Welcome back to Term 3! A warm welcome to all new students and whānau joining us, and a warm welcome back to all returning families. We hope you have all had a lovely break with family and friends and are well rested and ready for the term ahead. Teachers have been meeting together this week and we are excited to see you all again on Monday.
Whānau Groups
This term Koru has seven whānau groups, Harakeke has six whānau groups and Pōhutukawa has five whānau groups. The role of your child’s whānau teacher is to act as a learning advocate and to provide pastoral care for your child at school. They are your first port of call if you have any questions, comments or concerns about school or your child. The whānau teacher is not your child’s overall ‘class teacher’, most students will work with multiple teachers throughout the year, but the whānau teacher will have particular oversight of your child.
The following information is relevant for all students throughout the school. If you have more than one child at school, you will receive an email for each child reminding you of who their whānau teacher is. However, you only need to read the following information once!
Staff We are happy to introduce Yeping He who will be providing release for teachers in Koru. Yeping is an experienced teacher who taught in Singapore for 6 years. She has a real passion for teaching and one of her strengths is building strong relationships with students. She is already a member of our school community and we are excited to have her join our team.
Our teaching teams for 2021 are:
Koru: Amaria Picard (team leader), Angela Herman-Childs, Camella Botha, Elena Taylor, Esther Koh, Jemima Colquhoun and Regina Singh
Harakake: Lisa Bengtsson (team leader), Eilís Ni Chaiside, Natalie Douglas, Sonali Singh, Zelda Van Zyl and Zoe Jiang
Pōhutukawa: Kalesha Segatta (team leader), Andy Little, Gar Kee Wu, Michélle Prinsloo and Onaitta Setefano
*Gina Qiuntero and Yeping He will be the release teachers in Koru.
*Navy Ny will continue as our amazing literacy learning assistant in Koru and all round super hero! She does such a fantastic job and we are pleased to have her at Amesbury School.
*Jenny Moore will continue as literacy learning assistant in Harakeke and Pōhutukawa. She has a real passion for literacy and it is great having her take a few students for extra literacy sessions each day.
*Caro Cazares will continue as our library assistant. Caro adores children’s books and loves spending time with staff and students in the library. She works for several hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, helping to keep our library systems running smoothly.
Communications
This year, we moved over to LINC-ED Hero for all our communication, learning and administration. Here is a link to more information about this platform and how you sign up. Hero will be regularly updated with information about school admin, events and general educational information, along with information about events in our local community. All of this will be reposted on our school website.
We have a school planning site, where planning for all teachers is stored and can be accessed by everyone. No personal student information or names will be included in this planning. Any documents or planning including specific names are kept as private documents and cannot be accessed by anyone except Amesbury staff. Here is the link to our planning site, and this link can also be found on the front page of our school website - the small book icon in the top right hand corner of the homescreen.
Module 3 Inquiry
In Week 5 Term 3, we will begin our third inquiry module. This module will run for 12 weeks and will finish at the end of Week 6 Term 4. To celebrate the learning in this module, we will have our third learning celebration on Monday 22 November (Week 6 Term 4).
The focus for this inquiry is Living Consciously - recognising the complex nature of social and environmental issues and thinking about how I can contribute to minimising these issues. Through this inquiry module, we will explore this quote by Albert Einstein, “We cannot solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” We will also introduce a statement that Bigweld from Robots made, “See a need, fill a need”.
In the first two weeks, we will explore the concept of inequity by looking at how children around the world live, especially their access to food, clean water, adequate housing, education and technology. We will also bring it closer to home and look at the different standards of living for children in New Zealand. For the next four weeks, we will be exploring wicked problems - social and environmental problems that are difficult or impossible to solve because of their complex and interconnected nature. Students will focus on unpacking the complex and interconnected nature of these problems. They will then begin to discuss potential solutions and look at the impacts of their solutions. In Term 4, the final 6 weeks of this inquiry module, students will identify an issue, either inequity or an aspect of a wicked problem, and design a solution for this issue. The focus will be on using design thinking to create a product. At our learning celebration (Monday 22 November), students will present their designs / prototypes and will seek specific feedback from whānau. Students will then use the rest of Week 6 to make changes to their designs based on the feedback they have received.
Term 3 Health Module
The focus for our Health module this term is growing and changing as well as consent (my body is my own and I decide what to do with it). For these health sessions, we will split students in Years 1-2, Years 3-4 and Years 5-6, to ensure students are getting necessary information at an appropriate age. This will mean year 2 students in Harakeke Hub joining other year 2 students in Koru Hub for this learning, and year 4 students in Pōhutukawa joining year 4 students in Harakeke Hub for these sessions. This module will contain eight sessions and will run from Week 3 to Week 10.
