KIA ORA KOUTOU
Welcome to the 2019 school year. We excited to meet with you all over the upcoming weeks. All three classes in each hub are a combination of Year 5 and Year 6 children. Each class has an equal mix of abilities and will start with around 30 students. For the first couple of weeks we will be working mainly in our home bases. Our focus will be getting to know one another, establishing and reconnecting our relationships. From here we will be moving across the hub for reading and mathematics. Children will be grouped based on social needs and academic ability. We always explain to the children these groups are not set in concrete; just like groups in a class taught by one teacher. Some of the reasons groups may change could be to do with interests, passion projects, strengths and areas of next steps in their learning. But who do I contact? Your child’s home base teacher is still the first port of call. Even if your child is not being taught by their home base teacher for a particular subject they will have an understanding of their learning journey and where they are heading. They can always direct you to another staff member if needed. STAFFING Kāhu 8 - 10 led by Renée Kake Kāhu 8 Renée Kake Kāhu 9 Trish Bunting Kāhu 10 Niamh O’Connor Kāhu 11 - 13 led by Glen McKenzie Kāhu 11 Sam Pelham Kāhu 12 Hollie Scadden Kāhu 13 Julie Worthington & Adela Brown Release Teachers Ros Tippen & Shelley Barbour Teacher Aides Kylie Ellis & Wendy Blackmun HOME FUN & READING DAILY The expectations are to complete reading, basic facts and spelling each day. Children read a personal book each night (suggested 20 minutes). Basic facts need to be practised by children also. From week 3 their spelling lists will be shared to their google account. Even if their book is left at school they will be able to have access to their words via the internet at home. From time to time we hear, “there was no home fun this week.” This is usually not the case as our school sets home fun every week except for the first and last week of term. Children are expected to have their own or school library book at school each day. The book they bring along should be able to sustain them for this time and we encourage children to be reading chapter books suited to their level. STUDENT COUNCIL Children wanting to be a part of the student council need to begin to prepare a short speech to be presented in front of their home base. From here the students will vote for who they think are the most suitable children for this role. Each home base has two children representing them on the student council. The children will present these on Thursday 14th February. SPORT Most terms we compete in a local sports competition on a Friday afternoon (12:45 - 3pm). This term’s sports are rippa rugby, futsal, softball and girls cricket. All sports travel to Hagley via bus with the exception of cricket. Cricket is either held at St Albans or the opposition’s school. Children will soon be trialling for these teams during school time on Thursay 7th & Friday 8th Februrary. It is very important that they listen carefully to the daily notices for information regarding sports. Those who do not participate in the teams competition will participate in a sports programme at school. If you are interested in coaching any of the summer sports team or would like to know more please see Shaye Texter or email her at [email protected] CAMP This year all Year 5/6 classes will be having their annual camp in Wainui during Term 4. More information will be sent home soon about dates and costs. AQUATICS We will continue to make use of our school pool as a part of our aquatics programme. A copy of our timetable is on the home page and notices page of our blog. You can access our blog via the St Albans app. In week 4 we will be participating in the Aquagym programme. Water activities are not covered by your blanket permission agreement. A separate permission form and information will be sent home with your child in the upcoming weeks. MANAGING SELF One of the key competencies in our curriculum is managing self. This plays a pivotal role in the senior area of the school. In Year 5/6 we are assisting with transitioning your child to intermediate. There are a number of ways your child can develop these skills such as:
BYOD We strongly encourage those children who are able to, to bring along their own device each day. Our preferred device is an iPad running iOS 11+ however we will be grateful for any device your child brings to school. There are so many benefits to bringing your own device - children have immediate access to the learning taking place, they are also able to share their learning with you at home easily - some even choose to continue their learning at home! Our Board of Trustees provides 20 iPads for us to share across each hub for those who cannot bring a device to school. Heaton and Cobham Intermediates require BYOD devices and both are flexible in what they allow so devices used at St Albans are able to follow on to intermediate (Cobham has a preference for iPads, Heaton no longer state a preference). For those bringing iPads we would appreciate the following apps being installed. Please remember if you set up family sharing each app can be added to six family devices at no extra cost. Most of these apps are free. During the year teachers may wish to use more apps, children will be advised and asked to add these as required. Some older iPads may not be able to instal all of these apps. It is likely that many of these apps are also available in the Google Play Store, for those on android devices please install as many as you are able to.
Big Day Out We have organised a big day out and all information regarding this is in a separate notice below. We will be traveling to and from Spencer Park. We require at least four adult helpers from each home base to provide supervision. If you are available on Tuesday 12th February from 9:30am - 2:30pm please let your home base teacher know. We are all extremely excited about what 2019 has to offer for your child. As always feel free to pop in, email or call; Kāhu 8 -10 Renée [email protected] Trish [email protected] Niamh [email protected] Kāhu 11 -13 Sam [email protected] Hollie [email protected] Julie [email protected] Adela [email protected] Glen [email protected]
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