News

Covid Alert L3 and 4 Survey

Monday, May 25, 2020, 10:59 AM

Dear Parents and Caregivers, I hope you enjoyed the weekend with your families after our first week back at school.  Looks like the rain may settle in for a few days so lots of games inside for us.  We have senior students in the classrooms supporting our younger learners with games during break times. This week we would like to gather information from our community about their experience during the lockdown.  This will be an online survey with the results being used to inform the school and be part of the Greater Christchurch Schools Network (GCSN) data pool.  If you could put aside 5 – 15 minutes to complete the survey would be greatly appreciated – https://forms.gle/UZLK7QCcABf2KSkN9 . As we move into the colder season it is worth reminding families that classrooms open each morning at 8.30am.  It would be preferable that children are not on site earlier than this.  Our road patrols start at 8.25am and finish on the 8.55am start bell. I’ve been through all of the classrooms this morning, we continue to have calm classrooms with a focus on connections and learning.  You may notice that classroom environments change as we gather more information from the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education.  Please remember to keep adding your name to the contact list if you enter the classrooms. Have a great week everyone. Regards, Andrew

Returning to school

Tuesday, May 19, 2020, 12:45 PM

Dear Parents and Caregivers, Thank you for your support with the return of your children to school.  We have been in and out of classrooms during the past two days, there is a lovely calm feel through the school, all classes are taking their time to transition back into learning programmes and while the weather is warm we are getting outside for games and cross country training.  The children are responding positively to the extra hygiene measures and social distancing. Nice to see lots of smiling faces, hear the conversations with friends again and to see some of the structured learning that has been completed. Thanks for helping us with our contact tracing – a reminder that if you enter the classroom you will need to sign in each time so we know who to contact if this was ever needed. Lastly, as a staff we feel very appreciated by your kind comments and emails.  If you have any queries I am often at the Waharoa in the mornings if you want to have a chat. Thanks for your ongoing support. Regards, Andrew

School Reopens on Monday

Monday, May 18, 2020, 11:16 AM

Dear Parents and Caregivers, Nice work everyone.  At home for seven weeks to support all New Zealanders.  We did and we should be very proud of our contributions. We look forward to seeing you and your children next Monday as school reopens.  Thank you to all of the staff for continuing with structured learning from home while also getting ready for our learners to return. Please remember to fill out the online survey https://forms.gle/KKXxsHyiaMbGWSjSA if your child is not returning on Monday.  The survey has three options: waiting a few days, returning the following week or returning at the end of Alert Level 2. As we move into a new level and return to school we would like to share some of the changes we are making as well as guidelines that will support us to remain safe at school. DEVICES We sent home approximately 50 St Martins School devices for use with structured learning.  Can these please be returned to the office cleaned and named on Monday.  We will give them another clean before reissuing these to the classrooms. ENTERING the SCHOOL GROUNDS For the first three days of school we will have a longer transition time, 8.30- 9.30am.  This allows families to stagger their start to school.  From Thursday we will go back to the 8.30 – 8.55am transition time.  Teachers will be in classrooms from 8.30am. The Ministry of Education (MoE) has given us guidelines around entering the school grounds The preferred option is to farewell your children at the gate (outside the school grounds), next, farewelling your child / ren outside the classroom and lastly entering the classroom.  While the most preferred option is good in theory it may not be the best option to help settle your child back into the classroom.  If you are entering the classroom please add your name and details to the Contact TRace form (you may want to byo a pen). Please remember the general Health guidelines – social distancing from unknown families by 2m. We have a number of gates to use to enter the school, we will even allow pedestrians through the staff carpark between the office and the hall.  If you see a number of people in one entrance it might be best to wait or use one of the other entrances.  Children in Ti Kouka, Harakeke and Raupo are to enter by the side doors, leaving the main entrance to the Whare Kukuwai for the children of Aruhe. HYGIENE We have received two deliveries of hand sanitiser in the past two days in preparation for next week.  One form our regular suppliers and one from the MoE.  We have soap / hand sanitiser available in each learning space.  Children will need to sanitise on entry into the classroom, before and after using equipment as well as before eating.  If you could send your child with their own hand sanitiser that would be greatly appreciated. Teachers have been in learning spaces throughout the week creating greater space between desks and allocating seating areas.  To do this a number of classes will no longer have a mat area for communal sitting. The MoE has informed us that surfaces will need to be cleaned once a day focussing on high touch areas (eg door handles, bathroom taps, desk tops, handrails).  Each class has been allocated a spray bottle of detergent and clothes to be able to clean surfaces as required throughout the day. Drinking fountains are available, however, we would prefer that each child brings their own drink bottle as this is the safest option. STRUCTURED LEARNING Teachers will contact families that are remaining at home for the week or all of Alert Level 2.  We will be offering continued learning, this may change and be more paper based (which can be picked up from the office), self selection from the school activities website or even completing tasks that remain unfinished. TEACHER ONLY DAY We had a teacher only day scheduled for Friday 29 May.  We will take this off the calendar in recognition that the children have already been at home for seven weeks.  School will be open for all learners on Friday 29 May. As always, thanks for your support during this historic event.  Have a lovely weekend.  See you on Monday. Regards, Andrew ( andrew@stmartins.school.nz )

