February 5th 2025, Week 2
Principal's Message
Term 1 Week 2 2025
Wednesday 5th February
Kia ora koutou
Welcome back to all families and especially to our new families joining us; Sonia, Kelly- Rose, Dani, Jake, Loic, Alba and Raven. Today we held our mihi whākatau to celebrate our new families and to come together as a school community.
The year has started well and we are so impressed with how everyone is settling back into school routines. The advantage of staggering our start has been beneficial for all of us and of course the sun is now out. Thank you for helping your child to have their sunhat each day during the term and their stationery ready. This really helps them to feel prepared for the new year.
Last week all teachers had two days of professional development on the refreshed English and Maths Curriculum. While we are confident in all the mahi we have done on Structured Literacy over the last three years, we will continue to develop consistent practice across the school and build on our knowledge. We have started to look at the changes in the Maths curriculum and are eager for the new resources to arrive. Meanwhile we will continue to teach our Maths programmes and have more of a focus on the teaching and learning of number knowledge and basic facts.
The focus we have had on consistent expectations and routines over the last few years is now more evident across the school. The Northland CHAMP image is known by all children and is a reminder to everyone of our values and their importance in our ways of being at Northland school.
At the start of the year we know there are a lot of things that we need to inform you of and vice versa. We will have a newsletter for the next two weeks and then they will come out fortnightly for the rest of the term. Newsletters will be sent via an email on a Wednesday afternoon. They are also available on the school website.
- Our main platform for communication is through HERO and you will need to make sure you have uploaded the HERO app.
- Team newsletters will be published in Week 3 and 8 and will be uploaded through the Community Feed on HERO.
- Teachers and Teams will also post through the Community Feed any updates or notices that are specific to a class or hub.
- Updates about learning will be shared throughout the term by teachers through the Sharing Learning page on HERO. You can comment on these posts.
Learning Conversations will take place on Tuesday 4th and Wednesday 5th March between 3:15 and 7:45pm. Bookings will be open on HERO at the end of next week.
The purpose for these conversations are for you to share your aspirations for your child for the year and teachers to share how your child is settling into the year and learning goals.
The best way to communicate with your child’s teacher is via email. Please see the teacher email list below. If there is an urgent need for your child’s teacher to be aware of something during the day, please contact the office and a message will be given to the teacher.
Next Tuesday we look forward to our whanau picnic from 5-6:15pm. Please bring your dinner and join us on the main court from 5pm. We will give a short overview of the focus for 2025 in Te Kohanga around 5:45 and then parents are welcome to go to their child's class where the teachers will share a short presentation on the expectations and learning plans for this term.
Ngā mihi
Andrea
Teacher Contact Details
Ruru Iti
Judith Urry - judithu@northland.school.nz
Emma Chapman - emmac@northland.school.nz
Ruru 1
Alex Munro - alexm@northland.school.nz
Ruru 2
Eleanor Ainsworth - eleanora@northland.school.nz
Emma McElrea - emmam@northland.school.nz
Ruru 3
Angela Scholten - angelas@northland.school.nz
Kōtare 1
Jane Finlayson - janef@northland.school.nz
Kōtare 2
Neil Sargisson - neils@northland.school.nz
Tīeke
Alex Oliver - alexo@northland.school.nz
Kākā 5
Rachel Peterson - rachelp@northland.school.nz
Kākā 7
Lyndsey Brown - lyndseyb@northland.school.nz
Senior Leadership
Grant Henderson - Deputy Principal and Team Leader granth@northland.school.nz
Judith Urry - Deputy Principal and Team Leader judithu@northland.school.nz
Andrea Peetz Principal - andreap@northland.school.nz
School Office
HERO
We would like to provide you with a brief outline of all the functions that we are now using on HERO. Please make sure that you are signed up and have notifications on so you can access all the information.
As we progress in our upgrades with HERO we are adding new features to streamline communications.
- Attendance
- Enrolment
- Sharing of Learning
- Community notices
- Group, Class, Team notices
- Trips and request for parent help
- School event reminders and parent information evenings
- Finance
In the financial section you will notice we have added Before School Care (BSC), Pizza payments and all our Western Zone Bus payments. You can check your school account at any time through the App and we will send statements at the beginning and end of each term.
Please come and talk to us if you need help navigating the HERO App.
NEW - Colour Fun Run
SAVE THE DATE! The Colour Fun Run is March 6th at 1:30pm! Help us raise funds for the school, and if we hit $2000, a teacher gets slimed! Who’s it going to be?
Stay tuned on HERO for updates and incentives. Donation link goes live next week!
NEW - Hoodies, T shirts and Hats!
Our Parent and School group have arranged a special WELCOME discount with our clothing supplier, Outfitters for the Northland School hoodies, tshirts, and hats from Friday 7th February - Friday 14th February.
These are not compulsory, Northland School doesn't have a school uniform, so purchasing these is completely optional. The hoodies can be personalised with your child's name, just follow the prompts in the link below.
Northland School Uniform
Use the code 'WELCOME2025' for 10% Discount and FREE shipping to the School Office from Friday 7th February - Friday 14th February.
For those of you with children participating in sports events you can choose to purchase your own school sports shirt or borrow one from the office.
NEW - Weetbix TRYathlon
Kia ora e te whānau,
Northland School has entered another team this year in the Weetbix TRYathlon. It’s on Sunday the 16th March at Kilbirnie Park. If your child would like to be part of the school team, please click the ‘join school team’ option after signing them up. We will have a gazebo set up on the day where your children are able to store their belongings and gather to support each other.
https://tryathlon.co.nz/
If you have any questions please feel free to email me at alexm@northland.school.nz or visit the Weetbix TRYathlon website for me information.
Ngā mihi,
Alex
NEW - Team Directory
We would like to give each student a Team Contact Directory so you can establish relationships outside of school. Can you please let us know by Wednesday 19th March if you DO NOT wish to be on this contact list.
We will be using Names, contact email and 1 mobile phone number.
Library News
Scholastic Book Club Term 1 2025 - Issue 1 is out now!
Term 1 Issue 1 2025 catalogues have been distributed in your child's class. Deadline for orders is on 21 February. 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.
Should you wish to gift the books you ordered to someone, please place your order then email Erwin so she knows. When the order has arrived, she can then put it aside and get in touch with you so you can come and pick it up. Any other queries to Erwin Palado by emailing librarian@northland.
School Lunch Options
Subway - Every Monday - order online through www.lunchonline.co.nz
Sushi - Every Tuesday - order online through www.ezlunch.co.nz
Pizza - Once a month - available the 1st Friday of each month(Starting March 7), $6 per pizza order forms available on the school website or in the school office.
Apps available for Subway and Sushi through the school website.
Term Dates
The bell rings at 8:50 am. Any student arriving after this time will need to sign in at the office and will be marked late. We encourage students to arrive by 8:30 am to meet with friends and get ready for the day. Lessons will begin at 9am.
Before School Care available from 7:30 am -8:30 am in the Library. Please email the office for further details, office@northland.school.nz
Term 1
Teacher Only Day - 21st March( Kāhui Ako MOE Teacher Only Day Curriculum 21st March )
Term 1 - 30th January - 11th April
Term 2
Term 2 - 28th April - 27th June
CAMP DATES
Year 7 / 8 Camp - Term 2 Kaitoke 6th May- 9th May 2025
Year 5 / 6 Camp - Term 4 Forest Lakes 29th October - 31st October 2025