Friday 17th

Hi again to all our awesome Waltham community.

Nothing much to update you on the school front further to yesterday. Only to reassure you all that great learning ideas will continue to be published on line through this learning site and teachers are working hard on next weeks activities.

Don't forget that you can work on a device or on paper and lots of learning is about talking and sharing ideas verbally with your family. A reminder to that teachers are available to email if you have anything you wish to chat about. Don't expect that they can answer straight away..but I do know that they are checking in with their messages as often as they can during the 'school day'.

In today's video I share another of my favorite picture books and challenge you to think about and share something you like to cook or eat during this extended time at home.

Continue to take care of yourselves and see you back here on the screen again on Monday.

Mr Caddie

Monday 20th

Hi all and welcome to Week 2 of official online learning.

Today's announcements by the government will hopefully give us more of an idea about how the next few weeks will work. There is not a lot of point speculating or guessing too much...let's just wait and see what comes out later today and also over the next week, in regards to how schools are allowed to operate.

What we do know already is that for most families and children normal school is still a little while away. One big thing we will be doing at Waltham School is looking at ways we can support those families without laptops, computers, the internet or fancy phones more over the coming weeks. How we can do this will depend on rules and regulations put out by the government this week. Our hope is that we will not be too far away from being able to prepare physical learning packs of our own that can be delivered or picked up for these families.

Anyway.....more about that when we know more over the coming days.

In the meantime the best thing we can do for ourselves and our tamariki is to to settle in and take as many positives as we can out of our current situation. Don't forget to check out the TV channels which are totally awesome!!!!!

And remember the most important message....Our wonderful kids won't be scared or damaged or 'left behind' because of a few weeks of being at home. BUT they will remember the laughs, shared time and special things you can do together for ever.

Take care and catch you all soon.

Gordon Caddie

Wednesday 22nd Urgent UPDATE and action required from all families please!!!!!

Hi all,

Apologies for no update on this page yesterday, although I hope you all received an email from us that gave information about school as we move to Level 3 next week.

It was a busy day here with a very long Management Meeting in the morning and office time in the afternoon as we continue to coordinate the 'distance learning site' and also plan for a small group of students being back 'on site' from next Wednesday.

I use the words 'on site' rather than 'back at school' because during Level 3 (hopefully only 2 weeks) school will be very different than 'normal'. Only those families that have all adults back to work and no way of extending their bubbles to have child care at home are allowed to send their children to school from next Wednesday.

Children on site will be tightly managed in small groups of up to 10 others.They will be supervised by a teacher but will carry on doing the same work as most of the children who are learning from home. Each of these groups will be mixed ages and will not be able to mix with other groups at school. It is also unlikely your child will have their regular teacher.

The reason for this situation is that we have a huge number of Health and Safety guidelines we must adhere to under Level 3 and we must also have as many of us (teachers, teacher aides and children) working from home as possible.

Please make sure you have emailed your situation to admin@walthamschool or texted us on 0273793137 by tomorrow afternoon please. We must have an accurate list of those children who must come to school and all those able to stay home. We can then give both groups more information specific to each situation. We aim to have that information to you by Tuesday at the latest.

I really appreciate the amazing work you have all done during Level 4. I really urge as many of you as possible to try and make arrangements for continued 'learning from home' during Level 3. We will be providing even more for this group in terms of resources and on-line time. Be assured though that if your child has no other options then they will be cared for the very best ways we can at school through Level 3.

Keep in touch as take care over ANZAC Weekend,

Gordon Caddie

Thursday 23rd April

Hi again to all of our Waltham Families,

Thank you so much to all of the families who have already let us know that they are able to keep their children learning at home next week.

Thanks also to a few of you who do need us as there are no other options. I assure you that we will supervise your children carefully from Wednesday and make their day as safe and happy as possible while you are at work.

I want to reassure most of our families who are continuing to work from home that we will be able to support you more fully next week. Up until now those of you without internet have been limited to TV channels and the things you have been able to source yourselves. Some of you are struggling without paper, pens and other basics that would help a lot. Paper copies of the Learning Activities on our Learning Site would also help many of you without large screens. I will be sending out more information about this on Tuesday and through next week, so keep an eye on your emails and through this site if you can. We will do our best to text those of you who we know are not internet connected at all.

