Connect Communication
4th November 2020
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Lots to share in this weeks newsletter and thanks to all the people who have contributed to this week's edition. I will keep my piece brief and share a few snippets of what has been happening.
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We are currently working on staffing and class structures for 2021 and while we will not take specific requests for teachers please email us if there are factors that you would like us to consider. We continue to grow in a steady way and will start the year with 11 ako classes. A wee challenge is the steady number of enquiries and enrolments which has made class compositions tricky. If you know of anyone who is planning to join us next year please ask them to complete their enrolment as soon as they can!
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The THT meeting is tonight in Putahi | Library, head on down if you would like to catch up and plan for events for 2021.
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The next six weeks are particularly busy. ERO is completing their assurance review for new school later in November. We look forward to sharing with them how we are meeting the needs of our learners and making our curriculum come to life!
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There are dates to diary for the next two weeks below but please be aware that we also put events on a community calendar, this is linked to our website.
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Claire and the Ararira Team
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Dates to diary:
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Wednesday 4th November - Teretere Visit to Art Gallery
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Friday 6th November - Lincoln Zone Athletics
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Tuesday 10th November - THT Coffee Morning from 8.45 in Pūtahi (Library)
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Tuesday 10th November - Year 8s Fun Day and Assessment - LHS
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Wednesday 11th November - Active Fun Run at school
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Thursday 12th November - Teacher Only Day
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Friday 13th November - Canterbury Anniversary Day
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Wednesday 18th November - Tough Kid (Y3 upwards)
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JOIN US
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If you know of a family in Ararira Springs Primary enrolment zone with children aged 3 - 5 or know someone moving soon, please forward this newsletter to them and ask them to complete an enrolment form or call us on 420 0888 to help us with our planning for 2021 and beyond.
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Welcome to...
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Kin who has joined Huarapa. We know that you will soon love Ararira Springs Primary as much as we do!
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Te Hapori Tautoko |THT
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THT is a friendly and dedicated group of whānau who help support our kura in different ways. Our main aims are to create a strong school community and coordinate fundraising, school events and activities. Everyone has different levels of commitment and supports us as much as they can. If this is something you are interested in, please come along to our meeting at 7pm on Wednesday 4th November. It’s a great way to meet new people and give back to our school community.
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Tuesday Morning Coffee Group
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Anyone is welcome to come along for a cuppa and a chat. It is a great way to meet new people in our school community and preschoolers are welcome to come along.
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WHEN: Starting from 8.45 am
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Where: Putahi (School Library)
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Our next meeting is tonight at 7pm in Putahi (library). We are discussing our planning for events next year. If this sounds like something you are interested in, please come along. We always welcome new people and it is a great way of meeting whānau and contributing to our wonderful school.
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KELLY CLUB
Next week at Kelly Club is Comics & Cartoons, on Thursday 12th November we will also be running a full day of activities. To be a part of the fun head to kellyclub.co.nz/ararira
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Selwyn Sports Trust is currently gaining insight into participation in girls and female sport, recreation, and physical activity opportunities offered in Selwyn.
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This will help to provide strategic guidance for increasing participation in females and girls across age groups, in sport, recreation, and physical activity. This encapsulates all-encompassing movement that is delivered through the sport and active recreation sector.
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TALENT SHOW
This year we are planning to have a talent show held during school time. If your child is interested they can come to sign up in Teretere with Whaea Hinehau.
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We will have solos, small groups and big groups. You can enter more than once for different items. Talents can range from musical instruments, dancing, singing, magic tricks, jokes, poem reciting etc. Your child is responsible for gathering any resources they may need and to practise during their own time. The final show will be during school time in week 9.
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Lincoln Envirotown Awards
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Last Wednesday night some children from Teretere attended the Lincoln Envirotown Film Awards. The children had entered a series of three clips, all about making bird feeders to attract native birds to your garden. This was part of our class inquiry learning. All entries were premiered and awards were handed out.
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Our children received a certificate each and the school was given vegetable seeds and $60 worth of Hornby Hub vouchers. These vouchers will be used to buy some native bird books for the school library. The clips will be shared shortly so you too can make a seed feeder or sugar water feeder to attract native birds to your garden.