Moving to Alert L2

Tuesday, May 12, 2020, 3:31 PM

Dear Parents / Caregivers, I hope everyone is safe and well, continuing t o enjoy the daily interactions together.  As you have no doubt heard, the Prime Minister announced yesterday that NZ will move into Alert L2.  For St Martins School this means reopening for all children on Monday 18th May. We understand there will be some variance across our community, from those looking forward to the return to school and some that may choose to continue to keep their children home.  So we have some understanding of the number of children returning and those staying home, could you please complete the online survey https://forms.gle/KKXxsHyiaMbGWSjSA if you are NOT intending to return your child to school on Monday 18th May. Teachers are preparing their classes for the return of your children.  This week they will be working from home and school in preparation.  A reminder that our last meets will be on Thursday this week.  We will be following the Ministry of Health guidelines with a focus on continuing to ensure regular hand washing takes place and social distancing (in the school setting this is defined as the ‘moist breath zone’ rather than 1 or 2 metres).  Your children will notice when they come back to school that they have been allocated a bag area and learning space.  During Alert L2 we will have specific areas for children to sit and learn rather than the regular movement we would have had before the outbreak of Covid-19.  Each class has a hand sanitiser available for children to use.  As yet we have not received the Ministry of Education (MoE) allocation and are needing to source this ourselves.  It would be very handy if you could provide your child with some if you can find it. We ask that parents only enter the classrooms where necessary, if possible could you please farewell your child outside the classroom.  We totally understand this may be more achievable for older children than younger.  If you do enter the classroom please fill in the contact list as we need to keep a record of people that have been in each space.  This will need to be done both before and after school. From Monday 18th to Wednesday 20th May children can arrive at school between 8.30 – 9.30am.  This allows families to have a staggered start to the school day if they wish. Playgrounds are once again open at Alert L2 and children are allowed to play together.  As usual we will have duty teachers, Playground Activity Leaders and Peer Mediators supporting the play in the playground.  Team Leaders are finalising the eating areas for each team given the guidelines by the MoE. Thank you once again for the wonderful experience you have provided for your child / ren during this time.  This historic event will see many changes in the short term and may even affect us longer term.  Thank you for the support you have given your children to continue through this situation not only with their learning but also the positive experience of being and interacting as a  family. We look forward to your child / ren returning and sharing with us the highlights of the experience of staying home and learning for seven weeks. Could you please support us in the following ways on the return of your child to school; Discuss with your child / ren that school is a safe place to attend and once again learn and play with their friends Let your child know that there will be changes at school in how the environments are set out and how we move in the school Provide your child / ren with a named drink bottle Reinforce that food is not to be shared Provide hand sanitiser for your child / ren if possible Return any school owned devices that your family has been using Enter the classroom to support your child if needed – complete the contact sheet in the classroom Remind your child / ren of the types of positive behaviour needed in a school setting with larger groups of people Thank you for your ongoing support – see you next week. Regards, Andrew

