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Connect Communication

1 December 2021

Kia ora Whānau,

The end of the year is fast approaching and this means we prepare to farewell some learners and their families. Unfortunately, the restrictions of level 2 mean that whanau won't be able to come to our final hui in 2021. We will be able to share items and highlights via our school Youtube channel.
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Parents are invited to our Year 8 leaves event in the Bayliss Lounge at the Events Centre. Due to having 19 year 8s leaving we are able to include parents at this event. The challenge of parents attending is made by riles for gatherings applying when parents come onsite.

We are looking forward to thanking our very many parent helpers at a morning tea on Friday 10th December at 10:15am. If you have helped out this year, thank you! We sincerely mean that it takes a village to raise a child and we thank you for your support. If you didn't get a link please RSVP your attendance to Trine office@ararira.school.nz. As this is not curriculum related it is a vaccination pass event, so please complete the form below or have your covid pass ready.
Staff are busy writing and publishing end of year comments. The graphs to indicate progress will be switched on next Friday. Class lists for 2022 will be shared on Monday 13th December.

End of Year Reporting

As you are aware, your child’s learning is shared through the digital platform of Linc-ed. Over the term, teachers have been posting comments in our areas of caring, curious and capable. Most recently the comments have focussed on the capabilities of your child as a reader, writer and mathematician. These are accompanied by a dot on a graph to indicate …

Read more
Learning Conversations and Mid Year Reporting
Poppy on the bus
It was with great pleasure that I worked with Principal Poppy last week. I think that has to be a highlight of the term and like myself when I was 10 years old, Poppy is contemplating a career in education. It was a delight to show her the ropes. Poppy is pictured collecting the Year 7 children from tech. Please read her article further through the newsletter.
I can't quite believe that our next newsletter will be the final one for the year. Until then,
Kia pai tō wiki
Claire and the Ararira Team
COVID-19-Update

Health Order and Implications for Staff and Whanau

At 11.59 pm on Monday 25 October, the COVID-19 Public Health Response Order for Mandatory Vaccinations for Education came into effect. Everyone who works or volunteers for a school who may have contact with children or students or will be present at a time when children and students are also present must have had a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by 15 November and be fully vaccinated by 1 January 2022.

The vaccination requirements apply wherever face to face schooling occurs, such as on the school site, but also at school camps, swimming pools, museums, or where other education outside the classroom (EOTC) programmes take place. This means that we are only allowed to allow people to help at school events with children if they have had at least their first dose by 16 November, and are fully vaccinated by 1 January 2022.

If you wish to be involved as a helper in any events after 16 November, please complete this short form so we can store evidence of your vaccination status. You can either upload the evidence in the place provided or bring it in to school if you prefer When school starts next year, we will need evidence of full vaccination by 1 January for any school helpers. We will store your information privately in our school database. The requirements do not apply to people who are just visiting the school, such as for a learning conference or a parent, whānau and community evening. At level 2, the wearing of masks would still be encouraged.

Welcome to Te Puna o Ararira

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This week we welcome Leo and Lenix to Huaruapa. We know you will soon love Ararira as much as we do.

FROM THE OFFICE

We have noticed there is an increased amount of hayfever around at the moment. If your child suffers from hayfever, please make sure you medicate them at home before school and/or drop some medication off at the office.
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We have also been contacted about speed concerns on Russ Drive. Please slow down around the school at drop off and pickup. A reminder also that the speed limit in the school drive and carpark is 10km per hour.
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We are looking for someone to manage our irrigation pods over the summer break.
It will involve moving our 3 lines of irrigation pods on alternate days to keep the field watered (30 - 45 minutes work each time)
Suitable for an older high school student, Uni student or anyone else who has a bit of time to spare. Happy for the job to be split between 2 people to manage your own holiday commitments.

