Mihi Whakatau - Week 1
Tena koutou e te Whānau,
Welcome back to 2020. I hope that you all had a wonderful break and are feeling rested and ready for an exciting year at Sumner School.
It has been wonderful to see the students returning to Sumner School for the start of the school year with such big smiles on their faces. Thank you to everyone who attended our Kai Me Korero evening on Monday evening. It was a great opportunity to re-connect and catch up with you all after the summer break and was amazing to see how much the children had grown in the 6 week break and to hear of their adventures over the holidays. We hope it also eased the ‘first day back at school rush’ and allowed you all to all to settle more easily into the start of the 2020 school year.
Spotlight on our Mihi Whakatau... On Tuesday we welcomed the new members of our school whanau with our Mihi Whakatau. Special welcomes go to Rumy K, Tristan & Phillipa-Rose T, Dantae & Jordan M, Keira F, Mike Y, Gemma S, Katie J, Annabelle S, Orla G, Bella C, Edward & Isabella W, Gabrielle L, Katrina M, Sophie-Rose R, Lena T, Archie S, Sebastian R, Arlo O,Phoebe H, Freddie M, Leo C, Rose A, Lena T, Bridie & Tille W, Alex W, Willow T, Lily Y and Beau S. We also welcomed two new staff members to our team; Mrs Kristy Neill (Te Onepoto and Room 16) and Mr Jack Richardson (Awaroa and Room 19 ). We also welcomed back Mrs Kathryn Blunn into her new role as our Associate Principal and Miss Marlee Vale (Rapanui and Room 5). I know that you will join me in extending a warm welcome to all of our members of our school community. If you missed it at the end of the year, a reminder about the teaching structure for 2020 can be found here.
Spotlight on our teachers and their additional responsibilities in 2020… Alongside their teaching responsibilities, a number of our teachers also hold leadership roles for curriculum areas. As a school we aim to provide a wide variety of learning opportunities for our students. This simply isn’t possible without the support of our wonderful community and whanau. If you have any skills, talents, passions or free time that you think would be of benefit to us as a school PLEASE get in contact with either the teachers below, or your child(ren)’s class teacher.
Learning Support - Rebecca Power (dp@sumner.school.nz)
Gifted and Talented Enrichment and Sport - Kathryn Blunn (ap@sumner.school.nz)
Music - Jack Richardson (jrichardson@sumner.school.nz)
Cultural Responsiveness - Rachel Kahi (rkahi@sumner.school.nz)
Positive Education Georgia McRae and Melanie Bradley (gmcrae@sumner.school.nz mbradley@sumner.school.nz)
Digital Technologies and Maths - Hannah Horgan (hhorgan@sumner.school.nz)
Literacy - Hannah Smaill (hsmaill@sumner.school.nz)
Kapa haka - Kristy Neill (kneill@sumner.school.nz)
Choir and production (rlean@sumner.school.nz)
Wider Curriculum - Anna Granger (principal@sumner.school)
Spotlight on learning... During 2020 we will be continuing to deliver our Concept Based Curriculum for our inquiries using the model of: Learn - Create - Share. During the year we will explore four concepts. It is really important to note that the use of concepts are not intended to replace the teaching of curriculum content, but instead provide a context for learning. Our children will then have the opportunity to apply their learning through a Project Based approach in a creative way to answer a key question. This new learning will then be shared with an audience in order to provide an opportunity for our learners to be connected to the wider world. More information on our school curriculum can be found here.
The first of these concepts for Term One is ‘Hauora’ or Wellbeing. The concept of Hauora Māori philosophy of health unique to New Zealand and encompasses the physical, mental and emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions of health; taha tinana, taha hinengaro, taha whanau, and taha wairua.
Taha tinana - Physical wellbeing: This is all about the physical body, its growth, development, ability to move and ways of caring for it.
Taha hinengaro - Mental and emotional wellbeing: This links to coherent thinking processes, acknowledging and expressing thoughts and feelings and responding constructively.
Taha whanau - Social wellbeing: This element focuses on family relationships, friendships and other interpersonal relationships. It encompasses feeling of belonging, compassion, caring and social support.
