Pinehaven School

Phone 04-528-4365 Email: office @pinehaven.school.nz Absentees: [email protected] Website: www.pinehaven.school.nz

Newsletter No. 11 – 2nd August 2018

Kia ora koutou! Our week started with great DATE UPCOMING EVENTS excitement with the pōwhiri for Gouzhan &

Vivienne (our two visiting teachers from China) and 3 August Sausage Sizzle Lunch Howie (Mr Bruce) who is starting a teacher trainee 6 August School Assembly – 9.10am Hall placement in Room 10 today. We warmly 7 August Interschool Basketball welcome them all to our team. We also had an 13 August Y6 Visit to Fergusson Intermediate amazing day planting the stream with every child 14 August ICAS Maths Exam planting a tree. Huge thanks to Mrs Beaumont- 15 August Teacher Stop Work – SCHOOL CLOSURE Yee and her team of helpers who coordinated this 17 August Sausage Sizzle Lunch event, enabling learning through taking action. 21 August BOT Meeting – 6.30pm Staffroom Interschool Netball (ppt 23rd) Strike Action – Message from the Board 22 August Movie Night Fundraiser The NZEI (teachers’ union) has announced that 24 August Alternative Lunch - Subway strike action will take place, for a full day, on the Advanced Notice: 15th of August if there is no progress in contract Arts & Crafts Exhibition – 21-23 September negotations with the Ministry of Education prior to Family Fun Day (Gala) – 10 November this date. The Board of Trustees have considered options however are unable to provide instruction that day and have decided that the school will be closed. You need to make alternative arrangements for your children on that day. If there are any changes announced about planned strike action we will let you know.

Strike Action – Message from staff While as teachers we know strike action is not ideal for families, primary teachers have not been on strike since 1994 and only take this action when absolutely necessary. There are a range of issues facing our profession, including a teacher shortage and teachers leaving the profession. There are currently 40% less teachers in training and 40% of our profession are due to retire in the next decade. We have concerns about conditions, hours of work and workload. Despite what you may hear in the media, pay is only part of our concern. It is our belief that a pay jolt will encourge others back, or into, our profession. We work really hard to provide the best possible opportunities for your children, and want to ensure we have top quality teachers into the future. We are happy to answer any questions about our reasons for strike if any of you have them.

Newsletter Survey Thanks to the people who completed our newsletter survey. The following key themes may be of interest to you:  63% of respondents liked the fortnightly newsletter, with 31% suggesting monthly would work. We will continue with fortnightly at this stage.  98% of respondents are signed up to Seesaw and 94% are to our Facebook group, both of which provide communication around learning and class work.  Only 1/3 of respondents regularly look at the student work and community news sections.

For Internet Banking our school account is: ASB Upper Hutt 12 3140 0337477 00

We will use our analysis to give our newsletter a bit of a revamp, so watch this space. This will include changing the focus on the Celebrating Students’ Work, to a new section called Learning at Pinehaven that will have more of a school-wide learning focus now that Seesaw is an avenue for sharing class work. The Community News section is offered as a community service, so will only include local Upper Hutt news, except if there is a significant event we think will be of interest. If you are not part of the Facebook and Seesaw groups, we STRONGLY recommend you sign up so you don’t miss key pieces of communication. For information about communication channels and how to sign up, please see the attached overview.

Kaylene

School News

Kidscan Crazy Day

On Thursday 9th of August there will be a Crazy Day for everyone run by the student leaders. We are raising money for Kidscan, which is a charity that helps NZ kids get the help they need to have a brighter future. Please bring a gold coin donation, to support Kidscan and come dressed in a crazy way. Here are some crazy things you could do;  wear crazy clothes  wear crazy footwear  come to school on some crazy wheels  dress up as a character from the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party  come as a mad scientist  dress backwards

Thanks, The Student Leaders

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Welcome to Pinehaven

Alyssa Huntley, Max Graham, Alexander Browning, Tipene Thomas, Jakob Arand-Rains

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Learning at Pinehaven

On Monday 30th July Pinehaven School was involved in planting over 200 native seedlings on the banks of the Pinehaven Stream. This event started by the Enviro Group having a dream to turn the man made stream into a beautiful home to native plants, birds, insects and have critters living in the stream.