Planning for Week Three Term Two

Thursday, April 30, 2020, 12:27 PM

Dear Parents and Caregivers, What a week of weather we have had.  Great to hear (and see) families are out and about in the sunshine, whether it’s going for a walk, jog, run or even learning to ride a bike while the streets are so quiet.  Always good to feel the sun on your face when you can’t go very far and to get off the screen for a bit. Thanks for engaging with the learning this week.  I hope that everyone is getting into a bit of a routine and into the swing of the structured learning from home. Just a reminder about the dates next week; Monday – a public holiday as ANZAC day is Mondayised Tuesday – staff only day for us to prepare for a small group of children to return to learning at school Wednesday – Friday – back into structured learning from home with our meets and zooms Structured learning will be sent home to families later in the afternoon of Tuesday 28th April for the Wednesday start.  Remember to do as much (or as little) as your family routine can cope with. As you will be aware, on Tuesday next week we will be moving to Covid L3.  This sees some small changes for all of us.  Firstly thank you for keeping your children home wherever possible and only sending your children to school if there is no one to supervise them at home.  This supports the Government’s message of working and learning from home.  It also supports the safety of the staff and students coming to school for learning.  If children don’t need to be at school, please don’t send them. We thank the staff members who have offered to come out of their bubbles to be at school to support the learners onsite.  As we have already shared, the children on site will be completing the same learning as those continuing to be at home.  The Government, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education have given each school guidelines to follow.  This means school will not be the same as before. We have four bubbles in the school ranging in size from three children to seven.  Each bubble has been allocated a teacher from their year group and a teacher aide to support the learning taking place.  We will be adhering to the social distancing rules of 1m apart inside and 2m outside.  The four bubbles will be learning away from each other throughout the school.  Thanks to Mike for organising the hand sanitizing equipment to be available in classrooms as we remember to keep Covid clean. I have really enjoyed popping into more meets and zooms this week.  Lovely to see children and parents join the meetings together.  I hope that you and your children are enjoying this opportunity to stay connected. We look forward to getting closer to having you back at school. Have a great long weekend. Stay local, stay safe, take care. Regards, Andrew ( andrew@stmartins.school.nz )

Moving to Level 3 Survey

Wednesday, April 22, 2020, 10:01 AM

Dear Parents and Caregivers, Thank you to those that have already filled in the survey letting us know whether your child/ren will be retuning to school during Level 3. If you have not filled in the survey here is the link. https://forms.gle/GtJUaWCwQ9GVzGEP6 Thank you for your ongoing support. Regards, Andrew ( andrew@stmartins.school.nz )

Moving to Level 3

Wednesday, April 22, 2020, 9:59 AM

Dear Parents and Caregivers, We hope that Term 2 and our structured learning programme has been a success for you so far. We have been getting lovely feedback about the learning that is happening, thank you for all your support. Yesterday the Government decided that we will move into Alert Level 3 on 28 April.  We will start to prepare our site from today with property and building inspections / maintenance and an end of term clean. The key message for you is that if you can, you should keep your child at home. You should only physically send your child to school if you really need to. If your child has a health condition that means they are at a greater risk of a severe illness you must keep them at home. If your child is sick please also ensure you keep them at home. In order to ensure the safety of those children and our staff who do come to school, we will be operating with strict enforcement of health and safety measures.  We will only be able to have up to 10 students per bubble. We will be continuing our structured learning at home programme during Alert Level 3.  This means that instructional learning for reading, writing and maths will continue and depending on the age of the child focussed topic learning as well.  Teachers will continue with face to face sessions throughout the day. At this stage we think that children at home (which is the preferred option by the Government) and children onsite will have the same learning to engage in.  All children will continue to learn through the structured learning programme that has been set up. To be able to cater for two different learning environments (home and school) we need some understanding of how many children will be returning to school during Alert Level 3 (29 April – 12 May).  Could you please complete a short online survey by 4pm Wednesday 22nd April – https://forms.gle/GtJUaWCwQ9GVzGEP6 The Ministry of Education has advised that they are working closely with health to develop clear guidance that will support schools to safely re-open their premises to students and staff. This will help us work through the public health requirements that we all need to meet. As you will be doing, we want to be sure that what we do will keep our community as safe as possible. For now, we will continue to support your child through structured learning at home while we progress our planning for what Alert Level 3 will mean for you and for our school. We will be in touch again soon with more information. As you have been doing, please keep connecting with your teachers with any questions you might have. Thank you for your ongoing support. Andrew ( andrew@stmartins.schoiol.nz )

