Newsletter 1/2017 Week 1 Term 1 1 February 2017 Dear Parents and Caregivers of Baverstock Oaks School Firstly, let me acknowledge the devastating tragedy in our neighbourhood on 22 December for the family of Bareth Kaileshan. The house fire took young Bareth along with his Mum, Bhamini and Grandma, Umadhevi. Bareth’s Dad, Kaileshan, passed away after many operations on Friday 20 January. Bareth’s 11year old sister, Krishah, survived. At such a tragic time we extend our thoughts of support and sympathy to Krishah and her extended family. Welcome back to a new school year. I hope you have all taken time to enjoy being together with family and friends as these close relationships are so important. Welcome to all our new families, you are now part of a large, supportive and caring family. It has been great to meet you at our enrolment chats and I look forward to getting to know you better. At Baverstock Oaks we are aligned strongly to our shared vision and values. Please take the time to check these out on our website and you will find in the newsletters I refer to them often. They are very much a part of daily life here at school. This document is quite clear about what we value at Baverstock Oaks and how we operate at all times. We are looking forward to getting to know each and everyone of you and there are a few opportunities planned in the next few weeks so circle them in your diaries. School newsletters come out fortnightly and whanau newsletters will be out beginning of week 3. Welcome also to the new staff who have joined us this year. We are so pleased with the high quality people Baverstock Oaks attracts. All are introduced below. Our school motto is: Learning to Grow; Growing to Learn. We value: • The sense of ‘family’ and learning partnerships • A high quality learning environment • The power of thinking and reflection • Questions, feedback and feed-forward • The diversity of our community • The well-being of the ‘whole’ person We hope to get the opportunity to meet you all at various events this term. Watch the website, join up with the FREE smart phone app, our newsletters and information board on Baverstock Rd for reminders. REMEMBER we cannot teach your children alone, family involvement is an integral part of the triangle.

It is important to develop the partnership involving the teacher, the student, the school, and parents, family, and whanau so that all partners can be active in promoting student learning. This partnership needs to be based on shared expectations of what the child should be learning within the guidelines of the New Zealand curriculum and the New National Standards, which we as a school are very positive about. So please attend all these opportunities at during the year as well as informally to develop a STRONG LEARNING PARTNERSHIP with us and your child.

Parent Corner – School learning and Home learning Learning happens everywhere – at home, school, at the beach, walking down the road even lying in bed at night. We have your child for a mere 6 hours per day, 200 days a year – that is if they are never absent. You have them for the other 18 hours of those 200 days and all of the other 165 days. We certainly honour you as your child’s first teacher. We certainly need to form a learning partnership together to support your child in their learning. Hence we will endeavor not to sabotage your family time with the homework war. This year you will find each child has some reading to do, some words (either spelling or basic sight words), maybe some basic facts (all reinforcement of school learning) and a life skill that you can teach them (home learning) e.g. tying shoes laces or how to clean the bathroom or how to help me prepare a meal. We look forward to your child sharing what they have learned at home with you which really reinforces the connection with our partnership. Enjoy some quality time with your children and they will return to school the next day with a better appetite for more learning. Thanks again for taking the time to be part of our learning journey. We hope to see you all at various times over the year helping where you can. Mary Wilson PRINCIPAL Introducing the team Mary Wilson – Principal The school is divided in to seven whanau with our Associate Principals (APs) having schoolwide responsibilities rather than to a team. The APs do however look after special needs and pastoral care for a three year band – Genée & Andrew Yr 4 – 6, Allison & Kate Yr 1 - 3. Genée Crowley – Associate Principal (home, school & community partnerships, restorative practices, ICT, EOTC) Allison Hamilton – Associate Principal (student leadership, Maori & Pasifika engagement, beginning teacher and student teacher development) Andrew Flanagan – Associate Principal (aspirational learning, sport coordination, restorative practices, property, whanau leader release) Kate Keenan – Associate Principal (ESOL and Learning Support, beginning teacher and student teacher development, whanau leader release)