For those small numbers of student's needing to return next week there will be detailed information being emailed or phoned to you on Tuesday. This will tell you all about the 'Bubble' your children will be in, where they need to be dropped off on Wednesday ,and many other very important Health and Safety routines that we will all have to follow carefully through to the end of Alert Level 3.

Finally.....I wish you all a happy weekend ahead. Let us not forget in these uncertain times that it is ANZAC Day on Monday. While we are challenged with our Covid 19 response at least we are so lucky to be safe and well with our families in the best country in the world. Take some time this weekend to remember and thank those previous generations , many of who had to travel to the other side of the world and put their lives on the line in war. 'Lest We Forget'

Kindest regards and best wishes,

Gordon Caddie

Wednesday 29th

Hi all,

Apologies for the lack of Principal Updates or stories over the last few days.

Tuesday was very busy as the teachers who were coming back to supervise the 'at school' bubbles prepared for this. Today (Wednesday) we had our first children back at school. This group are of course the small group who's parents had no options for keeping them at home during the Level 3 restrictions. I'm pleased to support that they had a very positive day despite the restrictions we have needed to put in place.

Our attention is still firmly on the vast majority of you who have been able to keep distance learning going as there is a caregiver at home. This weeks learning slides are awesome and I'm sure you and your child can have a lot of fun (and learning) here in our web-site. A few families have had trouble viewing our Learning Site due to technology. If it would be helpful to get photocopies of these slides from us, then just let any of the team know and we will be in touch as soon as possible.

We have approximately half our teachers based at home focusing on the 'on-line' learning side of things. Creating slides, answering your questions etc. If you would like to chat about anything, then give one of them an email. These contacts are as follows...

Whetu-lisa@waltham.school.nz Tawera-hannelie@waltham.school.nz

Kopu 5-irene@waltham.school.nz Kopu 6&7-michelle@waltham.school.nz Meremere-sharon@waltham.school.nz

Ako-sarahjane@waltham.school.nz

While these teachers are focusing on the distance learning support you are still welcome to contact your child's class teacher if you prefer.

Take care, keep safe and see you soon.

Wednesday 6th May

We are currently supporting most of our children to continue learning at home through Level 3. We also have almost 20 children back on-site being supervised to allow parents with no other child care options to return to work. All is going very well and we are looking forward to having many more students back once the Government has reduced the country to Alert Level 2. According to current information that is likely to be later next week but we will await official news on that.

Next week we will also get specific information about whether it's back to a reasonably 'normal' school day under Level 2, or if the transition is a more gradual restart. I will keep you posted of any information as soon as I hear it!

We will continue with the current organisation next week. Those families learning from home-please get in contact with us if you need any help. We have supplied paper copies of our on line learning slides (and a few extra things) to some families who requested these this week and we are very happy to do the same again for next weeks work. Just email your teacher or the office and we will let you know when to pop in and collect a 'take home pack'.

Thanks for continuing to support us, and thank for all of the amazing work you are doing to keep your bubble safe and happy.

Friday 15th May

I am really looking forward to seeing as many students as possible back on Monday and I know the teachers are excited about having their classes back together.

Please help make next week really smooth by reading the pick up and drop off information carefully and not arriving at school before 8:40am. Remember that you may use the most convenient gate for your children but we ask that you keep it consistent so that we can have the children at the gate that suits you at the end of the day. Although it will be possible to sign adults in to the school grounds, we want to keep this to a minimum (for example our new entrant parents). Children will not be able to use the playgrounds before or after school. They will move from the gates to their classrooms before school and then straight to the appropriate gate after school. All gates will be supervised by staff to ensure children are safely connected with parents as required.

If you do have to wait at a gate with others please remember to keep a comfortable 2 metre spacing between you and other families.

Have a wonderful weekend and I look forward to seeing you back next week.

Monday 18th

It has been a very successful 're-opening' of the school today for all students.

Most of our children were back and it was wonderful to see full classrooms again.

A huge thank you to everyone for reading and carefully following our temporary Pick Up and Drop Off routine during Level 2. We are meeting the children at the gates (Between 8:40-8:55am) and then they are heading straight in to class.

At the end of the day children return to the gate and a staff member will be there to ensure everyone is safely re-united with their families.

This worked very smoothly today-Thank you all so much.

We hope to welcome back even more students tomorrow once word gets out that school is such a great place to be!!!!