Stage 2 – Structured Learning at Home

Wednesday, April 15, 2020, 1:08 PM

Dear Parents and Caregivers, I hope you are safe and well in your bubble, that you have enjoyed Easter and the school holiday break. STRUCTURED LEARNING Term two starts tomorrow with stage 2 structured learning at home.  All teachers have been meeting, developing and communicating the different types of learning that they will be engaging children with during the next eight school days.  Teachers have worked together across their team to develop learning that is specific to different groups (eg reading) and areas that your children and your family can choose to do (eg topic work).  As we have always reiterated, do as much or as little as your family can. Think about this is an offer of learning, an invitation from your child’s classroom teacher to return to learning after the holidays.  Each household will have different routines they have created, different device access, different opinions on structured learning, different timeframes, we know you will do what you think is best for your family. The Ministry of Education (MoE) requires us to continue to take the roll each day during stage 2 structured learning at home.  All Teachers have information as a guide to how this will happen in your child’s class. Like you, this is new to us, as teachers we are enthusiastic to be able to share our structured learning ideas with you.  Every Teacher is committed to taking at least two online meetings per day, this may be with a small group or a whole class.  We see this as an important aspect of staying connected with your child and your family. At this stage Teachers are offering catch ups covering a wide variety of areas throughout the day.  At times there will be cross overs from class to class, we totally understand if your child is unable to attend the meeting. Perhaps the time does not suit as you need your device for work, perhaps there are multiple meetings at the same time for the children in your household and not enough devices. Don’t panic, Teachers will let you know when meetings are and you may want to structure which child meets.  As a school we are using Google Meet and Zoom, both of these are available as apps on smart phones – perhaps this is an extra option for your family rather than taking up a device. Where Teachers have shared a timetable please know that this is not a rigid set format, use the routines of your home to guide the time you have available to engage in the learning.  If you see a block of 1.30 – 3.00pm this indicates when learning might happen rather than how long learning will happen. Enjoy this time, if you need to, take a breath, if it’s a lovely day and you want to be outside you should, find what works for you and your family. TIMEFRAMES It is the Government’s intention that on 20th of April, two days before the current period of Alert Level 4 is due to finish, to make a decision on whether or not the Alert Level will change. The Government will give some guidance on what life at Level 3 looks like. The MoE has noted it would be wrong to assume that all schools will reopen at Level 3. Assuming the alert level does change, current planning assumptions are; Thursday 23 and Friday 24 April limited access to the school to undertake a property inspection and necessary maintenance and cleaning Monday 27 April is a public holiday (ANZAC Day observed) Tuesday 28 April will be a staff-only day Wednesday 29 April could be our first day with some students / children able to attend in person Like you, next week we will know more.   DEVICES The MoE are allowing us to go back onsite to get devices to send to families.  We will be able to offer chromebooks for Y5 – 8 students to support learning. We will be able to extend this offer further to families that have limited devices.  If you have a child in Y5 – 8 and need an extra device please email me ( andrew@stmartins.school.nz ) with the following details; Parent Name Childs Name Childs Room / Class Address All devices will be couriered to home addresses.  We will need to order boxes from the MoE to send them and then organise delivery.  An estimated date for receiving the devices may be 20 – 22nd April.   HOME LEARNING / PAPA KĀINGA TV Home Learning | Papa Kāinga TV will be shown, free to air, on TVNZ channel 2+1 and on TVNZ on Demand, as well as on Sky Channel 502. It will run from 9am to 3pm on school days with programming for children and young people aged 2 to 15, as well as for parents. Home Learning TV will initially be on air for one month – with provision to extend beyond that depending on the COVID-19 situation. Tomorrows timetable is; 9.00am – 9.10am Parenting – Nathan Wallis 9.10am – 9.25am Early Learning 9.25am – 9.40am Junior Health (Age 5 – 8) 9.40am – 9.55am Junior Literacy (Age 5 – 8) 9.55am – 10.05am Maia the Brave 10.05am – 10.30am Beginning Te Reo 10.30am – 10.50am Junior Science and Maths (Age 5 – 8) 10.50am – 11.00am Kai 5 11.00am – 11.15am Middle Literacy and Language (Age 9 – 11) 11.15am – 11.40am Middle Maths (Age 9 – 11) 11.40am – 12.05pm Junior Project 12.05pm – 12.30pm Fanimals 12.30pm – 12.40pm Parenting with Nathan Wallis 12.40pm – 1.00pm Aotearoa HIstory 1.00pm – 1.30pm Senior Literacy (Age 12 – 15) 1.30pm – 1.55pm Born to Move – (Teens) 1.55pm – 2.25pm Advanced Te Reo 2.25pm – 2.50pm Senior Project 2.50pm – 3.00pm Daily Diary This also might be an option to explore. On behalf of the staff at St Martins, we thank you for your support during this new learning journey.  We really appreciate the positive comments you are sharing. Great to see so many families out on

