Newsletter – Term 1, Week 4 2022

Term 1 Week 4

2022

Important Dates

Monday 21 February: Swimming continues all week for Year 4/5 classes, R3, R4, & R5

Wednesday 23 February: Parent/Teacher Conferences – School closes at 12:30 pm

Thursday 24 February: Parent/Teacher Conferences, 3:20 – 5:00 pm

In This Issue

1. Welcome to Sunnybrae
2. Covid Red Level Phase 2
3. Seesaw
4. Parent/Teacher Conferences
5. Enrolments at Sunnybrae Normal School
6. Sunnybrae PTA (Parent Teacher Association)
7. Lunchbox Ideas
8. Year 5 and 6 Basketball
9. Sushi Friday
10. YMCA Out of School Care

1. Welcome to Sunnybrae

This week we would like to welcome the following new student and her family to our school community: Kate Anitoni (R4).

2. Covid Red Level Phase 2

Dear Parents/Caregivers

New Zealand has moved to Traffic Light Red Level Phase 2

We are likely to see Covid cases coming a bit closer to home and potentially into our school community in the weeks ahead. Therefore, we wanted to share what would happen if there was a case connected to our school. Our school is prepared to act should we be informed of a positive case.

If Your Child Tests Positive for Covid:

Contact us as soon as possible. Please let the school office know via phone (09) 443 5058 or email office@sunnybrae.school.nz  as this will have implications for the other children in your child’s class. Our team appreciates notice as soon as possible in order to activate our plans and start our school processes. You can help by contacting us as soon as you know that you have a positive case in your household or family.

If Your Child is a Close Contact:

Keep your child home for at least 7 days, monitor for symptoms and if they display any symptoms please get them tested. Other members of your household will not have to self-isolate. Please let the school office know via phone (09) 443 5058 or email office@sunnybrae.school.nz.

Contact Tracing

For our school, accounting for our staff and school movements, spaces and who is in the space throughout the entire day is the priority of contact tracing. This determines the identification of close contacts. This is no small feat as you can imagine and it takes significant time. 

Parent/Caregiver Contact Details

It is vital that we know if your contact details (address, phone numbers, emails) and the medical information we hold about your child has changed. Please email any amendments to office@sunnybrae.school.nz.

If There is a Confirmed Case at School:

We will follow our response plan based on guidance from the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health as follows:

1. A Parent/Caregiver, The Ministry of Education (MoE) or The Ministry of Health (MoH) will notify the school of a positive case.
2. We will work to support the student(s) and their families. 
3. Close contacts will be identified by our team.
4. Once we have confirmed who are the close contacts, parents/caregivers will be contacted directly. We will advise those who are deemed as close contacts via Seesaw. This may be followed up with a phone call. If this occurs during a school day, we will request that you come and collect your child as soon as you are able to. Instructions will be given for how and when you can pick up your child. We will also send the parents/caregivers an email with information regarding isolation, testing and Distance Learning.
5. Staff who are close contacts will also be required to isolate.
6. The rest of the school will be advised that we have a positive case via Seesaw and our Newsletter which links to our website. Parents/caregivers will be advised to monitor for possible symptoms and if any occur to have their child tested. The most common symptoms are runny nose, headache, fatigue and sore throat.

The number of cases and close contacts determine how many students and staff might need to isolate. It is unlikely that the whole school would close; rather only those close contacts would need to isolate at home. We will be assessing the situation as it develops to make decisions about the best ways to engage with learning. We aim to have our school open for teaching and learning as much as possible.  

Options Available to the School 

Option One: School open for all learners.

Option Two: Hybrid Model of Learning – some at home (isolating), some at school.

Option Three: Distance Learning Programme only (similar Lockdown).

Option Four: School is closed.  No learning programmes available (highly unlikely).

We will inform the school community of any changes. 

I also wanted to say that if your child is involved as a close contact, please be as calm as possible. We will ask you to pick them up if a case is notified during the school day, but this is not an emergency situation. We will be managing the situation calmly and asking everyone to do the same. Patience will also be important as we may see delays in receiving the information we need from the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health.  

Finally, a big thank you to our community and our staff for a great start to the year. It is wonderful to have the students all at school.

