"O Lord, you alone are my hope: I trusted you from childhood. Psalm 71:5"
Kia Ora Whānau and Families
Firstly, to all our new families, WELCOME! I have just counted 13 new little people who have joined us since the start of the year. We hope you are settling in; please feel free to ask any question! Denise and the teachers are only too happy to help.
A big thankyou to you all for working with us with kindness and care for others, as we have navigated the many changes since the beginning of the year. The Covid level changes have certainly seen us tweak our systems. Hopefully, you have all digested Robbie’s email from the Trust, sent out last week for the Rules at RED/phase 3. Thank you for your cooperation with this. Please let us know if you or your child is needing to isolate. Also thanks for keeping your child home when sick.
The lunch boxes are amazing. It is great to see so many nutritious lunch boxes, morning and afternoon teas coming along. If you run out of ideas, there are lots of great resources online, especially - https://www.heartfoundation.org.nz/educators/edu-resources/lunch-box-guide-english
The teachers' days have certainly been streamlined and they have more uninterrupted time with the children.
JOB VACANCY: KidzWay desperately needs unqualified relief teachers. If you know of anyone, or maybe yourself, who has a love for children and for growing them through their play, please have a word with Denise who can give you a job description.
Currently, the cleaning position has been filled by two College students who are job sharing the position. As you can imagine this is a huge relief for the teachers who have been pretty much cleaning the Centre for the last six months or so. Well done team; you certainly have gone the extra mile!
ANNUAL WORKING BEE: Friday 25 March 4.30pm - 6pm and Saturday 26 March 9pm - 12 noon. List of jobs to go up in the foyer soon. “Many Hands Make Light Work”
Apologies for such a late Newsletter! I hope emails and FB posts have kept you all up to date. This will be the first time in 13 years we have not run Fathers/Special Persons’ Night and also the Kaka Point Beach Trip. Let's hope all will be settled by this time next year.
Ka Kite, Denise (Head Teacher), Michelle, Alison, Nicky, Sally, Fiona, Vanessa (Teachers) and Manja (Administrator)
Programme
Using the children's current interest in outside play, art, puzzles, group games and a number of parents' desires for their children to focus on building friendships and gaining social skills. We are planning to guide and encourage children using a range of strategies and skills to play and learn with others (Te Whāriki: Contribution: Learning Outcome 3.) Over time children will gain skills in:
Inclusiveness - responsibility and respect for the needs and wellbeing of the group.
Sharing - resolve conflicts in peaceful ways.
Problem Solve and handle other children’s challenging behaviour, recognise different domains of knowledge and how they relate to understanding people.
VALUES - Respect and Resilience
Thank You’s
To Dion O’Leary, Sean McPherson and Nick Murray for chipping away at assembling our new storage shed… Thanks for your time and effort - Only the roof to go boys and it will be done! (half of the shed was paid for by a $350 grant from the Lions and the other half from the $4500.00 fund raising pot from 2021 ;)
To Joy Campbell who got a head start on the Working Bee by weeding the tussock banks;
To Aron Miller for fixing our wooden toys;
To those families who spoiled us with treats and yummies at Christmas. Your kind words and gestures are appreciated!
$$ Fund Raising $$
A Big thankyou to Gordie Scott and all those who have been pulling wild turnips over the last couple of weeks. So far $1100.00 has been raised. More opportunities to join in coming up!
We currently need to aim to raise approximately $5000 per year just to replace and buy new resources.
We are putting together a shopping list for more sandpit toys, trucks and trailers, tractors etc, plus stands to support the guttering for water play. On the wish list is a canvas tunnel, and replacement of some of our family corner furniture. This will all come out of the $4500.00 fundraised last year.
Reminders
A number of families are still not providing their child with a bucket type, named, Sunhat!! There are no cases of nits in the Centre presently, and we would like to keep it that way. Please have the hat out first thing in the morning for your child to put on their hook, we’ll make sure it goes back in their bag at home time.
With the current COVID restrictions it is hard to catch up with your child's teacher, feel free to make an appointment time, text or email us… (each teacher has their own email address; first name @kidzway.co.nz e.g. denise@kidzway.co.nz)
LAUNDRY please check yours and return any KidzWay clothes we may have loaned to your child.
We have No girls shorts and tee shirts left!
Thank you!!!
Dates for your Calendar:
Monday 21 March: Otago Anniversary - CENTRE CLOSED
Friday 15 April & Monday 18 April: Easter - CENTRE CLOSED
Monday 25 April: ANZAC Day - CENTRE CLOSED
Tuesday 3 May: Ngahere Explorers starts for term 2
“Parenting Tips: Establish a few family rules WITH your children, that are supported with good reasons and values. Carry them out in fun, firm and fair ways”
