Term 2 Week 1: Friday 4 May 2024

Term 2 Week 1: Friday 4 May 2024

Important Dates 2024
Wednesday 8 May – PTA meeting, 7pm in the Staffroom
Thursday 16 May – BoT Meeting, 5.30pm in the Staffroom
Thursday 23 May – PTA Fundraising Movie Night, 5.30pm in the School Hall
Friday 24 May – Whole School Assembly – 2.15pm in the School Hall – All welcome
Friday 31 May – Teacher Only Day – School closed
Monday 3 June – King’s Birthday – School closed
Wednesday 12 June – Year 5 & 6 Camp
Tuesday 25 June – Parent Teacher Conferences, 1.30pm – 6.40pm SCHOOL CLOSES AT 12.30pm
Wednesday 26 June – Parent Teacher Conferences, 3.30pm – 5.30pm

IN THIS ISSUE:
Attendance – Every Day Counts
Mr Vella Stars in Stage Production
Emergency Drills at Sunnybrae
Ezlunch Menu
Contacting your Classroom Teacher
Sunnybrae Open Morning for New Entrants
Naming Your Items That Come to School
Community Notices

The PB4L focus for next week will be on: 
Cooperation: Everywhere – Play safely and keep hands and feet to ourselves

New Latches on Gates
Health and Safety Notice: We have improved the latches on the gates at Sunnybrae Road, Ellen Avenue and Northgrove Avenue.
The gates will now be closed during the school day between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm. The gates are not locked but closed. The new latches are too high for young children to reach; therefore, if you send your child to school late in the morning, they must enter via the Sunnybrae Entrance and ‘buzz’ in using the electronic gate keypad. The office staff will open the driveway gate remotely for them, and your child will then sign in at the office. If you bring your child to school late, you can easily open the latch yourself at any gate and your child needs to sign in at the office as usual. Please ensure you close the gate after you enter and exit the school grounds. If you have any questions, please contact the office on 09 443 5058 or by email at office@sunnybrae.school.nz.

Attendance – Every Day Counts 
As a school, we know the importance of your child attending school regularly, as every day counts. We have analysed the attendance data for Term 1 2024 and wish to share this with you alongside the Ministry of Education guidelines – see the table below.

It is pleasing to note that we are slightly above the Ministry’s target of students attending regularly and that we only have a small percentage of students who are chronically absent i.e. 3%. 

During Term 1, we had 89 of our 345 students who attended everyday – 100% Attendance. This is to be celebrated as we had 89 students who kept well throughout the term and did not miss school due to going on a family holiday. 

As Term 2 gets underway, please help us by doing the following 

• When planning overseas travel, please ensure approval is sought beforehand from Mrs Lorene Hurd, our Principal, by emailing absences@sunnybrae.school.nz with travel dates and destination. Where possible, the time away from school should be during, or include, the school holidays to minimise the number of days absent from school. 
• If your child has a prolonged illness, please send through a medical certificate to the office for our records. 
• Ensure your child is at school at 8:45 am at the latest so they can settle into the school day and make connections with their friends before the bell goes. 

We look forward to working with you to ensure that all students at Sunnybrae attend school regularly. Should you need help in ensuring your child comes to school, please contact your child’s teacher and/or a member of the Senior Leadership Team – Lorene Hurd, Jane Sharpe or Helen Rennie-Younger. 

Support our Very Talented Teacher

EMERGENCY PROCEDURES:
Drills at Sunnybrae
The purpose of Emergency Drills is to ensure all students and staff at Sunnybrae Normal School are safe and that everyone is aware of emergency procedures so they can respond appropriately in the event of an emergency.
All students will be informed and prepared for each drill in advance. Classroom teachers will debrief students after each drill.
In Term 2, we will have the following practice Emergency Drills:
Week 4 – Earthquake Drill
Week 8 – Lockdown Drill (Outside)

Great news…. our school community raised $57.15 for Sunnybrae for Term 1, by simply ordering ezlunch!  Thanks to all our families who use this lunch option. 
Click here to see an updated menu for Term 2.

Contact with Your Child’s Teacher
Your child’s teacher is your first point of contact should you have any questions. Hopefully, by now, you’ll have had a number of opportunities to meet and connect with them.
The best way to contact your child’s classroom teacher is by email. Our website has a full list of our teachers’ email addresses. The power of the partnership between parents and teachers is immeasurable.

We also have a very strong Learning Leader Team should you need further advice. Wendy Frazer looks after Year 1 and 2. Anna Blair looks after Year 3 and 4. Jane Sharpe is looking after Year 5 and 6.

Do not hesitate to contact Lorene Hurd, our Principal or one of our Deputy Principals, Helen Rennie-Younger (Year 1-3) or Jane Sharpe (Year 4 -6), should you have a question that is beyond the scope of your child’s classroom teacher or Learning Leader.

Our aim is for you to feel supported as a parent/caregiver.

Enrolment at Sunnybrae 
If you live ‘in zone’ and have a child turning 5 this year, please ensure you enrol your child/children as soon as possible. Please also encourage any new families to enrol their children, as this helps us with future planning. Please visit our website www.sunnybrae.school.nz, and complete an enrolment form.

Year 1 Out-of-Zone Places Available
We also have places available for Year 1 out-of-zone enrolments. Applications are available on our website.

Moving?
If you are moving away from Sunnybrae, please contact the office as soon as possible. Thank you.

Naming your child’s school items
Please ensure all items that come to school are clearly named. This includes
clothing, drink bottles, lunchboxes, shoes, school bags and swimwear. We do our very best to get the named items back to your children as soon as possible. We appreciate your cooperation.

Kind regards
Lorene Hurd, Principal
SUNNYBRAE NORMAL SCHOOL

REMINDER:
Please note that all children are to be collected from school by 3.00 pm. 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 FOR YMCA 

COMMUNITY NOTICES:

CREATIVE DRAMA CLASSES

Creative Drama Classes run by Thespianage are continuing at TheatreWorks, Recreation Drive, Birkenhead.  There are two levels of classes, catering for ages 7 – 16 years.  These classes run during term on Tuesdays and Wednesdays 4:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m., depending on age.  The cost is $ 110.00 for nine weeks.

Term Two is our Shakespeare term.  This time, we will be looking at the tragedy of “Antony and Cleopatra”.

Robyn Donnelly (BSc, DipDrama) who has been teaching drama at a variety of venues since 1997 is the tutor.  If anybody would like further details or application forms, please contact Robyn on (021) 588-762, info@thespianage.co.nz or go to mairangiplayers.co.nz/creativedrama.shtml