Week 2- 3 May 2023

Principal's Message

Kia ora Koutou

Welcome back to Term 2 and welcome to Orla in Ruru iti.   I hope you all had a restful Easter break, time with family and friends. Staff have had two days of professional development with a focus on Structured Literacy, Positive Behaviour for learning (PB4L), and Aotearoa NZ Histories. 

Teachers have planned for another exciting term and we are looking forward to the first camp experience for our Year 5 and 6 students later in the term. By the end of this week you will receive Team Newsletters to provide you with more detail of programmes and learning focus for the first half of this term. 

The term has started well and we are thankful for the weather that has provided outside play and cross country training. We look forward to our pōwhiri this Friday at 2:15 and the Cross country event next Tuesday at Karori Park for Years 4-8. We look forward to seeing you at these events. 

A new initiative we are trying this term is having KellySport coaches teach Traditional Māori Games/Ki-O-Rahi. This will increase our repertoire of games and provide opportunities later in the year for our Year 7- 8 leaders to support other classes to participate. 

You may have seen in the media that primary and area school principals who are NZEI TE Riu Roa members have voted to stop working with the Ministry of Education and to limit our work hours. We have taken this action as we believe it is necessary to highlight the significant issues that we need to address in the current round of negotiations. 

We are committed to continuing to lead our schools and to ensure that they are safe, healthy places where students are learning during this time. Our day-to-day work to do this will continue, but we will no longer be working with the Ministry on their education system work or to introduce or implement new initiatives. As principals we make a significant contribution of time and expertise to this work. There is little additional resource or staffing to support this which has a negative impact on us. We will continue to meet with our boards. 

We will not be available for work or to be contacted before 8am and after 5pm on weekdays. We will not be available on Saturday, Sunday or public holidays. We hope to receive an acceptable offer in negotiations and will end the work ban when that happens. 

Principals across Aotearoa have voted to take this action as a way of demonstrating that we need more staff and resources in order to meet the expectations of our roles. Teachers are also reviewing the next Ministry offer and will be voting next week. We are hoping that negotiations are taken seriously and with some urgency now.

The Home and School committee have prepared a number of opportunities and events that are outlined further in the newsletter, pies, hoodies and pilates!

We have organised an evening for Oranga - Wellbeing on 17th May from 7pm- 8:30pm in Te Kōhanga. The topics that will be covered are anxiety, neuroscience, zones of regulation, behaviour for learning. We have an educational psychologist, our school counsellor, PB4L School Wide Practitioner who will provide  information and share parent tips on ways to support yourself and your child. 

If you would like to come and chat or have questions or concerns please get in touch with any of the senior leadership team, Andrea, Jane and Judith.

Ngā mihi nui

Andrea

Kiwi Competitions: English Maths Science

We are providing an opportunity for any Year 5-8 student of Northland School, to take part in the University of Canterbury’s 2022 Kiwi English, Maths and Science Competitions. These competitions will replace the ICAS Assessments we have previously offered for students to participate in. These competitions take place annually and are designed by New Zealand teachers for New Zealand students based on the New Zealand Curriculum. For further information please consult the CAM website www.canterbury.ac.nz/cam. 

Students can enter in one or more subjects. The competition will provide parents/caregivers with an Individual Report of a student’s performance. All participating students will receive a certificate.  The entry fee for each of the competitions is $9.90. 

Students complete the Kiwi Competitions online and are completed in the last 3 weeks of Term 2 and the first week of Term 3. 

If you would like your child to enter English, Maths or Science please complete the Google form here. Please complete one Google Form for each child. Entries close Thursday 11 May. Please note entries after this date can’t be accepted. 

If you are unsure of whether your child should enter please contact your child’s class teacher or myself to discuss the competitions. 

Jane Batchelor

PB4L & Zones

The Positive Behaviour for Learning School-Wide framework, also known as PB4L School-Wide, is helping New Zealand schools build a culture where positive behaviour and learning is a way of life. Where school culture can be thought of as “the way things are done around here”, school climate is about “the way people feel around here”. Understanding school climate is a key part of building a new school culture. 

It is an evidence based framework which looks at learning and behaviour from both a school-wide and individual student perspective. It takes the approach that opportunities for learning and achievement increase if;

• the school environment is positive and supportive
• expectations are consistently clear
• students are consistently taught expected behaviours
• expected behaviours are consistently acknowledged
• inappropriate behaviours are consistently responded to in a fair and equitable way.

It’s not about changing the students; it’s about changing the environment, systems, and practices you have in place to support them to make positive behaviour choice. You can find out more  about PB4L here https://pb4l.tki.org.nz/PB4L-School-Wide

How to Teach Assertiveness to Children 

All teams have refreshed the way they are checking in with children at the start of the day and throughout the day. We are pleased with the number of strategies most children are able to use when they may move from zone to zone to zone. Knowing how they can respond can also help them to be more assertive.

Communication

We will continue to develop our communication about events, more specific details of the programmes in teams and the celebration of our children in their learning. We are making a few changes to the way you receive information.

School Website - Please refer to this - many details such as latest news, staff, calendar, sports, school policies. The banner is checked and changed daily. https://www.northland.school.nz/

School Newsletter - Sent out fortnightly on a Wednesday afternoon and can always be accessed via the school website.

Events Calender - sent out via email every Friday afternoon - this may also have relevant information for the following week.

Seesaw - All families have been invited to join Seesaw by your child’s teacher. Seesaw is used across the school for sharing learning by the teacher and by children as they learn to post. At times you may also receive a quick message from the teacher eg, please remember togs tomorrow.

Absence, Appointments, Change of afterschool plan - If your child is sick or has an appointment please send an email to the school office,  or the absence line.

Cross Country @ NorthlandSchool

Cross Country -  We are looking forward to our School Cross Country event for Year 4-8 children next Tuesday the 9th of May at Karori Park. Please note the change in venue as Ian Galloway Park is not available. Buses will leave school at 9:00am to arrive at Karori Park for a 9:30am start.  All the information was emailed last week and is attached below.

Northland School Community AED (Automated External Defibrillator)

You may have seen the AED currently sited on the wall outside the school office, this was donated to us a few years ago however it is no longer functional. The Wellington Free Ambulance (WFA) team have very kindly given us a loan AED while we sort out a replacement. This loan device is currently in the office (so not available to the community outside school hours) and not on the publicly available list of AEDs for the community to access in an emergency.

We are working with WFA to organise a permanent replacement which includes a new, up to date AED, the box it sits in, a new site more visible to the community and available on the 111 list of community AEDs. Once purchased, WFA look after it from then on, for free!  They regularly change the pads and battery and will check the machine after use. They also offer free community AED training which we intend to take advantage of!

We need to raise $970 – if you have a business and would like to donate …or have suggestions to raise this money, there is room on the external box for one business logo!! Please contact Julia or Andrea if you can help!

Home & School - Hoodies

HOODIES, T-SHIRTS & HATS

The weather is getting cooler now, time to order a new Northland School hoodie personalised with your child’s name!  T-Shirts and bucket hats are also available.  Orders are being taken now until Friday 19 May for delivery in Week 6. Click on the link to order directly. 

https://www.theoutfitters.nz/collections/northland-school-uniform?ls=MI69jVtWRpu2rkXtxr7f7g

Northland School doesn’t have a school uniform, so purchasing these items is completely optional.  For those of you with children participating in sporting events, you can choose to purchase your own school sports shirt or borrow one from the office.

Pilates at Northland School

Beginners Pilates with Sue Ruffell   

Beginners evening pilates classes are coming this term! Thanks to those who have already registered your interest, we're now ready to book classes.

Instructor: Sue Ruffell is based in Kelburn. As well as coming to our school, she runs classes from her home studio as well as St Anne's Church in Northland. Find out more about her here www.sueruffellpilates.co.nz

When: Wednesday evenings 7-8pm, starting 24 May, for 6 weeks.

How much: $108. Please pay directly to Sue

Please bring: your own mat

To sign up please contact Sue directly on 027 712 8434. She'll do a verbal health assessment with you to understand any injuries you may have.

Any questions please contact Joeline homeandschool@northland.school.nz

Pies Pies Pies

The Home and School Committee are taking orders for delicious Doughboys Bakery family pies for the annual pie fundraiser to raise funds for extra school resources.  They make a quick and easy dinner for those busy evenings.  Pop some in the freezer to whip out when inspiration or time has deserted you.  

We are offering eleven scrumptious flavours: 

Mince                Mince & Cheese     Mince & Vegetable

Ham & Egg      Steak                          Steak & Cheese

Steak & Mushroom                           Chicken & Vegetable 

Apple                 Apricot                       Blackberry & Apple

Allergy information: All pies contain dairy and gluten.

The goal this year is to beat last year’s record of 777 pies sold!  Come on, Northland School community, we can do this!  If we sold 4 pies per family, the school would raise $2,500.   Please consider sharing the google form with your friends, family and colleagues as we’d love to raise more!  When they order through the google form please ask them to allocate the order to your child and their class. Every order on the google form will receive an email confirmation of the order. Open the google form here: https://tinyurl.com/NorthlandSchoolPieOrderform                                        

Ideally we would prefer all orders to be placed on the google form, but we are also sending home a paper copy for you to collect orders if that’s easier for the kids to ask the neighbours, colleagues, extended family and friends. We are happy for orders to be paid directly to the school bank account by family/friends/colleagues and details are on the paper form.  

Please deposit payments into the Northland School Account 12 3174 0326688 00

Include “PIE”  and your name as a reference e.g. "PIE, your name".    

Orders close on TUESDAY 23RD MAY at noon.  Orders will go home with the nominated student at the end of the school day, 3pm Thursday 1st June. Perfect timing with a teacher only day on Friday 2nd June if you need to make any deliveries!  We will be in touch with families who have ordered 10 or more pies to pick up directly from the school.  

