FRIDAY 29 MAY 2020

Kia Ora, Talofa Lava, Greetings, Malo e Lelei, Kia Orana, Bonjour, Nǐ hǎo, Hallo, Hola, Kon'nichiwa, Namaste, As-salāmu ʿalaykum

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Tena koutou Muritai families, 

As we finish our second week of Level 2 back at school, I am so proud to report that our school is totally ‘humming’! The students are managing themselves really well with our new ways of working together and they have been making the most of their time at school.  The teaching staff have provided plenty of opportunities for the students to settle back into their classrooms, to reconnect with each other, to talk and discuss their experiences of being away from school for so long, and of course to explore, connect and contribute in many and varied ways. 

You may have noticed that your child is quite tired after all of the learning and play that we are enjoying each day - they have certainly earned an extra day off on Monday (Queen’s Birthday!) We have been very impressed with the way that many of our students have shown gains in confidence, independence and even responsibility - especially as they walk themselves and sometimes their siblings into school or into their classrooms.

Thank you parents for signing in at our desks at drop off and pick up time if you need to come on site,  and for sticking to our time limits on site of under 15 minutes.  Thank you for working with our systems and processes, these are an important part of our safety plan at Level 2.   Please note that our times for entering through the sign in at the school gates will be 8:15am - 8:50am (note, this is a change from 9am to link with the official school start time).  If you are running late, please come directly to the front office on Muritai Road where your child will sign in for the day. 

You will be aware of the Prime Minister’s announcement that as of today we can move to gatherings of 100. This is great news for special events like weddings, funerals and other social gatherings, however, this does not change our current practices within schools as yet.

We continue on with the same key guidelines that we have been working with over the past two weeks at Level 2 for next week and beyond - I will certainly communicate if these are to change.

• We continue to encourage robust hygiene practices (hand washing, sanitising and cleaning processes) for all people on-site throughout the day 
• Contact tracing register (a combination of the school's timetables, attendance register and visitor register) provides good information to health authorities in the case of a positive COVID test within the school community directly.
• Sick staff and children will not attend school 
• Parents limiting their drop off and pick up time to less than 15 min 
• Parents do not enter school spaces (classrooms, cloak bays, hall etc)

What’s happening with School Assemblies,  Sports, School Events and Trips?

We are currently reimagining , re-thinking and  rebranding the events that we traditionally do at school from now till the end of the year, and planning how we can start to host these with safety and wellbeing at the forefront of all decisions made. We know we would all like to learn, meet, greet and celebrate in ways like we used to do, however the regulations do not yet allow this. We have some great ideas and new ways of  doing some of these which we look forward to sharing with you soon!

Queen’s Birthday Weekend

Best wishes for a wonderful break this weekend, enjoy the extra day off on Monday.  I hope you all have a chance to rest, recharge and /or re-energise over the weekend in whatever you are doing whether it is an adventure away from Eastbourne, or having some time at home. 

Ngā manaakitanga,

Bec Power, Principal

FROM THE SCHOOL

Scholastic Book Club

Scholastic Lucky Book Club Term 2 2020 Issue is now available and will be closing on Wednesday the 17th June 2020, in order to get orders out before the school holidays. The Scholastic warehouse is back in operation but working at a slightly limited capacity to keep to the social distancing required under Level 2. The school appreciates all orders as this is a good fundraiser for the school. 

You can order either online at this link https://mybookclub.scholastic.co.nz/Parent/Login.aspx or by filling in the paper form in the catalogue and sending back to the school office along with a cheque made out to Scholastic NZ Ltd. 

TERM 2 2020 DATES
1 May	Queen’s Birthday
16 June	BOT Meeting at 6.15pm
3 July	Last day of Term 2
20 July	First day of Term 3

Term Dates 2020

Term dates for 2020 have been confirmed by our Board of Trustees as follows:-

Term 1   Wednesday 5 February to Thursday 9 April

Term 2   Tuesday 28 April to Friday 3 July 

Term 3   Monday 20 July to Friday 25 September

Term 4   Monday 12 October to Thursday 17 December