Newsletter Term 3 Week 4

Term 3 Week 4

2022

In This Issue

1. Welcome to Sunnybrae
2. PB4L – Positive Behaviour for Learning
3. Office Manager Position
4. Teacher-Aide Position
5. PTA Spell-a-thon 2022 Fundraiser
6. ESOL Parent Evening
7. School Disco
8. Letter to Parent Community
9. School Bush Gazebo
10. Cultural Focus Group Evening
11. Crossing Duty – Help Needed
12. Northgrove Parking Issues
13. Teacher Only Day
14. Sushi Friday
15. Congratulations
16. YMCA

Community Notices

1. Welcome to Sunnybrae

This week we would like to welcome the following new student and his family to our school community: Aamiya Anoop in Room 7

2. PB4L – Positive Behaviour for Learning

The PB4L focus for Week 4 will be on using respect everywhere. Our lessons will focus on:

• Looking after our belongings
• Using equipment correctly

3.  Office Manager Position 

This is an excellent opportunity for a person who enjoys the challenge and stimulation of  varied tasks within a busy environment. We are looking for a person who will provide the necessary support to the professional staff at Sunnybrae Normal School.

We seek a confident and well-presented person to take responsibility for managing our school’s day-to-day administrative office tasks and office staff members. Essentially, someone who is quick and efficient, a team leader with a positive attitude that exudes personal warmth, patience, a great sense of humour and the ability to show initiative and work autonomously.

This key position includes office and systems management, property, contracts, enrolments, fiscal oversight and personal assistant to the Principal. We require you to have excellent communication skills coupled with strong organisational skills. 

Self-motivated manager, committed and flexible, with extensive experience with digital technology and an interest in working in the education sector.

Hours will be 37.5 per week for 42 weeks of the year and four weeks of holiday to be taken during school holidays. 

Applicants close on Tuesday, 16 August 2022, at 5:00 pm. 

Please send a cover letter, CV and three references to jobs@sunnybrae.school.nz.

The successful applicant must be eligible to work in New Zealand and undergo Police Vetting processes under the Vulnerable Children’s Act.

4. Teacher-Aide Position

We are looking for a person to take on a Teacher Aide role until the end of Term 3 while one of our Teacher Aide is on extended leave. The hours would be as follows:

Tuesday 9:00 am – 3:00 pm

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 9:00 am – 2:30 pm

The Teacher Aide would be working in the classroom to support students who present with special needs. If you or someone you know is interested in this position, please contact Helen Rennie-Younger at hrennie-younger@sunnybrae.school.nz or call (09) 443 5058.

5. PTA Spell-a-thon 2022 Fundraiser

Spell-a-thon testing will take place on Monday 22 August. Please help support your child/ren by:

• Continuing to encourage your child/ren to learn their spelling words as part of their home learning programme in preparation for testing on Monday 22 August.
• Helping your child/ren seek sponsors from your family, friends and workmates.
• Sending your child/ren to school with their sponsorship form with 6 or more sponsors on Friday 19 August to receive a small ‘thank you’ prize.

Thank you to the 6 parents who have indicated they can help with the testing. If you too are able to help with testing in the Year 1 – 3 classes on Monday 22 August between 9:00 and 11:00 am please contact our Acting Deputy Principal, Helen Rennie-Younger by email hrennie-younger@sunnybrae.school.nz or call (09) 443 5058.

Kind regards

Parent Teacher Association (PTA)

6. ESOL Parent Evening on Monday

Please note that the zoom link has been sent out through the ESOL Seesaw. Contact Christine Mason, ESOL Teacher on cmason@sunnybrae.school.nz if you have any questions.

7. School Disco

8.  Letter to Parent Community

To our Parent Community,

We hope that you and your family are doing the best you can during these last days of winter in the knowledge that spring will not be too far away. We, as a board, felt we should inform you of some of the challenges the Sunnybrae Staff are facing at the moment and how they may turn into a more promising future. 

Effects of COVID/ Flu Season

We are sure that all of you can appreciate that the past 6 months has been a challenge to try and keep everyone as healthy as possible with the Omicron outbreak and then more recently, new flu strains that have been prevalent. As with other industries, this has been the same with the Sunnybrae Staff, including teachers, support staff and leaders. The cumulative effect has been that sometimes our teachers, support staff and leaders become ill and are not always able to be in class and alongside your child to help them learn and in some instances have needed prolonged time away from school. This strain has been felt across the teaching sector and the supply of relief teachers and those to fill vacancies is very low. This has meant a slightly disrupted learning environment for some students (compared to pre-pandemic standards) and we thank you for your continued patience and support as we do our absolute best for both your child’s learning and the wellbeing of our teachers and support staff. 

Heating

After more than 50 years, our trusty boiler system finally stopped working during the second week of the holidays. While being very sad, we saw this as a great opportunity to invest in heat pumps for each of our classrooms. This filled us with optimism, until we found out that our electrical system did not have the capacity to take on the power needed to run the necessary number of heat pumps all at once. We are investigating short term alternatives until the power can be upgraded. We have spoken with the Ministry of Education regarding an increase in the capacity of our power system and the signs are promising that this will happen, but will take time to solve. Therefore, until then, some classrooms might be a bit cooler than we would like in the mornings. Once again, we appreciate your patience and understanding with this short term challenge and we look forward to the time where each classroom will have a pump that will cool the room in the summer and keep it warm in the winter. 

If you have any questions or queries around these issues, feel free to contact me via email jmcintyre@sunnybrae.school.nz. Please don’t forget to vote in our Board of Trustees elections which are coming up soon. 

Kia pai te ra

James McIntyre (Presiding Member BOT) 

jmcintyre@sunnybrae.school.nz

9. School Bush Gazebo

We would like to thank Auckland Council for providing us funding through their Kaipatiki​​ Local Grant. This enabled us to purchase a Brustics Gazebo that has been installed in our school bush. The children will enjoy playing and using this beautiful space. This is part of our ongoing Sunnybrae Bush Project.

10. Cultural Focus Group Evening

We are excited to be holding another focus group evening for our German and Middle Eastern families. It will be held on Thursday 25 August 7:00 – 8:00 pm in the staffroom. We invite our school community from these cultural groups to come along and join us.

11. Crossing Duty – Help Needed

12. Northgrove Parking Issues

Auckland Transport Infringement has been contacted about our parents who have been parking illegally and they will be monitoring the situation and issuing notices if needed. Some parents have been parking illegally across driveways of local residents who need access. It is  suggested that parents and caregivers park further up the road to drop off and pick up their children.

13. Teacher Only Day

A Teacher Only Day is scheduled for Sunnybrae Normal School on Tuesday 25 October 2022.

14. Sushi Friday

15. Congratulations

Congratulations to Roman Keane of Room 20 who earned a Distinction with his recent grade 3 cello exam. Well done Roman! Below is a picture of Roman playing the cello for his classmates.

16. YMCA

Kind regards

Lorene Hurd

Principal

Sunnybrae Normal School

Community Notices

Brain Play

Brain Play teaches after-school science & technology classes to Kiwi kids aged 5 – 13. Find us in 9 venues across Auckland and online. Topics this term include 3D printing, electronics, coding, animation, STEM experiments & more. Free trials available for new students. We also run regular events across Auckland, including free events! Make sure to follow us on social media and check the Events page on the website so you don’t miss out. Check out our after-school timetable on our website and use the form to get in touch – https://www.brainplay.co.nz/.