Wairau Valley School

Dear all,

It is hard to believe we are already half-way through this term. Currently, the focus is on the appointment of a new principal, board elections, attendance and developing a school report that reflects the new Ministry directed language. I have included these 4 topics further on in the newsletter.

What I need to address in this section, is how our senior children use their phones at home. Currently this is impacting negatively on relationships at school. I gather the phones are being used to say nasty things about children, exclude children and generally make some children feel most uncomfortable. The phone chat then becomes verbal at school, with what has been said or written passed on to the child. For me, that is incredibly sad, because we spend so much time talking about kindness to others and care for others, and I know these are values held by our school families. If parents could, for a few weeks at least, be a little vigilant around phone use, it would be so appreciated. It brought tears to my eyes to hear one of our lovely students was being ostracised in texts. The government banned phones at school, based on huge global research around bullying, and currently there is international interest in lifting the age for under 16 year old access to social media. Banning for me is not the solution, educating and talking about family and school values around use, is a far better option. I think the best advice I was ever given was to ensure computers at home are only in public spaces, not bedrooms, and that phones are taken away at night. I suppose all I can do, is remind you that at school we stand for respecting others, and currently what I am seeing, is some children not doing that.

On an incredibly positive note, the school fundraiser was so successful. A huge thank you to the fundraising team and the following sponsors:-

Woodbourne Tavern, Farmlands Blenheim, Fruitfed Blenheim, William Harris - Harcourts, Rhonda Stewart - Harcourts, Carters Blenheim, Lochmara Lodge, Placemakers, RMF Contracting,

Meaters of Marlborough, Fresh Choice Renwick, Bunnings, Kurt Lindsay Bayleys, Vogue Hairstylists, Delegates, Koffie Mobile, Runway Cafe, Motorworld Blenheim, The Local Butcher and TRS.

There were many others, and of course all of those people who went along on the night, helped raise over $7,000 for our new shade cover.

A reminder to get your children writing and practising speeches ready for the class competitions at the end of August. Also, there is no assembly on newsletter week, but Friday 22nd is our next assembly at 2.15pm. It was great to see so many families there last Friday.

Ngā mihi ki a koe

Dr Anne Malcolm

Acting Principal

0274926060

Anne worked with the Wairau Room children today, and showed them the aspects of speech-making that they need to consider. Aria, from the senior room, made them cue cards, to make it easy for them.

The junior poetry section is for years 1 and 2 students and Years 3 and 4 learners write and present a 2 minute prepared speech. The class competitions begin the week of 25th August. Finalists will be advised Friday 29th August and the finals are at 11.15 am on the 4th September.

Persuasive Writing is a focus of both classrooms. We will be trialling the new writing Progress and Achievement tests over the next 4 weeks and all Year 4-8 children will write a persuasive piece in 40 minutes. The process includes a plan and editing, all done in 40 minutes.

The other PAT tests in Maths, Reading, Vocabulary and Listening will be administered over the last 4 weeks of the term, but spread out, unlike the 2 week March testing.

What teachers are doing, is getting ready to write the Term 4 reports, and they use summative test data, observed learning and class work to make an informed decision around where a child sits against the expected New Zealand Curriculum levels.

Choir. Starting next week, in week 7, on Friday afternoon, the children will be invited to join the school choir, who will perform with many Marlborough schools at a choir festival in Term 4. The children who join will be expected to learn the songs, be able to stand up proudly on a stage, and be part of a collaborative group.

Sport. Two of our netball players were chosen to be part of a netball coaching session with the Tactix NZ winning team.

This school is so lucky that we are having an election and that 2 current members are standing, as that really supports continuity. You should all have received your voting papers, so please do vote. We want your voice in who is elected.

Katie Herbert takes office as the staff representative on the Board, as of today, and her role as a full Board member is to represent the staff's vision and needs.

Next Board meeting 4 September 4.30pm.

Where are we up to?

1. The Board progressed 4 applicants to the next phase of school visits and referee checks.

2. Currently the Board is considering the questions and scenarios they want to put to the applicants at interview.

3. This is followed by our panel of 5 carrying out 3 interviews with Anne in an advisory capacity.

4. A new principal is appointed, and a start date is negotiated.

The Board reviewed our attendance policies and the new Ministry of Education codes and step attendance plan.

For family information:-

Everyday our attendance data is collected by the Ministry of Education (MOE) through the school rolls. We record students as present or absent, and all lateness is also recorded. Schools are now required to respond to all absences in a stepped plan. 10% of New Zealand school students (84,000) are taking 15 days or more away from school (chronic absence) and that is a very big concern for teachers, as children miss so much work. It is difficult to catch them up, and then they struggle with learning and so the absence cycle begins. 26% of children are having up to 10 days off a term (concerning absence), and some of that is parent condoned absence - e.g. holidays, shopping, too hard to get to school on a day, looking after siblings. The research listed about 20 reasons for missing school.

What the government would like to see, is students having less than 5 days out of school in a term, and that is classified as regular attendance. Teachers and administrators now consider all absences under 2 headings, justified or unjustified. Holidays are now coded G unjustified, and the government is trying to get an idea of how big this problem is.

Calender

Cricket Coaching at school - 19 August

Speech Competition - 4 September

Ski Trip - 8 September

Board Election Voting Closes - 10 September

Disco - 18 Sept

Last day of Term 3 - 19 September

Reminders

Please remember to call or message the school office if your child is sick.

Students are welcome to arrive at school from 8.15 am.

Please inform the school if you are removing your child from class early.