Week 4 - 17 May 2023

Principal's Message

Kia ora Koutou

The Cross country event last week at Karori Park was very successful. It was lovely to have so many parents offer to help marshall and to come and support children whether they were running in the competitive race or challenging themselves in selecting a course that would give them success. 

I was very proud of the encouragement students showed towards one another and particularly to a number of our year 7 / 8 students who ran with others as well as their own race.

Many of our students are involved in winter sports now and it is great to have our courts and Te Kōhanga in use after school for Basketball and Netball practices on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. It is great to have our spaces being used and people taking care when they may be in the grounds during the weekends too.

We are celebrating Pink Shirt Day this Friday, students may want to wear something pink. We are encouraging our students to show our values, help one another and be KIND everyday. Members of Team Kākā, year 7 & 8 are baking goodies that will be set up on Friday for a bake sale. 

At the end of last term we let you know we are working with Wellington Free Ambulance to install a new Automated External Defibrillator (AED) on the school grounds to support the community. Thank you to families who have contributed towards the $970.  We would like to be able to have this valuable equipment purchased and installed soon, and also take up the opportunity to offer free AED training for the community. If you would like to contribute in any way please contact the office.

We have a number of opportunities for parents to be involved in finding out about why, what and how children are learning. We are looking forward to our Oranga-Wellbeing evening tonight, this will be held in the Library from 7-8:30.  Next week we have our Learning in Action morning, and the following week we will have our whānau hui.

Learning in Action next Tuesday 23rd May 9-10:30am - Last year we provided  these opportunities to come into classes and see teaching and learning. We had very positive feedback from parents.   We are looking forward to parents, grandparents and family members  coming into our learning spaces on Tuesday 23rd May between 9:00 and 10:30. This will be a great opportunity for you to see how we are learning in our spaces, the Library and Te Kōhanga.

Please join Andrea in Te Kōhanga between 9 - 9:20 where I will share with you our initiatives that we are working on as part of our annual plan for 2023. You will then be able to spend time in your child's class from 9:20- 10:30 and visit other spaces in the school.  Tea and coffee will be available from 8.40am in Te Kōhanga.

We have a Teacher Only Day on  Friday 2nd June, this is for all schools  in our Kāhui Ako, the school will be closed for the Friday and Kings birthday is on Monday 5th June, school resumes on Tuesday 6th June, which is our school swimming sports day.

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

Learning In Action

We are looking forward to parents and family coming into our learning spaces on Tuesday 23rd May between 9:00 and 10:30. This will be a great opportunity for you to see how we are learning in our spaces, the Library and Te Kōhanga.
Please join Andrea in Te Kōhanga between 9 - 9:20 where we will share with you our direction for the this year and some of the initiatives that are happening in each team and across the school.
You will then be able to spend time in your child's class from 9:20- 10:30 and visit other spaces in the school.  Tea and coffee will be available from 8.40am in TeKōhanga.

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

Bake Sale This Friday - Pink Shirt Day

There will be a bake sale acknowledging Pink Shirt Day this Friday,  the bake sale will be at morning tea and lunchtime.

Year 1-3s will be able to buy baked goods at morning tea. And year 4-8s can buy baked goods at lunchtime. If anyone would like to donate baked goods for the sale, please drop off to room 7 and please label if it has gluten or dairy in it, if you do bake please NO nuts. 

We would like coins instead of notes please as we won't have much change to give out!

 All the money we make will go to Youthline.

Thanks Team Kākā

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.

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

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

Congratulations to Poppy Pringle, Qiduo Zhao and Alisha Mangar!  They are the first students to complete their pizza wheel.  They've read 7 books and can now claim their free pizza from Hell's Pizza.  Well done, girls!

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 - Respectful Language- 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 o r 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 Curious -Pātaitai

Our quality is Understanding

Understanding is thinking clearly. It is using your mind so that you can see the truth about things. It is paying careful attention and thinking about things in order to see their meaning. Understanding is having empathy and showing compassion. Understanding gives us the power to think and learn and also to care.

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 !