Kia ora

The last week of term is here.  It has gone so quickly and so much has happened this term.  Thank you for all your support with events such as Cross Country, Swimming Sports, Te Ahi Ora evening, Electives, and W.A.T.P hui, and for supporting us as kaiako with your tamariki. 

Yesterday you will have received the curriculum levels that your tamariki are currently working at.  In the description we share where tamariki are usually working, at the end of the year, for each year group.  We do reiterate that this is for the end of the year and many tamariki are working towards these levels throughout the year.  Tamariki can be working at different curriculum levels for different subjects.  Kaiako make these judgments using a range of tools, from formal assessments (e.g PAT, or tests) diagnostic assessments (these are assessments that have been developed by experts and kaiako work with tamariki for these, e.g., a running record for reading), observations when tamariki are working, learning conversations, marking and discussing mahi.  Kaiako come together to discuss and moderate the understanding they have of different subjects.  If you have any questions please contact kaiako.  Our reporting to you is in term one at Learning Conversations, term 2 current Curriculum Levels, term 3 Learning Conversations and term 4 end of year Curriculum Levels.  We also report in writing throughout the year in the Timely Comments on HERO.  Each tamariki will have a written comment for reading, writing (literacies), maths, and ako by the end of term 2 and another comment on all these areas at the end of term 4.  You can 'like' or comment yourself on Timely Comments too.  Tamariki love to read your feedback. 

We had Te Ahi Ora come to us and what a show it was!  We were impressed with the pākiki, hiranga, whakapono, and manaaki shown by our tamariki.  Chris and Ari, who work with many schools, were blown away with the values we all showed and how brave all our tamariki were.  They did say that we are one of their top three schools, tino pai Lyall Bay School.   With the soup made from your vegetables and with the mahi of the tamariki, it made for a warming night.  Here are some photos of the night's events.  There are more on Facebook too.

Last week we held our school Swimming Sports.  This is an opportunity for tamariki to share their water skills as well as to swim competitively.  Thank you to whānau who helped out poolside, it makes everything run more smoothly with many hands.  Congratulations to all who competed.  We look forward to seeing some of you at Eastern Zones. 

Congratulations to Camden who qualified for Eastern Zone Cross Country and then from there, he qualified to represent, not only Lyall Bay School, but the Eastern Zone at Regionals that were held in Masterton today.  Tino pai Camden.

This week we started our Matariki Electives.  Such a range for tamariki to choose from.  Our wonderful Lyall Bay School student leaders have also offered some electives for our younger tamariki.  Thank you to Anna who has organised a community library that will be placed along our fence line.  Tamariki are decorating this and putting together advertising as a community service for Matariki.  See some photos below and chat with your tamariki about what they are involved in.

The newsletter is published every two weeks on Tuesdays.  In the last newsletter we put out a survey asking if you prefer it every week or every two weeks.  We had almost half our whānau respond and 52 said to have it every week and 90 who said every two weeks, so we will stay with the two week option.  It is available on HERO and on our website.  In each newsletter some kupu will be shared with you to help with all of our understanding ... raranga - weave, harakeke - flax, whiri - braid, whetū - star, Matariki - is connected to wellbeing of humanity and was viewed as an omen of good fortune and health, Tupuānuku - is the whetū connected to food grown in the ground, Waitī - Wai means water in Te Reo Māori, and is the whetū connected to fresh water and all the creatures that live in rivers, streams and lakes, Waitā - is the whetū associated with the ocean and the many kinds of food Māori gather from the sea, Waipunarangi - Waipunarangi is connected to rain and translates as ‘water that pools in the sky’, Ururangi - is the whetū which determines the nature of the winds for the year, Tupuārangi - is connected to food that comes from the sky, Pōhutukawa - connects Matariki to those who have passed away during the year, Hiwi-i-te-rangi - is connected to the promise of a prosperous season.

We will be farewelling some of our staff members at the end of this term.  Julie Whitehead, who is one of the kaiako in Hautonga, is moving on from teaching at Lyall Bay.  We wish Julie all the best with her future endeavours.  Claire Mandengu, who releases kaiako in Hautonga, is moving to full-time teaching and being a team leader at Thorndon School - all the best Claire.  Jeremy Brown is one of our kaimahi and has been with us this term working with some small groups of tamariki.  We wish Jeremy well in his new role. 

Kate Millner will be the new kaiako in Hautonga.  Many of you will know Kate as she is currently working with us in Ahu and has taught in Hautonga and Taniwha previously.  Kate has taught across all levels of the school and is an experienced kaiako.  Debbie Limpus will come back to Hautonga to be the release teacher for Janine's leadership release.  We have employed another Kate - Kate Woodward - to take on the role that Kate M is leaving in Ahu.  Kate W is also an experienced kaiako.  She has most recently been teaching at Frimley School in the Hawkes Bay and she and her whānau have moved down to Wellington.  Kate W has done some relieving with us and we have been very impressed with her pedagogy, so we know we have a gem. 

A Message from the Board of Trustees: 

On Monday the 12th of June, the school Board held its 4th meeting for the year. 

The Board reviewed the 10 year property plan (10YPP) and approved it.  This sets out the building maintenance and improvements for Lyall Bay School for the next 10 years. 

A presentation about Writing was shared with the Board and we were pleased to hear all the hard work that has been going on across the school in literacy.  It was great to see some of the examples of writing and hearing children speak (via video) about what they have been doing in their classrooms. 

Our Health and PE consultation survey was recently shared with our community and we would like to thank all those who took part in this and provided feedback. This will help inform our Health and PE programme at Lyall Bay School. 

The Board would like to thank Jo Graham for organising the Te Ahi Ora workshops and display evening.  These evenings were a great opportunity for our children and a lot of fun.  Thanks Jo for all your hard work around this. 

Don't forget our Board meetings are open to the public, so please feel free to come along to learn more about what’s happening within Lyall Bay School.

We wish you all a relaxing break and look forward to seeing you all back at school on 17th July. 

Mānawatia Matariki

Melanie