Newsletter – 4th April 2022 – Pakuranga Heights School

Covid Update
We are pleased to report that our student and teacher Covid-19 infections are decreasing with no reportings on some days. Please continue to inform the school when your child tests positive for Covid-19.

As the country starts to ease restrictions we continue to be vigilant around our hand hygiene, classroom ventilation, coughing and sneezing etiquette, cleaning of high use surface areas and indoor mask wearing.

Starting today staff will no longer welcome you at the gates in the mornings. Like you’ve done in the past, please continue to respect our rules around safety during covid times. If you are visiting the office or your child’s classroom you are required to wear a mask.

Children at school before 8.30am
We have noticed that students are being dropped off earlier and earlier in the mornings. Staff are usually at meetings, professional development or preparing for the day so students that arrive before 8.30am are unsupervised. When the 8.30am school bell rings, only then are students allowed to enter their classrooms.

There is a before and after school care programme on site, call Pukeko Preschool if you are in need of early morning child care. They open from 7.30am – 8.30am, Monday to Friday mornings.

Staff Farewells
Sadly we farewell Mrs Toni Christensen at the end of the term. Toni has been working at Pakuranga Heights for the last 13 years, first as a Learning Assistant and for the most part in the office. Both Toni’s daughters, Samantha and Jessica have been through our school and now that both have finished their schooling Toni feels the time is right for a career change. We will miss Toni and we wish her all the best in her next adventure.

Mrs Claire Stretch goes on maternity leave and her last day of school is Friday, 8th April. Claire will return to school at the start of the 2023 year. We wish Claire, Rob and big brother Franco the very best and many good sleeps.

Bullying-Free NZ Week
Bullying-Free New Zealand Week will be from 16-20 May in conjunction with Pink Shirt Day, on Friday. The week follows the theme He kōtuinga mahi iti, he hua pai-ā rau: Small ripples create big waves.

When the whole school community, students, staff and whānau work together to address bullying and support wellbeing, positive, ongoing change happens.

This year’s Bullying-Free New Zealand week is all about focusing on the positive mahi that is already happening in school communities across Aotearoa to support safe, inclusive school cultures where everyone is being heard and listened to, and feels they belong.

The main message this year is “ My ripple can create a difference, Our ripples can create change”. We can all take action to prevent bullying behaviours. Small ripples create big waves: our actions have an impact, and small actions together, can create a wave of change

What is bullying?
We hear the word bullying a lot. What is really important is that we understand what it is (and what it is not). When we all have a shared understanding of bullying, we can recognise it, deal with it when it happens and most of all stop it from happening in the first place.

One easy way to remember what makes something bullying is to remember the 3 P’s.

It is bullying if:

It is done on PURPOSE; there is nothing “accidental” or unplanned about bullying.
It is a PATTERN; it happens over and over again.
It is all about POWER; one person (or a group) has more control and influence than their target.

We plan to provide opportunities for students to celebrate what makes them unique – such as talents, interests, appearance, disability, culture, beliefs, race, gender or sexuality –we want to reinforce the message that everyone is welcome, safe and free from bullying.

At Pakuranga Heights School we encourage respect, value opinions, celebrate differences, and promote positive relationships which makes it difficult for bullying behaviour to thrive or be tolerated. To continue to achieve this, it needs everyone – school staff, students, trustees, parents, whānau and communities – supporting diversity, talking about bullying and working

End of Term Reminders

– Lost property
We have quite a few items in lost property so if your child has misplaced any clothing please get them check the boxes outside the whanau centre and where they hang their bags. Sunhats can be put away until Term 4.

– Emergency Contact
It is really important we have all your contacts correct including address, cell phone and an emergency contact in case we cannot get hold of a parent.

We ring if your child has had any knock to the head or injury we feel needs further medical attention.

Term 2 Starts
School starts back on Monday 2 May at 9.00 am

2022 Dates
Term 1

Started 8 February
Ends 14 April

Term 2

Starts 2 May
Ends 8 July

Term 3

Starts 25 July
Ends 30 September

Term 4

Starts 17 October
Ends 20 December

Our School Values and Promoting Good Manners
Our core values of Honesty, Kindness, Responsibility and Respect are part of who we are at Pakuranga Heights.

We encourage all students to greet adults and each other, stand back and let others through, help those who need help without expecting reward, be kind and honest and responsible in all that we do and say. A simple please and thank you goes a long way all throughout life. Thank you for the great job that you as parents are obviously doing as your children look to us as adults to be their role models. We often get great feedback from visitors about the warm and friendly culture and environment that is our school.

Need to Know

April Fools!

Teachers took the opportunity to have a little fun on Friday and spring a few April Fools tricks on some unsuspecting students! Both the Senior and Junior teams were asked to help Mr Mears cut the grass with their scissors because he hasn’t been cutting it short enough – the Senior School were very diligent with their rulers aiming for Mr Kelly’s optimal length of 15mm. Other highlights of the day were the Room 17 ‘Field Trip’ to the school field and Miss Waters ‘lost’ engagement ring!

House Captains
At our virtual assembly we were also finally able to introduce our House Captains to the school. Congratulations to the following students who have been selected as House Captains this year:

Weka House
Yasir Sultanzada
Emma Jarvis
Tyler Bowman

Tui House
Sachetan Ippa (Head Boy)
Dulcie Harris
Siyul Kim

Kea House
Arya Upham (Head Girl)
Elaine Ye
Zumar Fatima

Piwakawaka House
Aoife Walsh
Jack Buckley
Caleb Jeffery

Virtual Assembly
We had our first whole school virtual assembly on Friday to celebrate those students who have been working hard in Term One. Congratulations to those students who were awarded dispositions certificates. An extra special congratulations go to the four students who were awarded the Top Kid diamonds:

Year 1: Skye Binedell (Room 1)

Year 2: Kade Fatatao (Room 7)

Middle School: Aksajan Manohararaja (Room 17)

Senior School: Mahalia MacArthur (Room 21)

If you would like to watch the recording of the assembly you can find it here.

Upcoming events

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The YBNZ School Holiday Programmes are back up and running again for the April School Holiday break.
What can you expect from our holiday camps? Look for yourself: https://youtu.be/Wd0EnHkn7Pw

YBNZ School Holiday Programme! (ONLY 45 SPOTS PER CAMP)

Dates: April 19th – 22nd & April 26th – 29th.
School Years: 3 – 8
Times: 9:00 am – 3:00 pm (8:30 am drop off available)
Location: Glendowie College (21 Crossfield Road, Glendowie, Auckland 1071, New Zealand)
What to bring: Water bottle, own lunch + snacks (morning tea), appropriate basketball/running shoes, a mouth guard, and a good attitude!

Cost: $350 for one 4-day programme
$550 if you choose to attend both weeks (2 weeks)

SIBLING DISCOUNT! -$50 off each registration if you register more than 1 person from the same family

Registration Link: https://forms.gle/uwBU3im68BpFTAPWA

*Registrations close Friday April 8th!
Please let us know if you have any questions.

Regards,
team@ybnz.org