Newsletter – Term 4, Week 6

Friday 19 November 2021

Welcome to Sunnybrae

This week we would like to welcome Lael Lee and Hikule’o Angitoa (Room 1) and their families to Sunnybrae.

Return to School

The government announced that schools could open on Wednesday 17 November 2021. The staff of Sunnybrae worked very hard to create a safe plan for staff and students. Thank you to our Year 4 – 6 students, parents/caregivers and staff who all helped the transition back to school go so smoothly this week. It has been wonderful to see the students’ enthusiasm and excitement at being back at school as they reconnected with their teachers and classmates face to face. The Year 4/5 students joined us on Wednesday and Thursday this week. The Year 6’s happily came back to school on Thursday and Friday. We look forward to welcoming our Year 1 – 3 students on Monday 22 November.

The health, safety and wellbeing of our children, staff and families are our priority and we will continue to review and modify our organisation in a safe and responsive way. We are happy to welcome students back on their allocated days at any stage, we ask that you please email your child’s teacher to let them know of any changes in your child’s attendance onsite.

Children of Essential Workers

The children of essential workers continue to learn at school from Monday – Friday.

Drop Off and Pick Up

To help keep your child and everyone safe, we ask that you all please follow our Drop Off and Pick Up plan.

Please note: We are unable to have any students onsite before 8:30 am.

Drop Off (8:30 – 8:45 am)

Please drop your child at their designated gate and leave straight away.
Alternatively, you can drop your child away from the entrance and allow your child to walk the last little bit themselves.
Parents/caregivers will not be permitted to come onsite.
Parents and caregivers should maintain a two-metre physical distance from those not in their household group.
Parent/caregivers wear a mask and model correct social distancing during Drop Off/Pick Up.
Staff will be greeting students at the school gate.

Pick Up (3:00 pm)

Students will need to leave the school grounds promptly at 3:00 pm.
Meet your child at their designated gate.

End of Year Updates

We are busy finalising our end of year celebrations which will include a number of changes due to current restrictions. Nominated Year 4 – 6 students will still receive Outstanding Citizenship Awards. Nominated students from Year 1 – 6 will receive class certificates. There will also be Year 6 trophies and awards.

A reminder that Term 4 ends on Thursday 16 December at 12:30 pm.

Preparing for the End of Year

We find ourselves in unusual times, therefore, we have to adapt how we return students’ supplies, stationery, books, art work, etc. We are currently putting a system in place. We will be in touch with more information soon.

Return of School Devices

Many school devices are being used in homes which is fantastic. But, we need to organise the return of these devices at the end of the school year. Those parents with a device or more than one device will be contacted to arrange drop off/return. We will be in touch with more information soon.

Resources

If you have any school resources at home e.g. Journals, library books, other readers, sports uniforms, we would appreciate you sending them to school with your child on the next day they are onsite.

Planning for 2022

We are currently planning for next year. If your child is in Year 1 – 5 and they will not be returning to Sunnybrae in 2022, please email our Deputy Principal, Karen Rodger at krodger@sunnybrae.school.nz. Alternatively, if your child is to start at Sunnybrae, please let us know.

Enrolments at Sunnybrae Normal School

If you live ‘in zone’ and have a child turning 5 within the next year, please make sure you enrol them online as soon as possible. Please also encourage any new in zone families to enrol their children as soon as they can to help us with future planning. For enrolment forms and further information you can choose from the following options:

Visit our website www.sunnybrae.school.nz to complete an online enrolment form
Email officemanager@sunnybrae.school.nz

School Swimming Pool Closed

Due to current restrictions we will not be opening our school pool this year or during the summer holiday period.

New Student Management – Hero

We are delighted to launch our new communication and reporting system, Hero.

Hero allows schools to build an online environment that reflects our unique context. It enables teachers, students, and families to view and share content anytime, anywhere on any device. The software is secure, easy to use and brings together all school-related information in one place.

For now there is nothing that you, as a parent/caregiver need to do as we are in the very early stages of the upgrade.

Early next year, we will communicate with you how to login and the many benefits of the system and it’s layout. Please follow the current procedures with regards to changes to your details by emailing them to office@sunnybrae.school.nz

If you are a parent who has a student in a Hero database at a different school, you may already be able to see that your younger child has a portfolio with Hero. However, you won’t have any access to this as yet.

Stay tuned for more information.

Updated KiwiSchools Connect App

Our weekly newsletter and important notifications continue to be posted on our school website and App by our provider KiwiSchools.

The updated version of the KiwiSchools Connect app is now live in both the App and Play Store.

While many phones will prompt users to update the app, some may require you to manually complete this process.

New users can still download the app using this QR code:

Thank You

Thank you to our friends at Exeloo (award winning public toilet systems) who designed and manufactured stainless steel caps for our new outdoor netball posts. Their donation of time, labour, materials and continued support of our school is much appreciated.