Once again welcome back to St Martins for the last term of the school year. During the break time considerable work has been carried out around the school.  A special vote of thanks to our S’Mart Community and their team of workers who have installed the shade and covers for the sandpits and for their painting on our court areas.

Rooms 8 and 9 have been successfully re-leveled and the major sewerage works are almost completed, with only some concreting and asphalting needed to tidy up some areas.

The most obvious piece of work, and the piece of work that has attracted most comment is the new fencing.  First of all I need to say that most of the feedback has been very positive, especially acknowledging the security and safety aspects of this project.  We have to agree that is does look ‘different’ and that we will need to adapt to the change, but it is important to keep in mind that the Ministry of Education installed this fencing, at their cost, to ensure the ongoing safety of our children.  Our site is a difficult one to manage for a project like this, and when the Funky Block is removed during the Christmas break there will be further modifications.  We will work with the Ministry of Education to ensure that our school ‘looks inviting’ to those who do visit.

The new main gates, at the bottom of the hill, will stay open until our Road Patrollers come off duty and the gates will then be closed.  It is easier for everyone to enter the school through these gates, and either carry on up the hill or turn right and head up towards the office.  The gate at the top of the steps is more difficult to manage, and care needs to be taken when pulling up the release knob and pushing the gate open to avoid catching your fingers. (We will have the contractors look at this as a priority) We are well aware that the gates will be difficult for our Junior children to open by themselves, (but that is actually the idea) so this is a very good opportunity for us to encourage all parents to ensure that children arrive on time, ‘before the school bell’ so that entering the school is easy.  So in fact there is now another advantage for those who arrive at school on time!

Scooters continue to be left at school and we often have difficulty finding their owners.  Already on one afternoon this term 5 scooters were left behind.  Mr Rea will generally collect and put them safely in the shed.  We strongly encourage all scooter owners to have their name somewhere on their scooter so we can reunite owners and scooters with ease.

Term Four is always an exciting term, and we expect this one to be no different!

Kind regards

Rob Callaghan