Newsletter Term 4 Week 9: Friday 8 December 2023

Term 4 Week 9: Friday 8 December 2023

Important Dates
Tuesday 12 December – Year 6 Leavers Celebration & Prizegiving – Hall, 5:30 pm
Wednesday 13 December – Final Assembly in the Hall, 11:15 am – 12:30 pm followed by a Family Picnic on the Covered Turf & Field, 12:30 – 1:30 pm. Reports sent home via Seesaw at the end of the day.
Thursday 14 December – 2024 Class Placement Announced, Term 4 Ends at 12:30 pm – All students to be collected from school.
Thursday 1 February 2024 – Start of Term 1

IN THIS ISSUE:
Positive Behaviour for Learning
Spotlight on Year 1
End of Year Events
Hero: Survey Winner
Pool Key Hire
Sports Update: Basketball Success
Crossing Duty Helpers Needed for 2024
Lost Property
Outstanding Fees
PTA Update: Family Fun Fest 2024 Planning
Community Notices

The PB4L focus for next week will be on: 
School Assembly Lessons Recap – Entering and exiting quietly – Making a good choice about where we sit – Sitting quietly – Respecting the speaker – Actively listening and participating – Performing with enthusiasm – Showing respect when receiving an award.

We had some interesting visitors at Sunnybrae a few weeks ago. Sally from Zoo Ventures brought a few animals to teach us about living things that change and grow. We saw tortoises, bearded dragons, a blue tongued skink, guinea pigs and a chinchilla.

This is what some of the Year 1’s wrote:

I saw two lizards. I saw guinea pigs. I saw tortoises. By Lachlan, Room 1

I went to the Petting Zoo. I saw a tortoise, a blue tongued lizard, a stick bug and a frog. I liked it when the blue tongued lizard licked me. By Flynn, Room 2

On Friday we saw some animals. I loved seeing the guinea pigs. I saw two frogs. I was happy that I could see the chinchilla. It was rolling around having a dust bath. By Andrew, Room 3

On Friday we went to the hall. We met Sally from Zooventures. She showed us some animals. I patted the turtle and it was bumpy. I patted a guinea pig and it was soft. I was excited. I had fun. By Khailey, Room 4

Going into the hall I saw a turtle. I held the turtle on my lap. I held a guinea pig. I heard the guinea pigs crunching on grass. By Jesse, Room 5

END OF YEAR EVENTS:
Year 6 Farewell and Prizegiving
This year is a combined farewell and prizegiving for the announcement of the nominees and winners of the Year 6 Cups and Trophies.
All family and caregivers are encouraged to attend this very emotional tribute to our Year 6 students as they leave Sunnybrae for their next step in school life – Intermediate School. Please join us in the School Hall on Tuesday 12 December at 5:30 pm.

Final Assembly and Family Picnic
Please join us on Wednesday, 13 December, for our Whole School Final Assembly in the School Hall from 11:15 am to 12:15 pm.
This is followed by the Family Picnic from 12:30pm – 1:30pm. After the assembly, parents/caregivers can meet up with their children at the classroom before enjoying lunch as a group. Parents/caregivers are to bring their own blankets and picnic lunch. The bell will ring at 1:30 pm, and all students are to return to class for a fun activity afternoon until 3:00 pm.

Last Day of School
The last day of Term 4 is Thursday, 14 December, with an early finish at 12:30 pm.
In the morning, students will meet their 2024 teacher and spend time in the classroom with new classmates. They will be given a copy of their stationery requirements for 2024 to bring home. All students must be collected from school at 12:30 pm. Please visit www.ymcanorth.org.nz if you need after-school care.

Get on Board with Hero
Sunnybrae’s goal is to use the Hero platform for our communication from Term 1 in 2024. We are, therefore, asking that our school whānau go through the process of signing up to Hero this year so that we can test it out and iron out any issues early.

We are excited about the features that Hero has to offer our families. These include the ability for parents and caregivers to:

• read and comment on school notices sent to your child’s class or groups
• respond to school notices such as surveys and trip permission requests
• view school term dates
• view a school calendar of events
• notify the school if your child is absent or late
• navigate to other school-related web pages
• customise your account by adding a profile image
• select how you wish to receive notifications

Click here for help signing up to Hero

Reporting an Absence
To all parents who have downloaded the Hero app and are using the ‘Report an Absence’ function, we thank you. Via the Hero app, your notification is directly imported into our student management system, allowing efficient administration duties at the morning attendance.

