Welcome to Room 21 2015

Beginning of the Year Newsletter for the 

Year 0/1 children.

Dear Parents  

                                                                                                 

Welcome to 2015 at Havelock North Primary School. We hope you have all enjoyed a happy Festive Season and that the New Year has begun smoothly and cheerfully. We are all rested, ready to go and have also refreshed our First Aid skills with a full day’s course.

 We have revamped our Junior Team for 2015 creating a separate Year 2 team. This will enable us to focus more closely on nurturing our new incoming students while fostering and growing the learning of those children who joined us last year.

The line-up of staff for the marvellous Year 0/1 team is as follows;

Tania Henare/Leigh Whitfield      New Entrant/Year 0 Teacher in Room 16

Michelle Waldron                           New Entrant/Year 0 Teacher in Room 17

Vanessa Abraham-Smith               Year 1 Teacher in Room 18

Brenda O’Loughlin                          Year 1 Teacher in Room 19

Laura Macklow                                Year 1 Teacher in Room 20

Annie Boyd                                       Year 1/0 Teacher in Room 21  Team Leader

In the first instance, please contact your child’s teacher if you have any concerns regarding your child. As Team Leader I am available to help support you, your child and all the teachers in the team so please come and see me if my help is required.

Three words are important at this time of the new school year that will contribute significantly in setting the tone to our classroom climate. 

Rules…Routines…Relationships

We will be working with our children to setting our class rules, establishing clear expectations around routines and establishing positive relationships.

Here are a few ‘housekeeping’ items to set the scene for establishing a happy, settled routine in our classrooms:

Please take the time to read these as it will help your child transition successfully back into school after the summer break.

·         Please try and arrive at or around 8.30am. This enables the children to unpack their book bags and prepare themselves for the day and then they still have time for a play outside before the bell rings at 8.55 am.

·        At 8.55am school bell rings and the children should come in and be seated ready for the morning register. This is recorded electronically.

·        If your child is going to be absent please ring the school office and leave a message on the dedicated ‘absences’ message service. Emailing your child’s teacher, if possible, is also much appreciated.

It is a legal requirement and an important safety procedure that all schools identify where children, who have not arrived at school, are. If you do not contact the school regarding an absence, you will be phoned  to find out if your child is safe.

·        All your children’s clothing should be named please. It is particularly important fleeces and hats are named.

·        Lost property is put in containers near the office end of the hall.  If your child has misplaced any belongings this is a good place to start looking.

·        Each child should keep a set of spare clothes at school. These do not need to be uniform. Accidents happen, paint spills, mud splatters, yoghurts explode. Being able to quickly change your child into their own clothes is much easier for everyone. Please put the spare clothes in a named plastic bag and hand over to your child’s teacher.

·         Brainfood time is at 10am – one piece of fruit or vegie would be good. PLEASE can you slice apples up. Half an apple is usually quite sufficient.

·        Morning tea 10:50-11:20. Once the children have eaten they go out to play. The children are supervised while they eat.

Children must wear a school hat in Term 1 and Term 4.

·        Lunch 12:50-1:50. The children eat with the whole school under supervision of duty staff, when they have finished their lunch they will be dismissed to go and play. Again the children must wear a hat.

·        LUNCH ON LINE. This is an internet based school lunch provider. It is available Monday to Friday and the lunches are delivered to the school. If you would like to find out more please visit www.lunchonline.co.nz  . Families need to create an account on line before placing orders.

·        Sunscreen is available at school but I recommend you put a good coating on before school.

·        If your child has any medical issues please ensure the teacher is aware of this on day 1.  It is helpful if important information is written down. Medications such as asthma inhalers have to be stored in the school office.

·        Head Lice is a recurrent problem. The school office has information on how to treat cases.

·        A named drink bottle is a very good idea.

·        Home time 3pm. The children will remain outside our classroom unless you have informed your child’s teacher of other collection arrangements i.e. bus travel.

·        Library day – The class teacher will let you know the class library time. Please return books each week.

·        Once a week each teacher will send, by e-mail, a class newsletter. Please ensure you read this every week because it has important information in it.

·        Please ensure book bags are at school every day.

·        School stationery and hats can be purchased from the school office.

·        Homework expectations will be clearly explained at our Meet The Teachers evening. This is going to be held on Monday 9^th February at 6.00pm.

PLEASE COME AND MEET THE TEAM.

·        Building Site. The school has some major renovations happening. Safety fences are in place. The new toilets will be completed as term begins. Take care as you move around the school.

Stationery

Stationery lists will come home with your child.  The school will be selling pre-packed boxes. The teacher will keep all the spares in the classroom.  When your child needs a replacement book, pencil or whiteboard marker they are on hand for the teacher to give out.

Parent Help

Classroom teachers will in the next few weeks contact their own group of parents to ask for parent help in certain aspects of the daily programme.

If there is ever anything you are not sure about or you have a question you need answering please feel free to see your child’s teacher before or after school. 

If e-mail contact suits you better every teacher has an address.

If there are questions you would like to ask me here is my e-mail;      aboyd@hnps.school.nz

May I take the opportunity, on behalf of all the Team, to wish you a happy 2015 and thank you for the support you give us all in our joint pursuit of helping your children along their path at school.

Thank You

Annie Boyd Year 0/1 Team Leader