Taha wairua - Spiritual well-being: These are the values and beliefs that determine the way people live, the search for meaning and purpose in life, and personal identity and self-awareness. It is important to note that for some individuals and communities, spiritual wellbeing is linked to a particular religion; for others, it is not.
I am sure you will agree that this concept provides a great opportunity for us to get to know our students as we settle into a new school year, whilst also providing huge scope for inquiries into wider curriculum areas.
Term One is already looking like a busy one and our Events Calendar is pretty full already. Please make sure that you keep a regular eye on this to ensure you don’t miss anything. Please note the change in our whole school assemblies in 2020. These have moved to Friday’s on ‘odd weeks’ each fortnight from 9.15am in our hall.
Spotlight on our building programme…. As you will have seen, Tuawera’s (Year 3 and 4) new home is rapidly taking shape. This is due to be handed over to us by the end of Term 1. This will mark the end of our building work and our school site will be handed back to us. Our attentions can then turn to our landscaping plans. During Term 1 I will be asking for anyone interested in supporting our landscaping work to meet with me so that we can begin the very exciting process of working with our children to design a new outdoor learning environment for them.
Spotlight on communication… He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. What is the food of the leader? It is knowledge. It is communication.
Thank you to all of you who worked alongside our Board of Trustees last year to share your thinking and feedback during our revisioning process. I am currently busily working with our staff and BOT to collate all of this thinking into our new Vision and Values and Strategic Plan that will bring life to all of this work. One of the main themes that emerged from this work was how important clear communication is between home and school. Please see the reminder here which will enable you to download and update alert groups for our school app. This is our main method of communication with you. All newsletters, school updates and reminders and team notices and newsletters will be sent out via this platform. Most importantly however, all communications in the event of an emergency will also be sent via our school app.
This year we will also be holding a fortnightly ‘drop off’ meeting over a cup of coffee on non-assembly Fridays from 8.45am - 9.15am with members of our Leadership Teams. Each meeting will have a topic and are designed to be an opportunity for the school to provide support to families on areas of interest, as well as providing an opportunity for you all to chat to us.
The topics for Term One are as follows:
Week 2 - Senior Leadership Team coffee Chat with Anna, Kathryn and Rebecca. Bring your device if you need any help setting up the School App.
Week 4 - How do we share learning with you? Seesaw and Reading Eggs introductions.
Week 6 - Reading with your child - aimed at families in Years 0-4
Week 8 - Cool Schools - our peer mediation programme.
And finally…. Sun safety reminders! Christchurch is continuing to provide us with a beautiful summer and it is wonderful to see the children out enjoying the sunshine and being sun smart. Almost all of our children have returned to school armed with a sun hat and sunscreen. Please remember that (blue bucket) hats and rash tops for swimming are compulsory in Terms One and Four. Based on the already overflowing nature of our Lost Property box located in the School Office, I would highly recommend naming these, alongside all other school uniform items! Please also remember to pop sunscreen in your children’s bags as our teachers make sure that there is time in the day to reapply sunscreen after swimming and before break times.
Have a wonderful weekend with your families,
Ngā mihi nui
Anna Granger
Principal
It has been wonderful to see the students returning to Sumner School for the start of the school year with such big smiles on their faces. Thank you to everyone who attended our Kai Me Korero evening on Monday evening. It was a great opportunity to re-connect and catch up with you all after the summer break and was amazing to see how much the children had grown in the 6 week break and to hear of their adventures over the holidays. We hope it also eased the ‘first day back at school rush’ and allowed you all to all to settle more easily into the start of the 2020 school year.
Spotlight on our Mihi Whakatau... On Tuesday we welcomed the new members of our school whanau with our Mihi Whakatau. Special welcomes go to Rumy K, Tristan & Phillipa-Rose T, Dantae & Jordan M, Keira F, Mike Y, Gemma S, Katie J, Annabelle S, Orla G, Bella C, Edward & Isabella W, Gabrielle L, Katrina M, Sophie-Rose R, Lena T, Archie S, Sebastian R, Arlo O,Phoebe H, Freddie M, Leo C, Rose A, Lena T, Bridie & Tille W, Alex W, Willow T, Lily Y and Beau S. We also welcomed two new staff members to our team; Mrs Kristy Neill (Te Onepoto and Room 16) and Mr Jack Richardson (Awaroa and Room 19 ). We also welcomed back Mrs Kathryn Blunn into her new role as our Associate Principal and Miss Marlee Vale (Rapanui and Room 5). I know that you will join me in extending a warm welcome to all of our members of our school community. If you missed it at the end of the year, a reminder about the teaching structure for 2020 can be found here.