Pool Key Hire
The school has received queries from parents on the available hours for the Sunnybrae Pool over the summer season.
New regulatory requirements for school pools around testing the water quality of the pool (multiple times per day) and the cost of arranging testing outside of school days ($300/day) are in place. This means we are struggling to find solutions to ensure the same amount of pool access as in previous years. Therefore, this means it is not possible to offer pool access at the same hours as previous years. Pool Key Hire will be for term time only this summer season.
If any parents have pool testing certifications and would like to assist in the future, we would love to hear from you. 
The pool availability for those wanting to hire a key will be from 3:30 – 8:00 pm on Mondays to Thursdays. The last day the pool will be available for Pool Key Hire in 2023 is Thursday 14 December. For Terms and Conditions and to register please click here.
Kind regards – Sunnybrae Normal School Board of Trustees

SPORTS UPDATE:
Basketball Success
Tuesday was finals day for the Semester 2 Basketball competition.
Sunnybrae had two teams in grand finals matches – the Year 3 and 4 Magic, coached by Tina Pirie, and the Year 6 girls team – The Sensations, coached by Mei Ling Kuan. The Sensations (Yun Yi, Latiyana, Punarvika, Felicity, Hayley, Emily, Carly, Ivy, Jessie) played the Birkenhead Primary Suns. The girls played a fabulous game and won 10 – 4. This was a great finish to the year in a brand new competition. We also had the Year 3 and 4 Hawks team in the play-off for third place – and they won. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all coaches and managers for their hard work and time during the semester 2 competition, we couldn’t enter teams into competitions without your support. Claire Everett and Rachel Olliver (Sports Leaders)

The Y3/4 Magic (Noah, Henry, Hank, Joseph, Kian, Levi, Daniel) played the Marlborough S O’Neals in an exciting, cliff-hanger game, winning their grade for the second semester this year.

The Hawks (Tyler, Corban , Phoebe , Cove , Talia , Raffaella , Arlo , Gordon ) played the Sunnynook Primary Lightning, playing an awesome game to win 22-5.  This team has developed so much this year and it has been fantastic to watch them grow as a team, share the ball around and support each other.

Crossing Duty Helpers Needed in 2024
We would like to thank all of the parents who helped us before or after school with the crossing on Sunnybrae Road in 2023. We are looking for volunteers to help us in 2024 starting on the first day of school.
We need helpers for the following slots:
Tuesday Morning 8:30-8:55am
Tuesday Afternoon 3:00-3:15pm
Wednesday Afternoon 3:00-3:15pm
Thursday Morning 8:30-8:55am
Friday Morning 8:30-8:55am
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Shuiqing Gong, Mei Ling Kuan, Tina Pirie, Wendy Li and Sin Hooi Lee for supporting the school in this way. 
If you are able to help by doing the crossing duty on one of these days, please let Katrina Bambury know at office@sunnybrae.school.nz or call 09 443 5058 before 12 December 2023.

Lost Property
There is a large number of unnamed clothing, umbrellas, drink bottles and shoes in our Lost Property / Donated Uniform Room, located near the junior area.
If you are missing items, please ask for the key at the office. From 11 December, the room will be open from 8:30 am to 3:15 pm for any parents to check if items belong to their child. Any items remaining after Thursday, 14 December, will be donated to charity. Any school-branded clothing will be added to our Donated Uniform section.
Donated Uniforms
Any Year 6 students who no longer need their Sunnybrae uniform can dontate to our Donated Uniform Room. Please drop off clean items to the School Office.

Outstanding Fees
As we head toward the end of the school year, we thought it timely to remind all parents / caregivers about the importance of payment for sports-related fees.
Your support and prompt payment of these fees are greatly appreciated, as it ensures that we can continue to provide sporting opportunities for your child. We encourage you to log into your Kindo account or call the office if you are unsure of your balance and aim to settle all outstanding fees before the end of the term.
While we encourage you to settle accounts via Kindo, other payment options are:
· Cash or EFTPOS at the School Office
· Internet banking to account number ASB 12 3053 0370789 00 referencing your child’s name and room.

We thank you again for your continued support and co-operation.

PTA UPDATE:
Family Fun Fest 2024
We are preparing for a Family Fun Festival to be held on March 15th 2024, or March 22nd 2024 depending on the weather. The PTA members are actively looking to our parents, whānau and the wider community for volunteers to help with planning, cooking or managing a Food Stall showcasing our community’s diverse cuisine. The school will reimburse any costs associated with running the stall.  
Click here to register 

This event has become one of the major events on our school calendar. In addition to bringing funds into the school for projects such as the Covered Turf and Basketball hoops, it also serves to bring our school community together to celebrate our cultural diversity. We can’t do it without a truly combined effort from everyone. 

Kind regards
Lorene Hurd, Principal
SUNNYBRAE NORMAL SCHOOL

REMINDER:
Please note that all children are to be collected from school by 3.00pm. If you are unable to collect before this time, you may be interested in booking your child into the YMCA after-school club held in the School Hall.  

CLICK HERE TO BOOK 

COMMUNITY NOTICES: