School Newsletter
20 February 2025

Kia ora e te whānau | Greetings all

New Curriculum English Years 1-6 and Mathematics Year 1 - 8

As we shared with you last year, the revised Mathematics and English Curriculum were released in October last year. Since then our team has been working with external and internal experts to make sense of the changes, and to ensure we hit the ground running in 2025.  We are delighted with the further clarity the refreshed curriculum now provides.  It has been reassuring to see many of the curriculum changes now align with the approach Stonefields School has historically embraced.  For example, we have used progressions since the School opened, for many Schools a progression based curriculum is new.  The teacher practices we adopt are evidence and research informed, the science of learning has always informed how we teach.  We adopted a structured literacy approach to learning in our junior and middle School well in advance of the new curriculum being released.

We are taking advantage of the many professional learning opportunities being provided including teachers attending structured literacy training days, Louise Dempsey continues to work with hub teams with a focus on writing, and we are beginning to implement the Mathematics resources (Maths, no problem in years 1-5 and Oxford Maths in years 7-8) to compliment our maths programme.  Our staff professional development will also continue to focus on the new curriculum. 

We will be offering a range of opportunities through Te Pataka Ako | Community Hub to introduce you to the new curriculum and support you to help your child at home.  Please keep an eye out in the Newsletter for these.

Teaching 15 hours of Reading, Writing and Mathematics

We continue to monitor the amount of time we spend each week teaching reading, writing and mathematics. We do indeed meet the 15 hours requirement each week. I am proud of the way our teaching team balances direct instruction and also designs engaging learning experiences that skilfully integrate the foundation literacies.  

Maintaining a Balance

We are very proud of the fact that our children not only learn the all important foundational literacies but also develop their confidence, curiosity and agency, building their understanding of how to learn. Ensuring your children receive a holistic and balanced education has been an important part of our offering at Stonefields School. The feedback we receive confirms our graduates are articulate, thinkers, great collaborators, resilient and well prepared for a dynamic and changing world.  View thoughts from two of our foundation learners. 

We continue to build on children’s capabilities that set them apart through:

• Exploring Through (ET) 2025 sees learners experiencing art, music, STEM, play-based learning and loose parts play

• Break Through learning - Following on from the success of last year's Break Through Festival we're excited to kick off the Break Through Challenge this year and the three focal areas - Social Impact, Physical, and Passion Projects

• This year we have seven music tutors offering private music lessons to learners, and over 14 sporting codes for your child to get involved in. 

We believe this is how we as a school can best serve our learners and our community - setting children up for success now, and in the future. 

Ngā mihi nui,

Sarah and the team

Year 3-8 Partnership Connects

Over the next few weeks, our Year 3-8 teaching teams will be holding Partnership Connects. This is an opportunity for parents and whānau to meet with the team, for teachers to share noticings from the first few weeks of school, and to share early assessment information. It is also an opportunity to think about home learning opportunities that learners could do at home to further their learning and set targets for the year ahead.

The meetings will be 10 minutes. There will be an option for either an online meeting (video-conference) or in-person meeting. If you are having an in-person meeting, this will take place in your child's hub. Please ensure you book for the correct day.

• Year 3-4 Meetings -  Thursday 6 March (9-3pm)

• Year 7-8 Meetings - Friday 7 March (9 - 3pm)

• Year 5-6 Meetings - Thursday 27 March (9 - 3pm)

How to book:

To book a meeting, please go to School Interviews:

• Enter your details, including if you would prefer an in-person or video-conference 

• Select the hub for each child

• Select a timeslot for each child

You’ll notice each hub has two or three bookings available at each time slot, depending on the number of teachers in that hub. Please book your preferred time and the team will then allocate a hub teacher for your meeting. 

You will receive a booking confirmation email from School Interviews confirming your booked timeslot. If you need to make any changes to your bookings, please use the 'change or cancel your booking' link in that email. 

We look forward to connecting with you over the next few weeks. 

Mitey - Exploring emotions

As part of our Mitey work, the year 3-4's have been exploring emotions and learning to identify feelings. How do these emotions make us feel? What words can we use to describe how we're feeling? 

Year 3-4 Sleepover

Our Year 3-4 team are getting ready for the sleepover taking place from Friday 4 April to Saturday 5 April. All Year 3 & 4 learners are required to take part in this event and sleep overnight at school. This event helps to prepare kids for Camp and other EOTC (Education Outside the Classroom) experiences they will be involved in in later years. 

More details including permission forms will be emailed out later this week. 

Intermediate Camp

Our Intermediates are off to Camp Raglan again this year in May. Please check your email for details including several permission forms which need to be signed by parents. 

The biggest excitement is for Canyoning! Check it out here.

