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School finishes 12.00!

Kia ora whanau,

school finishes and the bus runs tomorrow at 12.00.

We wish you all the best for the summer and thank you for your patience, consideration and kindness love the year. We will be taking a well-deserved break and will be back planning for another great year in late January.

Nga mihi mahana

Melissa

School finishes 12.00 on Tuesday

Kia ora whanau,

This is our last week at school for 2021. School finishes at 12.00 on Tuesday and the bus will run at that time. Bus students will be sent on the bus as usual unless we hear from you about other arrangements. Please do not send messages with your children unless it is a written note, as this often leads to confusion.

End of year reports will come home on Monday afternoon. These will also contain a letter telling you about your child’s classroom and teacher for 2022. If you have anything to discuss from your child’s report please email their teacher.

Our senior class will spend Monday afternoon together at the beach and at 2.45 they will be back at school for the Year 8s to ring the bell for the last time.  Our Year 8s are not expected to attend school on Tuesday the 14th.

We are still working with very limited coverage of the front office, so please use the school app where you can to communicate with us. If you are changing children’s arrangements you may also email me at [email protected] Please do not email your child’s classroom teacher as they may not pick it up on time in such a busy period for us. Text messages, Facebook and Messenger also should not be used.

Our office will be open again from the 3rd of February.

Thank you again for your ongoing support in 2021. We wish you all a very safe and happy holiday break together and look forward to seeing our students back on Tuesday the 8th of February. 

Meri Kirihimete

Melissa

Office Hours

Kia ora whanau,

we will have very limited office hours this week. Mrs Cooke and I will be covering where we can but we will be very busy with Prizegiving and reports. 

Please use the app to let us know about student absences if you can, and leave a message on the phone before 1.30pm if you need to change afternoon plans for your child. It is much safer to make sure your child knows what they are doing after school each day. 

Please do not text our teachers or email changes during the day, as they will not always have access to messages in such a busy week.

We look forward to seeing you at our Prizegiving on the 8th. If you wish to set up your own shade please arrive by 1.00 as we are starting at 1.30. You will need to enter through the gate on Baker Street and show your proof of vaccination to our Board member. The area set aside for whanau will be clearly marked. 

If you are concerned about our arrangements you may be able to set up on the Baker Street footpath or the Hazard Street track between the school and the Parish Hall. 

We have done everything we can to make this happen so please be as courteous to our staff and each other as we would expect our children to be. We look forward to sharing our celebrations with you.

Nga mihi maioha

Melissa

Covid Protection Framework – the Traffic Light System

Kia ora whanau,

The Covid Protection Framework comes into effect today and we are operating under red light guidelines. 

It has been recommended that students and teachers in Years 4 – 8 wear masks inside the classroom but this is not yet mandatory. 

As advised, Prizegiving is a cultural event and we may only have a gathering of up to 100 people and they will be asked to share evidence of their vaccination status.

Whanau accessing school to support their child’s learning (i.e. meetings with teachers or Ministry of Education staff) are not required to be vaccinated and will not be asked to show evidence of their status. 

Next year we will begin to add our children’s vaccination status to our current records. No child will miss out on any opportunity within school due to their status. Some participation in education outside the classroom may be compromised for students who are 12 and over and remain unvaccinated, depending on the conditions set by the provider. For example,  Pouhere Taonga/Heritage New Zealand sites will require proof of vaccination to enter from the 10th of December. Our school has no control over this.

Lastly, we would like to acknowledge that our school community relies heavily on hospitality and tourism. Many of you will be facing these factors in your workplace as well and we wish you all the very best for the summer season.

Nga mihi mahana ki a kouotu

Melissa

Russell School Art

Kia ora whanau,

This year we were unable to display our art as part of the Russell Garden Club’s annual show. Instead, we have displayed it at school and on Friday afternoon it was viewed and judged.

The art willl stay up for the next few weeks so you may have an opportunity to enjoy it when you drop your children off or pick them up.

We will give out certificates and small prizes on Tuesday the 23rd when all of our children are back together.

This is one of the ways that we are endeavouring to run as normal and end-of-year programmes as possible. I’d like to thank all the teachers who helped their students produce such beautiful work and then took the time to create our beautiful displays. 

Nga mihi nui

Melissa

Garden to Table Volunteers – We Need You!

Do you have an interest in cooking, gardening, health, learning something new whilst being part of our some real world teaching moments with our tamariki?

Garden to Table is an inspiring & unique programme teaching our children how to grow and harvest produce grown in the school garden, to then be prepared and
shared in the school kitchen.

You don’t have to be an expert! 
ViewIf you would like to know more contact Lara:
Email ReplyNga mihi maioha.

Prizegiving 2021

Kia ora whanau

If your child has a school trophy at home from the 2020 prizegiving could you please send it back to school this week.

Nga mihi

Melissa

Office Administration Vacancy

Kia ora whanau

Sadly we have accepted Lara’s resignation from the position of Office Administrator. Lara, Ru, Nico, and Ruby are heading back to Auckland for new opportunities.

