Term 3 Updates 22.9.22

Kia ora koutou,

Thank you for supporting our Teachers only Day on Friday 16 September. These days are an important opportunity for all staff to learn together and to discuss our learning programmes and plan for the upcoming term.

Wig Wednesday was a great success. The energy and sense of fun our tamariki and staff bought to the event were incredible. It was a lovely day full of colour and joy. I was amazed by the creative hair styles and themes our tamariki came up with. There are some images below and the amount we raised for the Child Cancer Society.

Please note:

I want to give you all further information regarding the incident involving a student being approached by a man in a white van as shared in the last Ilam Update (Update dated 8 September).

After continued discussion with the family, the child was not approached but called out to. The student ran back to the teacher taking the class and was not followed. There have been no further sightings or incidences and no reports to police regarding this matter.

I know this matter has been concerning, but it was important to inform you of what was reported to me at the time so you could talk to your child about safety. Please do get in touch if you have any questions or concerns.

A reminder that on Monday 26 September school is closed for a public holiday as we commemorate the life of Queen Elizabeth II.

Ngā mihi nui

Belinda Kennedy and the Ilam School Team

Please find the following information in this Update:

• Class Placements 2023

• Maths Professional Development

• Cohort Entry for 5-Year-Olds

• Resources from the PTA

• Last chance for calendar art to be purchased

• Term 4 Mihi Whakatau

• Hats and Uniform Term 4

• PTA Uniform Sale and Donations

• Learn English for the New Zealand School System

• Policy and Procedures Review

• Weetbix Triathlon

• Cool Learning at Ilam

• Book Amnesty

• Book Club

• Mana Ake

• Community notices

• Personal Assistant Vacancy

• Term Dates

The process of organising classes for the 2023 academic year will begin at the start of Term 4. If you know your family is going to be leaving Ilam at the end of the year, or beforehand, it would be most helpful for our planning, to know this information.

Our classroom make-up across the school in 2023 will be similar to this year, with Year 1 classes, Year 2 classes, Year 3 & 4 classes and Year 5 & 6 classes. As you will appreciate, class placement organisation is a complex process in determining the most appropriate groupings for children with whom they will learn for the following year. Children’s academic and social needs are taken into account when being placed. As educational professionals, the staff know your children very well when considering placements for 2023 classes, however, if there are any extraordinary circumstances that you believe we are not aware of, and which may need to be considered when determining class placements, please put these in writing to me, or e-mail (admin@ilam.school.nz) by Friday, 21 October.

Maths Learning for all at Ilam School

Currently, the Ministry of Education is in the process of refreshing The New Zealand Curriculum “to make sure every child experiences success in their learning, and that their progress and achievement is responded to and celebrated.” This year saw the introduction of the new Aotearoa New Zealand’s Histories content within the refreshed Social Sciences learning area. English and Mathematics and Statistics are being refreshed at the moment and will be introduced in 2023.

To front foot this change, at Ilam, the Professional Development (PD) focus for the teaching staff this year has been on Mathematics and Statistics. We are working alongside Carol Butel, an education consultant from Learning Solutions. Carol has been running sessions for the staff to help us ensure we are continually exploring and evolving our approach to Mathematics teaching and learning. Carol has great insight into the changes that are ahead and has tailored her PD accordingly. She has also spent time in classrooms working with both the teachers and tamariki. It is planned that we will work with Carol again next year to continue our journey of exploring teaching practices and further developing our assessment practices.

As a result of this professional development, there is amazing chatter going on by our learners.

To quote a few:

• Year 4 Student - "In Maths, I feel like we have to work hard and try our best and it doesn’t matter if you make one mistake because mistakes make you learn.”

• Year 6 Student - "When I see Maths tasks my brain immediately goes into looking for patterns and thinking of solutions."

• Year 3 Student - "Maths is exciting because it is not just about being smart, it is about figuring it out and problem-solving with numbers and shapes."

• Year 6 Student - “I like working out the patterns, that’s really fun, I like it when it’s (maths) about real-life things."

Cohort entry is when new entrants start school in groups throughout the year rather than on their fifth birthday. In schools that have adopted a policy of cohort entry, new entrants are able to start school in cohorts but only after they have turned five.

Te Kura o Waiutuutu Ilam School has surveyed the community about whether we move to the cohort entry system. Thank you to everyone who responded. The results of our community survey, which included junior school whanau, and local preschool whanau and staff, were resoundingly in favour of us adopting cohort entry. We will be moving to cohort entry in term 1 2023. The dates for each entry point are outlined below.

Welcome to New Whānau and tamariki,

As a school, we will be formally welcoming our new learners and their whānau joining the Ilam School Team. At the Mihi Whakatau, any new tamariki and their whānau who have joined us from the 18th August 2022 up to 21 of October will be welcomed.