3. Seesaw

As you will have read above, one of our main communication tools is the app Seesaw. Through this app, your child’s class teacher will communicate important notices and share your child’s learning. You can also use the app to communicate directly with the teacher. It is very important that you download this app. Your child’s teacher will already have shared with you the QR code required to log in. If you still do not have access to Seesaw, please check your emails or contact your child’s classroom teacher directly. All staff email addresses are listed on our website.

4. Parent/Teacher Conferences 2022

Wednesday 23 February from 1:20 pm – 7:00 pm

Thursday 24 February from 3:20 pm – 5:00 pm

5. Enrolments at Sunnybrae Normal School

If you live in the home zone and have not yet signalled your intention to enrol your child later this year, please contact the school as soon as possible to assist us to plan appropriately. Email: office@sunnybrae.school.nz or https://www.sunnybrae.school.nz/enrolment/

6. Sunnybrae PTA (Parent Teacher Association)

Our first PTA meeting of the year will be held via Zoom on Tuesday 1 March at 7:00 pm. This is a great opportunity to meet other parents and help with fundraising initiatives for the school. If you are interested in joining please contact our Deputy Principal, Karen Rodger krodger@sunnybrae.school.nz 

7. Lunchbox Ideas

We know it can be hard to think of ideas for school lunchboxes and we hope that you find these suggestions helpful. Please note: If your child is in a class with a student who has allergies, a letter will be sent home.

Lunchbox ideas

• Vegetables and Fruits (chopping bigger fruit beforehand can make it easier to eat for some children – a variety throughout the week maintains interest and ensures a balance of nutrients)
• Grain foods (bread, rice, pasta, breakfast cereals)
• Dairy products (cheese and yoghurt)
• Lean meat and alternatives (lean meat, chicken, seafood, eggs, nuts & seeds, beans & lentils)
• Plain popcorn
• Rice crackers
• Leftovers from dinner
• Sandwiches
• Hummus – add some to sandwiches or put a couple of tablespoons in a container to go alongside vegetable sticks, crackers or bread.
• A small handful of nuts and seeds
• Cereal bars
• Plain biscuits
• Muffin or scone
• Potato or pasta salad
• Sushi
• Pasta and rice dishes
• Vegetable sticks – carrot, cucumber, capsicum or celery with an optional dip such as cottage cheese, hummus, pesto, greek yoghurt or tzatziki
• Small (cherry) or chopped tomatoes
• Fruit pottles
• Mini salads – coleslaw or a lettuce salad with tomato, grated carrot and cucumber
• Small packet or handful of raisins, dates, prunes or dried fruit

Brain Food

Each day at about 10:00 am, after Fitness, every class has ‘Brain Food Time/Brain Break’. This is an opportunity for students to have a quick snack to keep their energy levels up during our morning lessons.  

Following are some suggestions for a brainfood snack:

• Fresh fruit (apple, oranges, grapes, mandarins, tomatoes, feijoas, kiwifruit, bananas-Chopping pieces up can be more manageable for some students)
• Fresh vegetables (carrot sticks, cucumber pieces, capsicum, broccoli, cauliflower)
• Dried fruit (peaches, apricots, raisins, dates, prunes, bananas)
• Nuts and seeds

Water Only

We are a water only school and encourage our students to bring a drink bottle with water in it each day to school. We also have drinking fountains in the playgrounds and students are able to refill drink bottles in their classrooms or from the taps attached to the drinking fountains.

Please do not send flavoured milk (e.g. chocolate, strawberry, banana), energy drinks or juice to school.

Please Do Not Include:

 lollies, lollipops, marshmallows, chocolate bars or chocolates in your child’s lunchbox.

8. Year 5 and 6 Basketball

Thank you to all the families who have signed up to play basketball at the YMCA this semester. As we have had many new enrollments, we are very short of coaches and managers. In order to enter teams we require parents to volunteer their time and take on these roles. 

The coach would need to be available for one before or after school training session and be able to coach at the games on Thursday evenings. 

The manager would need to support the coach at games and manage communications with the team. 

If this sounds like you, or if you have a teenage student in your family who would like to take on this role, please contact Mary Waters mwaters@sunnybrae.school.nz.

9. Sushi Fridays

10. YMCA Out of School Care

Kind regards,

Lorene Hurd

Principal