We are advertising the position and would like to hear from anyone who has the skills and enthusiasm for a challenging and rewarding role. If you are interested please take the time to read the job description carefully, fill in an application form and submit it with an up-to-date CV (one page is fine) by 3.00 pm Wednesday the 24th of November. 

We have a short timeframe to fill the position in order to be prepared for a great start to 2022.

Job Description

 
Application Form

We will have an opportunity to farewell the Tauri whanau at our prizegiving on Wednesday the 8th of Devember.

Noho ora mai

Melissa

Office Closed

Kia ora whanau

Our office is closed today but Lara is still available by email at [email protected]

Please leave a message before the end of lunchtime (1.50) if you need to reach your child.

Kia pai to ra

Melissa

Armistice Day Service

Kia ora koutou whanau,

Our children conducted themselves beautifully today and we are very proud of all of them. Our very youngest children did a wonderful job of following the lead of our older ones, and the contribution of all was impeccable.

We must make special mention of George whose commitment to showing respect for the significance of this service was outstanding.

Also, we must recognise the contribution that Mackenzie and A.J. made. We love to see our rangatahi giving back to their community and pushing themselves to achieve great things.

It was lovely to be with our community again after such a long time apart. 

Based on the success of the organisation of the day, we feel that we can plan for a prizegiving that includes our whanau and wider school community. We will let you know the details by the middle of next week.

George – Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui e tama!

Nga mihi ki a koe

Melissa

Students leaving school before 3 pm

Kia ora whanau,

If you are picking your child up before 3 pm please remember to come through the school office and sign them out using our visitor’s book. This helps us track where everybody is and this is especially important in an emergency. 

If you have an arrangement for other parents or caregivers to pick up your child before the end of the day, please let the office know. If this is a regular arrangement that will help us communicate more clearly with our teaching staff.

To prevent missed messages we do not encourage you to text or phone your classroom teacher’s mobile. You can notify us through the app or by ringing the office. Please leave a message if nobody answers as we make sure we check messages before the end of lunchtime every day.

Those senior students who use the Paihia Ferry do a wonderful job of getting themselves organised. There is no need for you to contact us every time your child takes the ferry if we know it is an occasional arrangement that you are happy with.

Thanks for your support.

Melissa

Armistice Day Service

Kia Ora whanau,

by working closely with the R.S.A. we have been able to organise our participation in the Armisitice Day service on Thursday morning.

Our children will be taking part as usual, but with safety measures in place. These include keeping the two groups separate, requiring masks for any visitor on school grounds (although most remain on Church Street and so don’t come on to school grounds), sanitising all surfaces, and ensuring that we do not exceed the 100-person gathering guidelines.

If you would like to attend please help us by joining the group on Church Street instead of coming on to our school grounds. That way we are able to host the R.S.A. Executive, their guest speakers, and our more elderly residents who will be seated under the pohutukawa tree without concern for numbers.

If the weather is poor and the service moves inside we will not take part.

As we plan anything this term we must keep in mind the ongoing public health situation. That means that we are making some changes to how we run our speech competition, end-of-year celebrations, and prizegiving. Next week we will send home a letter outlining how these events will work under Level 2.

Nga mihi ki a koutou

Melissa

School Office Closed Today

School Office Closed Today

Please send any absences or late notifications through the app this morning. We will clear the answerphone at the end of lunchtime (1.50) and pass on any messages about after-school arrangements.

Don’t forget Gumboot Friday for the I Am Hope Foundation tomorrow.

Noho ora mai

Melissa

Gumboot Friday – I am Hope

Kia ora koutou whanau,

This Friday is Gumboot Friday. We would like to encourage all our students and school whanau to wear their gumboots and make a gold coin donation to the I Am Hope charity.

This foundation supports New Zealand youth to get access to support for their mental and emotional health. It is fronted by Mike King, who many of you will have heard speak recently in Russell.

Any money gathered through school will be counted and donated through Liz and Alwyn at Wood2Water. It is a great charity to get behind, especially in times like this when doing something for someone else can help us all feel good.

Kia kaha

Melissa

Lunchbox makeover: Back to school ideas for kids to try!

Here are three veggie-filled lunchbox favourites that are perfect for the freezer, making filling lunchboxes in the morning a breeze. The recipes are all written to help kids take over the kitchen and try something new, whether they’re packing a lunch for at school, learning from home, or preparing a picnic lunch for the whole whānau.

Give freezer frittatas, fruit rollups, and cheesy snail bread a go! Please do email your delicious delicacies to us if you would like to be featured on the Garden to Table blog.

Kia pai tō rā whakatā.

Lara – Garden to Table Champion

Lost Property 27 October 2021

Please check the lost property for your belongings and advise the office if you see anything that belongs to you.
Unclaimed lost property is taken to the Op Shop at the end of the term.
View

Epic TV Series Equipment Sale 23 & 24 October 9am – 4:30pm Russell School Wananga.

There’s something for the whole family…..

View

Flower Show Schedule 2021

This years Flower Show schedule is attached. Due to the current covid climate there are a few changes to the schedule, we will not be taking children down to the town hall, prizegiving will be held at school.
ViewNga mihi.