Do you have any reusable bags at home or paper bags that we can please use for pie orders?  Please deliver them to the school office before 23rd May.   Any questions please contact homeandschool@northland.school.nz

School Community Team Directory

SCHOOL COMMUNITY TEAM DIRECTORY COMING THIS WEEK

Thank you to everyone that has contributed to the Northland Home and School Team directory.  We are running this for the first time in a digital format and it will be emailed to those families that signed up later this week.  We hope that it will be especially helpful for families new to the school and that it will make it easier for all to arrange activities after school or on the weekend! 

Things to note:

• Providing this information is voluntary.
• Distribution lists will be digital only - we ask they are not printed in hard copy.
• An email address is required in order to put out the distribution list, but a phone number is optional.
• Any new families starting at the school during the year will be invited to share their information and this information will be added to the existing list at the beginning of each term.
• The information will be stored by the Home and School for the school year and then deleted/destroyed, and we ask that you do the same. 
• Please also note that when the lists are distributed, they are to be used solely for the purpose of connecting with other parents/caregivers on the list.  

The link to the form can be found here: :https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeBCbFX6B-89WiFBdMSlGtZ9on8lWGsqyWLV7Ko5nSUU2sgvQ/viewform

Ngā mihi 

Northland Home and School Committee

Absence

If your child is sick or has an appointment please contact the school OFFICE and the class teacher.  You can email or phone the office directly or go through the website absent form.    Ph 04 475 7596   office@northland.school.nz  

BSC - Before School Care

Bridget Hall  runs the Before School Care.  The cost from 7:30-8:30 is $10 or  from 8-8:30, the cost is $5. We are fortunate to be able to continue to provide this for you to make your mornings run well. 

Library News

Scholastic Book Club Term  2 2023 - Issue 3 is out now!
Issue 3 2023 catalogues have been distributed in your child's class. Deadline for orders is next Friday  12 May . Please note that we do not take paper order forms or cash payments - all orders are done online via LOOP. Please go to https://mybookclub.scholastic.co.nz/Parent/Login.aspx to register.   Any queries to Erwin Palado by emailing librarian@northland.school.nz

Hell Pizza and the New Zealand Book Awards have once again launched the Hell Reading Challenge for 2023. The HELL Reading Challenge is free, and it is so easy! Children receive a stamp on their pizza wheel for each book they read. Once they have read seven books, children can exchange their completed pizza wheel for a free 333 kids’ pizza at HELL.   The pizza wheel is available in the library.    For Year 1 students, they can re-tell the story of a book that's been read to them in class or at home and they can have their pizza wheel stamped.  Years 2-8  students can write a brief book review of the book they read.  The pizza wheel has to be signed and stamped by Erwin.
To find out more, go to www.nzbookawards.nz/hell-reading-challenge/ 

Wellbeing - Managing Screen Time- SchoolTV platform

https://northland.nz.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-respectful-language

In today’s world, it is becoming apparent that some young people are being influenced by the language around them. It is becoming more common for them to hear derogatory terms or offensive language on the streets, on social media channels, streaming services and in some forms of modern music. Proliferating the use of such language can sometimes normalise, glamorise and sanitise their impact, taking their meaning out of context. Words can be misconstrued to be hurtful, racist, homophobic, misogynistic or even discriminatory. Using disrespectful language is considered socially unacceptable, and if not addressed early, can become a serious problem.

Whilst some students may use swearing or derogatory terms for attention seeking purposes, others may use it simply because they are still learning how to moderate their language. As young people develop their language skills, it is important for them to have a clear understanding of the impact of their choice of words on others and how their words can impact other people’s perspective of them - an important and essential skill to learn as they progress in their personal and professional development.

SchoolDocs - Policies

SchoolDocs provides us with a comprehensive core set of policies, which have been well researched and follow the Ministry of Education National Administration Guidelines. The policies and procedures are tailored to our school, and the school supplies specific information such as our charter, and procedures for behaviour management, reporting to parents, etc.

We invite you to visit the site at https://northland.schooldocs.co.nz (note that there's no "www."). Our username is "northland" and password "orangikaupapa"

Our Value Kind -Manaaki

Our quality is Gentleness

Gentleness is acting and speaking in a kind considerate way. It is using self control, in order not to hurt or offend anyone. You can be gentle with people and animals in the way you touch them and the way you speak to them. You handle things carefully so they will not break or be hurt. When you think gentle thoughts, it makes the world a safer, gentler place.

Term Dates

 Term 2     Wednesday 26 April - Friday 30 June          TOD  Friday 2 June                          

 Term 3     Monday 17 July - Friday 22 September                                                                                                           Term 4     Monday 9 October - Friday 15 December 

Community Notices

Please check out the Community Notices in the attached document - lots of exciting opportunities for students and families to enjoy.   These are also displayed on the New Notice Board in the school office, come in out check it out !