no play!!
The summer uniform expectation for shoes is black sandals and we are now into our second year of expecting all students to be in correct school uniform. If your child does not have black sandals – please assist us by ensuring these are purchased this week. It is not an optional part of the school uniform and as such needs to be worn. Uniform letters will be sent home for all students not in correct school uniform. RESPECT is one of our school values and all students are expected to respect the school and wear the correct uniform. Your assistance in this matter is very much appreciated.
School Pool…..
Our school pool will be open from next week for a six week swimming programme for all classes. Swimming lessons will be a normal part of the PE programme and children will be having two lessons a week.
Totara Team are planning a trip to Massey Park Pools to participate in a water safety programme, Pohutukawa team have kayaking and water safety as part of their EOTC week, Junior swimming sports will take place early March, Year 5-8 school swimming sports will be held at the Jubilee pools in Pukekohe on 16th Feb as ECCS sports are the week after and we need to have our school swimming team selected prior to this.
Life Education Caravan….
We are pleased to be able to welcome “Harold” and the Life Education Caravan to Clevedon School on the 16th February. They will be here from the 16th – 24th February and all classes will be taking part in the health programmes on offer through Life Education. This is a service that travels all over New Zealand and most schools take the opportunity to have the programme in the school regularly. It is a new experience for our Clevedon children and we are very excited to be able to begin bringing these valuable programmes to our school.
Term One Calendar…..
There will be a mail out later this week or early next week with the term one calendar included with school donation accounts. Please put the calendar on your fridge or somewhere prominent as it is shaping up to be a busy term. School events coming up are included at the end of this newsletter so please note them down.
Parent Information Evening….
Each teaching team will be holding an information half hour on 13th February for you to understand the routines, organisation and expectations for 2012. I urge you to put this in your diary and ensure that you are represented at this evening as teachers and teams will be sharing important information which will set the scene for your children’s’ learning this year.
Totara Team – 6.30pm – 7.00pm in the Library
Pohutukawa Team - 7.00pm – 7.30pm in Room 4 (ICT suite)
Kauri Team – 7.30pm – 8.00pm in the Library
Kowhai Team – 8.00pm – 8.30pm in Room 4 (ICT suite)
Family Picnic / Informal Meet and Greet……
On 15th February we would like to invite you to an informal family picnic at the school from 5.30pm – 7.30pm. The staff would like an informal opportunity to make connections with our families and meet you all. We often meet mums as dads are away at work and we thought it would be a great way for you to meet staff without it being focused on teaching and learning.
It will be an evening where you pack a picnic and bring a blanket and share the time with friends and neighbours. We will put out some sports gear for parents and children to enjoy and play together and weather permitting we will have the pool open for different times for children to swim under the supervision of parents.
We will hold a sausage sizzle for anyone who would like to buy a sausage and sell tea and coffee for those who would like it. We are looking forward to meeting you all and enjoying the evening with you weather permitting.
Three Way Conferences Goal Setting evenings…..
We have planned Three Way Conferences (parent/teacher and student) goal setting interviews for Monday 20th and Wednesday 22nd February. It is important for us to focus on each student and have a learning conversation with them with you present to understand where they are at in their learning and what their next steps are for this year. It will be a very good time to ensure that all behaviours are settled and students are focused on achieving in their learning. It will also be a great time for you and your child to discuss any particular issues they may have which will impact on the year and their achievement.
The interviews will be 15 minutes long and the booking system will be open on Monday 13th Feb. The interviews will run from 3.30pm both days so please plan and prepare for these in your families so that they can be a priority.
If you are unable to attend on either of these dates, please make an alternative appointment with the class teacher. It is our goal for every child and parent in our school to be part of this initial meeting and goal setting so that we are all working together to achieve the best for each student.
Congratulations…..
Alanah Davis spent her Christmas holidays competing in the Trans-Tasman Athletic Championships against New South Wales at Mt Smart Stadium in January and certainly put Clevedon School on the map with her successes in different categories.
Alanah won a silver medal in the girl’s 4x400m relay and a sixth placing in the final of the girls 400 metres. If you see Alanah around please congratulate her as she has certainly done the school proud.
It’s lovely to be back at school, the weather is finally being kind to us and the children are all full of enthusiasm.
Enjoy your first week of routines and earlier bedtimes!!!
Kind regards
Julie Schumacher
Principal
Key Term One Dates for Your Calendars….
School Events:
- Year 7/8 EOTC week – 7-10th Feb
- Year 5/6 EOTC week – 8th-10th Feb
- Year 3/4 EOTC – 7th -10th Feb
- Year 1 and 2 – Water Safety programme – Week three ( Massey Park Pools)
- 13th Feb – General Introductory evening for all teams.
- 15th Feb – School Picnic (5.30 – 7.30pm) Informal meet and greet at school
- 16th Feb – Senior School swimming sports.
- 16th – 24th Feb – Life Education Caravan in School (Health Programme)
- 20th – 22nd Feb – Meet the teacher evening – three way conferences re learning and goal setting.
- 24th Feb – Student Peer Mediation training all day.
- 28th Feb – ECCS Swimming Sports – Massey Park Swimming Pool.
- 7th March – Charter and Annual plan presentation to the School community.
- 12th March – Positive Behaviour for Learning Team Training Day.
- 17th / 24th March – Peaceful Family Communication Course ( for our parent community)
- 20th March – School Photos
- 4th April – Progress and Effort Assembly for Term One
- 5th April – Junior reports to go home (as required)
ASB Bank School Banking
Drop off at the office
Every Tuesday
Old Cell Phones...
Reminder - bring in all your old cell phones which are lying around your house, business,
friends’ houses and extended families’ homes to the drop off box at the school office.
Once we get 55 old phones we earn a digital camera.
For all year 7-8 students
JCYG Starts on Friday 10th February