Friday 15th May 2020Opening Words from the Executive PrincipalKia ora tatou, good afternoon, 你好, 안녕하세요 A very quick message from me today to say thank you to all of our parents, teachers and students who have made this week such a rewarding one. It’s been a busy, complicated few days for sure, but it’s been a joy to have our young people back in school. Yesterday, I sent out a brief video message to the whole community, and mentioned that we had excellent attendance – close to 90% across the whole school – on our first day back. We had slightly higher attendance today and I’m expecting everyone back on Monday with the exception of a handful of children who are currently overseas. Our year group bubbles have worked effectively this week, with children staying apart from other year groups, and it’s been good to see staff and students wiping down tables, washing hands, and generally avoiding contact with other year groups. As I’ve said repeatedly, we can’t maintain strict physical distancing at all times in school – it simply doesn’t work with children – but we have rearranged rooms and are keeping students as separate as we can when they are in class. The temperature checking has worked very well too, and all students have been checked by 9 am every day. Adults are checked on entry. Please keep asking questions about our arrangements, and please bear with us as we make slight adjustments to the start and the end of the school day. It’s gone very well this week, and I’m grateful to all our staff for their organisational skills and commitment. And if we all follow the rules we have in place at the moment, we will continue to be able to manage our school in the ways we need to at Level 2. And finally, our students have adapted brilliantly to the school environment. It’s a big transition, and they’ve leapt gracefully over the hurdle with charm and enthusiasm. We got straight back into their work as soon as they came back into school, and our amazing young people have enthused all the adults around them. I can’t express how much better it feels to hear their laughter and excitement as I move around our lovely school site. How can you support your child to transition back into school life?The impact of Covid-19 has meant that teachers, parents and students are experiencing significant changes in a short period of time. Our new change has been the return to school and face to face interactions with classmates, teachers and parents. For some of our students this has been an eagerly awaited moment whilst for others maybe a time of feeling slightly overwhelmed. How can you help your child adjust and navigate their move back into school life? Transition It is normal to feel a bit unsettled or unsure when we leave our ‘home’ bubble. It can be tiring coming back into contact with a larger group of people. Take the time to readjust the bedtimes to enable them to wake up earlier and get used to that ‘before school’ routine. Be prepared for this to take a few days whilst their body clocks adjust. Emotions Excited? Teary? The anticipation of seeing friends and teachers can be quite overwhelming. It can be normal to feel excited and teary at the same time. Listen to your child’s concerns and acknowledge their feelings. If your child is concerned about the changes that are occurring let them know that it is normal to feel worried about change. Look to the positives Focus on the positives of returning to school life. What did they enjoy about learning on-line and what do they enjoy about being in the classroom? Focus on their favourite subjects and what type of activities they can only experience when they are at school. Remember, we are all adjusting to a new normal. This is a time to be kind to those in our bubbles at home and those at school. This time of transition may require us to focus on a gentle and gradual approach. Kia Ora, I am writing this newsletter on Thursday night, feeling pretty tired but so happy to see so many of our Primary students back today. I lost count of the times I said welcome back, lovely to see you, go straight to class, as everyone arrived but for a first morning in Level 2 it all went very well. Our students were so happy to see each other and just wanted to talk and talk. Playtimes were for running off some energy and the juniors coped really well with a slightly different timetable. We have tried to ease students into working in the classroom again this week with lots of creative activities, arts, sport, music and times for talking about how they coped with lockdown. Children are pretty resilient and adapt quickly but we will keep an eye on them to make sure that they are handling life and learning away from home again. Chatting to parents at pick up at the end of the day there were mixed reactions, some relieved that they weren’t homeschooling and could get some work done and a few who were bored without their little ones. We welcomed 20 brand new 5 year olds too and although they were a little unsure at first they soon made new friends and enjoyed time with their classmates, teachers and playing on the new playground. Thanks again for all of the support you have given us during lockdown, working with your children, getting them to online lessons on time and sending us photos and videos of learning at home. Take care of yourselves, have a relaxing weekend and we will see you next week. Nga Mihi, Sian Coxon, Principal of Primary P1 begin their Safari adventure!In P1 our learning is based around the topic, Safari Adventures! Now we are back in our classroom we have enjoyed exploring our Safari role play and small world area. We have also welcomed new students to our class this week and have loved getting to know everyone and making new friends. Can you guess who's behind the mask?In P5 we have been learning about 'Endangered animals' and specifically the Orangutan. We have learnt about what it means to be endangered, why some animals become endangered, and what we can do to help. We were able to link our Science and Literacy and all enjoyed reading 'The Queen's Orangutan.' As well as this we made some fun orangutan masks. Can you guess which children are hiding behind each mask? Pirates in P8 and expressing emotionsDuring our last week in lockdown our phonics sound we were learning was 'ure'. The children watched a power point which was all about pirates and the famous saying goes something like this "ure, ure, ure" whilst swinging your arms - so the children were asked to make a pirate hat and decorate it with 'ure' words. Look at our super pirates! Over the next dew days we will be focusing on how we share our emotions in different ways, associate colours with our feelings and making 'feeling' connections to the text. Especially with these past few weeks in lockdown, we feel this is an important part in our children's lives to be able to express themselves and this is an easy way to do it by relating it to colours. The book we are reading is - My Many Coloured Days by Dr Seuss. Here are a few ideas of what our children feel when they see certain things. Book Covers and the SunIn P6, we have written our own picture book 'The Day the Fruit Quit' using Drew Daywalt's writing style, author of the 'The Day the Crayons Quit.' We learnt about the key features of book covers and then applied