Welcome Back Parents 2022

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Kia Ora Parents, Caregivers and Whānau,

Re: Nau Mai Hoki Mai e te tau 2022 – Welcome Back to 2022!

Welcome back to what we hope has been a wonderful summer for you and your whānau. Team Turitea are all feeling refreshed and ready to go for the 2022 year and are looking forward to welcoming everyone back to school on Tuesday 1st February from 8.30am.

On Sunday 23rd January, the Prime Minister announced that New Zealand would be moving to the Red Level of the COVID-19 Protection Framework (CPF). The following are some of the key pieces of information which apply to Turitea School under the Red Level:

Grounds:

  • Turitea School is OPEN for learning for all children from 8.30am each morning.
  • To minimise congestion, parents and caregivers are strongly encouraged to drop off and collect children from outside the school grounds in a pre-arranged location. However we understand that some parents, caregivers and whānau will still need to come on to the school grounds for example to settle a new child into class.
  • All parents, caregivers and whānau must scan in when coming on the school grounds via the QR codes around the place, wear a mask and observe social distance.

Classrooms:

Masks:

Masks must be worn when on site. Masks are required for all children in Years 4 – 6 when indoors or in close contact with others and reusable masks need to be named. Masks will be worn by all staff during school hours. Classrooms will continue to be well ventilated throughout the day.

Gatherings:

There will be no school assemblies or non essential events. Unfortunately, this will include our pōwhiri for our new teachers and students to the school which was supposed to happen on the first day of school. 

Managing cases:

The Ministry of Education has advised us that “closing schools on site is an unlikely option. However, it may be considered when there is a high volume of cases in a school.” As has been the case in the past, we would only close the school site when directed to do so by the Ministry of Education or Ministry of Health. At Red Level we will keep everyone learning on site for as long as we can.

It is important we have an up to date record of your contact details, so if these have changed over the holiday period, please contact office@turitea.school.nz with your new details.

Getting ready to return to school:

The Ministry of Education has some helpful information on their Parents and Whānau website to support your tamariki to get back to school. There is also a very important reminder about how you can take care of yourself.

While this might all feel a little overwhelming at times, we know that all these measures will help our children return to school, reconnect with their teachers and friends and do what they enjoy. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

We will continue to keep you updated as new information is provided to us. 

Korero Mai – Learning Conferences:

Thank you to those of you who have already booked these in with your classroom teacher for Monday 31st January. I have also included myself in the bookings too if you wanted to book a slot to come and meet me and have a chat, feel free to do so through the Skool Loop App > Interviews. 

Don’t forget to get your child/ren to remember to bring their taonga/treasure to share with their new teacher. *Please note that Shane’s interviews will take place in the Hall and Anneliese’s interviews will take place in the Library as we wait for their classroom upgrades to be completed.

School Apps: 

Please ensure you have the following Apps downloaded:
Skool Loop App: We want to minimise our paper newsletters this year, so will continue to use this to communicate to you. If you need help with accessing this, please come and ask Julie or myself in the office for assistance.
Seesaw Family App: We will continue to use this as a tool to post student learning. Your child’s teacher will provide you with information about how to connect to their journal from your phone.

School Pool:

It has been great to meet some of you and your whānau at the pool over the summer with the cracker weather we have been having. A big mihi to Brad Cassidy and Ben Fletcher for their work ensuring the pool runs smoothly and chlorine levels are safe for us. It is a great resource for our community. Remember to pack your child’s togs everyday as we want to make the most of it while the weather is nice!

School Grounds/Building Work:

Hopefully you have noticed that the school is looking in top shape at the moment. A huge thanks to Meryl and Pete Butler who have sprayed the weeds, sorted the gardens, cut down and pruned the trees. Thanks to Cristy and Porky Johnson from Gutter Guys who came and water blasted the whole school and cleared all our gutters. 

The prep work for the new turf is well underway and you will see this start to take shape over the coming weeks with an estimated time of completion by the end of term. Rata and Matai classrooms are nearly complete with the flooring and autex going in on Monday. Shane and Anneliese will be eager to get into their beautiful renovated spaces once these are done in the next few weeks.

School PTA:

With the move to Red Level means we won’t be able to do the overnight camp that is traditionally done in the first few weeks of the school year. However, we still want to try to run the Monster Garage Sale which is on Saturday 12th March. If still in Red Level by then, this will have to look different so we will be meeting on Thursday 3rd February at 7pm in the Staffroom. All welcome to attend. 

Stationary/School Hats:

Julie the legend has been sorting all of the stationary and school hats for your tamariki for day one. Massive thanks for making this so easy for us all, we really appreciate it. 

School Donations/Activity Fee:

Like every New Zealand school, although they aren’t compulsory, we rely heavily on school donations to help us pay for the things that our operations grant doesn’t cover. This goes towards the extras like more iPads or Digital Technology in classrooms, Sports Gear or Additional Furniture. We ask for $100 per year if you have one child at school, $150 if you have two or more children at school. If you would rather give service to the school in lieu of a payment, please come and see me and we can come up with something. 

This year we would like to ask for a $10 per term activity fee. The reason for this is to create less work for Julie in the office who deals with little bits of money coming in here and there for trips that come up. This gives the teachers a budget to stick to when they are planning excursions or bringing experts on site to work with our children. Payments are preferred online directly: Westpac – 03 0726 0572091 00 and please include your child’s name and surname in the Reference and Donations/Act Fee in the Particulars.

First Name Basis:

One initial change that you will notice I’ve made is that I wish to move Turitea School towards teachers being on a first name basis with everyone. I’ve come from a school where the kids all called me Troy and I loved it. We have a big focus on a learner-centered approach and this puts us all on the same level. I understand that this might be a challenge for you and some teachers, so I’ve let them choose if they want to join me. If you’re interested in reading more about other schools who have adopted this click here.

Bit of a long first communication to you all from me. I promise they won’t always be like this big, but I had a bit to get through out there. I am really looking forward to meeting you all and your tamariki. I have heard many great things about the Turitea Community and I feel pretty lucky that you chose me to be your tumuaki and lead your school. I have included a picture of me because I’ll probably be wearing a mask and won’t be able to do the normal meet and greet with you.

Ngā Mihi Mahana,Troy
principal@turitea.school.nz