Friday 27 March Update

Monday, March 30, 2020, 10:50 AM

Dear Parents and Caregivers, Well here we are, almost into the weekend with the holidays about to start on Monday.  We have been working hard to make connections with students throughout this week. As we have previously mentioned online learning stage 1 – Holiday Activities is now in place (https://sites.google.com/stmartins.school.nz/onlinelearning-sms/home ).  This website offers a wide range of activities to share with your child / ren during the next few weeks.  We continue to upload new content. Today we have added more material on the Wellbeing page to support parents in the ‘parent information’ section (https://sites.google.com/stmartins.school.nz/onlinelearning-sms/home/health-and-wellbeing ). Teachers will continue to touch base throughout the weeks as well as some sharing on our Facebook page.  Look out for our continued picture book sharing next week. While the children are on holiday we will be preparing online learning stage 2 – Structured Learning.  At this stage we see this as a team approach and will look different for different aged learners. Teachers, Teams, Implementation Team will be meeting online in the coming weeks to plan and be ready to roll out a structured programme. We already have teachers connecting face to face with students through seesaw, dojo and google hangouts.  We see this continuing to happen after the holidays. Take care, as we continue to adapt to this new way of learning and leaving we will update you with new information. Andrew (andrew@stmartins.school.nz )

Online Learning

Thursday, March 26, 2020, 4:20 PM

Hopefully you and your families have had contact from your classroom teachers to touch base. Tonight I am able to share with you our first stage of online learning (https://sites.google.com/stmartins.school.nz/onlinelearning-sms/home) – Holiday Activities.  This is our first response and in light of the holiday period 30 March to 14 April.  The holiday activities offer a range of learning activities that parents can select to involve their children in.  It allows families to get ideas and have some time to complete these. There are ideas for online and offline learning.  At this stage we have 6 of 8 learning areas open with resources. These include; Health and Wellbeing mindfulness and movement General Activities over 200 activities Literacy listen to a book online or write a story using one of the picture prompts Maths practice your maths skills or watch one of the Maths Tools videos to learn more about maths Science select a resource and have a go at some of the experiments Projects have a look at the projects on offer and complete one of them We are still to add information to our Virtual Field Trips, Arts pages and add a few maths workbooks. Please remember to continue the great work you are doing with your children, plenty of fresh air and involvement around the home.  Nathan Wallis has updated information for us (https://www.facebook.com/nathan.wallis.969/videos/2590330561214555/) While you and your family are on holiday we will continue to be in contact with you.  I know that many teachers are already sharing videos or preparing shared stories to listen to. During this time we will be getting ready to provide our 2nd stage of online learning – Structured Learning.  This will be ready for April 15. The difference will be teachers directing you to online learning, providing their specific class and perhaps groups in some cases with different learning.  Structured learning will be pushed straight to children and / or parents depending on the age of the child. We will continue to keep you informed as we progress our thinking. Thank you for your ongoing support as we prepare new learning approaches. Take care. Regards, Andrew (andrew@stmartins.school.nz )

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