Where students learn creatively and strive for excellence preparing for lifelong learning Kia auaha te ako a ngā ākonga me te whai i te iti kahurangi mō te akoranga tūroa

The Bird’s Eye View ~ The Kelburn Normal School Newsletter

Friday 13 December - Week 9, Term 4 2019

Kia ora koutou, Welcome to Anoushka and Priyanka P in Tupu Brown. As we approach the last week of the year I think it is fair to say that we are tired but very proud of how the year has unfolded and the work we have all done. As Anoushka and Priyanka have joined Kelburn in Tupu Brown our year 8 students are about to have their last week in primary school.

On Tuesday almost 200 of our children took part in our wonderful annual Musical Refreshment at St Andrews on the Terrace. Special mention to Charles Bisley for his vision, coordination, and organisation of the ensembles and to our music teachers - Nicola, Nicole, Tristram, Jeremy, Justin, Mark, Kamala, Martin. A big thanks to our teachers who support the ensembles making sure that the children are at the right place at the right time. This is a unique event and something we can all celebrate. The excellence of the performances from all the ensembles, from our youngest children through to

our talented music teachers, provides us with an insight into the richness of everyday learning at Kelburn, and the importance of the arts in this learning. We should all be proud of our children and what they can achieve with the quality of tuition / teaching/ mentoring that goes on every day across the year. As I said on Tuesday night - these ensembles happen in addition to the classroom programme and not to the detriment of other curriculum areas. Our children’s strengths are the envy of most other schools that know about us. It starts in the juniors and it keeps on going, gathering pace as the arts go up the school. In amongst it all, it is just wonderful to have a primary school orchestra! But to see a state primary school of just 300 children, perform Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus, powered by their own orchestra was simply remarkable.

In addition to the Musical Refreshment, the school has continued to ‘keep’ going with our opportunities. Our road patrollers enjoyed their reward outing at H2O extreme in Upper Hutt and Whanake, Whānui, and Māia enjoyed the annual Rogaine competition in the Botanical Gardens. Lyrica choir backed up Tuesday night by singing at the British High Commission last night. Today we enjoyed our Christmas themed assembly

1

where we acknowledged departing staff and enjoyed an item from each Ara (team). Our final ‘community’ assembly today, we farewelled Richard and Chantelle, and departing part-time staff Amelia, Chris, Joanne and Mary. Each team shared an item and kapa haka led the school in Toia Mai and orchestra (and Frankie) led the school in Tarakihi (Cicada).

If I can draw your attention to our Rock Bands concert next Thursday at 11am in the hall. We have a few bands sharing and this event is always good fun as aspiring rockers. The Board currently has a community survey running to help inform the strategic planning process in 2020. It closes next Tuesday so if you haven’t shared your thoughts please do so by clicking here. With reports coming home today you will see your child has been allocated a homegroup teacher for 2020. Firstly the reports - the children’s general achievement in key aspects of the curriculum area has been summarised into a level and this places them against the expected level. It is a broad grade and it indicates how well they are travelling against the appropriate expected. Completing the report is a set of comments. They are both reflective and future-focussed and I encourage you to slowly read one line at a time and talk to your child about what this may mean for them going forward. Secondly, in terms of ‘classes’, the homegroup teacher/team is predominantly who the children work with but it is important to recognise that our new learning spaces have created a completely different dynamic between children and teachers. Children now have greater access to and work with all teachers and all children so the previous concept of ‘my class, my

teacher’ has been replaced by one team. Segregation has gone and been replaced by teachers and children working in spaces alongside each other. I hope this helps allay any concerns about missing out. Structurally we are a bit different next year. Our Ministry of Education staffing entitlement for 2020 is lower than in 2019 by one whole teacher. Over the last 2-3 years our overall school roll has dropped slightly from the 2016/2017 numbers because of a smaller new entrant intake in 2016 (our current year 3 group) and a smaller group currently in year 6. Teacher allocation to a school is funded by the age of the students and total student numbers. We get more staffing for younger students than our older students, and in 2020 we have higher numbers at our older levels in Y5-8 than in Y1-4 and so as a consequence, we have less staffing overall. The consequence of this is that instead of 13 classroom teachers, which we have had for 2019, in 2020 we have to operate with 12. We have to fit 300 children into 12 learning spaces. So because we will have one less teacher overall in 2020 we will be starting the year in the junior school with 3 teachers and will likely start a fourth class (with an extra teacher), when new entrant numbers increase as children turn 5 throughout the year. Overall there will be three classes at each level. Our staffing lineup for 2020 is as follows :- Leadership Team Principal - Andrew Bird Deputy Principal - Danielle Sanders Associate Principal - Charles Bisley Te Ara Tupu (year 1-2) Susie Brown - Tupu Team Leader Andrea Malloy Sophie Bishop Ali Laing - Reading Recovery Te Ara Whanake (year 2, 3 & 4) Greta De Vries - Whanake Team Leader Kayleigh Peach Emma Murdoch Te Ara Whānui Team (year 5-6) Jennifer Wilkinson - Whānui Team Leader Rebekah Rasmussen Rob Kerr Te Ara Māia Team (year 7-8) Alistair Button - Māia Team Leader