Rm Teacher Year

Level

1 Mrs Kellie Srivistava 2/3 ksrivistava@baverstock.school.nz 2 Miss Sophie Wooding (Whanau Leader) 2/3 swoodling@baverstock.school.nz 3 Miss Sally Shabbot 2/3 sshabbot@baverstock.school.nz

5 Mrs Chris Thomson / Ali Robberts (Fri) 2/3 cthomson@baverstock.school.nz 6 Mrs Laramarie Dreyer (Whanau Leader) 2/3 ldreyer@baverstock.school.nz

7 Miss Keryn Logan 2/3 klogan@baverstock.school.nz 8 Miss Jasmine Vili 2/3 jvili@baverstock.school.nz 9 Miss Doriane Raman 2/3 draman@baverstock.school.nz

10 Miss Siobhan van Niekerk 2/3 svanniekerk@baverstock.school.nz 11 Mrs Rose Bain 4/5 rbain@baverstock.school.nz 12 Mr Robert Tuli 4/5 rtuli@@baverstock.school.nz 14 Mrs Cheryl Macdonald 4/5 cmacdonald@baverstock.school.nz 15 Mrs Nikki Mackay (Whanau Leader) 4/5 nmackay@baverstock.school.nz

16 Mrs Johanna Brown 4/5 jbrown@baverstock.school.nz 17 Mrs Lynette Radue 0 lradue@baverstock.school.nz 18 Mrs Pauline Boggs/ Trish Morgan (Wed) 0 pboggs@baverstock.school.nz 19 Miss Celine Jauernig 0/1 cjauernig@baverstock.school.nz 20 Miss Tanya Bonniface 0/1 tbonniface@baverstock.school.nz 21 Mr Nick Gibbs 6 ngibbs@baverstock.school.nz 22 Mrs Anne Collins 6 acollins@baverstock.school.nz 23 Mrs Kisten Mackie (Whanau Leader) 6 kmackie@baverstock.school.nz 24 Mrs Janine Baker 6 jbaker@baverstock.school.nz 25 Mrs Helen Dibley 0/1 hdibley@baverstock.school.nz 26 Mrs Renee DeBruin 0/1 rdebruin@baverstock.school.nz 27 Mrs Catherine Hornsby 0/1 chornsby@baverstock.school.nz 28 Miss Clare Downer (Whanau Leader) 0/1 cdowner@baverstock.school.nz 29 Mrs Liz Callaghan/Mrs Aimee Fannin (Fri) 4/5 lcallaghan@baverstock.school.nz 30 Miss Kimberley Buchanan 4/5 kbuchanan@baverstock.school.nz 31 Miss Alex Donaldson 4/5 adonaldson@baverstock.school.nz 32 Miss Holly Skipper (Whanau Leader) 4/5 hskipper@baverstock.school.nz 33 Mrs Erin McKechnie, Mrs Caroline

McKeown Mrs Kate Brown (ELA) Mrs Sonya Ryan (ELA)

ESOL emckechnie@baverstock.school.nz cmckeown@baverstock.school.nz kbrown@baverstock.school.nz sryan@baverstock.school.nz

34 Mrs Kay Foot Mrs Michelle Major, Damian Thompson

LS kfoot@baverstock.school.nz mmajor@baverstock.school.nz dthompson@baverstock.school.nz

Part Time Teachers

Ali Robberts Aimee Fannin Trish Morgan Angela Stanisich Sharon Woodward Laurence Clifford Emma Pottinger

STAFFING UPDATE As you can see by our staff line up we welcome to Anne Collins, Robert Tuli, Alex Donaldson, Catherine Hornsby, Jasmine Vili. Caroline McKeown is working part time in the ESOL department. They are all new teachers to Baverstock Oaks, however some of you may know some of them from their past association with our school in different capacities. Trish Morgan is returning part time after many years of living overseas and having a family. Welcome to you all. MEET THE FAMILIES EVENING WEDNESDAY 8 February is very important for all families to be here. This is an opportunity to come along to school and form a learning partnership with the people who are going to be working closely with your child/ren. We have a

