Principal's Message
Kia Ora
Where has the year gone? We only have 6.5
days left! On that note, please remember that school finishes at 12.30pm on Wednesday next week, not 3pm.
Last week you should have received an emailed link to our Board Survey for Parents and Whānau. By doing this survey you have a chance to win a $200 PREZZY Card! Unfortunately there seems to be a ‘techie gremlin’ in the prize link which is allowing some people to enter and not others!! If this happens to you, don’t panic just send me or the office (jward@pbs.school.nz or office@pbs.school.nz) an email to let us know and we will enter your name into the prize draw manually 🙂
This survey should take no more than 7-10 minutes. Your answers will be completely anonymous. The survey will be open until Sunday, 19 December. Thank you in advance for completing the survey as your feedback is very important to us.
Paraparaumu Beach School has had a streak of success in the Basketball leagues recently:
- Congratulations to the PBS Sixers who won the Boys A Grade Interschool Basketball Tournament! In a thrilling finish, the PBS Sixers beat Kapakapanui by 1 point. This just goes to show you should make every second of the game count – Ka rawe team!
- Our PBS Toon Squad boys team went through the whole season undefeated to win the Interschool B Grade competition! What an incredible achievement team; your skills proved to be too tough for other teams to break through – congratulations!
- And last but not least, congratulations to PBS Swishes who made it through to the Interschool Basketball girls final and came second in the grade. By all accounts it was a great game, however, Kapakapanui came away with the win. I have a feeling that 2022 will be your year girls, so keep up the excellent game play!
None of this success would be possible without the coaches and the organising committees behind the scenes. So thank you from us all for enabling our students to have this taste of success.
Nga mihi
Jess Ward – Tumuaki ~ Principal
Welcome to Our Recent New Students
Daniel – Rm 20
Staffing Update
We are pleased to announce that we have appointed Diana Puati as a Year 5/6 teacher for 2022. Di will cover Vanessa Brewer’s class whilst she is released from classroom teaching for the year. Di is a highly experienced and respected teacher who has taught in other schools in Kapiti and Wellington, as well as schools in Rarotonga. We look forward to having Di join the PBS team!
New Covid-19 Protection Framework (Traffic Light System)
Further to the information in last week’s newsletter, our region remains at ORANGE.
The advice to schools is as follows:
“The Ministers have agreed that all schools will retain their existing Covid-19 settings until the end of 2021, but guidance will recommend that schools outside of Auckland align their practices with the Covid-19 Protection Framework settings.”
For this reason, many schools are starting to use aspects of the CPF Traffic Light System now. Doing so enables us to allow parents (with a vaccine pass) to attend school events, rather than a blanket ‘no parents allowed’. I am sorry that this means unvaccinated parents are unable to attend, but our school is following the regulations of the Public Health Order, as we are required to by law.
Furthermore, this new Traffic Light System means that we don’t have to change the way we are operating classes. For next year, we can continue onsite learning, regardless of what setting (red, orange or green) we are in. This is great news for students, as normal routines at school bring a sense of calm and security, which naturally impacts positively on learning.
Health, safety and wellbeing will continue to be a priority for us and the same public health measures you are very familiar with will remain in place:
- good hygiene and cleaning
- contact tracing systems in place
- vaccination requirements for workers (paid and unpaid)
- if you are sick, you must stay home and get tested
- good ventilation
And if we are at Red at any stage next year:
- face coverings will be required at school when indoors for students and staff in Years 4 – 13
- we will ask that only essential visitors come onsite.
With all these measures in place, public health has confirmed the risk of infection remains low when at school, with households continuing to be where COVID-19 is spreading the most. However, if we do have someone confirmed with COVID-19 in our school, we have a plan in place to manage this and will contact parents/whanau as soon as possible.
It is likely, that as we move into 2022, we will experience more cases of Covid in the wider Wellington region. The Ministry has already provided schools with step-by-step guides on how to manage Covid cases in schools in preparation for this event. I have provided one of these guides at this link in case you’re interested in the process PBS would take- Steps to take if there is a Covid case at your school
If you’d like to learn more about the framework visit COVID-19 Protection Framework.
Classes for 2022 and Transition Visits
In preparation for 2022, we have scheduled ‘Transition Visits’ to allow students in Years 0-7 to meet their next year’s teacher and classmates before the term ends. This year our transition visits will take place tomorrow – Wednesday, 8 December. Students will have a half hour visit to their 2022 class and bring home a letter informing parents. Class lists will then be displayed in the library windows from tomorrow evening onwards.
End of Year Reporting
NB: The @Schoolapp has changed its name to @school Mobile in the App Store/Play Store
At PBS all our reporting is online. Parents can access their child’s learning progress via the @Schoolapp for students in Years 3-8 and SeeSaw for students in Years 0-2.
On the @Schoolapp dashboard click on “learning space” which takes you to your child’s “spotlight learning portal”.
What we need parents to do? We require every parent to register for the @Schoolapp (now called @school Mobile in the App Store/Play Store) regardless of the age of your child. Although the Spotlight portal is accessed through the @Schoolapp so are many other functions we would like parents to be aware of e.g. checking your child’s attendance, checking how often your child visits the medical room and general notices. Please make sure you have downloaded this app and click ‘notifications’.
What will parents see? Online reporting, via the Learning Space, the Blog and Seesaw gives parents the opportunity to log in and view their child’s progress and evidence of their learning at any time during the school year. Throughout the year teachers will upload progress on your child’s reading, writing and maths, as well as general comments on learning, attitude and behaviour.
