Dear parents and caregivers,
Congratulations to the children who have been awarded a PRIDE certificate in the two weeks. It is always lovely to see our school values being used around our school. In the last little while, these children have been awarded a certificate: Max Han, Blake Murray, Dawson Harris, Zayden Carr, Iris Alla, Sylvie Howarth, Riley Henry and Hayley Huang.
Emergency Procedures at Greenhithe School
In the news recently was an emergency lockdown at a number of West Auckland schools. As a school we have processes to ensure in the event of such a lockdown at our school we can keep the children safe.
A lockdown means no-one can come in or out of the school. No parents will be let on site, and will be asked to stay away from the school until we get the all clear. No children or adults can leave their classroom until the police inform us that any risk has gone.
In order for us to be able to get the message to you that we are in a lockdown situation, we will follow the advice we have received on best practices from the Ministry of Education. Therefore we will use email for the initial notification and then we will direct you to the website for updates. Therefore it is vital we have your current email address. If you are in any doubt about which email we have on file, please contact the office so in the event of an emergency, we can ensure you are aware of any situation. These situations can be anything from a loose dog on site, a weather event or a myriad of other events. In EVERY eventuality, our prime focus is keeping the children and staff safe.
While we hope we will never have to have a lockdown situation at our school, it is important that we are well prepared for any eventuality. This preparedness includes regular drills for scenarios including fires, earthquakes and lockdowns.
School Protocols
Thank you for supporting our health and safety protocols for adults on site, these protocols also support the lockdown and emergency processes, this is important so we know who is at school and to ensure the safety of your children. Please do not go to the classrooms to pick up a child to go home early or drop items off. Please go directly to the office.
Please remember:
- To drop any items to the office like a lunch box.
- To call into the office if you are picking your child up for an appointment or to leave early. The office staff will then send for the child to meet you up at the office, this ensures we know who is on site at any time.
Sports
I have been lucky enough to get out and about to see some of our school sports in the last couple of weeks. I was able to attend the Northern Bays Cluster football tournament last week and watch all of our teams have a wonderful day. On Monday evening I went to see some of our hockey teams. They all looked like they were having so much fun! Whenever I see our children at these events I am always so proud of their sportsmanship and effort. I also observed the amazing dedication of our parent coaches and managers. I see many of these lovely people coaching in the mornings or after school. We are so grateful for their time and effort in helping our kids to have another amazing experience.
2023 and 2024 Enrolments
If you have a child who will be joining our school in either 2023 or 2024 can you please contact the office to begin the enrolment process. This is vital to ensure we can secure the best teachers for our school. With the well publicised teacher shortages it is important we know our numbers to help us secure the best teachers for your children. If you know of any families through daycare or kindy that also may have children joining us in 2023 or 2024, can you please ask them to come and see us.
Parking and drop off…again
I am requesting support from the police and Auckland Transport to support our amazing road patrollers. Unfortunately again this week we are seeing lots of parking on yellow lines, inappropriate use of the disabled parking bay and the bus bay on Greenhithe Road as well. These behaviours put your children at risk. The kids on our crossing duties are having their visibility of the road cut, meaning the crossings are less safe.
- Please consider parking a couple of hundred metres away and walking if a park isn’t available right outside the gate you wish to use.
- In the morning, please consider using the drop off zone on Sunnyview Road, which runs very efficiently!
It is also important for parents and children to know that the direction from Police and part of the road patrol training is that the children and parents brave all weathers, except for thunder and lightning. In the case of thunder and lightning the crossing will not be operational.
A huge thank you to our amazing parents and staff who support the crossing duties and help to keep your children safe.
Ngā mihi
Stephen Grady
Tumuaki/Principal
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