Kia ora e te Whānau,

This year's theme for Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa - Samoa Language Week is Fa’aāuāu le Folauga i le Va’a o Tautai - Continue the Voyage with Competent Wayfinders of the Ocean.

As part of this year’s overarching theme of ‘Sustainability’, the Samoan community chose a theme that would reflect the journey of language revitalisation and maintenance as well as recognising the importance of having the right tools, good leadership skills, relationships and the correct medium (va’a) that is adaptable to faring the ocean and its elements. Language weeks help all of us journey towards shared cultural understandings which give us insight into new ways of thinking, and different beliefs and cultural practices. Through these shared experiences, not only are we endeavouring to ensure that different cultures' identities are being kept alive, but we also endeavour to ensure all children and their families feel as if they belong at Ilam School.

Hopefully, you all received the email from the Board of Trustees regarding Paul’s resignation from his position as Principal, effective from the end of this term. As Paul is currently on Study Leave, this unfortunately, means that the children won’t be seeing him around the school before he goes.

We will be having a farewell assembly for Mr Dolan in the last week of term, the week of the 4th - 8th July. The actual date has not been decided as yet, but we will let you all know when it is confirmed.

Paul has been the Principal at Ilam for 10 years, and we wish him all the best in his next endeavour! He will be missed by children and staff alike.

Our Covid case numbers continue to remain low this term, with on average 6 cases per week. We currently have 4 Covid cases in total. There are 3 cases in the senior school and 1 case in the junior school. The Leadership Team and BOT Health and Safety Representative have made the following decisions regarding mask wearing, effective from Tuesday 8th June:

• For our tamariki in years 4-6 face masks are encouraged, but not always required, when indoors at school.

• In years 1-3 face masks are not a requirement, however if your child chooses to wear a face mask we will support them with this.

• We will continue to ask all parents/caregivers and other visitors to wear a face mask.

• Guidance for staff is the same for tamariki, encouraged but not required. For example there will be times, such as reading a story to the whole class, staff may choose to remove their mask.

• We will continue to NOT meet as a school group, this unfortunately means no whole school assemblies at this stage.

We will continue to closely monitor case numbers, and if for any reason we feel the need to make mask wearing compulsory for tamariki in years 4-6 and our staff, we will communicate this with you via Ilam Updates or Class Newsletters. To support us with this decision, please ensure that your child has a face mask at school. We also have a number of masks available that we can supply to our tamariki should the need arise. These decisions have been made in alignment with the Ministry of Education and Health’s guidelines under the Orange Setting of the Covid Protection Framework.

Belinda Kennedy and the Ilam School Team

In this Update you will find information on the following:

• Communication - our website

• Board of Trustees elections

• I-Explore - Learning in the Middle School

• School Photos

• PTA events

• ICAS Competition

• Ilam Oscar

• Autism NZ Lego Groups

• Events coming up

• Policy Review

Google has changed how emails can be sent and no longer allows large numbers of recipients to be sent at one time. This has an impact on how we communicate with you. The change Google has made will not affect class correspondence as the limit of recipients is 100 email addresses at one time. We are continuing to explore how we can get our Ilam Updates to you without sending them via classes as we recognise this may mean up to 3 emails containing the same information. We apologise for the inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.

Need to find information from our fortnightly Update, or a class newsletter or sports event? Please find information on our School Website under Communications.

Click here to go to directly to our site: https://www.ilam.school.nz/

Becoming a Board Trustee Member

Why join a school board?

School board members are active leaders in our schools. They have an important role of supporting strong professional leadership and ensuring effective teaching for all students through informed governance.

Parents/caregivers and people in the wider community can be parent representatives. School boards need to represent the diversity of their school communities to ensure a bright future for all our children.

The school board elections are the opportunity to vote for candidates who will make a positive difference for children’s education. We need more people willing to use their skills and experiences for the benefit of students!

A message from our current Ilam School Board

Who is the Board? We are a group that oversees the direction and performance of the school. We work closely with the Principal and leadership team who run the school day to day. No specific experience is required, we just need you, your perspectives and your energy.

The Board is currently focused on two big things: the redevelopment of the school property and growing our connection to our diverse community.

It is important that the Board is representative of our community so we encourage you to think about this rewarding opportunity to be involved and give back to our school. Being on the Board involves two meetings per term, and could include work on special projects or initiatives.

If you are interested, please see here for more information or chat with Belinda or one of the current Board. You are also welcome to attend a meeting to see what it’s about, there is one on Monday 27 June at 6pm in the Staffroom.

Elections for the School Board will be held in September this year and we need new members.

Please see the timeline for Triennial Elections here:

​​The Middle Team have embraced their place-based learning through two recent outings. Firstly the team visited Travis Wetlands. We learned about the importance of the wetlands and the contribution they make toward conservation and climate change. We learned about a number of native birds by classifying different feathers and bird feet! We were able to watch the birds from the bird hide and get up close by using binoculars. We caught freshwater invertebrates and were able to determine the sensitivity of each species.

Our second outing was much closer to school. We were fortunate enough to partner up with the Biodiversity Department at the university and do some planting along the Haereroa stream. This is the stream that runs along the northern school boundary.

We thoroughly enjoyed our hands-on learning.

On Wednesday 6th July the children will be having their school photos taken. The photos that all children will have are; individual photos and a class photo. There will also be photos taken of the House Captains, School Council, Cultural Leaders and Road Patrol. Please ensure your child is wearing the correct uniform on the day.

School Photos will be taken in the hall on Wednesday 6th July. If you have more than one child at the school and wish to have a sibling photo taken, please complete the following ‘Sibling Photo Request Form’ by Friday 1st July. If you have any difficulties in filling in the form please don't hesitate to contact the office staff.

Within a few days of the photos being taken we will be sending home a sample photo of your child (this includes sibling photos if requested) with information on how to order photos.

Registrations are now open for the 2022 ICAS exams.

2022 ICAS is online.

The dates for the 2022 examinations are below

Writing - Tuesday 9 August

Digital Technologies - Thursday 11 August

English - Tuesday 16 August and Thursday 18 August (2 sessions depending on numbers)

Science - Monday 22 August

Spelling - Tuesday 23 August

Mathematics - Monday 29 August

To enrol for ICAS, visit our school website (http://www.ilam.school.nz) and select ICAS 2022 from the home page to see more information and the enrolment form for each year group.

Bookings and payments must be received by 4pm, Thursday 23 June.

No payment, no entry! NO CASH PLEASE.

Do you have a 16-year-old or older at home, who would like a part-time job at Ilam OSCAR?

We are currently looking for High School students aged over 16 to join our team. During term time they will need to be able to start work at 3 pm.

We also run holiday programmes which need staff and High School students are ideal.

If this sounds of interest, please send a CV to oscar@ilam.school.nz or call Robyn 0224691663 to discuss.

Click here to see the latest Ilam Oscar Newsletter

Now that COVID restrictions have eased Autism NZ Lego groups are able to commence again and there are spaces available. Please email kirsten.aaron@ilam.school.nz for information about these Lego groups. If you would like to sign your child up or have any other questions contact the Lego Coordinator Trish Lightfoot at trish.lightfoot@autismnz.org.nz or on 021458287.

Please check our Parent Calendar to keep up to date with events at our school. Find the link here.

• Public Holiday Queen's Birthday - Monday 6 June -School Closed

• Public Holiday Matariki - Friday 24 June - School Closed

• Teacher Only Day - Monday 27 June - School Closed

The School Policies up for review in Term 2 are listed on our school website under Our School - Policies and Procedures. Information on how to complete a review can also be found on our website. Please click on the icon below to take you directly.