The day started with an opening Waiata lead by Aria Waaka and the School Kapa Haka. Councillor Paul Swain then spoke to the whole school and congratulated us for being responsible for wanting to change the stream and make it be a better and healthier home to wildlife.

Then one by one, classes the came down and planted their own native seedlings. Travis Moody, from the Greater Wellington Regional Council, showed us how to plant the seedlings, lay the weed mat around the seeding and put a protective sleeve around it. I interviewed Travis Moody to find out why he was here. Travis said, “I’m employed as the River Ranger for the Greater Wellington Regional Council and this is a part of my job, working with communities and school groups and volunteers like yourselves to enhance our natural environment and I love it.”

Another important person who without his help we could not have done this event, is Ross Jackson from Wellington Water and whose children once came to Pinehaven School. My brother Jesse interviewed Ross Jackson to find out why he was helping us. Ross said, “We are planting this to protect the edge of the stream and when the flood waters come it stops the bank being washed away and the plants will grow up and birds will come because they like the plants and will eat the berries. The insects will come and as the plants grow up they will hang down and provide shade and protection for the little fish in the stream it’s called Riparian Planting.”

We would like to thank Ross for all he has done to help us make our dream come true. We would also like to thank Chris Cosslett for weed spraying the area prior to planting, all the volunteers from Forest and Bird Society, Councillors Steve Taylor and Paul Swain, Upper Hutt, Wellington Water and Greater Wellington Regional Council and all the Grandparents, Parents and Past Parents and Friends of Pinehaven School who helped us. Finally we would like to thank Kate Beaumont-Yee for encouraging us to pursue this dream and for all the time, effort and passion she has given the Enviro Group and Pinehaven School this year.

If any parents with wheelbarrows and shovels would like to help move the remaining mulch and place it around the plants, Saturday morning, 10 am would be great time to meet and finish off the job! Thank-you!

Aryanna Billington Age 10 Pinehaven School Enviro Group Member Room 6

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Community News NB: Inclusion of community news items are provided as a service and not necessarily endorsed by the school

SQUASH @ UPPER HUTT PINK RIBBON 31 Maclean Street, Upper Hutt. Right next to Wallaceville On Friday 12th and Saturday 13th October the Pink Ribbon Train Station, with plenty of parking Street Appeal volunteers take to the streets to raise awareness and funds to fight breast cancer. This year the We have Junior Squash every Friday night during school terms appeal falls in the school holiday but this is a great way to get from 5pm to 7pm – any Junior (under 18) is welcome to come students involved in volunteering in their own time or have along for free and we have rackets available, just need to parents teach their children about the value of helping their wear comfortable clothes and non-making shoes. community.

Squash is about having fun, playing with friends and being Please just bear in mind that anyone under the age of 16 must active and most Friday there is coaching available. volunteer with an adult. We are more than happy to provide a certificate to those students that have volunteered in the To join is currently $99 for the year. This gives you access to appeal. play most of the time against a friend and to play in competitions, which are scheduled regularly across the To find out more please call us on 0508 105 105 Wellington region. NCEA For more details: We are currently engaging with the NCEA review proposed www.squashupperhutt.co.nz by the Ministry of Education. On Tuesday 7 August we are holding an information evening about the review in our Chilton Saint James School is celebrating its Centenary on 26- school hall, at St Oran’s College at 7pm. We would like to 28 October this year . invite parents, staff and members of our school community Join us for three days of celebrations to honour the unique to attend along with our whanau. At the meeting we will legacy of Chilton Saint James School. explain the 6 Big Opportunities suggested in the review and It will be a chance to share memories, re-establish provide information on how to submit your feedback on the connections, showcase the present and celebrate our future. proposed changes (as well as suggest alternatives). Registrations are now open on the Chilton Saint James School website, or contact us at [email protected]" Please RSVP to Lynda Singleton ([email protected]) if you will be attending.

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