Riverview School - Term 2, Week 1, 1 May 2025

Quick Polls for our whānau / parents.

Poll 1: Term 3 Hangi

Hangi Information: In Term 3, we are planning a free community hangi. Our aim is that this event is free of charge. However, we will request donations of produce, meat, etc, from parents and staff. We will also reach out to local businesses for support in this area. We aim to feed approximately 420 tamariki and their whānau. We will also need whānau to help organise the food, both before and after cooking. At this stage, we are working with our tuakana at Ngāti Rēhia to plan the hangi. Once we have confirmed the exact date and the number of meals we can cook, we will share more information. Our aim is that this will be on a Friday.

Poll 2: Education Evening - Digital Safety for our Tamariki.

Digital Safety for children: From Keeping Ourselves Safe hui, whānau expressed concern and confusion around how to better monitor and support their child/ren in the digital world. This is a complex topic, and we have consulted with various expert groups. We aim to have a speaker visit the school to discuss the matter with parents and teachers, outlining the vast array of dangers associated with social media and devices, and how we can all support our tamariki in navigating these challenges.

The topic is confronting and would be an event restricted to adults only, due to its themes and the nature of the discussions.  One person Mr Kelly has reached out to is Rob Cope. He has a meeting with Rob in two weeks to discuss options moving forward.

Please have a look at his website to gauge what he covers. On his website, he provides links to a New Zealand Herald Video Article as well as a 90-minute documentary on this topic. These are both unsuitable for children to watch, and as a parent, it is eye-opening and confronting. If this topic offends you or your beliefs, please refrain from visiting the website below or watching the documentaries.

Rob Cope's website: https://www.ourkidsonline.info/ 

Tumuaki Talk

Kia ora koutou, Greetings to all parents, whānau, students, and staff.

Welcome back to term two. We are excited to start the term, and the tamariki have started awesomely. Well done to our children. 

Welcome to Riverview School: We would like to welcome Mrs Elle Haden to our Kura, who is teaching in Room 4. Elle is also the team leader for our Year 2/Okura team.   We also welcome back Mrs Staples and Mrs Draper. It's great to have you both back. 

This term, we have had eight new tamariki join our school. We want to welcome the tamariki and whānau of the following children to the Riverview School whānau; it is great having you with us:

Room 1:  Manāki Korewha-Nahi, Tauramoko Ōrongonui

Room 2: William Burgess

Room 3: Peter Haden

Room 4: Lia Nau, Tom Smith

Room 14: Lucy Burling-James

Room 16: Raniera Reid-Milner

Staffing Update: Last term, we advertised for a new receptionist to start later in May. We are thrilled to announce that we have employed Sarah Fossett for this position. Sarah will continue to fulfil her current Learning Support Assistant role on Mondays and Fridays, and be in the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.  

PTA - Parent Teacher Association AGM: A reminder that this is being held on Tuesday, 6 May in the staffroom. Everyone is welcome; there will be food and nibbles.

Thank you to the PTA for the last 12 months; we have seen some exciting initiatives and activities.

We have been informed that several positions on the PTA will become available as current members step down. We thank them for the support they have shown. An information sheet on the role of the PTA is available HERE for anyone interested in supporting the school.

Keeping Ourselves Safe Hui: Thank you to all the parents and whānau who attended the Keeping Ourselves Safe parent information meeting with Constable Rob on Tuesday. It was great having 20 parents meet, ask questions and gain a clearer understanding of the Keeping Ourselves Safe programme. 

Board Elections: All schools in NZ hold elections for the Board of Trustees every three years. This group is elected to help govern the school. If you are interested in being nominated for the Board, please do not hesitate to contact me or the current Board of Trustees members. For further information, please visit HERE.

Maths-a-thon / Math Night: We have initiated a whole-school, term-long focus on number knowledge.  Your child would have brought home a booklet for them to keep a record of their practise at home and their weekly results.  Please support them in developing their number knowledge skills each week.  A packet of playing cards and some dice will be helpful tools. If you don't have these at home, there are apps online that can roll the dice or randomly select cards.

The curriculum refresh has resulted in changes to the level of number knowledge expected to be taught and learnt in the primary school years.  Previously, children in year 3 were expected to know and use numbers up to 999.  This has now been introduced to help children recognise and use numbers up to 10,000.  This is just one example of the changes in the refreshed curriculum.  

To ensure our students are numerate, we must provide them with a solid foundation in number knowledge.  This is the ability to instantly recall, write, say, read, order, identify groups of numbers within them, and recognise the place value of digits within a number.  This is knowledge, so it should be instantly recalled rather than a skill that requires practice.  

Daily practise, exposure to numbers in everyday life and playing games are all easy ways to increase a child's knowledge of numbers.  Every Monday, teachers will introduce and teach a new number knowledge skill and send home some examples to practise.  They will also play games at school to reinforce the skill.

We want to invite all whānau to join us on Wednesday, 14 May, at 5 pm in the school hall to learn and play some maths games.  We will have stations set up to teach you the games, show you how to adapt them for different levels, and provide instructions for you to take away.  The only equipment you will need at home to play these games will be a packet of playing cards, some dice, paper and pencils.

A paper notice about this will come home with your child next week, and we will ask you to RSVP so we can prepare for the number of whanau who plan to attend.