When you are viewing reading, writing and maths comments about your child via these portals, you will notice a reference to the NZ Curriculum level your child is working at, at the beginning of the comment: For example EL1 = Early Level 1, L1 =Level 1, EL2 = Early Level 2, L2 = Level 2 and so on.
NB: Typically students in Years 0-2 are working at NZ Curriculum Level 1, Years 3-4 students are working at NZ Curriculum Level 2, Years 5-6 students are working at NZ Curriculum Level 3 and Years 7-8 students are working at NZ Curriculum Level 4.
What are the benefits of online reporting? The benefits of reporting online mean that the information parents are receiving about their child’s progress is more timely and accessible. When we used to write paper reports we recognised that by the time the reports were sent home at mid and end of each year, the assessments and comments were already outdated due to the 6-8 weeks it takes to compile them. This new way of reporting also enables teachers to support students with individual goals throughout the year as opposed to sitting and writing reports for blocks of time which have all passed by. With Spotlight, the Blog and SeeSaw students have greater ownership of their learning, especially when they can upload evidence to show their achievements. Furthermore, parents have the ability to comment on their child’s progress, which helps to encourage and reinforce the gains they are making.
Why are we using SeeSaw for Years 0-2? We have assessed the Spotlight tool for use with Year 0-2 students and feel it does not yet cater well enough for their needs. Therefore, we have made the decision to broaden the Junior team’s use of Seesaw to include reporting.
Student Work
Students in Room 4 started creative diorama projects in lockdown and have completed these this term. Last week all of their environmentally-themed projects were displayed for other classes to view. I was amazed by the incredibly high standard of detail, creativity and thoughtfulness that had gone into each project. Here are a few inspiring examples from Keely, Isabelle, Josh and Charlie!
Contributions
If you have any school contributions outstanding for this year we would really appreciate your support. Payments can still be made, via KINDO for school donations, payments for Education Perfect (Year 7-8), IXL and Tech Centre costs (Year 7-8) etc. Every little bit helps us tremendously. Thank you.
PBS Aroha Fund
One thing our school community is rich in is KINDNESS. It’s something we work hard to promote amongst our students. When we know someone is in need we try to give some additional support because not everyone’s circumstances are the same. We do our best as a school to ensure every child has equal opportunities regardless of finance or personal circumstance. Our PBS AROHA fund was set up to enable our whole community to offer support to such families.
The PBS AROHA fund enables anyone in our school community, including businesses, to donate money to help those in our school community who find it hard to make ends meet. This means PBS kids can cover trip costs, camp fees, sport fees, stationery, clothing. It also means that we can provide lunches when kids don’t have any.
If you would like to contribute to this fund you can find it in KINDO labelled PBS AROHA. You can contribute $5, $10 or $20 at any time during the year. If a local business wants to make a contribution they can contact Libby on lrichardson@pbs.school.nz
Please talk to the office or to me, if you would like to know more about our PBS AROHA fund. All discussions will be confidential.
Giving a little means a lot!
Using Māori Language at Home
It’s important for all Kiwi to learn te reo. Each week our newsletter will include phrases that you might like to try out at your place. After all, it will take the whole nation to keep this unique language alive.
Noho ora mai – All the best
Were Your Ears Burning?
Staff Gratitude Section
A big thank you to Melissa Chrystal and Cath Franks for being the brains behind the decorations for the Year 8 leavers’ dinner. The hall is looking spectacular for this event.
Thanks to everyone who helped supply items and worked with Melissa today to get the job done. You are fabulous!
Kid's Quote
Teacher to young student: “Which CREST value are you working on?”
Student: “I’m being curvy-ous”
Teacher: “It’s great to be curious!”
Missing Home Readers
We have lots of home readers missing and as they cost $10.00 each book we are desperate to get them returned.
Can you please have another look at home (under the bed, in the cupboards/bookcases) for any readers, then drop them into the labelled book box outside the staffroom?
Thank you!
Lost Property
Lost property will be out on display on any fine days remaining of the term. Anything that is unnamed or unclaimed will be sent to the Koha shed. There are several towels, jackets, and a pillow; along with a wide variety of tops.
School Leavers - Notice re Ezlunch/Kindo School Shop
If your family is leaving our school and moving to another school that does not use ezlunch or Kindo for school payments, you will need to close your account.
If you’re not sure about the new school: log in, go to My Details and click on the list of schools, scrolling to find your new school. If your new school is NOT on the list, use the ‘close account’ button on that screen. You can choose to donate your balance to school or have it paid out to your nominated bank account.
End of Year/Start of Year Ezlunch Orders for 2021/2022
The last day for ordering lunches this year is Monday, 13 December.
The first day for ordering lunches in 2022 is Friday, 4 February.
Future Student Achievements
If your child has an achievement you would like us to share in our newsletter, then please send details (and a picture if you would like) to mbarfoote@pbs.school.nz
Thank You for Sponsoring our School App
Advertise in our Community Directory
PBS has launched an online community directory for the Kapiti Coast.
The Paraparaumu Beach School Community Directory is an online, user-maintained list of businesses, events, and opportunities in the Kapiti area and gives local businesses the opportunity to support PBS while promoting themselves and improving their search engine visibility. It has replaced the community notices section of our school newsletter.
To view the new community directory and for instructions on how to advertise, please click here
