Update 22 March - We're back

He mihi matakuikui ki a koutou katoa.

We're back and we're underway - and it's great. It's not perfect, but it's still great to have the children back at school and to be able to reconnect with our parent community. I really enjoyed having a coffee with a number of our parents yesterday morning and having a chat.

What's not perfect? Our water supply is still a bit iffy and we have been losing it off and on since we started back. This has affected our toilets and our children have, for short periods, had to use the portaloos. They are far from perfect so we want to minimise that necessity as much as possible.

To that end we have had plumbers, drainlayers and City Care on site trying to get to

the source of the problem.

Part of our issue yesterday was that the contractors who are putting in the relocatable classrooms kept on nicking the water pipes with the auger they were using to drill holes for the piles. Now that the holes for the piles have all been finished we are hopeful that today will see a more reliable water supply.

We were told that the relocatable classrooms would take 20 days. Then we were

told that they would be ready on the 29th of March. They are now on site and

due to be dropped on to their piles shortly, but I can't see them all being ready for the 29th. I hope that I will be pleasantly surprised. As you can see from the photos they need a bit of work before we can put children into them.

Demolition of Rooms 5-8

This work is well underway although I had hoped that the building would have been down before the children returned to school. The power lines outside the front of that car park and entrance are causing a complication as they have dropped and the demolition contractor is unable to get his digger in until they are tightened.

In the meantime they are ripping everything out of that block that they possibly can.

We are still waiting to see what will happen with the Library to Room 4. A report is due in today so we should have an indication either today or tomorrow about what will happen there.

The Best Day Ever

On a good note we were stunned by the generosity of Postgate Primary School in Porirua who sent an individual gift pack to every child in our school yesterday. This made a huge difference to the our children and lifted their spirits immensely. We were a bit worried bout the children coming back to school and what their reactions might be. To have children describing their first day back at school as "the best day ever" was a huge relief. All our children send a huge thank you to the staff, children and community of Postgate School. Tau kē!

Community Briefing

Kia ora, the Community Relations Team for the Christchurch Earthquake Response Team of the Christchurch City Council have asked us to share the link below. We would appreciate it if you would also share this with your school and or early childhood service community.

The notice advises of a second round of community briefings which have been scheduled for the week beginning 21 March. The briefings will provide an earthquake recovery update, local information and an opportunity to ask questions on an informal one-to-one basis.

An invitation is extended to attend any one of the community briefings scheduled. It is best to attend your nearest briefing if you can because there will be some local content as well as general relevant information.

website: http://canterburyearthquake.org.nz/

Many thanks for your assistance, Christchurch Team of the Ministry of Education

Update 17 March - We're on target

Kia ora koutou

We remain on target to open on Monday morning and look forward to seeing you and your children again and getting underway.

A couple of key things to think about:

• Some classes are in a different place than they were previously so please make sure your children know where they are. Room 6 is in the staffroom, Room 7 is in Room 13, Room 8 is in Room 16 and Rooms 3, 4 & 5 are all in the hall.
• Children will need to bring bottled water for Monday and Tuesday until our drinking water tank is filled. We will have some water available if you forget.
• It will be a good idea to try to get your children to go to the toilet before coming to school. The septic tank and pump system will be installed by Monday night. In the meantime our toilets will be usable on Monday but we should use them as little as possible (no one's too sure where the flow goes!). The Ministry of Education have insisted that we have port-a-loos on site. We have some concerns about port-a-loos so will be doing our best not to have children using them except as a last resort.
• The February quake reminded us how important it is that our contact details are up to date. This will be especially important now that many people have had to move. We will be sending a contact details update form home on Monday. Please send it back asap.
• We know that travelling around town is very slow at the moment. If you think that you will have difficulty or will be putting yourself under pressure to get to school at 3 pm consider using the OSCAR After School Programme. You can use make casual bookings if you need to. Contact Sarah on 021 337 438 or Nicole on 027 464 4742.
• A number of our entrances to school are no longer usable. The ones you can use are the gate on to the field off Wattle Drive, the gate on to the field from Willryan Ave, The gate between the Dental Clinic and the staffroom. Please DO NOT cut through the staff car park. We don't need anyone getting run over.
• All unclaimed bags, scooters, jackets etc will be laid out on the hard court in front of the adventure playground so that they can be collected on Monday morning. If your child's lunch box was left at school and not collected last Tuesday then it will have been thrown out as those lunch boxes were maggoty and smelly.
• Please join us for a coffee on Monday morning from 8.30am. A mobile coffee cart will be providing free coffee to parents.
• Remember that your child will look to you for a signal on how to behave on Monday morning. If you are positive, happy, and confident - even if you are only pretending - they will be too.

We're really looking forward to our new normal and will enjoy having a coffee with you on Monday morning.

Have a restful weekend

John & Karen (BOT Chair)

Update 16 March - Steve for GG!

Steve our property manager is making a good case for being the next Governor General. He has been working like a trojan since the quake to get us open on Monday. He really is going above and beyond the call, and we are exceptionally lucky to have him working at our school. Today he has:

• Supervised a PD gang who have been cleaning up the last of the liquefaction around the school and cleaning up the streets around school.
• Co-ordinated workmen who have cut the trip hazards out of the asphalt. These will be filled tomorrow.
• Been liaising with drain layers and City Care to try to get our water supply to the school sorted.
• Worked with the builder to shoot levels in classrooms.

