WHĀNAU UPDATE 23rd MAY

May 22, 2022

Kia ora koutou

Thank you to Lizzie Beasley, Jess Dewhurst, Jon Jeet, Abby Robertson and all the other staff and students who contributed to Pink Shirt Day. It was a great day as evidenced by the photographs below. We will put more photos in our mid-term newsletter. 

Staffing Update

Congratulations to Laura Borrowdale who has won a secondment to the Ministry of Education for the rest of this year. She has a leadership role in the implementation of the new literacy and numeracy qualifications. Laura is working just around the corner so will keep in touch with her Home Base and English classes. 

Teresa Allpress and Stephanie Marsic will be working with her Home Base class. 

We will let whānau know who will be filling in as the Community Leader next week. 

The numbers of students choosing to take Art and Hospitality are growing so we have appointed two new Learning Advisors who will work with us for the remainder of the year. 

Robyn Webster will be working in the Art Learning Area. 

Evan Kiddey will be supporting the Hospitality classes and the Kai Hapori. 

Covid Update

Our case numbers remain at a low level this week so thank you everyone for supporting our health and safety guidelines. The numbers were:

Learning Advisors x 1

Year 7 x 1

Year 9 x 1

Year 10 x 3

Year 11 x 5

Year 12 x 2

Year 13 x 3

Apologies if I have missed any other positive cases. If your child does test positive then please email us at covid@aotawhiti.school.nz. This helps to support our health and safety decision making around covid. 

Please continue to keep your child at home if they are unwell. 

Here is a link to the updated education guidelines under the COVID-19 protection framework. 

Education at Orange Setting

Matariki

It is that time of year again! Celebrating matariki at Ao Tawhiti is a highlight of the school year. This year, we will run our usual celebrations on Wednesday 22 June from 2-7pm. We would LOVE you to be involved. Click here to see how you can help, and here if you or your child/ren want to perform. Any queries, please contact niki.stephenson@aotawhiti.school.nz/ 027 226 4017

Message from Ashley Beaton at the Christchurch City Council

Bike theft is on the rise in Christchurch with an average of 4 bikes reported stolen to Police every day. There’s a new tool available to help combat bike theft, called 529 Garage which helps Police return stolen bikes and e-scooters to their rightful owners.

529 Garage is a quick, free and easy-to-use portal that enables you to register your family’s bikes, with photos, descriptions and serial numbers.

Once registered, you can obtain a 529 Garage shield for your bike, which is tamper-resistant and acts as a warning sign to thieves to back off because the bike is registered and Police will have no trouble identifying it’s stolen. Shields are free for a limited time and can be posted straight to your door.

If your bike gets stolen, you can use 529 Garage to send an alert to the local 529 community, and have all the details on hand to report the theft to the Police. If someone sees your bike, they can contact you anonymously through the app, or you can choose to display your contact information.

Learn more and register your family’s bikes at www.ccc.govt.nz/nice-bike

Have a great week everyone.

Ngā mihi nui

Anita