2

Libya Munn Jamie Quayle International Coordinator & ELL Teacher - Joelle Clark CRT Release - Jenny Cossey Support Staff Teacher Aides - Rachel Smith, Katharina Vautier Office Manager - Loraine Best Front of house - Kim Mudgway Accounts - Sharyn Green Caretaker - Aaron Langlands I have one more newsletter next week and I look forward to summarising some of our successes, and in particular sharing some excellent student achievement data with you. Our tamariki have done very well this year! Ngā manaakitanga Andrew

PTA News On Wednesday, 18 December the PTA will be offering a special lunch option to be served at noon. For $10, you can pre-order for each of your children: a hamburger or cheeseburger, side of vegetable sticks and fruit, and a choice of ice cream. Pre-orders can be made by emailing the PTA with your order as follows: Child name, teacher name, choice of hamburger or cheeseburger. Deposit $10 for child’s order into the PTA account 12-3140-0240253-00. Questions or to order, email pta@kelburnnormal.school.nz

Looking Ahead - Event Dates - Term 4 You can see the times and add these events to your calendar by using the KNS App

Week Date Event

Week 10

16 Dec

18 Dec

19 Dec

19 Dec

20 Dec

Year 8 Leavers Dinner

Year 8 Leavers Assembly (Year 8 Parents only)

Bands Concert 11 am to 12.30pm

School water fight

School closes at Midday

Week Date Event

Week

1

3 Feb Start of School Year

Week 2

10 Feb

10 Feb

12 Feb

13 Feb

13 Feb

Māia Camp Meeting @ 6pm

PTA Meeting @ 7 pm Staffroom

Parent Teacher Conversations @ 5.30 pm - 7.45 pm

Whanake Swimming

Parent Teacher Conversations @ 5.30 pm - 7.45

3

pm

Week

3

19 Feb

20 Feb

21 Feb

Whānui Camp leaving at 9.30 am

Whanake Swimming

Whānui Camp returning at 5.30 approx

Week

4

24 Feb

27 Feb

28 Feb

Māia Depart for Camp at 7.30 am

Whanake Swimming

Māia return form Camp at approx 5.30pm

School Term Dates 2019 Term Start Date End Date

Term 4 Monday 14 October

Friday 20 December (Noon)

School Term Dates 2020

Term Start Date End Date

Term 1 Mon 3 February Thurs 9 April

Term 2 Tues 28 April Friday 3 July

Term 3 Mon 20 July Fri 25 September

Term 4 Mon 12 October

Thurs 17 December

Teacher only day Friday 29 May 2020 (Queen’s Birthday)

Community Notices These are now on the website . Ezlunch (Sushi) Menu Term 4 - Click here for the link. Friday 13 December will be the last ezlunch service day for the year. Liv hair is collecting for Foster Hope this Christmas. Please come in and collect a tag to buy a deserving child a gift for Christmas. Or email livhairkelburn@gmail.com and we can send you through an idea of the child's age. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us at liv hair. Kelburn contingent at 2020 Weet-Bix Kid Tryathlon The event is on Sunday 9am 15 March next year. If you wish your child to join the group, please use the following link. https://www.registernow.com.au/secure/Register.aspx?E=35582&G=100589

Padder Tennis two day holiday programme 23 - 24 December https://enrolmy.com/padder-tennis-nz/book-now/28-Padder-Tennis-Holiday-Hit-Out Kelly Sports JANUARY HOLIDAY PROGRAMMES Football - Wests Rugby Clubrooms, Ian Galloway park, Wilton Week 1 - Tues 14 Jan, Weds 15 Jan, Thurs 16 Jan Week 2 - Tues 21 Jan, Weds 22 Jan, Thurs 23 Jan Week 3 - Tues 28 Jan, Weds 29 Jan, Thurs 30 Jan Football Fun - Ages 5 + 9am - 12pm Football Skills - Ages 7 + 1pm - 4pm 1 day (AM or PM) for $35.00 3 days (AM or PM) for $90.00 Dance **NEW** - Raroa Intermediate School Hall, Johnsonville Day 1 - Tues 21st Jan - "JAZZ" Day 2 - Weds 22 Jan - "BALLET" Day 3 - Thurs 23 Jan - "HIP HOP" Our second dance holiday programme! With our NZAMD (NZ Academy of Modern Dance), RNZB (Royal NZ Ballet) and RAD (Royal Academy of Dance) accredited coach Caitlin. Learn an entire dance routine from 10am - 1pm, Ages 6+ Cost: 1 day $35.00 3 days $90.00 **NEW** Little Movers! - Raroa Intermediate School Hall, Johnsonville We are launching a new hour long programme that will take place every morning before our dance programme kicks off. A chance for 3 to 6 year olds to have a boogie and explore movement to music. 9am - 10am Tues 21st Jan, Weds 22nd Jan, Thurs 23rd Jan Cost - $10/session For full details and to enrol into our programmes visit www.kellysports.co.nz email adminwgtn@kellysports.co.nz or call 04 972 7201. Kelburn Kids Holiday Program Bookings are still being taken for our January Holiday Program. We will be open from Monday 13 January through to school starting. We offer a full day from 8.30 to 6.00pm or a part day of 8.30 to 3.00pm. You do not have to be a Kelburn Student to attend so if you have extra children staying with you and you think you might need a day off from all the children why not book them all in with us. Just send us an email at kelburnkids@gmail.com at any time over the break and we will confirm your bookings.

4