Tena koutou & Greetings,

Term 1’s newsletter release was interrupted, as we all

were, by Covid-19, so we are releasing a joint Term 1

& 2 Newsletter - so you don’t miss out! These have

been very interesting times for us all. We are so

delighted to now be in Level 1 and welcome your

children back into our OSCAR House whanau.

MESSAGE FROM ERIN Kia Ora to our wonderful OSCAR family.

It is fabulous to be back at the centre with our junior

programme tamariki.

I missed them terribly during lockdown and thought of

them all often.

My lockdown was a chance for me to stop, relax and

spend some beautiful quality time with my daughter

Jordyn.

Gardening, cleaning, movie marathons kept me busy

when I was not playing board games and catching up

on Zoom with friends.

Level 2 at OH has gone well and I thank everyone for

assisting us as we transitioned into our new ‘normal’.

We started with much lighter numbers, but we

anticipate and hope we will welcome back more

friends to the programme over the next few weeks as

Level 1 commences.

As always, I am available for a chat if you have any

questions or queries about your child’s time at OSCAR

House

Nga Mihi

Erin

Our favourite things about lockdown! James – playing football with my dad.

Darren – eating ice cream, yummy!

Vinh – playing football with my mum

Phoebe – drawing pictures

Ethan – playing with my brother

Eddie – playing video games.

STAFFING New staff We are pleased to have welcomed Elyssa & Caelin to

our OSCAR House Team at the end of 2019 and this

year we warmly welcome Bronwyn.

Student Volunteer

Ravai has joined our team from Heretaunga College

and as part of her studies Ravai will be volunteering at

our programme. Ravai brings with her a love of

Football, Music & Kapa Haka.

Special Farewells

We sadly farewelled Pooja at the end of 2019 as she

embarks on her own special adventure – Motherhood.

Pooja welcomed a precious baby boy and is enjoying

her time with him.

Adora finished up at the end of Week 7 in Term 1 and

her little precious bundle April was born during the

first week of lockdown.

Both Adora, Pooja and their little bubs are all doing

well, and we keep in contact often.

SPOTLIGHT ON OHJ STAFF MEMBER

KARLEE Hey everyone, I am Karlee.

I am 19 years old and I went to Heretaunga College

I love playing board games with the children; my

favourite game with the Junior children is TRUMPS!

Last year I mostly worked at Kelson OSCAR House.

It has been exciting moving down to the Junior

Programme and getting to know all the children.

Working at OSCAR is very rewarding and enjoyable.

It is a pleasure working for OSCAR House and I am

excited to continue my journey with your children.

NEW CHILDREN We warmly welcome Ethan, Anirudh, Eddie, Amelia,

Quinn, Hunter, Kyran, Sahar, Esmay, Xavier and their

families to OSCAR House.

We trust you will enjoy your time with us!

SESSION INFO

NEW WINTER DAILY PLAN

3.00 – 3.30pm Arrive, handwashing, Storytime, mat time, and

afternoon tea.

3.30 – 4.15pm

Active time, playground, group games

4.00pm – 5.30pm Homework

Arts & Crafts

Free Play

5.30pm – 6.00pm Quiet, wind down time – Merge with OHM

HOMEWORK Our homework session will now take place between 4

and 4.30pm.

This will mean we can enjoy outdoor active time before

the sun goes down and the temperature gets too cold.

We aim for our short homework session to be a positive

experience for the children.

PROGRAMME PLAN Art & Crafts

The children have been super busy this term.

We have done some amazing art and crafts: Paper

Weaving, Hanging Octopus, Lanterns, Superhero

Masks, Capes, Bookmarks, Pom pom Creatures &

Puzzle Craft & Self Portraits.

Coming up later in the term we will be making: King

& Queen Crowns, Splatter Painting, Iron Beads,

Season Mobiles, Finger Painting, Kite Making, and

much much more!

Active Time

This is a very important part of our afternoon!

This term we have been mixing it up with Playground,

Tennis, Hoops & Skipping, Go Noodle, Dance Fun,

Juggling, Chair Cleaning & Water Play.

Group Games

This terms’ favourites are: What is the time Mr Wolf,

Hello Mr Big Ears, Buzz, Titiro, Fruit Salad, Octopus.

We aim to play at least 2 group games per day!

.

AFTERNOON TEA This is always a favourite part of the children’s

afternoon.

So far this term the children have enjoyed; Sammies,

Corn Chips, Crackers, Garlic Bread, Biscuits, Ice

Blocks, Pretzels, Flat bread with Hummus, Vegetable

Crisps, Crispy Noodles, Chips with Dip, Wafers and

Fondue.

Each afternoon they also have selection of fresh fruit.

Moving into the cooler months the menu will slightly

change to include some warm foods.

As always, we offer alternative snacks for our

vegetarian tamariki and those with food allergies.

Please see the supervisor if you have any questions or

queries about our menu.

Emergency Drills: Each of our OSCAR House programmes run two

emergency drills per term: a fire drill in Week 2 and an

earthquake drill in Week 6. The children also practise

these in their class at school, so they are no strangers to

evacuations and Turtles. The drills at the programme

helps to cement our emergency protocols so they

become second nature. We discuss expected reactions,

assembly points and safety instructions with the

children at mat time in the week prior to the drill so

they are well informed - the only part of the drill that

should be a surprise is the timing. OSCAR House Trial

Evacuation Plans are reviewed by the Fire Department. Your children have become very efficient at drills; we

will see if we can improve our reaction times across the

course of the year!

Annual contact details query: Have you moved to a new house? Started a new job,

got a new cell phone number? Please do let either the

Supervisor or admin@oscarhouse.co.nz know if you

have had any changes in your contact details.

If you have already informed us – Thank you .

Fee payment information: Just a reminder, as previously advised,

parents/caregivers will need to stop the payment for the

school holiday period 6th -17th July. Please remember,

depending when you started back, you may need to

amend the final payment to cover one weeks

attendance only (this is 50% of the usual fortnightly

amount) as OSCAR House’s Term 2 is 7 weeks long.

If unsure, please contact kelsey@oscarhouse.co.nz.