Koru 2018 Welcome Newsletter

Koru Team Newsletter

Term 1 Week 1 2018

Kia ora koutou,

Greetings to you all and a very warm welcome to this new year. It is a pleasure to be able to meet with you and your child/children during these two days of learning conferences. We are looking forward to a full and flourishing year ahead!

Our team from left to right Kristika, Caitlyn, Elizabeth, Dorinda, Sue, Charlotte, Amber and Rowe.

The First Weeks of School

Our focus in the first weeks of school will be about building relationships and getting to know each other. This will include supporting students to become familiar with daily routines including how to use the inside and outside spaces, how to move around safely and sensibly, how we use resources and materials and learning how to work together. Becoming familiar with the sequence of and expectations within a day of learning at school is important for all our tamariki. If you have any questions or concerns please let your child’s home group teacher know.

School Routines:

The first bell rings at 8.30am. At our West Hub there will be a teacher to meet and greet children and families as they arrive. If your child/children arrive before 8.30am they will need to wait outside as this allows time for teachers to prepare for their teaching day.
We encourage you to support your child’s independence by allowing them to carry and unpack their school bag and place it into one of the green or blue cubbies (at the back of the West Hub).
Lunch boxes, drink bottles and reading folders will be stored inside the hub.
Discovery Stations will be set up in hubs at 8.30 each morning. Once your child has put away their things, he/she is welcome to choose a discovery activity or to go outside to play.
All children are to come to their home space at 8.55. If you arrive after this time it is very important that you report to the office to sign in. If you need to collect your child from school during the day you will need to sign them out at the office.

Karakia to start the day

This karakia is used across our kura to start the day and for formal gatherings, celebrations and meetings.

“This is an ancient karakia that was used when you were out at sea and a storm was approaching. However, the storm is a metaphor for any life threatening force. It is now widely used at the start of the day or at the start of a meeting”.

Whakataka te hau ki te uru,

Whakataka te hau ki te tonga.

Kia mākinakina ki uta,

Kia mātaratara ki tai.

E hī ake ana te atākura he tio,

he huka, he hauhunga.

Haumi e! Hui e! Tāiki e!

Translation

Cease the winds from the west,

Cease the winds from the south,

Let the breeze blow over the land,

Let the breeze blow over the ocean,

Let the red tipped dawn come with a sharpened air,

A touch of frost, a promise of a glorious day.

Topic

Through a range of learning experiences and across a range of different curriculum areas we will be learning about the concept of Sustainability. We look forward to sharing our learning goals for this with you soon.

Home Learning

We are currently engaged in a review of our Home Learning protocols. We expect to have completed this by week 3 so we can inform whanau about the Home Learning expectations.

Parent Help

To help us settle into our learning routines and general day to day programme we would appreciate if offers of parent/whanau help are delayed until March. If you are happy to work ‘behind the scenes’ to put away reading books etc we would very appreciate that. Please make contact with one of us and we’ll let you know how you can help.

Our Values Kete & Student Wellbeing

The Beckenham School values are captured by this Māori whakataukī:

Ka whakakī ngā kete mo ngā haerenga o tātou katoa

Filling the kete for the journey of us all.

During the year we will keep returning to our school values, integrating and weaving them into our programmes.