Kia ora koutou

Congratulations to our athletes who represented us at Interzones last week, putting up with conditions that weren't the best.  They did an amazing job and represented themselves and Lyall Bay School perfectly.  Big whakamihi to our Year 4 boys' relay team who came first, and Paddy, Floyd, and Rosa who all got placings.  Rosa, Paddy and Floyd are now off to regionals and Silas is a reserve. 

Paddy - High jump 1st, Long jump 1st, Vortex 1st, 60 m 1st

Floyd - High jump 3rd, Vortex 2nd

Rosa - Quoits 3rd

Silas - High jump 4th

We will be farewelling some of our amazing staff this year.  Glenn, who has been with us since 2011, Diego, who has been with us for the past two years, and Sophie, who has been with us this term.  Diego, Glenn and Sophie have given their all to Lyall Bay School and we will miss them dearly.  Diego is going to teach at Wellington Girls' in his subject speciality of Health and PE.  Glenn will also be working in a secondary school context.  Sophie will be moving back to Ireland. We wish you all well with your continuing journey in education. 

We have employed two new kaiako who will start in 2024, Deanna Young, and Cristina Ahrendt.  Deanna lived in Lyall Bay many years ago and is a very experienced kaikao.  Cristina has been relieving in Wellington and has relieved with us.  She has come to us from America.  We are looking forward to working with Deanna and Cristina, and them supporting us to live our vision:  Waihangatia ngā Ākonga Tino Pai Building the Best Learners. 

Two of our vibrant kaiako have recently celebrated their certification.  Congratulations to Alex and Kiri.  In teaching you graduate from university and then work for two years in a classroom before being certificated.  Each new kaiako has a mentor to support them in their journey.  Kiri and Alex are outstanding kaiako, they both have the tamariki at the centre of everything they do. 

Onepū have had some exciting Education Outside the Classroom in the last few weeks.  As part of the Health and PE focus and in alignment with pūrakau from our local area, both hubs have been snorkelling and sailing. Thank you to all whānau who have been able to help out, from getting in the water and snorkelling, transporting tamariki, and bringing coffee.  We appreciate you all. 

By the end of next week you will have received all reports on HERO, Literacy (Reading and Writing), Maths, and Ako.  You can comment on these or 'like' them. In week 10, Monday 11th December, you will receive a HERO post that will explain the curriculum levels that your tamaiti are currently working at and their hub for 2024.  In general, tamariki who are in Years 0-2 are working within level 1 of the curriculum, those in Years 3-4 are working within level 2 of the curriculum and Years 5-6 are working within level 3 of the curriculum.  Kaiako work alongside tamariki making anecdotal notes, they assess with observation, normed assessments, diagnostic assessments, and moderation of work.  These then form an OTJ or Overall Teacher Judgement, which is shared with you.  The stationery list will also be in this post and on the website.  If you have any questions please email principal@lyallbay,school.nz. 

Many of you will have noticed that the renovation of Ahu is close to completion.  We are organising a ceremony to bless and open the building.  If you are a kaumatua and would like to work with us on this, or if you know a kaumatua who would be willing to join us, we would love to hear from you.  Please email principal@lyallbay.school.nz.  Our community came together on Saturday three weeks ago to launch the road trial.  It was a great afternoon with lots of fun and food! 

The newsletter is published every two weeks on Tuesdays.  The newsletter 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.  In this week's kupu we are starting with a Christmas theme... kāri Kirihimete - Christmas card.  Meri Kirihimete- Merry Christmas, pepa ruruku- wrapping paper, rāku Kirihimete- Christmas tree, whakapaipaitanga - decorations, koha - gift or present, hākari Kirihemete - Christmas feast. 

Changes do take time to get used to, but we hope people are adjusting to the trial street changes which are designed to make the street quieter and safer for everyone.  Didn’t the children and our caretaker John do a great job with the street art?  When you can, we hope as many of you as possible will encourage some independence by letting your children (especially the older ones) walk, bike or scoot at least some of the way to school.  There’s the new blue safe area to cross on Freyberg Street by the gate, and the zebra crossing on Queens Drive is now also being regularly patrolled before and after school.  It’s been great to see some people parking a bit further away and walking a short distance with their children, or letting them get some or all the way to school on their own.  You may notice a couple of extra bollards going in.  These are designed to make the area safer for everyone.

If you are driving:

• there is plenty of room to turn in one go at the ends of the street provided you swing left first and make full use of the space – you shouldn’t need to do a three-point turn.

• please avoid stopping on any yellow lines, including those in Queens Drive.

In the last newsletter we shared that we were opening up the courts before and after school for pick up and drop off.  We did this as a trial and found, after a week, that very few whānau needed it.  We would like to remind you to make sure you are picking up and dropping off legally, so not parking over driveways, on yellow lines or in the turning area - this makes it safer for all tamariki.  If you have any concerns, complaints, or compliments about the new road layout please contact Wellington City Council as this is their project engagement@wcc.govt.nz  or you can email it to me and I can forward it to them principal@lyallbay.school.nz  

Please check the dates to diary.  We have Songs at the Beach on Friday 15th that we would love to see you at, and our last day, the 19th finishes at 12.30 pm. 

Mā te wā
Melanie