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Confucius Institute Prize Giving
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Last week some of our Mandarin learners attended a celebration to acknowledge their strength and passion for learning Mandarin.
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Attendees were treated to fine displays of singing, music and martial arts. Congratulations to Hunter, Ben, Paige, Sophie C and Em on their awards.
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ENVIROLEADERS ON CAMP
Last Thursday 4 dedicated Enviroleaders, Whaea Andrea and Matua Charlie headed off for two days and overnight to Woodend to join with Enviroleaders from other Canterbury schools. We had a lot of fun doing activities and spending time with like minded students and adults. We participated in activities like:
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- orienteering
- tree planting,
- hearing about the Tūhaitara Coastal Park Trust's 200-year vision for its regeneration,
- quadrant sampling in an estuary area,
- bird watching,
- learning about native bird predators,
- sharing a waiata that is special to our school.
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We all had a great time and the children (Lucy McMenamin, Sophie Shea, Madison Galloway and Liam Gauld) were great ambassadors for our school. We even got to sleep in our tent at a reasonable time - hooray! We will definitely be keen to participate again in future years if the opportunity arises.
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Kia manawa titi - Be like the courageous heart of the titi
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John Parsons - Internet Safety
We hope you all managed to attend one of John Parsons recent parent evenings being held around Lincoln. We had an afternoon staff meeting at Ararira Springs with John the day before he spoke with our learners. He was very clear about our role in child protection and admired our strong school values that put caring at the heart of what we do. The power of John’s approach to safeguarding children is a multi-layer system in which government departments, schools, teachers, parents, and learners all work together to ensure the safety of children in our communities.
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Ladbrooks School joined us on Friday when John spoke to the students in the Teretere, Kaunuku and Hikuwai communities about what they can do to keep themselves safe.
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First up John asked them all which computer games they like to play - we weren’t too surprised by any of the answers. However, what did surprise us was when John asked if they could name weapons any used in an R18 game that had been identified, and what they were used for - the level of detail and knowledge of the game from many different children was eye-opening. The red R18 label on games and films does mean it is illegal for our students to access these games without parent supervision. The NZ classification office is one of the legislative layers that keep our children safe. It has determined it includes harmful content that can confuse, upset and traumatise. Some of the children were surprised to learn that this is a law and not just a general guideline.
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John then spoke about social media and how communication online should follow the same rules as communication offline - for example, if you were sitting at the local park you wouldn’t start sharing information and photos with strangers, and if someone arrived who made you feel unsafe or uncomfortable, you would probably feel safer by leaving or staying near a known adult. John started making connections between offline and online behaviour and how unusual it would be to invite strangers into your bedroom or bathroom, or to wear inappropriate dress, such as swimwear or pyjamas. John’s golden rule for children using social media was to not share photos of bedrooms, bathrooms, or pyjamas. John had shared with us the day before that social media access was responsible for a 40% increase in referrals to mental health services.
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Finally, John shared what to do if something does happen - if a stranger sends a comment, photo, video, link or any other content that confuses, upsets, or harms them. They are to seek support immediately from a trusted adult. You might have found a piece of paper in your child’s backpack over the weekend. On it is a list of names that your child has identified as trusty-worthy adults that they could talk to if they see anything harmful or upsetting. John expressed how important it is to be a caring upstander in the community and that it is the value of caring that ensures each of us can overcome any adversity, both online and off.
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What children can do to keep themselves safe is just one layer for safeguarding children in a multi-layer system in which government departments, schools, teachers, parents, and children all work together to ensure the safety of children in our communities. At Ararira Springs we believe in teaching our students to be capable users of technology while also teaching them in how to use it responsibly. We are committed to cyber-safety and citizenship education across the school.
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If you missed John’s parent evenings here is a brief summary of his most important points:
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What Now has a secret to pass on to you . . . we would like to invite you all to be a part of our final show of 2020 at a secret location somewhere in Christchurch on Sunday, November 22nd.
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Chris, Erin, and Stella have planned a fun-filled morning with awesome house games and a whole lot of gungy mess and foam. But there is currently just one thing missing…. YOU!
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So register now on the What Now website if you want to be part of the audience. Make sure to tell all your friends, siblings, cousins, aunties, uncles, mums and dads; tell everyone you know because we want to celebrate with you all.
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