11 March 2022

Kia ora, Whanau

What a difference a fortnight makes. Two weeks ago, while having restrictions in place and mandates to follow we found ourselves largely untouched in terms of the impact Covid 19 inside the school. Now, we have families managing cases at home, teachers walking the tightrope of home learning and in school lessons, absence rates hovering in the mid 30 % range and increased feelings of anxiety amongst the students, staff and the community.

These are the circumstances I find myself writing this message in, yet despite this (or because of it) I want to flip the narrative and talk about the great things that are happening at EBIS on a day to day basis.

The students have started the year in a wonderfully positive manner. Everyday when I’m out at the gate with Mr Fah we are greeted by students whom we can tell are genuinely excited to be at school. Everyday we have students and staff having a laugh while the students (and Mr Chalk) enjoy the benefits of a nutritious breakfast as part of the Quick Kai initiative run by our well being team.

Everyday  teachers come in from duty commenting on how positive the playground atmosphere is, and everyday staff are sharing the wonderful activities that are taking place in their classrooms.

One of the ways the students have excelled is in the way they have embraced the Respect Challenge. This focuses on three areas and each week classes can earn three points (and occasionally a bonus fourth point). Two of these points are due to the efforts of the class keeping their classroom environment clean and wearing their uniform correctly, while the third is a team effort based on keeping an area of the outdoors environment tidy. All classes are working towards 20 points to receive their initial reward for the year, a class mufti day.

By the time you read this  four classes may have just about done enough to earn this reward as at the end of last week Rooms: 8, 9, 11 and 15 were on 17 points. On Monday they will find out if they’ve done enough. The rest of the classes are not far behind and the great thing is there are rewards for every class once they hit the magic number of 20.

Another area I’d like to quickly celebrate is the wonderful group of School Leaders we have this year. All told there are 28 students who are the voice of their peers, and they are celebrate further in the pages to come.

Finally I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome three additions to our staffing team.  Fiona Williamson is training to be a counsellor and will be working at EBIS under the watchful eye of Stuart Slater, while Bryony Fulford - Spring and Paula Stott are here as trainee teachers. Bryony is working in Room 2 with Raymond Chave, while Paula is in Room 6 with Jeremy Coenen. We are excited to have them all on board and we look forward to the contribution they will make to the school. Each has written a short bio so you can get to know them a little better.

That’s it from me, so enjoy the weather and look after one another.

Have a great weekend.

Howard

Property

After the doom and gloom regarding the field in the previous edition we are excited to share that our long awaited roofing project is nearing commencement.

This project has been 8 years in the making due to various delays and changes to the scope of the project, but finally we received confirmation that this is now due to start at the end of March.

The plan is to reroof the entire main block while also adding some new toilets into this block. This will be done over the next 6 or so months. During the time that this project is taking place there will be some disruptions to the school including classes having to move out of their classrooms for a period of time. At this time we do not know when classes will move, or for how long. A plan is being put in place to make sure that the disruption to the students and staff is as minimal as possible as unfortunately there is no way to confine a project of this scale to school holidays.

At the end of this project we will have a water tight building, improved learning spaces and new toilets making the experience of being a student at Evans Bay Intermediate School a more positive one.

As we approach the start date we will be putting additional plans in place covering health and safety, minimising disruption and the timing of classes moving out. We will communicate this with you as this information becomes available.

Minecraft-ernoons

Every week in Tonga we have been doing a different team challenge. Last week we did a moving march colouring competition and this week we have been doing “Minecraft-ernoons.”

In Minecraft-ernoons we have been designing our dream house using minecraft. We are using minecraft as a tool to design something creative and cool. I have seen so many amazing houses from flying houses to giant mansions. It has been so fun to express ourselves using minecraft education.

Sam Doggett (Room 6)

Music SPEC at EBIS

In Music SPEC we have been learning about the elements of music through listening to and performing different genres of music. We have been working on a 12-bar blues piece on the xylophones, where in addition to playing a cool tune as a group, the students are also able to explore self-expression through improvisation.  

Franken Arts Bursaries

The FAB competitions are on and open till 30 Oct this year for your eligible students.   The only conditions are that the entrant must be :  Keen on any arts and intend to make it part of their life;

                                                Reside in the Eastern Ward of Wellington City;

                                            Between 10-15 yrs of age.

Participation is FREE

The prizes remain: $3,500.- for first

                                        $ 2,100.- for second, and

                                        $ 1,400.- for third

Please look for further details on the EBIS website (Children do not have to attend EBIS to participate) https://www.ebis.school.nz/franken-arts-bursary

Thank you

Paul Franken (Trustor)