Our new families will collect their child/children from their classes, then meet in the wharepukapuka (library) at 9.45 am.

Following both Mihi Whakatau, we invite families to stay and enjoy some refreshments in the hall.

We also extend this invite to all whānau who are already connected with Te Kura o Waiutuutu Ilam School.

Any questions or queries please contact teresa.johnston@ilam.school.nz

The next second-hand uniform sale is the first Friday of next term 21st October, from 8:30 am - 9am in the hall.

Second-hand Uniform Donations

Kia ora Ilam School whānau,

The PTA would love to receive donations of second-hand uniforms.

If your child has outgrown their uniform or they're moving on from Ilam School, please consider donating their uniform to the second-hand uniform collection.

The PTA holds second-hand uniform sales multiple times a year and all money raised from these sales is used to directly benefit our children. The PTA funds classroom resources, sports uniforms, playground equipment and other essentials for learning.

Please leave donations at the school office or contact pta@ilam.school.nz

Ngā mihi,

Ilam School PTA

This term we have a number of policies up for review. Our login details are on our website. You can find the link here. To view, our school policies click on the link to the School Docs site. The 'current reviews' section is where to complete these.

A great opportunity for a book sort!

At Ilam School, we love to read and we try to ensure we have lots of exciting books for children. Unfortunately, these books don't always make their way back to school. Particularly with book bags going home during lockdowns and illness over the last two years, readers and group novels have become quite depleted so - we're launching a book amnesty today!

What is a book return amnesty?

Return as many books as you can find, no questions asked. :)

We don't mind how long you've been in possession of a school book; we'd just love to have it back. Please look under the bed, behind the sofa etc and dig out any books that belong to the school. No one will be counting how many you return - we'll just be delighted to get them back!

We would be very grateful for the return of any school books, as this means we can buy new resources rather than replace lost items. Currently, the Junior School team are sometimes struggling to find enough books for everyone in their reading groups.

Where do I return all the books I’ve found?

There will be a box in the office or you can return them to teachers. We would be beyond grateful, thank you.

Issue 6 Book club closed today and is now being processed by Scholastic in Auckland. It may or may not arrive before the holidays it all depends how quickly Scholastic can process it and how long it takes to travel to us.

Priority for Community Dental Service appointments during the school break will be for immediate dental needs at the following clinics:

Woolston Community Dental Clinic, 11 Hopkins Street, Christchurch

Hornby Community Dental Clinic, 2 Hei Hei Road, Christchurch

Timaru Community Dental Clinic, 18 Woollcombe Street, Timaru

To access these appointments, call our Contact Centre on 0800 846 983 noting that priority is given to children with immediate dental needs.

For any dental advice please call the Contact Centre on 0800 846 983 or email commdental@cdhb.healh.nz

Jordon is an accessibility advisor at UC, working full time. He has severe Cerebral Palsy which affects his fine motor skills such as talking and typing. Jordon is newly married and currently training to be a cyclist in the 2024 Paralympics. Jordon has secured funding so that he can have a personal assistant to help him complete the crucial administration side of his role in a timely manner.

Job description:

This job requires assisting Jordon with administration tasks such as replying to emails and processing new students into the system. Essentially you are Jordon’s ‘hands.’ Jordon will dictate what he wants typed/written in emails, text messages and documents. The ideal applicant will be able to commit to two hours a day Monday to Friday during term and holidays

This job would suit:

• A post-graduate student

• A person wanting to re-enter the workforce (young parent or recently retired)

• Someone who is after a consistent yet flexible job.

If interested, please contact Jordon directly at jordon.milroy@canterbury.ac.nz

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

• School Closed Monday 26 September as we commemorate the life of Queen Elizabeth II.

• Last day of Term 3 - Friday 30 September -School closes at 3 pm

• Term 4 begins Monday 17 October

• Hui Consultation Wednesday 19 October 5.30 pm

• Senior Cycle Safety 19 - 20 October, 25 - 28 October

• Relationship and Sexuality Education information session Wednesday 28 September 5 pm

• Relationship and Sexuality Education information session Thursday 29 September 9 am

• Labour Day Monday 24 October - School closed

• Middle Classes to the Groynes Wednesday 26 October

• Middle/Senior Athletics Tuesday 1 November, postponement day Friday 4 November

• Chch School Music Festival Rehearsal & Performance Night Wednesday 2 November

• PTA Meeting Tuesday 8 November 7.30 pm School Staffroom

• Canterbury Anniversary Day Friday 11 November - School closed

• Teacher Only Day Monday 14 November - School closed

• Ilam School Connect Thursday 26 November 2-4 pm -information to come

• Senior Beach Education 28-29 November

• Senior Day Camp 5-6 December

• Student Learning Conferences 7-8 December

• Year 6 Leavers Night Tuesday 13 December

• Last day of Term 4 - Thursday 15 December