Tēnā koutou Parents / Caregivers / Sunnynook Families

Welcome back to school - again!

 

The start of the year has been a challenging time with the recent flooding in Auckland. Children can sometimes feel anxious and uncertain with the changes happening around them. If you feel that your child may need some support  I would encourage you to view the special report provided by SchoolTV that is in this newsletter. The report provides parents with strategies to help their children cope with the aftermath of the flooding.

With having so many lovely beaches on the North Shore and around New Zealand, swimming is an important life skill for all our students. Swimming lessons will be starting this term for some classes. On their last day of swimming, you will be invited to watch your child’s lesson to see what progress they have made and the confidence they have gained around the water. 

Please remember to check the notices on Hero, our website, and school calendar for any changes and updates to the events held at school.

Our Team Leaders along with the teachers have worked on their newsletters and these are published on our website. A link to these are available in this newsletter. Please take the time to read these for more information in regards to your child’s learning and special events throughout the term.    

Our newsletters will now continue to be sent out to you on a fortnightly basis, they contain pertinent information about what is happening at our school.

Ngā mihi 

Virginia

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Monday 20 February:              Ngā Kauri EOTC Youthtown
Wednesday 22 February:       Ngā Kauri Tree Adventures (Rms 1, 2 & 3)
                                                  Vision & Hearing Testing
Thursday 23 February:           Ngā Kauri Tree Adventures (Rms 4, 5 & 6)
                                                  Rm 15 start swimming
Friday 3 March:                        Ngā Kowhai Teddy Bear Picnic
                                                   (12.00-12.45pm)
Saturday 11 March - Sunday 12 March:     New Date for PTA Camp Out  

2023 TERM DATES

Term 1 

Monday 6 February - Waitangi Day (Public Holiday)

Monday 24 April - Teacher Only Day

Tuesday 25 April - Anzac Day (Public Holiday)

Wednesday 26 April - Classes begin for Term 2

Monday 5 June - King's Birthday (Public Holiday)

Monday 23 October - Labour Day (Public Holiday)

Due to the wet weather, the Sunnynook Primary PTA  Camp Out has been postponed until  11th-12th March. Please see the latest Camp Out invitation for further information on the event and how to purchase tickets. We look forward to seeing you there!  

If you have had any changes to your address, email, or phone numbers since your child has enrolled at school, please inform the office at reception@sunnynookschool.nz. Could you also please update the school with your child's current vaccination certificate.

Sunnynook Primary School has signed up with Kickstart breakfast again this year. It is sponsored by Anchor and Fonterra. Our breakfast club will be resuming Monday 20 February at 8:30-8:45am in the Technology Room and will run everyday.  All are welcome.

For a safe and fun way to get to school, we would encourage your children to join the Walking School Bus. We are also looking for new Walking School Bus routes. If you can help with this, please contact the Travelwise leader, Jessica Fifield. 

Students who bike ride or scooter to and from school must  complete the Consent and License Form.

For more information about how to register for the walking school bus, scootering or biking to school please follow the instructions here or on our school website. 

We have noticed an increase in cars picking up their children at the end of the day at the pick up zone by the main gate. This is partly due to the impact recent flooding has made to the Regency Place bridge. Lyford Crescent has now become very congested in the afternoon. Some students are becoming worried at the length of time they are having to wait to be picked up. We recommend, if you can, to walk up Lyford Crescent and meet your child at the gate or ask them to walk and meet you at the local park, if you feel they are capable of doing so. 

Currently the Tonkin Road crossing is unmanned as students will be trained this week by the local community constable. We hope to begin next week, however we still need adult volunteers. If you are available to help please contact Rebeccah Bassett-Smith on rebeccahb@sunnynookschool.nz

Visibility around this crossing is also difficult due to the limited yellow lines painted around the crossing and at the bottom of Lyford Crescent. Please be considerate of where you park. The safety of all our students is paramount.

The school has contacted our local community officer about the impact the congestion is having and our concern for the safety of our tamariki.

