Tuesday 8th February 2022
Hello Everyone,
We had a really nice first week at school last week. We had a couple of anxious children but generally everyone was glad to be back and we were glad to have everyone back.
Thanks so much for your work in helping to make sure that our school continues to stay COVID free. I know that it’s hard not to come inside to settle your children into their room, and I’m hoping that this will change soon, but our children are becoming capable and resilient at settling in each morning. I have experts from DET (Department of Education and Training) telling me that we are very likely to get COVID in the school some time though, due to the virulent nature of it. Please be assured that we are ready to manage it and that we will keep you informed whilst maintaining strict confidentiality. If your child tests positive, please contact the school so that we can ensure that all parents are checking their children for symptoms. I have a feeling that we may get a bout of summer colds, given the range of different weather last week (I had my heater on one night). This will be an added burden, but if your child is symptomatic i.e. has a sore throat, cough, sneezing or a runny nose etc, we will need to call you and ask you to take them home. They will then need to have a PCR test in order to return to school. The RAT tests are protective measures for regularly checking your children in case they are asymptomatic or have recently been exposed.
We had our first assembly on Friday, and although remote WebEx assembly is not ideal, it was lovely to get the whole school together to welcome our Foundation students. At the assembly, we announced the Grade 6 whole school responsibilities for this year:-
School Captains - Poppy and Lucinda. This role is elected by the senior students. Our School Captains will run assemblies each Friday, and will represent the school when we have important events or visitors.
House Captains- Mitchell (yellow) –Jocelyn and Emily
House Captains Kulin (green) – Oscar and May
Our House Captains help to organise school sport days (just a reminder that we have our swimming sports at Woodend pool this coming Friday). They also organise a whole school game in the yard each Friday lunch time.
School Reporter – Eliza. Eliza writes a monthly report about the school for the Gisborne Gazette and also writes articles for the school’s weekly newsletter.
School Photographer-Darcy. Darcy will record our year and important events in photographs and he will then store them securely on our internal administration system. Darcy is a keen (and wonderful photographer already).
Junior School Council President – Molly. Our JSC is made up of student representatives from every class. They meet regularly and decide on any important events that will be organised by the children. They also make all decisions for student fundraising.
Environment Team Leader - Lilith. Lilith will be responsible for leading the green team which has representatives from each class. They will have regular meetings with the vision to make the school more sustainable.
Student Voice Leader – Aiden. Aiden will visit each class every week, and peer to peer talk to them about what is happening in the school, what is working well and what needs changing. He will then meet with me, and we will discuss and hopefully implement solutions to the problems. One year, one of the requests was for a rollercoaster in the school. Sadly, I couldn’t help with that one!!
Technology Leader –Charlie. Charlie will organise much of the technology in the school. He will be trained in using our green screen, virtual technology, 3D printer, robo-spheres, microphones etc. He will then support both staff and students to understand and use this equipment.
Peer Mediators (also called Playground Patrol) –Jayden and Thomas. Jayden and Thomas will be in the playground every lunch time. They will wear a fluoro vest so that they are easily recognisable. Their role is to support the yard duty teacher by helping our younger students if they have minor problems, or if they feel more comfortable talking to a peer. Any large problems will be immediately directed to the teacher on duty outside.
Buddy Leaders (a very popular role) – Olive and Ella. Each week our Foundation students have a lesson with their buddies. This lesson is designed and delivered by the Buddy leaders with support from the teachers. These sessions build strong relationships between the buddies and allows our older students to model the school ethos of Care, Create, Collaborate.
Congratulations to all of our Grade 6 students. They are a lovely group of children.
This Friday we have our whole school swimming sports at the Woodend Pool. Please don’t worry if your child can’t swim or is scared of the water, we cater for all children. It is going to be a warm day, so could you please sunscreen your child and give them plenty of water. We will stop and remind all children to put more sunscreen in during the morning (the school can provide this).
Last night we had our first FOS (Friends of the School) meeting. This is our parent body who organise social events and school fundraising. This year is a fete year (the first for a while) and we will need as many parents as possible to help us. The fete raises money that allows us to add “extras” to the school such as the resurfaced basketball court, the new school fence, shade sails, garden beds and the decking for the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Music) room. PLEASE consider joining FOS. They are a very welcoming group.
I’d just like to finish with a reminder that I am always here to talk to you. If you have an issue, please come to me to talk about it. If I don’t know, I can’t help. You are always welcome to see me.
Have a lovely week and enjoy the weather
Trish