The water supply continues to be a problem for us. We have a 30 000 litre drinking water tank coming so that won't be a problem. The issue we have is securing a water supply so that we can flush toilets. In this regard we are like much of our local area. City Care are working to fix one leak, to apply water pressure, to then locate another leak, and so on.....

We have another Project Meeting tomorrow morning so we will be discussing our options then.

Following our Project Meeting we are having a Staff Only Day. We will be planning for starting back and making sure that we are able to support our children as they return to school. The Traumatic Incident Team from the Ministry of Education will be presenting to our staff and helping to answer any questions that they may have. Staff who attended a professional development session with Auckland University last week on learning through the Arts for children who have suffered trauma, will be sharing what they learnt with the rest of the staff. 

On Monday morning we have organised for a mobile coffee cart to come to school. They will be providing free coffee to parents. We hope that you will come along and have a coffee and a chat from 8.30am. They say that adults typically hit their low point 4-6 weeks after a traumatic event. It will be extremely important that we keep an eye on our friends and that they keep an eye on us as time passes. I hope that you will take this opportunity to come along, connect with others, offer friendship and support; and get it in return.

He waka kotuia kāore e tukutukua ngā mimirā - The canoe that is interlaced will never be broken.

Look after yourselves, keep safe.

John

Update 15 March

Ngā mihi ki a koutou katoa.

This morning we has another Project Team Meeting. From that meeting I can tell you:

• Our sewerage pipes are full of silt. We are having these vacuumed to try to clear them. As we have little faith in the integrity of the sewerage system both within and outside the school we are also having a tank and pump system installed that will enable the junior toilets by R17 and the hall toilets to be used. This must be in place to use on Monday.
• Water - Is on but the water pressure is very low coming in  off Sandy Ave. 
• Phones - are now operating.
• Power - is on.
• Demolition has started on Rooms 5-8. The stripping out of that block is underway. We expect that it will be substantially demolished by Monday.
• The floor levels in the Library, Resource are and Rooms 3 & 4 are being taken again. They will then make a decision on whether they repair or replace.
• 2m high fencing is on the way and will be installed by Monday.
• The relocatable classrooms will be on site on Sunday night. We have been told that these will be ready for occupation on March 29th - earlier than we thought.
• Steve has marked the trip hazards on the court and these will be removed.
• A number of our large trees are to be removed as their root planes have been compromised by the earthquake. This includes the two large blue gums on the back field, the tree near room 8, the tree next to the Learning Studio, and the large tree behind the hall. The other trees are deemed to be safe.
• The holes in the field are to be filled with top soil.

We are still, at this point, on target to start on Monday March 21st. The only things that can stop us at this point are sewerage and water. We have another meeting on Thursday morning before our Staff Only Day commences so I will update again as information comes to hand. I am optimistic that we will be OK and ready to go on Monday.

Your children will need to bring their own bottled, safe drinking water to school on Monday.

Keep safe.

John

Update 14 March

Kia ora koutou.

Today we had builders on site! Hooray!

Things happening today:

• We finished emptying the resource room and have put the reading resources onto the library shelving that has been moved to the back of the hall.
• Isabel's office was emptied.
• Room 6 has been moved to the staffroom. All classes have now been moved to where they needed to be moved.
• Resources not needed in the short term have been put into a container.
• Konica Minolta came and moved the photocopier from the resource room to the APs' office.
• We have salvaged a few items from Rooms 5-8.
• The builders have been working to ease the doors and seal off the library and resource area.
• A camera has been put down through our sewerage pipes to see if they are intact.
• We have located a break in our water main.

Things we are working on:

• We still have no power coming in to the school off Sandy Ave and are working on getting an answer (not from the answer machine) from Orion.
• Getting a drain layer to come and repair our water main.
• Getting an answer about our sewerage situation.
• Getting a date when our Room 5-8 block will be demolished. We want this to have happened before the children return to school but the Public Holiday on Friday doesn't help us.
• We need to access two more containers - one for maths resources and one to use a PE shed. These have been ordered.
• Getting an answer on what will happen with the Library to Room 4. Repair or rebuild?

OSCAR After School Programme Continues

The Oscar After School Programme will continue as usual when school commences. It will be based in our new Learning Studio not in the hall.

We have a Project Team Meeting tomorrow so I will update again after that and as new information becomes available.

Learning Hubs

The following information was posted at 4.35pm this afternoon:

Information about learning hubs open for students of schools not opening this week.

Some primary and intermediate schools will not be able to reopen this week. Learning hubs have been set up to support education for children enrolled at these schools.

The Learning hubs will be open from 9am to about 3pm but hours may vary depending on a community’s circumstances. They will be set up in the halls of the following schools:

• Sockburn Primary School
• Addington Primary School
• Somerfield School
• Waltham Primary School
• Paparoa Street School
• Windsor School
• St Albans Primary School
• Mairehau Primary School 
• Cashmere Primary School

The hubs are managed by experienced and registered principals and teachers who will be providing learning materials, stationery and other educational resources.

Parents with children who are unable to attend their own school should take them to the closest school hub and provide registration details. Parents seeking more information can call the Ministry helpline on 0800 225 580.