Please email interest and any dates you aren’t available to Trine on office@ararira.school.nz
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PRINCIPAL POPPY

Today I got to be principal of Ararira Springs Primary. The first thing I did was make a list of things that I wanted to do for the day. Then I changed the bell music. After that, I verified passports and checked the bills. The third thing I did was do a class check when I got back I wrote a post for Hero.

I got to take two of my friends to Robert Harris for a very important meeting. When we got back I went on the year 7 tech bus. After lunch, I called out the birthday ice-creams and wrote this newsletter. I had a really fun day and I hope Whaea Claire did too.

SCHOOL BOARD NEWS

Tēnā koutou, the school board met on 24 November for its scheduled meeting. Items on the agenda included a review of our progress against our strategic and annual plans; property; Māori achievement and policy updates.Progress in our strategic review areas has been generally good, acknowledging the difficulties posed by pandemic restrictions and this year's lockdown. The school continues to grow, with the management team expecting to start 2022 with over 320 ākonga/learners. Your board is keeping a close watch on the roll and in anticipation of needing a new building at the start of 2024, we have engaged with the ministry and another high-growth school to understand the process and timings required for this to be achieved.We reviewed our approach to Māori achievement and engagement with our Māori community, and resolved to explore a cultural competency session for the board in conjunction with our wider kāhui ako/community of learning.We adopted a number of updated and new policies, including Behaviour Management; Bullying; COVID-19; Prevention of Bribery, Corruption, Fraud, and Theft; Safety Checking and Visitors. The Māori Educational Success policy is open for comment by parents through to the end of term, on our SchoolDocs site at https://ararira.schooldocs.co.nz/ Our username is "ararira" and password "russdrive".

Our next meeting is Wednesday 08 December, 6:30 pm in the staffroom.

Wellbeing Week

This week is Ararira Spring Primary's Wellbeing Week.

The children will be given the opportunity to partake in a variety of fun activities over the week to look after all parts of their personal well-being. Ours school's wellbeing model is "Te Whare Tapa Wha". Information regarding this can be found on this site. As a whanau, you may like to take part at home. Please refer to the attached flyer for ideas. Feel free to share your activities on your child's "Learning@Home" page on Hero.
We are collecting cans/non-perishable food items for the Lincoln Salvation Army. If you are able to, please drop items to your child's class on/before 7 December.

Sign Up Form for Drum Lessons in 2022

If you are interested in your child doing drum lesson next year with our external tutor, please fill in the form on the link. Lessons are user pays direct to the tutor.
https://forms.gle/tQYiNoatbXCy79kE7
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Edible Canterbury

We are Edible Canterbury: Home of the Food Resilience Network.
We are a network of organisations who are working to establish greater food resilience across Christchurch and Canterbury.
We work to support schools in their garden programs through providing opportunities for PD and assisting teachers and schools to create lasting links between themselves and garden resource providers/support from their surrounding community.
For several years we have distributed FREE fruit trees to schools and community organisations for their gardens and orchards, with this year being no exception. During the winter months, we distributed 420 fruit trees to 90+ locations, including 31 primary schools, nine preschools, four play centres, two highschools, 15 community gardens and 16 local community groups (churches, marae, community trusts etc.). We are currently working with various businesses and the Canterbury Horticultural Society to build support and ongoing relationships with the recipients of the gifted trees.
Perhaps your school/organisation has been the recipient of trees from us over the years? Or even this year? Perhaps your school is one who would like some support in the management of your orchard and garden space? Perhaps you would like to start a garden and orchard space? We would love to be able to support you and your educators who are doing this mahi. We would, now at this time, really appreciate YOUR support.
We are coming to the tail end of our Give A Little campaign in hopes of raising money to continue our program into the future, and we need your help. We would be ever so grateful if each and every person who receives this email could share our campaign poster and details on their school Facebook page, or better yet in their school newsletter, in an email blast to parents etc before this weekend in an attempt to raise the funds needed for us to continue the work we do. Best yet, why not make a little donation to the fund yourself? Crowd Funding can be so incredibly effective if everyone pitched in just a few dollars each.
We really love working with schools and educators and hope we can continue to be of service through our fruit tree give away program into the future.