Support Staff Frances Fraser - Exec Officer/PA Leanne Lee - School Secretary Rachael McLoughlan -Office Assistant Vanessa Walter - Office Assistant Roger Horlick - Property Manager John Sole - Property Assistant Graham Yarrall - Grounds Assistant Helen de Leeuw - Library/ Resource Manager Roshni Shahri - Resource Assistant Andrea Aspden - Resource Assistant Dianne Timu - LA Traci Burke - LA Sonia Sangwan - LA Rachel Fox - LA Connie Young - LA Gillian Cunningham - LA

strong theme around working collaboratively this year and much has changed so please come along to the hall sessions as well. There are some very refreshing messages about homework I know many will need to/want to hear. We also have a school picnic on Wednesday 1 March from 5pm - please join us for an evening of socializing. SCHOOL STATIONERY: Thanks to those families that have purchased their stationery from the Paper Plus store as requested. You will have been impressed this year how much cheaper we made the packs by having many items carried over from the previous year. We are well aware that this is an expensive time for families and so we do the work for you by shopping around for best price and quality. This is ensuring consistency across classes as well as ensuring books and pencils last the distance of a busy school year. These are the children’s tools of their trade and they need to be ready for action with the RIGHT gear. Why school attendance is SO important…. Student attendance along with effective teaching has the greatest influence on student engagement and achievement. All students must be present at school so they can engage in learning. If a student misses five days each term or one day a fortnight they will miss the equivalent of one year of school over 10 years. We monitor your child's attendance each term and have been advised by Attendance Services that if a child who has an attendance rate lower than 94% their parents need to be contacted in writing. If low attendance occurs the Attendance Services will be contacted and they will work with you to ensure your child attends school regularly. We will also be monitoring your child's punctuality as this greatly influences their ability to settle into school each morning and be prepared for learning each day. Both attendance and punctuality will be reported on in the mid and end formal reports. Overseas trips in school time will affect your child's attendance rate and therefore we would appreciate it if trips could be booked during the 12 weeks holiday your child receives each year. As you may be aware, last year our Baverstock Oaks Board of Trustees set an attendance target of 94% for the year as they were aware how regular attendance impacts on student achievement. Mid year our attendance rate was 94.13%. At the end of the year our attendance rate was 93.67%. Many families left for their holidays or special functions closer to the last day of the year which may explain the decrease in the attendance rate for the end of the year. The table below shows our attendance rates for the ethnic groups the Ministry of Education request reports on at mid-year and at the end of year.

MoE Ethnic Group categories Mid 2016 End 2016

NZ Pakeha/European 95.68% 94.73% Maori 92.19% 91.91% Pasifika 93.89% 92.89% Asian/Indian 94.68% 94.47% Other Groups 97.96% 94.79%

We look forward to continuing to increase this rate of attendance during 2017. If your child’s attendance falls below 94% you will receive a letter from the school. If absenteeism continues Attendance Services will be called to work with families to assist them in ensuring their child attends school regularly. A reminder if there is a special

occasion you need to request leave for your child to attend during the school term, any such requests must be made in writing to the Principal, at least two weeks prior to the time of leave requested.

SCHOOL DONATION & ACTIVITY FEE These school donations really assist us to offer the quality education at Baverstock Oaks you have come to expect. If you pay BEFORE March 31 you can apply for a tax rebate. The donation is $200 per student for the year. If you pay it all BEFORE the end of March, you will get $20 discount ($180) and if you pay before the end of February you will also get a free year book at the end of the year. The activity fee covers day trips and presenters brought into the school. By having an annual fee, it stops the little bits of money being asked for constantly and is more convenient for everyone. It is $100 per child. This can be paid as one sum OR $35 at the start of term 1 (to cover the seesaw online portfolio fee) and $25 at the start of terms 2, 3, & 4. A notice with this information on will be sent home later this week. Please pay these as soon as possible and send to the office in a sealed envelope with your child’s name, room number and what it is for.

Digital Citizenship (Parent Perspective) Being a digitally safe parent…... In this modern age of instant publishing through photos and social media (Instagram, Facebook etc) it is so easy to celebrate a sports team success, assembly item, graduation celebration or any other event you attend. We all love to do this - it feels good, we are proud of our own

child’s achievements, we want to tell family and friends, or a number of other reasons why. What we need to STOP and think before we upload is…. Do we have the permission to upload from each of the other people in the photo (adults and children)? It is VITAL we gain this prior to upload or we can be breach of our responsibility as a digital citizen. Please ensure you do this for any of our Baverstock Oaks family and keep us all safe.

