Newsletter Date: 6 August 2020
Issue: 10/20
Kia orana
It is week 3 already and the term is zooming by!
A huge thank you to all our Whānau who attended the mihi whakatau on Monday this week. There were approx 70 people we welcomed officially onsite. I will be honest it was an emotional welcome! Many of the parents were those whose children started in the midst of lockdown. I know the pain they felt when their child started school and they couldn’t come onsite to see their habitat straight away and missed that very important milestone. Instead they put the safety of their child and every other child at the forefront. It was lovely to see you all on Monday and to officially welcome you to the family!
Over the past 2 weeks I have surveyed the staff and our learners around assemblies. As you know in the first half of the year we needed to be creative around how we got communications through to our learners and how we celebrated successes. As a result we are making some changes.
Monday Morning assembly
The purpose of the Monday morning assembly is to inform our learners of what is happening in the upcoming week (comms meeting for kids) and to give them a PB4L/wellness focus for the week. During this time the intention is to build our sense of ‘Team Bayview’ and to instill school pride.
The staff were equally split over how the Monday morning assembly/messages should be delivered but our learners were quite definitive with their response. Our learners really like the messages being put into a video format to be shared in classes so moving forward, Monday morning messages will be put into video format and shared in classes on a Monday morning. This includes the Wall of Fame, token box options and a wellness/PB4L focus for the week. Occasionally when the need arises we will hold a kanohi ki te kanohi (face to face) assembly or a google meet with classes.
Friday Assembly
The purpose for our Friday assembly is to celebrate learning and successes. 75% of staff wanted to retain a face to face assembly whilst our learners were equally split. Our learners liked the fact that their parents could come to these assemblies and watch them receive an award. Staff also liked that parents could come to these assemblies to build our greater sense of community.
Each learning group will be allocated 2 assemblies over a term and the head peeps will be responsible for the remaining assemblies. PLGs will decide how they will conduct the assembly i.e. whether it will be kanohi ki te kanohi in the hall, or delivered digitally. Parents (and other staff) will be informed of whether assembly will be kanohi ki te kanohi or digital at the beginning of the week.
Our aim is to celebrate success in a short, sharp and maybe sassy way!
FYI tomorrow’s assembly (Friday 7th August is kanohi ki te kanohi).
Class Trips
We have lots of classes arranging trips around our concept of kaitiakitanga at the moment so please keep an eye on Seesaw and in your child’s bag. Payment is not required as we are part of the Government’s donation scheme but we will require a signed permission slip to allow your child to attend. We are grateful to the parents who are able to help supervise on these trips as well. We could not do this without you.
TEACHER ONLY DAY – School will be closed
On Friday 21st August we will be holding a teacher only day where our staff will be engaging with a consultant around designing our local curriculum. We thank you in advance for making alternative arrangements as the school will be closed on this day. The Bayview Community Centre will be running a “schools out” day on the 21st August for $28 per child and will run from 7.30am to 6.00pm. Please contact the centre if you would like to use this service.
There will be a second teacher only day on Tuesday 27th October (which is the day after Labour Day holiday). We thank you for your support around this.
Di and Team Bayview Staff
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