*For Years 1-2 students, we will explore how our bodies change from birth to adulthood and what we can do (or not do) at each stage. An important aspect of this unit is teaching students the correct names for all body parts, including genitals, and reiterating which parts of our body are private. We will also explore how to care for our bodies, specifically looking at hygiene, exercise and nutrition. We will spend the final few sessions looking at consent (my body is mine and I decide what to do with it), safe and unsafe touching and what I do when I experience touch that hurts or that I do not like, and identifying people in our community who keep us safe.
*For Years 3-4 students, we will explore the different stages of growth from birth to old age, including some changes that occur in our bodies during puberty. Year 4 students will explore menstruation. An important aspect of this unit is using the correct names for all body parts, including genitals. These sessions will also involve recognising that people look different and have different physical abilities, and developing a positive image of our own bodies as well as how to positively include others in play. Another aspect of this unit is identifying how we care for our bodies, including exercise and hygiene. Finally, we will cover consent (I am the boss of my body and I decide what to do with it), safe and unsafe touch and what to do when we do not feel comfortable or safe, and who in my life can help me when I feel worried, uncomfortable or unsafe.
*For Years 5-6 students, we will explore the stages of life from birth to old age and changes that occur during puberty, such as pimples, menstruation and wet dreams. Students will also learn about the reproductive system and conception. In these sessions, we will be using correct terminology and using illustrations so that students understand what is being taught. We will then move into looking at how we look after our bodies, including truths and myths about hygiene and critically analysing the influence of media on the self-care products we purchase. Our final few sessions will look at the concept of consent (my body is my own and I can decide what I do with it), where I can access support if I do not feel comfortable or safe, and how I can support people with different needs.
For a brief overview of each of the eight sessions we will be teaching in the health module this term, please click on the link for our Health Overview Term 3.
If you do not wish for your child to be part of a particular health session, please let your child’s whānau teacher know by the end of Week 2 (Friday 6 August).
In Term 4, we will focus on knowing who I am and good mental health. This module will include gender roles, gender identity and media influences on identity and body image.
Mihi Whakatau and New Parent Information Session
Our Term 3 Mihi Whakatau to welcome new students and staff will be held in Week 3. The mihi whakatau will happen on Monday 9 August at 2:30pm in the hall. Everyone is welcome to come along and join in. Families of new students are warmly invited to come along and join in the mihi whakatau as we welcome you all to our school community.
The New Parent Information Session will take place after the mihi whakatau at 3:30pm. Further information about this session will be sent out in Week 1.
Staff only day in term 3
As part of the Primary Teachers Collective Agreement, schools can take 8 days across three years (2020-2022) as teacher-only days for professional development, without extending the school year. We took two of these days in 2020 and we will be taking three of these days in 2021. We have taken two staff only days so far, and we have one final staff only day in term 3:
*Friday 27th August This will be a day where schools in our local cluster (Kāhui Ako) are all spending the day doing professional development.
Speech Competition
We will be running our Amesbury School Speech Competition toward the end of Term 3. We will send our further information about the format of the competition and how your child can sign in the next few weeks. We were very impressed with the level of speech making last year, and we look forward to hearing more amazing speeches this year.
As part of our second inquiry module, students have already focused in Term 2 or will be focusing in Term 3 on writing and delivering speeches. All students will deliver these speeches within the hub. However, if your child is keen to present to a wider audience, they can sign up for the speech competition. Please note that students can either use the speeches that have written at school or they can write a completely new speech.
Stationery
Your child will be issued with everything they need for the year, including books, pencils and felts/colouring pencils. There will be a cost of $45 for the year for this. This cost is charged to school accounts at the start of the year. There has been a slight increase in the stationery fee this year. The fee has been $40 since the school opened in 2012, and it has increased slightly to $45. This includes a subsidised ‘Matific’ (online Maths programme) licence fee, and a subsidised ‘IXL’ (online English and Maths programme) licence fee.
If students have their own personal stationery that they would also like to use, they are very welcome to bring it in and keep it in their tote tray or bag. All students in Pōhutukawa and Harakeke Hubs will be issued with a Chromebook. Younger students will have access to a range of devices. If you would like to purchase a Chromebook so that your child can use it at home and at school, please contact Andy Little (andy@amesbury.school.nz).
