Welcome to 2023!
As I reflect on our first week back I reflect on the work our teachers and leaders put into the class placements at the end of last year. The care and diligence they applied has resulted in a great start to 2023. I have visited every classroom and seen for myself how well the children have settled back into school, despite the disrupted start caused by the recent flooding and the Ministry of Education’s decisions.
It is exciting to see the children coming in at the start of a new year with such big smiles and enthusiasm, which helps to set the scene for a year of learning, fun, making new friends and taking new opportunities.
Flooding at School
We were very lucky at school. We only sustained minor damage to one of the offices. I know we have members of staff and our community who have suffered damage to both business premises and their own houses. If there is anything the school can do to support you, please let us know.
At the end of last year you will have noted the diggers and cones around our site. Much of this work was drainage related. We completed this work in December and I know this continuous work on our infrastructure and school site ensured our site was able to just about deal with that deluge.
Continuing School Maintenance and Development
The work on the classroom block along Isobel Road is continuing, as are the pool renovations. The pool renovations have been impacted by the weather as we ended up with nearly 40 cm of water back in the pool! This had to be drained and then dried out before the continuation of the rebuilding of the surface. We are hoping for some dry weather to allow this work to continue at pace!
I’d like to thank everyone who has been involved with our fundraising. The readathon provided funds for a library upgrade. The space is looking amazing and we hope to have it open in the next couple of weeks, once our new furniture arrives. Our hall upgrade is also nearly complete with a new screen, projector and sound system now in place.
Meet The Teacher
Thank you to those who were able to come in to meet with your child’s new teacher. These are hugely valuable to understand some of your child’s needs and areas of interests. We hope to return to doing these prior to the start of school next year.
Donations and Activity Contributions
As you are aware, the cost of running our school and offering your children the broadest range of activities is continually increasing. In past years, we have tried to absorb these increases in certain areas however, we are unable to continue doing so as we find that our providers are passing price increases onto us. The main area where we have noticed the largest increase is transport costs to off site activities and visiting shows and experiences, which are solely funded out of your activity contribution.
We have worked hard to keep these increases as small as possible to help minimise the financial impact to our families and our 2023 contribution requests are as follows:
School Donation – $55 per term or $220 for the whole school year (this is the same as previous
years, however the discount for early payment has been removed). The amount for 3rd or
subsequent children will remain at $37.50 per term or $150 for the whole school year.
Classroom Activity Contributions – $40 per term or $160 for the whole school year.
Kindo is our preferred method for all your school payments. We also have links for you to follow on our school website in the Community Connect section or in the drop down on the Info tab.
If you have any trouble setting up your Kindo account, please follow the help links on the Kindo website.
2023 Enrolments
We are experiencing an incredible number of enrolments for our school! We normally have our first new class starting in mid term 2. This year it looks like that will start in term 1! In order to recruit the best teachers for our children, it is a great help if we have advanced knowledge of our numbers.
If you have a child enrolling with us in 2023, or you know of a friend who has a child due to start with us this year, could you please contact the office so we can pre-enrol them. This is a huge support for our long term planning.
Hold the date!
We have a couple of events I would like to ensure you are aware of:
Tuesday 21st February 6pm-7.30pm- Cyber safety and Mitey Wellbeing Evening
Following parent feedback in our strategic planning surveys last year we have arranged for Cybersafety Expert and former Greenhithe parent Grahame Mueller to talk to our community about how parents can support the cyber safety messages for our children. We will also share some information about our mental health Mitey programme, Sir John Kirwan Foundation.
Friday 24th February 9-11am Whānau Cultural Morning
We would like to invite you into your child’s classroom for a morning of learning about each other’s cultures. This is an opportunity for parents to meet other parents in their child’s new class, to work alongside your child in the classroom and to come and get involved with us at school!
Possible Weather Event on Monday
I have had a few enquiries about next Monday, with the weather event that may be arriving. We will adhere to the advice we are given and the health and safety of the children remains our priority. Please keep an eye on our website and your email for any updates if they are required. If you don’t hear from us, school will be open as usual.
I look forward to seeing you at these events and some further details will follow.
Ngā mihi
Stephen Grady
Principal
Greenhithe School
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