The school is fortunate to have many alternative entry points. Refer to the Travelwise map below to determine which gate works best for you.

This year staff and students are starting on an exciting journey with Mitey. This is a mental health wellbeing programme on offer to schools through the Sir John Kirwan Foundation. It is a schoolwide evidence based approach to mental health. Children will learn how to recognise and respond to their own mental health and those of others. Delivery of this programme is woven into all aspects of the school day. The Mitey Framework is a stepped progression of learning aligned to the NZ Curriculum and supported by cross curricular units of work.

In all areas Mitey is guided by the Mana model of student wellbeing. The Mana Model comes from world class research by leading New Zealand academics. A key finding was that children thrive when they can cultivate their innate mana and that's why it is a core foundation of Mitey. For more information please look on the website

Over the holiday break the school contributed $10,000 to have the pool painted. This looks fabulous and is just in time for swimming this term!  

SchoolTV is an organisation that offer wellbeing resources to schools to share with our community. 
The Director of Psychological Services, Dr Emma Woodward, from The Child Psychology Services has created a special report with SchoolTV especially for parents on how to support their children during the aftermath of the Auckland floods.

This report offers a number of strategies to help assist families during this time of recovery:

We have been advised that If you are in need of extra psychological support during this time, the team at The Child Psychology Service have  psychologists located throughout Auckland who are currently available. To remove the financial barrier to accessing support  The Child Psychology Service have been able to access some short-term funding through 'I Am Hope'. Please see their website: https://thechildpsychologyservice.co.nz to make contact for help.

Last Thursday during lunchtime, many students across the school gathered together to celebrate the year of the Rabbit. Some crafted and decorated lanterns, others practiced their Chinese calligraphy skills and there many who coloured rabbit themed bookmarks. The music even inspired a group of students to showcase their passion for dancing. There was lots of jovial discussion about how the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac were decided upon. It was lovely to see students of all ages showing appreciation and making connections. Thank you to all who took part, as well as Mrs Batra and Mrs Ko for getting involved too. 

There will be a Paid Union Meeting for teachers who are members of the NZEI on Thursday 2nd March at the North Harbour Stadium.  Meetings times are either 9.30am - 10.30am or 1.30pm - 2.30pm.   

School will remain open on the day, and we will have someone to cover classes while members attend the meeting.

Sunnynook School uses School Docs to manage all of our policy and procedures. You can access the policies and comment when policies are reviewed by logging in and following the review steps.

If you don't have internet access, school office staff can provide you with printed copies of the policy and a review form.

If any of your details have changed, please let the office know via email. This is particularly important for new phone numbers and emails in order for us to contact you in an emergency.

School Hours
Our school day is structured as follows:

Late - Students who arrive after 8:50 am need to report to the office via the student entrance for their late pass before going to class.

Absences - If your child is going to be absent from school, please inform the school office every day that your child is going to be absent by either phoning 410 6534 option 1, via the Hero app or via our website. If possible, please inform the school office before 9:00 am.

Our school is a SunSmart school and hat-wearing is compulsory for Term 1 and Term 4.  A reminder to place your hat orders as soon as possible. You can place your orders with Argyle Uniforms here or purchase one from the school office for $13.60.

The Team Newsletters for Term 1 are available on our website.  

Working together with Kindo and ezlunch, our School offers you a simple and quick way to view and pay for items, order lunches and complete forms.  This is our payment system, so any emails you receive from Kindo will not be spam. 

Please set up your Kindo account by following the instructions  on our website here.

This is our preferred method of payment and we encourage you to set-up your myKindo account today.

In 2023 our main form of communication with you - our school community, will be via Hero. On the Hero app, the little bell icon at the top right of your screen shows whether you have any new notifications.  At times if the post is a longer one you may need to click ‘read more’ to view the whole message. We would appreciate it if you could also use Hero to report absences.

Any parents/caregivers who haven't yet signed up for the Hero App can do so by clicking on this link.