Week 5, Term 1 Newsletter

Term 1 Week 5: Friday 1 March 2024

Important Dates 2024
Tuesday 12 March – Year 1 & 2 Swimming Carnival 1:30 – 2:30 pm
Thursday 14 March – Year 5 & 6 Swimming Carnival 9:20 – 11:00 am
Thursday 14 March – Year 3 & 4 Swimming Carnival 1:00 – 3:00 pm
Friday 15 March – Family Fun Fest 4:30 – 7:00 pm
Thursday 21 March – BOT meeting, Staffroom 5:30 pm
Friday 22 March – Year 3 – 6 Triathlon 1:30 – 3:00 pm 
Wednesday 27 March – Whānau Hui in the Staffroom 5:00 pm
Thursday 28th March – Whole School Assembly 2:15 pm, All Parents are Welcome

IN THIS ISSUE:
Spotlight on Year 5 & 6
Being Absent from School
PTA Update: Family Fun Fest – Ways you can help
Sports Unpdate: Swimming Carnival, Athletics Opportunity
Community Notices

The PB4L focus for next week will be on: 
Respect: Everywhere –  Be in the right place at the right time and be responsible.

SPOTLIGHT ON YEAR 5 & 6:
Student Council
The Year 5 and 6 students and staff are pleased to announce the elected Sunnybrae Student Council. 

From left: Bronwyn, Samantha, Conor, Suzy, Noah, Ronal, Zoe, Noelle, Maxim, Miu, Elliot, KaYu and Emma.

Congratulations – Year 5 and 6 RICE Certificate Winners.

Well done to our  Respect, Independence, Cooperation and Excellence certificate winners presented at our last whole school assembly.

Farewell International Students
On Wednesday this week, we farewelled our International Students who have been with us for four weeks.
It has been wonderful having them as part of our Sunnybrae classrooms, as well as finding out about their life and schooling in their home countries. We learned from one of our international students that they loved eating lunch outside at school. We hope to stay in touch and be pen pals in order to help them learn to speak and write in English.

Thank You Swimming Instructors
As we are finishing off our swimming sessions with our swimming instructors, we wanted to thank them for their support and encouragement in the pool. Below is an acrostic poem by Conor, Room 20.

Instructors Acrostic Poem 

I think the instructors are very kind and skilled.

No one will leave the pool without learning a new skill.

So kind, and they excel at their job.

Teaching us every morning at 9:00 am.

Remembering what level we are and what we need to learn.

Underestimating them is the wrong choice.

Cold splashes won’t stop them.

Trying hard to impress them.

Of course, we are developing skills for life.

Repeating and practising makes us better.

So thank you Skills4Life instructors!

By: Conor – Room 20

Being Absent from School
It is very important that you let the office know if your child will be absent from school before 8.45am in the morning.

The easiest way to let us know your child will be absent is via the Hero school app.  Other options are from the school website, calling the office on 443 5058 or email absences@sunnybrae.school.nz. You need to say when the student will be expected to return and the reason they are away. Be specific with reasons as this helps aid us in monitoring illness that could be passed to other children.

Unnotified or unexplained absences are followed up via text message or phone call as soon as is practical. You may also receive this message if your child was late to school and did not sign in at the office. Please reply to these texts so we can mark your child’s attendance accordingly. Unjustified or unexplained absences are tracked and contact made with the family if a pattern or trend is occurring. Contact will also be made if there are consistent ‘justified’ absences. Where appropriate, referrals may be made to external agencies to support students achieving regular attendance.

If you plan to take a holiday during term time for longer than 5 days, you will need to seek permission from the Principal in advance. Please email absences@sunnybrae.school.nz with your dates and destination.

Parking on Campus for Staff Only
Please refrain from parking in the Staff Car Park.
Access into the gated driveway during school hours is limited to service vehicles only. Thank you. Safety First!

PTA UPDATE:
Ways you can help…
CHOCOLATE BAR DONATION
Back by popular demand will be the famous Chocolate Coin Toss game at the
Family Fun Fest. We ask each family to donate one king-size bar of
chocolate as a prize for this successful carnival game. Chocolate bars can be
dropped off at the school office anytime. Thank you for your support.

PROVIDE HOME BAKING – SWEET AND SAVORY STALL

This is always a popular stall with the kids. If you can help with home baking for us to sell on the night at our dessert stall, please bring baked goods to the staffroom on the day of the Fun Fest. Please only provide items that can be served at room temperature. 

KIDS-ONLY GARAGE SALE
This year, we would like to have a kids-only garage sale as part of the Family Fun Fest. If you have toys, puzzles, games, bikes, or scooters that your child no longer uses, start setting them aside and donate to the Family Fun Fest. Please note: we will start collecting the items in the week beginning 11th March. Thanks for your help.

SPORTS UPDATE:
Swimming Carnival
The students are looking forward to showing off their skills they have learnt at the recent swimming lessons.
Parents and caregivers are all welcome to come and watch the Swimming Carnival.  Please make sure your child has named swimming togs, towels, and goggles on these dates. 
Tuesday 12 March – Year 1 & 2 Swimming Carnival 1:30 – 2:30 pm
Thursday 14 March – Year 5 & 6 Swimming Carnival 9:20 – 11:00 am
Thursday 14 March – Year 3 & 4 Swimming Carnival 1:00 – 3:00 pm

Athletics Opportunity
Each year, Harcourts Cooper & Co. present the Sir Graeme Douglas International Athletics Meet. This year we are including a fun Pre-Event experience for younger children aged approx. 8 – 10 years of age to participate in, on Sunday 10^th March.

It is very exciting that Dame Valerie Adams will be part of this experience along with sprinter Zoe Hobbs. The Pre-Event involves some fun, easy, athletic style games before the main event begins. The children and their families can then stay on to witness New Zealand and International athletes compete to potentially qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics.

Sunnybrae Normal School have been offered 20 free spots for this Pre-Event, which is a great opportunity for 20 children to ‘have a go!’

A free Family Pass will be given to the family of each child engaging in the Pre-Event, which means the whole family can go along for the Pre-Event and stay on for the afternoon.

How to confirm the tickets:-

By Tuesday 5^th March: Email Angela Temata Angela.Temata@harcourts.co.nz with the following….

• the number of children for the Pre-Event, including their names and ages
• include a parent’s name, email and phone number (to arrange/receive the family passes)

NB: Athletics NZ will be responsible for distributing the Family Passes.

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: