FRIDAY 27th MARCH 

 

COVID-19 UPDATE

We have started into a new phase of New Zealand’s response to COVID-19 and it is very different from anything most of us have ever experienced.  I wanted to reassure you that our school staff and Board of Trustees will continue to be available to support your child’s learning and wellbeing in the next weeks. I would like to thank the teachers, support staff and Board of Trustees for their hard work and support over the past three weeks. The situation was changing daily and I am proud of the way that our team responded by showing initiative, flexibility and for going out of their way to ensure our students were safe and supported. Thank you all! 

 

ROUTINES

You will understand the importance of routine for your family. If your routine has been shaken up, like you’re now working from home, it’s good to structure your time. Routines are reassuring, and promote health and physical wellbeing. The below timetable (targeted at children) could be something your household adapts to use over the next few weeks. A school holiday version will likely look a little different, but some form of routine will still be important as we go through the lockdown period.

 

Daily Schedule

*Adapted from a resource developed by Jessica McHale Photography

 

 

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS

The government has adjusted the dates of the school holidays so our holidays will now be from Monday 28th March - 15th April. This means that our teachers will not be checking their emails as frequently and will not be assigning work tasks to students. They too are having a well deserved break and time with their whanau. After the 15th April school will still be closed, but teachers will be able to continue to support students through online learning support. We will be updating information and learning sites for this on our school website www.avalonintermediate.school.nz then ‘Our Learning’ and ‘Online Learning’. 

 

PASIFIKA FAMILIES

For our Pasifika families, the Ministry for Pacific Peoples’ have been working to ensure useful information is available to Pacific peoples. A one-hour special will be aired on Tagata Pasifika’s segment on Saturday at 9am; and on Sunday at 7.35am, Tagata Pasifika will share messages from community leaders. The Ministry is asking you to reach out to all your family members, community groups, friends and group chats to ensure our Pacific community groups are watching the programming on both days.

 

KEY DATES

26 March        Alert Level 4 commenced

28 March        School holidays begin

10 – 14 April  Easter including the Tuesday after Easter

15 April           Term 2 begins (school is still closed, learning support through distance learning)

22 April           Current date for ending of lockdown period

27 April           ANZAC Day observed

  

Well being links and Information

• The Ministry of Education has developed a resource for parents, caregivers, whānau and family - http://education.govt.nz/school/health-safety-and-wellbeing/pastoral-care-and-wellbeing/talking-to-children-about-covid-19-coronavirus/.

• The Ministry of Health’s website includes Top ways to look after your mental wellbeing during the Covid-19 lockdown.

• I AM HOPE is the youth and community focused support group run by The Key to Life Charitable Trust, started by Mike King - https://www.iamhope.org.nz/

• Nathan Wallis has some helpful videos on his Facebook page for parents and whānau - https://www.facebook.com/nathanwallisxfactoreducation/ -

• Tips on looking after mental health and wellbeing during COVID-19 from the Mental Health foundation https://www.mentalhealth.org.nz/get-help/covid-19/

• a website by the Health Promotion Agency to help New Zealanders recognise and understand depression and anxiety - https://depression.org.nz/covid-19/

• Although overseas-based this is a good list and highlights some things particularly important for children. Remember the rules of New Zealand’s level 4 lockdown still apply -  25 Mental Health Wellness Tips during Quarantine from Eileen M Feliciano, Psy.D.

 

A big thank you to all of you for taking the lockdown so seriously. As the Prime Minister has noted, staying at home will break the chain and save lives; breaking the rules could risk someone close to you and if the rules are not complied with, this could risk the lock down period being extended or could risk the virus being spread to thousands. 

 

Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui

 

Ariana Te Whetu

Principal

 

 

MONDAY 23 MARCH 8:50pm - URGENT COVID-19 UPDATE 

 

SCHOOL SUPERVISION 

With today’s announcement by the Government, we are implementing with urgency our plan to support your child’s learning from home. We appreciate this is a sudden and significant change, and will be heavily disruptive to many people in our community. Our preference is for students to stay at home from tomorrow. However if you are not able to organise supervision for your child and for children of essential workers, we look forward to seeing your child here at school tomorrow morning at the normal school time. Only children of essential workers are allowed to come to school on Wednesday 25th March. School buses will run as normal for these students. After Wednesday, no school buses will be operating as schools are officially closed. You may wish to check if you are considered an essential worker - https://covid19.govt.nz/government-actions/covid-19-alertsystem/ however those roles include doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers and police. 

 

WORK PACKS

We have prepared work packs for students to work through from home over the next two weeks. Each work pack has Inquiry and Maths work, and work from either their Technology/Art or Science class. They will also have at least one book to take home, which they can keep. These books were donated by staff at Victoria University and families from Karori. Thank you to Stuart Crafts and his wife Sue Hall, who organised for these to be donated to our students. 

 

We will hand these packs out tomorrow (Tuesday 24th March) to any students who are at school. If your child is not at school, and you are able to come to school to collect your child’s pack please do so by 10am. After this time, our support staff will be delivering the packs to student’s addresses and leaving these in mailboxes. 

 

ONLINE LEARNING

If you go to our school website www.avalonintermediate.school.nz under ‘Our Learning’ then ‘Online Learning’ we have put a list of websites that your child can use from a computer or device. 

 

All students have gmail email addresses which they can log into from any device. They use this to access GoogleDocs and could start pieces of writing and share this with their peers and their teacher. 

 

All students have Mathletics accounts, which have been paid for by our Board of Trustees. They should know their username and password, but they can email their classroom teacher if they are unsure. Most students should all have a Studyladder account now too, which their teacher can use to assign learning tasks from.

 

If your child has any questions they can email their teacher, I have asked teachers to check their emails twice each day during the week. 

 

Teacher emails: 

Rm 1: victoriah@ais.school.nz

Rm 2: lizm@ais.school.nz

Rm 3: kimberleys@ais.school.nz

Rm 4: luket@ais.school.nz

Rm 5: stuartc@ais.school.nz

Rm 6: sarahh@ais.school.nz

Rm 7: lizg@ais.school.nz

Rm 8: juliap@ais.school.nz

Rm 9: stefanp@ais.school.nz 

Wood Technology: andrewc@ais.school.nz

Multicraft Technology: stephanier@ais.school.nz

Fabric Technology: rosemaryw@ais.school.nz

Food Technology: joanm@ais.school.nz

Art: kirstenh@ais.school.nz

Science: rosec@ais.school.nz 

 

COMMUNICATION WITH SCHOOL

Please email Ariana Te Whetu and Alissa Murdoch for…

• Any urgent issues

• If you have questions about school dates or organisation 

Email is our preferred method of contact as we may not be able to regularly clear messages left on the school phone. Again, we will be checking emails twice each day so you can expect a response in reasonable time.

Principal (Ariana Te Whetu): principal@ais.school.nz

Deputy Principal (Alissa Murdoch): alissam@ais.school.nz 

 

Other contacts if needed: 

BOT Chairperson (Kevin Thickett): kevint@ais.school.nz

Office Executive (Leanne Thompson): admin@ais.school.nz

 

We will continue to update you using the following sources: 

• Our weekly newsletter will be emailed on Tuesdays and on the homepage of our website www.avalonintermediate.school.nz 

• Avalon Intermediate School Facebook Page

 

SELF ISOLATION

If you need to have your child cared for by someone else you will need to identify that person or people as part of your self-isolated group. This will need to be done by midnight Wednesday and the group must remain the same for the whole 4 week period. The caregiver’s own group (eg, their partner and children), your child and your own group (eg, your parents and other children) become one group. This group needs to be limited to minimise any risk of spread and should be no more than 20 people. 

 

TALKING WITH YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT COVID-19

Your child will be looking to you for guidance about this decision. Parents, caregivers, whānau and teachers will have a particularly important part to play in reassuring children at this time. The following website has advice from a psychologist on how to help your child deal with the many emotions they may be experiencing now. 

https://www.unicef.org/coronavirus/6-ways-parents-can-support-their-kids-through-coronavirus-covid-19

 

As noted by the Prime Minister these restrictions are our best chance to slow the virus in New Zealand and to save lives. We all have a clear role here to slow the spread of COVID-19. We will continue to communicate with you over the coming days. Thank you for your ongoing support of our school staff and school community. 

 

Look after yourselves, your whanau and each other. 

 

Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui

 

Ariana Te Whetu

Principal 

Click to Listen to the Album and More!

 

 

 

 

 

INFORMATION FOR 2020

 

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL: 

Year 7 students - start Thursday 30th January 2020

Year 7 and Year 8 students - in on Friday 31st January 2020 

 

UNIFORM SHOP: 

Our school uniform can only be purchased from our school. You are welcome to buy this before the end of the year, however most parents purchase in the days leading up to school starting. 

 

Uniform shop dates for January: 

Saturday 25th January 9am - 1pm 

Monday 27th January 12pm - 4pm 

Tuesday 28th January 9am - 2:30pm 

 

WINZ Quotes can be done during school time before the holidays so you are able to get appointments during the holidays and avoid delays.

 

The items and prices are as follows:

Polo $30

PE tops $30

Shorts $26 

Sweatshirt $46

Trackpants $36

Sunhats $15

 

Students are required to wear sports shoes during the day. They do not need black leather shoes and they are not allowed to wear Converse, high tops or canvas/slip on shoes.  

 

Sorry we do not have EFTPOS, and all uniform has to be paid for before being taken.

 

STATIONERY:

 

Stationery can be purchased at school or local retailers to take advantage of the specials. This is what is required for all students next year. 

 

8x 1B8, 2 x 1E5, 6 x pencils, 1 x eraser, 1x pencil sharpener, 1 x red pen, 1 x blue pen, 2 x highlighters,  1x protractor, 1 x ruler, 3 x glue sticks, 1 x A4 visual diary, 1 x pencil case. 

 

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL: 

Year 7 students only - Thursday 30th January 

All students - Friday 31st January

 

• All students to meet on the green court outside the school hall. Parents/caregivers are welcome to accompany their child.

• Be in correct uniform including your hat (all uniform should be named)

• Have all your stationery with you

• Bring morning tea, a drink and a packed lunch. 

• The canteen will not be open until Monday 10th February 

 

Technology fee: Our compulsory technology fee is $80 per student per year.  This fee covers the ‘take home’ materials or ingredients your child uses in their technology lessons. There is an expectation that this will be paid in Term 1. 

 

Automatic Payments: 

We strongly encourage families to set up automatic payments (APs) as many have found this a great way to spread payments.  AP forms are included with this letter; use your child’sname as the reference.  This is by far the best way to deal with payments during the year - $5 a week will basically cover everything. 

 

 

 

Student Success

 

Matariki

 

Clustered together

In forever peace.

A Maori treasure

For everyone to keep.

 

Forever silent

Above the mountain tops.

Alone where it is quiet

Leading boats to land and docks.

 

 

By Paige, Rm 9

 

Announcements 

 

 

 

 

Calendar