this new learning to create our own inviting book covers. For Science this week we have been learning about the Sun. We have learnt that the Sun is at the centre of our solar system and that it is a star. We know that the Sun provides Earth with light and we learnt how light can be used to create energy. We also made our own models of the Sun and researched interesting facts. Cactus Art in P17To settle back in to our regular school days, P17 are getting stuck into an art project. Today we are practicing sketching out large cactus. Eventually, the ones we like the best will be transferred on to much larger pieces of paper, using paint blending techniques to create texture, shading and perspective. These epic pieces of art are going to look awesome once they’re done! P15 back in the classroom with so much enthusiasm!Students started the day by discussing how to keep themselves safe during Level 2. The students were well informed already and have a clear understanding of what we all need to do to keep ourselves and others safe. We had a wonderful catch up by playing Lockdown bingo and sharing with each other all the things we have each been up to. A favourite activity for the day was designing a town. We all agreed that most of us went on walks in our neighbourhoods and saw places we might not normally see. This inspired us to imagine that we were town planners, asking ourselves what we would include in the town. We brainstormed ideas and then set about creating and designing. One creative idea shared by Eddy, was to create an underground elevator system that went from the supermarket and restaurants to the houses. The stores would send the food via the system and the days of supermarket shopping would come to an end, perfect for lockdowns. Another innovative idea from Ezrah was to ban all cars from his town. Instead he is going to have public transport with a focus on human sized drones. P15 were challenged to use innovation and critical thinking skills during the design process. Students then used drawing, measuring, scaling, art skills and much more to bring their town planning project to the page. When they are finished, we will display the work in our classroom. Picasso in P16In P16 this week we are looking closely into the cubism period of Picasso's artwork. We have learnt some interesting facts about his paintings as well as why he painted such different artwork all the time! Here are our P16 students working hard on their very own Picasso inspired portraits . Kia Ora, I cannot understate how good it was to see our college full of students once again yesterday. Moving around the college it was great to see students engaged and enjoying themselves, whether it was in a lesson or catching up with friends. I was lucky enough to teach three Year 9 classes and being able to look a student in the eye to gauge their understanding and ask their opinions was significantly easier than it has been whilst we have been in the online environment. Another interesting change for the time being is having teachers moving between classes rather than students, which is normally the case. I frequently visit lessons and the temporary structure has enabled me to see even more teachers in action, which I really enjoyed. At the end of the school day I watched smiling students stream out of the gates. I have no doubt that they will be tired this afternoon as they manage adjusting back into a school environment. However, these two days to get back into routine have been really beneficial and will put us in a great place at the start of next week. On next week, we will start to get more activities up and running as we move toward what we have previously considered normal. Our sports programme in-particular will be running with Year group bubbles in various sports. Sport for this term will be free of charge and as there are no inter-school competitions being undertaken, I would encourage all students to give something a go. Even if they are not normally registered in a sport, they are welcome to come along and get active while learning some new skills. A quick thank you once again to parents for all the positive messages that we have received from you. I also appreciate the trust that you have in us, with attendance over the past two days being excellent. I appreciate that there is apprehension moving from where we have been for the past 7 weeks, and the excellent attendance at school is a vote of confidence in what we are doing as a school. Nga Mihi, Kieran Verryt Flipgrid-recording and sharing homework at homeScience students have been using Flipgrid to record the description of distillation at home. They can share these with their classmates and respond to each others' videos. This has been a great way to learn for our students, by watching other people's videos. 100 word storiesOur Year 7 English class was set the challenge to write a story, which is exactly 100 words in length on the theme: A Different World in Lockdown. While all our works are still considered works in progress, here are a couple of examples from our students. These stories are part of an Australasian competition to promote writing among students from years 7-9. Year 8 MusicYear 8 try their hand at conducting The Year 8 music classes wasted not a minute to jump into the shoes of an Orchestral conductor, once they entered their Music classroom this week. The students pictured are practising the following patterns that indicate to the musicians which part of the bar the music is at. For the next few classes we are looking at the orchestra, its development, the families of instruments and the role of the conductor. With so many talented musicians in an orchestra, why does one need a conductor? If you wish to know the answer, click here to find out. Incredibox compositions It has been a pleasure to listen to the Year 8 Incredibox compositions. Each year the students become more and more clever about the way they integrate contrast and continuity as they master the art of structuring musical ideas, one of the assessment components for composing at IGCSE level of Music. Check out these fantastic creations at the links below: It was also great to see how many parents were keen to try out the programme. Feel free to try it for yourself by clicking on the bottom left button “try it” yourself and let your child show you the way. Pizza!During our last day at school at Level 3 on Tuesday, the Year 7 and Year 8/9 bubbles combined forces to make pizza! Year 7 were responsible for the toppings and Year 8/9 had the bases covered. Taste tests proved popular with the staff that were on site. Whilst Alert Level 3 was different for everyone, we’ll miss the time in our little bubbles. Winners for Baking Competition
Thank you all for taking part in the competition. It was a difficult decision. The entries looked delicious. You are all fantastic bakers! Student Destinations over the past 4 years...Mikayla O'Brien, Class of 2018Mikayla is currently in her second year of studying a Bachelor of Global Studies and Bachelor of Laws conjoint at the University of Auckland. She is hoping in the future to do a Master of Laws overseas and then work in criminal law. "Pinehurst gave me a great group of friends that I'll continue to have for the rest of my life and unparalleled support!" |