Tuesday 26th July 2022
Hello everyone,
I’d like to start this week with some wonderful news. We have a new member of our school family! Joe Flynn and his partner Allanna welcomed the gorgeous Ottilie Francesca Flynn into the world on Sunday 24th July 2022. She is well but is spending some time in the special care nursery at the moment. I know that Joe has told me that he is very keen for a cuddle. Ottilie has three big brothers who, I’m sure, will be looking forward to welcoming their little sister home.
We are a close knit, happy staff, and so, lovely news such as this makes us all joyful. Congratulations.
Joe will be absent on parental leave for the next two weeks and his class will be covered by Casual Relief Teachers (CRTs) during this time. Joe has done all of the planning for the next two weeks, so that continuity of education is maintained.
I have been asked by a lot of students, and some parents, about the Neon Disco this Friday night. Currently, we have only two cases of COVID in the school; both diagnosed last week, and I have not been informed of any other viral illnesses, so we will go ahead with the disco. I have sourced some masks that glow in the dark for any students who would like to wear one. This is, as always, a difficult decision and I know that I will not make some parents happy, but whichever way I choose to go with this, there will be people who disagree. Parents are free to opt their children out of the disco and the money that has been paid will be credited to their account or refunded. It appears that we are currently in a “virus lull” and we need to grab every opportunity for the students that we can.
At the disco, children will be asked to sanitise in and out of the door and COVID safe food handling practices will be in place. Please read the information put out by FOS about this.
Our Inclusion and Wellbeing Coordinator Olivia has organised another parent webinar with Billy Garvey, a child psychologist from the Royal Children’s Hospital. The feedback from his last parent webinar was fantastic, so I encourage you to join this session. The information about this is in this newsletter.
Production rehearsals are going ahead. It is nice to see children practising their lines, learning their dances and to hear them singing the songs. We have some talented performers in the school and it’s a good opportunity for them to showcase their talents. You will receive a note about costumes this week. They are very simple and hopefully won’t cause you any stress. The ever talented Rowena Glenister is in charge of costumes.
I spoke to one of the board members from Gisborne Foodbank the other day about supporting them. Our students raised $300 last term that was donated to the Foodbank, and I have committed the month of October to have a food drive in the school.
We are a proud International Baccalaureate school, delivering the Primary Years Programme.
Over the last couple of years, it has been difficult to have you come into the school to see the PYP in action. We would like to invite you to come in and see a PYP session, to help you understand why we run the programme and the benefits that it provides for our students.
If you can, please come and visit your child’s classroom on Wednesday 10th August between 2.30 and 3.30pm. We’d love to see you here!
Our much loved Rufus will be having a small break from school. He is currently feeling the effects of arthritis and is undergoing a series of injections and also some rest. We will miss him but hopefully see him back in a few weeks feeling much better.
Have a lovely week!
Kind Regards,
Trish
