Relationships – Whanaungatanga, Resilience – Manawaroa, Respect – Manaakitanga, Responsibility – Tiaki
Kia Ora, Nǐ hǎo, Hallo, Greetings,
Welcome to our new students and their families who have recently joined us: Bryan Xiong, Mila Malan and Riley Lau.
There was much excitement recently, as the new Play Pod was opened for the junior school to use at lunch time. It was wonderful to watch the imaginative and creative play flow! Having free play equipment available will support students to work together and negotiate, be creative, and help with transition from pre school to primary school. Thanks to Candice and the PTA, and to all who donated equipment. There’s plenty of room in the shed still, so if you have old pipes, planks of wood, or anything else you think could be used for imaginative play, please drop it off to the office.
Bullying-Free New Zealand Week
This week is Bully-free New Zealand week. The theme this year is ‘Whakanuia Tōu Āhua Ake! Celebrating Being Us!’.
The week provides another great opportunity for students to celebrate what makes them unique – such as talents, interests, appearance, disability, culture, beliefs, race or gender. As a school we know it takes more than a one off week to teach this to students, and try to embed this idea into our school culture through our Positive Behaviour for Learning and Circle Time programme. These programmes promote respect, value opinions, celebrate difference, and promote positive relationships, which makes it difficult for bullying behaviour to thrive or be tolerated.
Pink Shirt Day is Being Celebrated at Bucklands Beach Primary School Tomorrow
A reminder that it is Pink Shirt Day at BBPS tomorrow. This is a free mufti day. Children can wear pink clothing if they have some or make pink accessories such as paper hats, etc. If they do not have anything pink they are welcome to wear other colours (as close to pink as possible if they own something, however any colour will be fine if not).
Pink Shirt Day is a national event to promote kindness and bully free environments in schools and workplaces. You can find more information about it at www.pinkshirtday.org.nz. (Please note, BBPS is holding Pink Shirt Day a day earlier than the national celebration to fit in with other things happening at school.)
Teacher Strike
I have received confirmation that the combined primary and secondary teacher strike is confirmed for May 29th, with schools across New Zealand closing for the day. Although the education minister keeps inviting us back to the negotiating table, the offer is not actually improving.
I continue to be frustrated and saddened by the spin in the media – and from Chris Hipkins (Education Minister) around this issue. The minister just announced $95 million to attract new teachers. Sadly this offer may attract new teachers to sign up, but doesn’t look after existing ones. This $95 million to train new teachers does not stop the flood of teachers quitting. It does not solve the massive percentage of teachers who resign within the first five years. It does nothing to value our experienced, hard working teachers. I believe we have one of the best and most hardworking staff, who frequently go well above and beyond to give our students the best educational experiences possible. The current offer equates to $19 a week for less experienced teachers and $27 a week for our most experienced, with no offer of back pay for the year that has passed in negotiations. Sadly the money is only the tip of the iceberg, as schools are expected to do more and more, including supporting the variety of learning and behavioural needs of our students with less and less support.
We have already battled this for a year. It has cost teachers thousands – and we seem to have made little headway. We know it’s frustrating for parents and we have appreciated your strong support to date. We need the government to listen, to ensure the best possible teachers are working with your children now and in the coming years across subsequent schools. The teacher shortage is now hitting our peninsula, with a local school receiving zero applications for a recently advertised job. Currently the government doesn’t seem to understand the urgency of the situation.
Please support us by going online and messaging anyone you can think of – Chris Hipkins, Jacinda Ardern – the Labour govt Facebook page – local MPs – to ensure your child can continue to have a quality education.
BOT News
BOT Elections
A reminder that ALL nomination forms need to be completed and returned to the school office NO LATER THAN 12 noon 24 May.
Sports News
HPPA Soccer Field Day
Fifty three year five and six students took part in today’s HPPA Soccer Field Day. All the students displayed teamwork and gracious sportsmanship while enjoying themselves in a supportive environment. Well done to all of our players, and a big thank you to our parents for transporting and managing the teams – we couldn’t have attended this event if it wasn’t for the support of our wonderful community.
Barbarians Rugby
Road Safety
A big thank you to our Road Patrol children and parent helpers as we move into the colder months. We appreciate all your efforts to help keep our children safe on their way to and from school each day. A reminder that children learn from what they see adults doing, so please teach your children how to cross safely. When they start crossing roads by themselves we want them to have learnt how to do this safely at the crossings – definitely not dodging through cars or crossing near corners with poor visibility. Thank you!
Science Week
This week is Science Week and classes have been focussing on science and hands-on activities. The senior and middle school both ran rotations to provide a variety of activities and children all enjoyed a lot of fun and learning.
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