Attached to this newsletter is also instructions on how to update your child’s whanau to receive the correct newsletters, please take 5 minutes to go into your electronic newsletter to update these details so that you receive all the correct information relating to your child’s school life.

Year 5 Camp Reminder…. IMPORTANT TO ALL THE PARENTS WHO HAVE ALREADY PAID ….

To those who have yet to pay please make sure payment is made at the school office or online as soon as possible so that your child does not miss out.

What is happening in Term 1 2017 and beyond……

Please put these in your diaries for 2017 and endeavour to plan family breaks in the holiday breaks. Breaks during the term not only affect your own child, they impact the teacher and other students when your child returns because they need extra attention. Research clearly shows that attendance rates are set down in the first two years of school for the remainder of school life. Please support your child’s learning journey as a partner in this process. No work is given when parents choose to remove children for long periods during term time as this type of ‘busy work’ can be detrimental. All leave during term time needs a written application to the principal in writing at least 4 weeks prior to departure.

2017 Term Dates Term Start Date End Date ½ days

per term 1 Tuesday 31 January Thursday 13 April 104 2 Monday 1 May Friday 7 July 98 3 Monday 24 July Friday 29 September 100 4 Monday 16 October Thursday 15 December 86

You will see on our calendar I have put all the 2017 term start and finish dates. Please ensure they are in your diaries and avoid taking children out of school within term time. The leave requests I get at times take the children out of school for considerable time and make it very difficult for children to work with their teachers and achieve the standards that are expected. As a parent, please know, that primary school is where

FEBRUARY Fri 3 School Assembly – Upper E Tue 6 Waitangi Day Holiday Thu 9 BoT Meeting 5.30pm Fri10 School Assembly – Upper F Mon13-Wed15

Year 5 Camp

Fri 17 Cohort 2 Visit 2 School Assembly – Upper B

Fri 24 Tall Oaks Swimming Sport Cohort 2 Visit 3 School Assembly – Up/Low C

MARCH Fri 3 Cohort Visit 4

School Assembly – Lower B/C Mon 6 Cohort 2 starts

Year 6 Camp starts Fri 10 Year 6 Camp returns

School Assembly – Lower E/F Wed 15 Parent Teacher Interviews 1 –

8pm Fri 17 Pacifika Group @ Polyfest

Cohort 3 Visit 1 School Assembly – Upper E

Fri 24 Cohort 3 Visit 2 School Assembly – Upper F

Fri 31 Cohort 3 Visit 3 School Assembly – Upper B

APRIL Wed 5 HPPA Softball Fri 7 Cohort 3 Visit 4

School Assembly - Up/Low C Thu 13 Last day of Term

School Assembly - Lower B/C Fri 14 Good Friday MAY Mon 1 Term 2 starts

attendance patterns are formed for life. This also goes for time keeping – arriving on time each day rather than rushing in at 8.55 or worse. This is simply not setting your child up for success. Please support your child with their learning. Well I hope you enjoyed our first school newsletter for 2017. We really want you to be thoroughly involved in our school and be part of your child’s learning journey – they deserve that.

Cheers Mary Wilson PRINCIPAL I received newsletter 1/2017 dated 1 February 2017 (200 HOUSE POINTS TO ____________ HOUSE) signed ______________________ Child’s name ___________________in room ___

How to receive the correct whanau newsletters in 2017

UPDATED WHANAU This year we are sending out whanau newsletters but you will only receive them if you go into one of the newsletter emails you have recently received from us, scroll to the bottom… AND “update subscription preferences“ (THIS WILL ENABLE YOU TO CHANGE WHICH NEWSLETTERS

YOU RECEIVE THIS YEAR).

YOU WILL NOW HAVE THE CHOICES OF:

Please update the whanau your children Will be in so your stay up to date with Everything that is happening at school THANKS