Buses in Term 2: Our school buses tend to get busier in winter months as more students opt to take the bus. School buses are available for students who reside within the designated transport zone.  Students need a bus card showing that they are eligible for the bus network, and these can be organised through our school office.

Please ensure that our school office is aware of the days your child will be on the bus.  We take a daily roll as students board the bus, and we must be vigilant to ensure that no child is left behind. We often look for students who have been picked up or whose plans have changed, but we have not been advised of these changes.  Please keep us informed about your child's after-school pick-up arrangements.

If your child is catching a bus, it is your responsibility as a parent to ensure your child gets onto the bus safely in the morning and off the bus safely in the afternoon.  Students should only be catching the bus to and from school if eligible. 

Your child's safety getting to and from school is vitally important, and we want to ensure that everyone concerned knows where your child is and how they are getting to and from school safely.  

Keeping Ourselves Safe Programme

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

During weeks 2–6 of Term 2, Constable Rob will be in school teaching the personal safety programme, ‘Keeping Ourselves Safe’.

Keeping Ourselves Safe enables children and young people to learn and apply a range of safety skills that they can use when interacting with others. Students recognise the differences between healthy and unhealthy relationships, and those who have been or are being abused are encouraged to seek help.

Keeping Ourselves Safe will be taught by our local Police Education Officer – Constable Rob, and the class teacher.

It is important that you participate as often as possible and discuss with your child about what they have been learning.  This will help reinforce the messages Constable Rob gives and help your child use their new skills with confidence.

For further information, you can:

• Contact Const. Rob at Robert.Drummond@police.govt.nz
  

Standouts of the Week

Congratulations to the following students, who their teacher has nominated to receive a Stand Out of the Week certificate over the past two weeks. 

Piper Colebrook, Sadie Buckingham, Ryker James, Bella Gavin-Young, Sergio Simpkin, Lennix Connelly-Firth, Maddison Edwards, Lilei Stent, Sophie Galvin, Rochelle Hannah, Lucca Perrin, James Evans, Coopa Hearn, Nico Christini-Ross, Kiara Shirley-Thomson Carey, Lacey Candy, Octavia Hanik, Alivia Thorburn, Jordan Roberts, Akela Mark-Duff, Kerewai Fortes, Jai Wira Samuels.

Policies and Procedures

The school works with SchoolDocs to maintain, update, and review our policies.  SchoolDocs provides us with a comprehensive core set of policies, which have been well researched and follow the Ministry of Education National Administration Guidelines.  The policies and procedures are tailored to our school, and the school supplies specific information such as our charter, and procedures for behaviour management, reporting to parents, etc.

SchoolDocs updates, modifies, or creates policies in response to changes in legislation or Ministry guidelines, significant events, reviews/requests from schools, and regular reviewing from the SchoolDocs team.  Our Board of Trustees has the opportunity to view changes/additions and comment on them before they are implemented.  We will advise you when policies are up for review and how you can take part in the review.

We invite you to visit the site at https://riverview.schooldocs.co.nz (note that there's no "www.").  Our username is "riverview" and password "heartwise".

The review topic this term for parents and caregivers is:

• Planning and Preparing for Emergencies, Disasters, and Crises (board)
• Communication During an Emergency, Disaster, or Crisis (board)
• Emergency Closure (board)
• Emergency Management
• Disaster Management
• Crisis Management

Please follow these instructions:

1. Visit the website https://riverview.schooldocs.co.nz/1893.htm
2. Enter the username (riverview) and password (heartwise).
3. Follow the link to the relevant policy as listed.
4. Read the policy.
5. Click the Policy Review button at the top right-hand corner of the page.
6. Select the reviewer type.
7. Enter your name (optional).
8. Submit your ratings and comments.

If you don't have internet access, school office staff can provide you with printed copies of the policy and a review form.

Scholastic Book Club

Issue 3 of Scholastic Book Club has been handed out to students. The last day for orders to be returned to the school office is Friday 9 May. 

OSCAR Holiday Programme

OSCAR holiday programme children enjoyed a fun-filled school holidays making lots of arts ‘n crafts; playing with all the toys; making new friends; baking pizzas, muffins and cookies for their afternoon tea and inline skating at Waipapa inline skating rink.  The eels were left in peace these holidays due to very wet weather!  Despite the very wet holidays we had lots of fun in our large school hall.  We hope to see lots of new children join our fun after school programme or in the next school holidays in July.

Term Two - Overview

Assembly - Friday's 2.00pm in the hall

Lunches - available every Thursday

General Information and Reminders:

Community Notices

We are reaching out to you as one of our wonderful educational partners to ask for your help with making the most of this fantastic opportunity for Project Island Song – and to give staff and parents the chance to win some unbelievable prizes!

We are incredibly lucky that Eagles Nest have once again donated an amazing main prize, and this year we’re grateful to have had two additional awesome prizes donated:

1st prize: A 2-night luxury stay in Eagles Nest's beautiful Sacred Space villa just outside Russell, for up to 8 people, worth $7,900.

2nd prize: Private sunset yacht charter in the Bay of Islands with Cool Change Charters, for up to 6 people including a delicious platter.

3rd prize: A nature-inspired Flax light pendant, by internationally-renowned designer David Trubridge.

The raffle helps to raise vital funds for Project Island Song’s work for the local wildlife, and help us to keep offering awesome experiences on the islands for the students!