Newsletter - Week 7 Term 3
Greenmeadows School 7th September 21 - Return From Lockdown
Principal's Message
Tēnā koutou katoa,
It is great news to hear that our school will soon be filled with our students again ... we have been looking forward to getting everyone back.
This newsletter will set out a lot of information about how we will manage the return. Level 2 means that we have a number of things that change the school day - but hopefully not too much.
Some may be anxious out there - but let us stress that school is a safe place. There is no known transmission in our region and hopefully it will remain this way.
We look forward to seeing everyone back from Thursday.
Ka kite ano,
Mark Johnson
Principal
SCHOOL STARTS AGAIN - THURSDAY 9 SEPTMBER
Online learning finishes today - Tuesday 7 September.
Teachers will be on site tomorrow preparing for the children to arrive back on Thursday.
The children who were booked to attend Bubble School on Wednesday 8th September will be able to be supervised at school.
GMS UNDER DELTA LEVEL 2
Look carefully at these routines we will have while we are under Level 2:
A] START OF THE DAY
Arriving at school - 8.30am onwards
No children are to be in the school grounds prior to 8.30am (unless they are Road Wardens for that day or they are going to OSCAR).
If parents need to get to work before 8.30am, GMS OSCAR is open.
Drop children off at school between 8.30 and 9.00am:
Please note that parents are not to come into school grounds unless:
- bringing in new enrolments/New Entrants or;
- their child/ren may be extremely unsettled (if so, make this a drop off only, please do not stay).
If this is the case then signing in at the office for contact tracing will be required. This includes both the Gloucester Street and Osier Road entrances.
JUST FOR THURSDAY 8th September
* all children go straight to their class as soon as they arrive at school
* class teachers will be in the room to meet the students
* children free to interact with their classmates until 9.00am.
Initial learning will be about how we keep ourselves and others safe at Alert Level 2, including:
- washing hands: * before and after breaks * upon entry and exit from the classroom
- hand hygiene and not touching your face
- cough and sneeze 'etiquette'
- drink bottles for water should be brought from home and named
- staying at home if unwell
B] DURING THE DAY
i) Please - no parents in the school office unless there is an emergency, or they are dropping off medication. For any other queries please email or telephone.
ii) If there are any early departures from school (up to 2.20pm) use the same routine as we have been in Level 3. This means either wait outside the school gate, or park in the St. Mary’s Church car park and ring office. Our wonderful office staff will organise someone to bring your child out to meet you ...
iii) Our canteen will be running from Thursday 9 September – no cash sales use Kindo online orders only. No ice blocks to be sold.
C] END OF THE DAY
We will continue with the staggered end of the day Delta Level 2:
2.50pm
Kowhai Syndicate (Years 1 and 2) and any older siblings released from school
3.00pm Pohutukawa Syndicate (Rooms 8,9,10,11 and 14a/b)
Totara Syndicate (Rooms 6,7,12,13 and 15a/b) and external After School Care groups depart.
School's Out will leave from the Gloucester Street gate to cross the road to walk to their hall
Parents picking up children please note these times.
We also ask that parents picking up stay either:
a) outside the school boundary fence or;
b) with social distancing, assemble in one of three collections points (which will be marked with cones):
i) just inside the Gloucester Street gate on the school field
ii) just inside the dental clinic gate on the grassed area (GMS OSCAR also meet here)
iii) just inside an area outside library
This means we will not have to get parents to scan/sign in, if they remain in these areas with social distancing.
Before coming to school on Thursday both children and parents need to have talked through and agreed on which meeting spot they will use.
Please note that any children not collected at the 2.50pm pickup will go to the hall where they will be supervised.
PHEW ... that is a lot to take in!
GMS CHROMEBOOKS SENT OUT - PLEASE COME BACK
Those of you with GMS Chromebooks at home, can please return them to school in the boxes they were delivered in on Thursday 9 September. We need these back immediately as the classes need them for learning programmes.
MASK WEARING
Mask wearing is not compulsory for primary schools. We have made the decision for Greenmeadows School not to require children to wear a mask while at school.
This because the constant off/on for eating and drinking, outside activities, difficulties keeping track of one's own mask would be challenging. We already have so many struggles keeping tabs on belongings so added to shoes, polar fleeces, lunch box, drink bottle, etc. it gets pretty difficult ...
This applies to staff as well. However children and staff who wish to wear a mask will be able to do so, and a number chose to last year when we returned under Alert Level 2.
COVID FORCED CANCELLATIONS AND POSTPONEMENTS
One of the many downsides of the threat of the COVID-19 virus, is the number of events that are going to postponed or cancelled with the different Alert Levels.
* the school assembly set for Friday 10 September has been cancelled. We are aiming to have our next one on Friday 17 September
* the Barefoot 10s rugby competition on Wednesday afternoons has been cancelled.
* the GMS school cross-country set for 8 September will be postponed - we will see if this can be held before the end of the school term. The Napier schools interschool cross country looks unlikely to go ahead in Week 9 (decision to be made on Monday 13 September about this event).
And to finish ...
Maths and Science all around us:
Spring sees a time when the wind direction is often changing - look at a flag to see where the wind is coming from: does it seem a different direction from the last time you looked?
Is there a direction that the wind seems to be warmer when blowing?
See you on Thursday.
Ka kite anō
Mark Johnson
Principal/Tumuaki
Upcoming Events
- Week 10 - Friday 1 October Last day of Term 3
- Week 1 - Monday 18 October First day of Term 4
Contact Us
Email: admin@gms.school.nz
Website: http://www.gms.school.nz/
Location: Greenmeadows School 45 Osier Road, Greenmeadows, Napier, New Zealand
Phone: +64 06-844 7024
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gmsnapier