Pōhutukawa Update, Term 3, Week 1

 Ngā mihi e te whānau, warm greetings to you all

We trust everyone was able to make the most of the extra time with family over the holiday break. We were glad to see the sun greet us when we returned, although our luck ran out when our winter sports were again cancelled because of the change in weather. Winter is certainly making its presence felt this week, as well! We hope you're all keeping safe, dry, and warm. Please read on for some information about the beginning of the term.

Keeping Ourselves Safe

In Week 6 and 7 we will be teaching the personal safety programme by New Zealand Police - Keeping Ourselves Safe.  We cover this programme every two years as part of our Health curriculum. Parents and whānau are strongly encouraged to support Keeping Ourselves Safe.

You can:

• attend a meeting at school to find out more about Keeping Ourselves Safe on Wednesday 2 August at 2.15 pm in the staffroom
• find out about abuse and what to do if you think a child you know is being abused
• talk to your child about what they have learnt in Keeping Ourselves Safe.
• set safety guidelines with your family
• help young children with the Keeping Ourselves Safe activities they bring home
• give the same safety messages as the school is giving
• look at the whānau section of NZ Police Keeping Ourselves Safe for more information and frequently asked questions

More information about the programme can be found on our school website

PB4L

Our PB4L (Positive Behaviour for Learning) focus for the start of the term is “being an upstander”. We have been discussing how we can show the values ‘We Make a Difference’ and ‘We Care’ by being upstanders. We have discussed with the students the different actions we can take to be an upstander (as opposed to a bystander) if we see someone being mistreated. We have linked the Slideshow ‘How to be an Upstander’ here, and encourage you to take a look so that you can continue these very important conversations at home, too. You could also read Oat the Goat (bilingual interactive online storybook), which teaches how to show acceptance, empathy, and tolerance by being an upstander. Mā tātou kātoa, te waka e hoe, we are all in the waka together.

Cross ("Cool") Curriculum Classes

CCC classes continue with some changes for Term 3. Steve is continuing to teach the Arts this term this term Visual Arts. Rae is covering Digital Technology and continuing with Coding. Gayle is teaching Geography, and Megan is teaching Health with a look at conflict resolution. There is always a lot of learning happening over the term in CCC, so we encourage you to keep chatting about what we are covering in these courses with your tamariki. He taonga te ako, the treasure is learning.

STOMP!

As part of our concept of Innovation this year, we have launched into our Inquiry this term with a bang... and a thump.... and a rat-a-tat-tat! As you may have heard, we have been looking at STOMP: the inventive and invigorating stage show and the students have been working in groups to recreate and innovate with improvised instruments. It's been great to see the tamariki working together and taking different roles in their groups to create their own unique rhythms. We will be making an audio recording of their performances, so keep your ears open for that!

 

Kia pai te wiki, have a great week

The Pōhutukawa Team