School Leavers – notice re ezlunch / Kindo school shop

If your family is leaving our school and moving to another school that does not use ezlunch or Kindo for school payments, you need to close your account. If you’re not sure about the new school, log in, go to My Details and click on the list of schools, scrolling to find your new school.

If your new school is NOT on the list, use the 'close account' button on that screen. You can choose to donate your balance to school or have it paid out to your nominated bank account.
IMPORTANT DATES - 2021
  • 01 Dec - MindPlus Expo Evening, 6-7pm via Zoom
    Zoom link
    Meeting ID: 906 630 3997
    Passcode: 501343
  • 02 Dec - Jump, Throw Mini Athletics Day
  • 06 Dec - Yr 7/8 Career Day
  • 08 Dec - Class lists and all comments published on Hero
  • 09 Dec - Presentation with Claire, tour of school for new families (except New Entrants), 1.30-2.30pm
  • 07 Dec - THT meeting at The Lab 7pm (NOTE: date change)
  • 08 Dec - BoT meeting 6.30-8.30pm i the staffroom
  • 09 December - Presentation and Tour for families of new (non-new entrant) students
  • 10 Dec - A Christmas Carol at LHS 1-2pm
  • 13 Dec - Transition Day, 9.15-10.30am
  • 14 Dec - Year 8 dinner 6-9 pm, Bayliss Lounge, Events Centre
  • 16 Dec - Last day of term. School finishes at 12.45 p.m.
TERM DATES - 2022
Term 1: Tues 1st Feb - Thur 14 April (TOD - 31st Jan & 18th March)
Term 2: Mon 2nd May - Friday 8th July (TOD 7th June)
Term 3: Mon 25th July - Friday 30th September
Term 4: Mon 17th Oct - Fri 16th Dec (TOD 10th November)

CAMP DATES - 2022
  • Year 5/6 head to Living Springs in Week 3 from 16 - 18 February
  • Year 7/8 head to Tekapo in Week 5 from 2-4 March
SUNHATS
Sunhats are compulsory when playing outside in Term 1 and 4. We have plenty in stock in the office, so if you purchase via Kindo you can collect straight away.

Te Hapori Tautoko THT

Te Hapori Tautoko (THT) means Community Support Group in Te Reo Māori. Our main aims are to provide opportunities to tautoko (support) and connect our school community and fundraising for school initiatives, and resources that benefit our school. To date our fundraising has helped to pay for:
  • Sports uniforms owned by the school, that are lent to tamariki as required
  • Community events such our annual Matariki evening
  • Coffee mornings
Fundraising in 2021 will go towards play areas and equipment at the school.

If this is something you are interested in, we would love to see you there. We always welcome new people.

NEXT MEETING - Tuesday 7th December at The Lab - an end of year celebration
TUESDAY MORNING COFFEE GROUP
Coffee catch ups are on hold during Level 2, but will be running again every Tuesday morning from 8.45 in Putahi as soon as we are at Level 1.

FRIDAY COFFEE GROUP
We also plan to arrange Friday afternoon catch ups in Putahi at Level 1, and will advise when these are happening in this newsletter and on the online whanau page.
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KELLY CLUB - Next week at Kelly Club our theme is Dino Dig! Come and join us for this week of dinosaurs!
8. Weekly Activity Plan - Dino Dig (All Ages Combined) (1)
Kelly Sports has now expanded in Christchurch and we are operating our Kelly Mini Sports Programme for children between 1 & 5 years of age. This programme is designed to allow children to discover sport while developing their fundamental motor skills, confidence and social skills. We have venues in Halswell, Parklands and Rolleston currently with more being added all the time. For more information please contact Steve at christchurch@kellyminisports.co.nz
Kelly Mini Sports
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Snow White poster - A4
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