Clothing and lost property
Named items within hubs will be handed directly back to your child. There will be a small lost property box in the main school office for any unnamed items, but no items with legible names in them will be held here.
In order for all items to be returned to their owners quickly and easily, please ensure that all uniform items are very clearly named with your child’s name before the first day of school. Please be aware that children will often be the people reading the names on clothing, so ensuring that names on all items are clear and easy to read is important. Thanks for your help with this. We recommend purchasing iron-on name tags to make ownership of items very clear. Here are a couple of label companies to consider: Stuck on You Name it
Spare clothes
During the winter months, we notice an increase in the number of students coming to the office for a spare change of clothing because they have slipped in the mud. We think that this will increase even further after the recent flooding, as some sections of our school grounds are quite muddy. We do have a small range of spare clothes at the office, but this is a very limited amount of clothing, especially for older students, and quite often we can run out of items. To help with this, we ask that all parents make sure there is a spare change of clothing in their child’s bag. It is important that this happens for tamariki of all ages at school, not just our younger ākonga (students), as it can be quite easy to slip and get muddy. Thanks.
Toys/Belongings at school
While we do not generally recommend that students bring toys to school, we do not prohibit this, as there are circumstances under which it is helpful for a child to bring a personal item to school. If your child chooses to bring a toy or another item of interest to school, teachers in all teams will ask that it is put away in their bag during learning time. We cannot take responsibility for lost, traded or broken toys/items, and therefore, we recommend that your child leaves any particularly treasured possessions at home.
First Day of SchoolOn Monday 26 July, school begins for the term at 9:00am. Children can head straight to their hub and sign in on the touchscreens - teachers will be in each hub to help with this. Children will need to come to school in their uniform and bring their school bag, lunch and water bottle. We ask all students to take their shoes off before heading inside - there are shoe racks outside of Koru and Harakeke to put shoes on. For students who are in Pōhutukawa, place your shoes against the wall under the overhang by the hall kitchen or under the overhang by the piano hall door.
Hubs are open for students from 8:30am onwards. We ask that students do not arrive at school prior to 8:30am, as they are not supervised by teachers at this time. Kelly Club operates a care programme before school for students who need to be at school before 8:30am. Please see the Kelly Club information page on our website for more details. We encourage all students to be at school by 8:45am. This allows children time to settle in, put their bags away, read the timetable for the day and then say ‘hello’ to friends and teachers before the bell goes.
Lunch time activitiesThroughout the year we will have a number of lunchtime activities running. This term, we will have:
Monday: Choir
Tuesday: Gardening Club
Wednesday: Chess Club
Thursday: Dance
Friday: Basketball
The library will be open every lunchtime for students to read books, play board games and create amazing arts and crafts.
Term 3 Dates 2021
As always, our school events are all added to our school calendar as soon as we become aware of them. Please follow this link to our school calendar, housed on our school website. Some events may be added to our calendar as we go through the term, so please keep an eye on the weeks coming up on the calendar. Here are the main school events to date:
Mon 26 July First day of school
Tuesday 27 July Newlands Intermediate School in Action Morning for parents
Tuesday 27 July Wellington City Council Plastic Free July talk
Wednesday 28 July Co-curricular lessons begin
Thursday 29 July Junior Disco & Senior Disco
Friday 30 July Co-curricular lessons begin
Tuesday 3 August Year 4-6 Swimming Sports
Monday 9 August Mihi Whakatau
Monday 9 August New Parent Information Meeting
Tuesday 10 August ICAS Digital Technology Exam (for students signed up)
Tuesday 10 August Rāroa parent information evening
Wednesday 11 August Rāroa open day for parents
Wednesday 11 August BoT Meeting
Tuesday 17 August ICAS English Exam (for students who have signed up)
Thursday 19 August Learning Celebration
Tuesday 24 August ICAS Science Exam (for students who have signed up)
Friday 27 August Staff Only Day
Tuesday 31 August ICAS Maths Exam (for students who have signed up)
Friday 10 September Northern Zone Swimming
Tuesday 14 September Year 0-3 Swimming Carnival
Tuesday 14 September ArtSplash Performance
Wednesday 15 September Co-curricular Open Morning
Friday 17 September Co-curricular Open Morning
Saturday 18 September St Brigid's Kapa Haka Festival
Wednesday 22 September BoT Meeting
Wednesday 29 September Student Conferences
Thursday 30 September Students Conferences
Enjoy the last few days of the school break and we look forward to seeing you all next week.
Warm regards,
The Amesbury Team