AIMS GAMES - Whanau Information evening 

When: Tuesday 25th February, 7-8pm

Location: hubs 5/6

Last year we sent 27 young athletes to AIMS Games. Come along to the information session to find out more about this sporting opportunity for 2025, open to all Intermediate aged athletes. Please rsvp to sport@stonefields.school.nz

Music Lessons 

We are very proud to offer a growing range of music lessons during school hours. Through specialist music teachers, your children can learn guitar, piano, vocals, drums, violin, trumpet, french horn or music production. For more details and to book, please get in touch with the teachers directly:

• Guitar - Gideon Voon or Nathan Imboden

• Piano - Katherine Wilcox is currently at capacity. We are in the process of securing another tutor, please register your interest here

• Vocals - Nathan Imboden. We are also in the process of securing another vocal tutor, please register your interest here

• Drums - Jag Singh 

• Violin - Belinda Carrigan

• Trumpet - Stephen Bemelman 

• French Horn - Anita Austin

• Music Production  - Nathan Imboden

For music lessons with Nathan Imboden, please contact the school office. 

Scholastic Book Club

Scholastic Book Club orders for issue no.1 2025 are open.  If you wish to make a purchase, please do so before orders close tomorrow, Friday 21 February.  

The ordering process is completely paper-less, and the current brochure is available to view here.  There will be some paper copies of the Book Club catalogue in each of the hubs and the library, should you prefer to view the catalogue in paper form. 

To place your order, please register using the LOOP website. You may then order via the website, or by using one of Scholastic's apps.  Please select your child's hub (class), not their year level when placing your order.  Please do not return anything to school as all orders are processed through the Scholastic LOOP system. 

If you have any problems placing your order, please email anna.malan@stonefields.school.nz 

Year 7-8 Immunisations

Learners in year 7 will be offered a booster vaccination against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough to complete the New Zealand childhood immunisation schedule. Learners in year 8 will be offered HPV vaccination to immunise against human papillomavirus. These immunisations will be offered on Wednesday 19 March. Consent forms will be sent home with your child this week. 

Visitor Tour

Stonefields School offers prospective and current parents an opportunity to attend a walk through of the school. These give parents/caregivers an insight into what being a learner at Stonefields is all about!   

Our next tour will take place on Wednesday 12 March, at 9.15am. Please register here if you'd like to attend or pass on the details to any other prospective parents.   

Part-Time Gardener

We're currently looking for an experienced gardener to help Ray keep our grounds looking so good. Approximately 6-8hrs a week, across a few days. Please contact the office for more information or chat to Ray. 

Health & Safety reminder

Stomach bugs can spread through environments like schools very quickly. A reminder please, to help keep other children healthy, if your child has vomiting or diarrhoea, Te Whatu Ora recommends they stay away from school for 48hrs after their last episode.  

We continue to promote good hand washing skills whilst at school. Your support in promoting this at home too is greatly appreciated.  

Tamaki Softball - Congratulations!

A huge congratulations to the 37 T-ballers and Softballers who participated in yesterday’s inter-school cluster sports event! It was absolutely fantastic to see you all bring your best to the field, supporting your teammates, and achieving some amazing results. Well done to each and every one of you for your dedication and teamwork! 

A huge thank you to the parent volunteers for taking time out of your day to make this happen for our tamariki. 

Netball registrations for 2025 - Don't forget to register your interest!

Register here. Registrations close next Friday 28 February so be sure to sign up and remind your friends to sign up too!

Interschool Sport Events still open for Term 1

Learners must sign-up themselves using their school login: 

• Tamaki Cricket Y7-8 | Wed 12th March (sign ups close Monday 24th Feb)

• EZ Swimming Y7-8 | Mon 31st March

• Tamaki Volleyball Y5-6 | Wed 9th April

• EZ Orienteering Y7-8 | Mon 7th April

Reminder regarding sports equipment

Kaitiaki, we’ve noticed that some sports gear has been going missing, and unfortunately, the balls that have been left on the roof are now beyond repair and will need to be discarded.

Please remind all children to remember to return all used gear to the sports shed or the hubs after use. It’s also important not to leave equipment outside in the sun, as prolonged exposure can gradually damage balls and other gear. Thank you for helping us keep our sports equipment in good condition!

• Friday Cafe | Friday 21 February | 3pm

• Senior Assembly (Year 5-8) | Monday 24 February | 2pm, Hall

• New Entrant Cohort visits | Monday 24 - Thursday 27 February

• Stonefields School Board Meeting | Tuesday 25 February | 5.30pm Te Pataka Ako

• AIMS Games info evening | Tuesday 25 February | 7pm Staff Hub. 

• Kapa Haka practice | Wednesday 26 February | 8.20am Te Pou Manawa

• Whānau Noho | Friday 28 February - Sunday 2 March 

• Year 3-4 Partnership Connects | Thursday 6 March | book your timeslot

• Year 7-8 Partnership Connects | Friday 7 March | book your timeslot 

View our School Calendar to keep up to date with all events

Community Activities

There are plenty of sports, art, and cultural activities available in our community including school holiday programmes. Check out our Community Noticeboard for more details.

School hours - 8.30am - 3pm

Hubs open at 8.30am. We encourage learners to arrive at school between 8.30am to 8.45am, giving them time to unpack, play for a short time and settle into school before the 8.55am bell. If you need to drop your child at school earlier than 8.30am, please book them into before-school care with Kelly Club.

School finishes at 3pm. For safety reasons, children who are not picked up by 3.10pm need to go to the office to wait until their caregiver arrives.