Newsletter Thursday 11 June 2020

He mihi mahana ki a koutou katoa - warm greetings to all.

Welcome to school at Level 1

A big welcome to all our new children and families who have started over the last two weeks. We have lots of new faces as well as younger siblings of our children already at school. Thank you all for following our procedures while we were at Level 2. Although parents no longer have to sign in if they need to come into the classroom, we are still sanitising hands when we enter classrooms. If you do want to talk to a teacher the best way is to email and let the teacher know.

Staggered starts

We have noticed that staggered starts are working really well for settling our junior children into class for the day. It also really helps with traffic congestion at drop off and pick up times. We would like to keep these going for the rest of the term. If these staggered starts don't work for your family then feel free to stick to the normal times (8.55am start and 3pm finish).

A shorter school year

The Ministry of Education has decided to reduce the school year by two days. As we are already finishing on December 14, we don't want to shorten our school year at the end and finish any earlier than this. We had planned to have a teacher only day on Tuesday 27 October (which is the day after Labour weekend) and advertised this earlier in the year. This will now be one of the days our school is closed instead of a teacher only day. The second day we have decided to close the school is Friday 25 September. This is the day after the senior school return from camp. We have low attendance school-wide the day after camp and we are hoping this is the least intrusive day to close. This is also the last day of Term 3. You can read more about this in Kathryn's principal's blog here.

Wet Weather Gear - Lives Here

Children who walk or bike to school no matter the weather have an option of leaving some dry clothes at school to encourage them to walk or bike in all weather. There are bright orange tags that can be collected from the office and tied to their bags which they can leave on hooks in the cloak bays for days they need to get changed. We love having such an active community and want to support this any way we can!

Scholastic Lucky Books

Issue 4 is open until Saturday 11 July and will be for online orders only - No cash, no eftpos. Anyone wishing to order books can view the leaflet online here Take a note of the code and order through the Loop system or through the App.

'Keep it real online' campaign

The Department of Internal Affairs with Netsafe and the Office of Film and Literature Classification is about to launch a 'Keep it real online' campaign. The campaign will support parents and caregivers to reduce the risks of online harm such as cyber-bullying, inappropriate content, pornography and grooming.

Parents and caregivers can find information including tips on how to have conversations with their kids at www.keepitrealonline.govt.nz.

Ngā mihi

Sarah Taylor

Deputy Principal

Ridgway School

Family Board Game Night at Vogelmorn Friday 26 June

The family board game night is back on at Vogelmorn! https://vogelmorn.nz/2020/05/29/family-gathering/ Open to all, newcomers encouraged. Bring a game if you want or come to play others. BYO dinner and drinks - or there is food to purchase onsite from Damascus Takeaways.