Spotlight on our teachers and their additional responsibilities in 2020… Alongside their teaching responsibilities, a number of our teachers also hold leadership roles for curriculum areas. As a school we aim to provide a wide variety of learning opportunities for our students. This simply isn’t possible without the support of our wonderful community and whanau. If you have any skills, talents, passions or free time that you think would be of benefit to us as a school PLEASE get in contact with either the teachers below, or your child(ren)’s class teacher.
Learning Support - Rebecca Power (dp@sumner.school.nz)
Gifted and Talented Enrichment and Sport - Kathryn Blunn (ap@sumner.school.nz)
Music - Jack Richardson (jrichardson@sumner.school.nz)
Cultural Responsiveness - Rachel Kahi (rkahi@sumner.school.nz)
Positive Education Georgia McRae and Melanie Bradley (gmcrae@sumner.school.nz mbradley@sumner.school.nz)
Digital Technologies and Maths - Hannah Horgan (hhorgan@sumner.school.nz)
Literacy - Hannah Smaill (hsmaill@sumner.school.nz)
Kapa haka - Kristy Neill (kneill@sumner.school.nz)
Choir and production (rlean@sumner.school.nz)
Wider Curriculum - Anna Granger (principal@sumner.school)
Spotlight on learning... During 2020 we will be continuing to deliver our Concept Based Curriculum for our inquiries using the model of: Learn - Create - Share. During the year we will explore four concepts. It is really important to note that the use of concepts are not intended to replace the teaching of curriculum content, but instead provide a context for learning. Our children will then have the opportunity to apply their learning through a Project Based approach in a creative way to answer a key question. This new learning will then be shared with an audience in order to provide an opportunity for our learners to be connected to the wider world. More information on our school curriculum can be found here.
The first of these concepts for Term One is ‘Hauora’ or Wellbeing. The concept of Hauora Māori philosophy of health unique to New Zealand and encompasses the physical, mental and emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions of health; taha tinana, taha hinengaro, taha whanau, and taha wairua.
Taha tinana - Physical wellbeing: This is all about the physical body, its growth, development, ability to move and ways of caring for it.
Taha hinengaro - Mental and emotional wellbeing: This links to coherent thinking processes, acknowledging and expressing thoughts and feelings and responding constructively.
Taha whanau - Social wellbeing: This element focuses on family relationships, friendships and other interpersonal relationships. It encompasses feeling of belonging, compassion, caring and social support.
Taha wairua - Spiritual well-being: These are the values and beliefs that determine the way people live, the search for meaning and purpose in life, and personal identity and self-awareness. It is important to note that for some individuals and communities, spiritual wellbeing is linked to a particular religion; for others, it is not.
I am sure you will agree that this concept provides a great opportunity for us to get to know our students as we settle into a new school year, whilst also providing huge scope for inquiries into wider curriculum areas.
Term One is already looking like a busy one and our Events Calendar is pretty full already. Please make sure that you keep a regular eye on this to ensure you don’t miss anything. Please note the change in our whole school assemblies in 2020. These have moved to Friday’s on ‘odd weeks’ each fortnight from 9.15am in our hall.
Spotlight on our building programme…. As you will have seen, Tuawera’s (Year 3 and 4) new home is rapidly taking shape. This is due to be handed over to us by the end of Term 1. This will mark the end of our building work and our school site will be handed back to us. Our attentions can then turn to our landscaping plans. During Term 1 I will be asking for anyone interested in supporting our landscaping work to meet with me so that we can begin the very exciting process of working with our children to design a new outdoor learning environment for them.
Spotlight on communication… He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. What is the food of the leader? It is knowledge. It is communication.
Thank you to all of you who worked alongside our Board of Trustees last year to share your thinking and feedback during our revisioning process. I am currently busily working with our staff and BOT to collate all of this thinking into our new Vision and Values and Strategic Plan that will bring life to all of this work. One of the main themes that emerged from this work was how important clear communication is between home and school. Please see the reminder here which will enable you to download and update alert groups for our school app. This is our main method of communication with you. All newsletters, school updates and reminders and team notices and newsletters will be sent out via this platform. Most importantly however, all communications in the event of an emergency will also be sent via our school app.
