Pōwhiri Welcome New Families & Staff

The start of term Pōwhiri held on Tuesday 4th February was a wonderful and empowering way to commence our first term of the year. We are always very grateful for the support and hospitality that Kaumatua Tautoko, or "Papa Big" as he is known to us, gives through this rich cultural welcome celebration and blessing. We also extend thanks to Virginia who also helped to make the Pōwhiri so special.

Meet the Teachers

On Thursday 13th February we invite you to come and meet your child/ren's Hub teachers. The evening is planned to be an opportunity for you to get to know your child's teachers and other families in the hub, hear about the learning planned for the term and answer any questions you may have.

There are two sessions planned which will allow for parents who need to visit different hubs the opportunity to do so.

• The first session will start at 4.30pm - 5.15pm
• The second session will start at 5.30pm - 6.15pm

All families are welcome to bring along a picnic, please note, there will be no food trucks this year.

2020 Digital Tools Information Sessions

For parents of learners who are new to Stonefields School and/or Chromebooks, information sessions are being facilitated to enable you to be Cyber Smart just like your children. In order for your child's device to be able to go home, parents must attend an information session. We will be running 2 sessions during our Meet the Teacher evening on Thursday 13th February.

• The first session will start at 3.30pm - 4.15pm
• The second session will start at 6.30pm - 7.15pm

Where: Hub 3 (Top of the red staircase).

Once your child has completed their Cyber Smart Kawa of Care training and you have completed Module 1, the device will be able to go between school and home if you so desire.

For any questions, please contact Bob Miller - bob.miller@stonefields.school.nz

Our new look Sports Website is up and running for 2020. Please use this as your first port of call for all information about whole school sport and inter school sports events. This is updated regularly.

We love drawing on the passions and expertise of our community so if you would like to get involved with sports this year please complete the volunteer form on our website here. Sports at Stonefields is growing and we are dependent on volunteers to continue to provide these fantastic opportunities for our learners.

Swimming 2020

In response to learner, staff and community feedback, and in keeping with current research and data, we have made some developments to our Swimming and Aquatic / Water Skills programme for 2020. Please read our Sports Website here for full details.

Netball 2020

We are delighted that the number of learners playing netball is continuing to increase each year. As a result we will be improving our systems to make sure we have an efficient and effective model which caters to our growing numbers.

The netball season runs during Terms 2 and 3. We are asking for expressions of interest now to help us plan our next steps. With our predicted numbers, it is likely that we will have a muster (trial) day to determine teams. Details will follow in due course.

Information about the Year 1 - 6 league and Year 7 - 8 league can be found on the Auckland Netball website. This includes dates for coaches workshops.

Please click here to complete the registration form. All registrations are due by Friday 6th March.

We would love to have a netball coordinator who can oversee the admin for our netball teams. If you are able to help with this role please email Lynn - lynnk@stonefields.school.nz

Coronavirus

“The Government has placed temporary entry restrictions into New Zealand on all foreign nationals travelling from, or transiting through mainland China to assist with the containment of the novel coronavirus and to protect New Zealand and the Pacific Islands from the disease.

Any foreign travellers who leave or transit through mainland China after 2 February 2020 will be refused entry to New Zealand.

New Zealand citizens and permanent residents returning to New Zealand will still be able to enter, as will their immediate family members, but will be required to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival back in the country”

A reminder of the communication sent last week - Stonefields School along with other schools, has put in place the following precautionary measures:

• Any student who has recently travelled to China is encouraged to stay home in isolation for 14 days from the date they arrived back in New Zealand.

• If the student is symptom free following these 14 days then he/she can return to school.

Further advice can be found on the following links:

Ministry of Health

Ministry of Education

World Health Organisation

Please be mindful if you have been in contact with family members or friends that have been in China and are now in their incubation period.

Sun Hats

Stonefields School is committed to the health and safety of your child and we use a number of methods to emphasise the importance of wearing a sun hat and being SunSmart.

Hats are compulsory in Term 1 and 4 and by wearing a hat every day at school, your child will have a much lower risk of developing skin cancer in the future. One of the best things we can do to help reinforce these sun protection habits is to be a role model. By ‘walking the sun protection talk’, not only will you be protecting yourself from harmful UV radiation, you will also be helping your child develop good sun protection habits for life.

As a school, we are committed to showing learners how to be SunSmart through our own role modelling in the school environment, to help normalise being SunSmart behaviours and to help ingrain the habit.

Likewise, your choice to role model good sun protection at home will reinforce what they are learning at school. For a child to see you demonstrate being SunSmart will encourage them to do the same when they are out and about outside of school hours.

School hats can be purchased from the office, the cost is $12.50 (please not eftpos is not available) or alternatively online here.

Click here to read the recent Health and Safety information