Week 2 has come and gone and already there is a sense that the term is going to fly by! We had a visit from the Education Review Office (ERO) this week as they are writing a research paper about our school and our development of the collaborative way we teach. This is a bit of a “pat on the back” for our school and hardworking staff, as one of 12 schools in NZ, and a recognition of the quality of our innovative approach to teaching and learning.
We have our School Cross Country happening next week, which is always exciting and have a schedule of expected running times for each year group as part of this week’s newsletter. If you would like to come and support your child in their race, make sure to check out the times so you don’t miss out, we will also send home a paper copy reminder.
School Hangi
Cross Country
On Thursday the 26th May our annual Welcome Bay School Cross Country will be held here at school. Please refer to the timetable below for approximate starting times. The postponement date will be Thursday 2nd June.
It is advisable that all students run their race in non-school uniform so please send your child/children to school with mufti clothes for their race. To get into the spirit of the day it would be great if our tamariki wore clothes that represent the colours of their house.
Kereru – Red, Falcon – Yellow, Kea – Green, Albatross – White, Blue Heron – Blue.
The P.T.A. will be selling Juicies at lunchtime for $1.
Part of the course will be run along the footpaths around the school so if you could help with supervision on the day please let Michelle Barker or your child’s teacher know.
Course Distances:
Year 1/2 Girls & Boys 1 km
Year 3/4 Girls & Boys 1.5 km
Year 5/6 Girls & Boys 2.0 km
APPROXIMATE PROGRAMME:
9.15am Hub 1 and 2 assemble on bank
9.25am Year 0/1 Girls 9.35am Year 0/1 Boys
9.45am Year 2 Girls 9.55am Year 2 Boys
10.10am Pre-schoolers run. Sports Leaders to lead them around the field
Hub 3 and 4 assemble on bank
10.20am Year 3 girls 10.30am Year 3 Boys
MORNING TEA (10.45am-11.15am)
11.20am Year 4 Girls 11.30am Year 4 Boys
11.40am Year 5 Girls 11.50am Year 5 Boys
12.00pm Year 6 Girls 12.10pm Year 6 Boys
Bully Free Week
At Welcome Bay School we work really hard to develop a safe and inclusive culture and accept that part of our role is to teach specific expectations and behaviours that support this. Through our Welcome Bay Way we promote clear school wide expectations and reinforce these positively through specific clear feedback and praise to students, including HEART and POWER cards. On Friday 20th May we will join others across NZ to Celebrate Pink Shirt day, which aims to create schools, workplaces and communities where all people feel safe, valued and respected.
We are going to have a Pink shirt/mufti day this Friday to acknowledge this and encourage kids to get creative, if a pink shirt is not possible, then what about a whacky hair do, or a shirt done up with things to celebrate the message. We may even have some prizes up for grabs!
What is bullying?
Bullying is when someone keeps doing or saying things to have power over another person.
We all think we know bullying when we see it, but bullying can also be something we don’t see. Often, people who experience it feel invisible.
Calling someone names, saying or writing nasty things about them, leaving them out of activities, not talking to them, threatening them, making them feel uncomfortable or scared, taking or damaging their things, hitting or kicking them or making them do things they don’t want to do are all forms of bullying.
Generally bullying has the following features:
- It is repeated – this may be single acts with different targets or many acts with the same target.
- It involves a power imbalance – this means that there is an unequal relationship between the target and the bully, this could be because of physical size, age, gender or social status. By not stopping bullying we increase this power imbalance.
- It is harmful.
Generally, we think that bullying is deliberate. It is difficult for those being bullied (targets) to defend themselves and it can often be difficult for those doing the bullying (initiators) to learn new social behaviours.
There are four main types of bullying:
- Physical – hitting and punching.
- Verbal – teasing, taunting, unwanted threatening, homophobic or racist remarks and name-calling.
- Social – ignoring or excluding, spreading rumours or gossiping, withholding friendship.
- Cyber – repeated threats, unkind remarks or criticisms sent electronically.
Bullying may be directed towards people based on their ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion or physical appearance.
New Website and newsletter format
Remember to share with everyone you know about the newsletter format, we had a 50% open rate last week from 144 families and it would be great to grow this each week. Remember you can access the newsletter via an email link or directly through our website via the “Our school information” drop down menu.
Have a great week.
Kindest regards,
Nik House – Principal
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