This year we will also be holding a fortnightly ‘drop off’ meeting over a cup of coffee on non-assembly Fridays from 8.45am - 9.15am with members of our Leadership Teams. Each meeting will have a topic and are designed to be an opportunity for the school to provide support to families on areas of interest, as well as providing an opportunity for you all to chat to us.
The topics for Term One are as follows:
Week 2 - Senior Leadership Team coffee Chat with Anna, Kathryn and Rebecca. Bring your device if you need any help setting up the School App.
Week 4 - How do we share learning with you? Seesaw and Reading Eggs introductions.
Week 6 - Reading with your child - aimed at families in Years 0-4
Week 8 - Cool Schools - our peer mediation programme.
And finally…. Sun safety reminders! Christchurch is continuing to provide us with a beautiful summer and it is wonderful to see the children out enjoying the sunshine and being sun smart. Almost all of our children have returned to school armed with a sun hat and sunscreen. Please remember that (blue bucket) hats and rash tops for swimming are compulsory in Terms One and Four. Based on the already overflowing nature of our Lost Property box located in the School Office, I would highly recommend naming these, alongside all other school uniform items! Please also remember to pop sunscreen in your children’s bags as our teachers make sure that there is time in the day to reapply sunscreen after swimming and before break times.
Have a wonderful weekend with your families,
Ngā mihi nui
Anna Granger
Principal
Settling into Rapanui Reading Corner
|
|
Big Book Buy Up
We are looking forward to another great year in the library Puna Ora. It is a great place for the children to come at lunchtime to browse the shelves, talk books, play games and enjoy a bit of down time.
We are looking ahead to the BIG BOOK BUY UP which takes place during the Learning Conferences in Week 5. This is the PTA Annual Fundraiser for the School library. Please come and view the books on display and donate one to the library!
We would not be able to provide such a wonderful collection of reading material for our students without your support.
Thank you very much.
Yvonne Hall - Librarian
We are looking forward to another great year in the library Puna Ora. It is a great place for the children to come at lunchtime to browse the shelves, talk books, play games and enjoy a bit of down time.
We are looking ahead to the BIG BOOK BUY UP which takes place during the Learning Conferences in Week 5. This is the PTA Annual Fundraiser for the School library. Please come and view the books on display and donate one to the library!
We would not be able to provide such a wonderful collection of reading material for our students without your support.
Thank you very much.
Yvonne Hall - Librarian
Sumnervale Reserve Community Planting Day
Please join us for a community work morning at Sumnervale Reserve, where we will be weeding and releasing in our planting area. Together with Sumner School this area has been planted and looked after in an effort to restore native bush and promote healthy waterways.
We are wanting to bring the site back up to scratch before a new planting season starts – and we would love your help!
Please bring gloves if you have them, water and sunblock. Gloves and some tools will be supplied.
9.30am – 11.30am Saturday 21 March
Contact - Yvette Williams, Christchurch City Council 027 209 9508
|
Pure Sushi Lunches
Sushi is available for children's lunches on Friday each week and can either be ordered at the Office or online at: info@puresushi.co.nz Orders need to be completed by noon on Thursday's for lunch on Friday. 
|
|
Rapanui Readers - Week 1
HAVE FUN, PLAY FOOTBALL - Ferrymead Bays Football Club
Check out the Juniors section of www.ferrymeadbaysfootball.co.nz for information about our Term 1 programmes, including our Skills Centre and Girls Only Summer Hub options, as well as all details for the 2020 regular season. All new players welcome. Any queries, please contact Club Captain Ren Cameron at ren-dee@xtra.co.nz or on 021 0661294.
Check out the Juniors section of www.ferrymeadbaysfootball.co.nz for information about our Term 1 programmes, including our Skills Centre and Girls Only Summer Hub options, as well as all details for the 2020 regular season. All new players welcome. Any queries, please contact Club Captain Ren Cameron at ren-dee@xtra.co.nz or on 021 0661294.
|
|
Thank you to our newsletter sponsors
