Update 9 December

Kia ora e hoa mā

It's been a busy last couple of days at Freeville with classes shifting and this afternoon the children have been meeting their teacher for next year. They will also be bringing home their PLP folder so keep an eye out for that.

Journey of Hope

Over 100 of our children have been through the Journey of Hope programme over the last few months. Have a look at http://youtu.be/APHASYlaTRw as the video that they have made explaining the programme features a number of our Freeville Flyers. We are so proud of them.

A huge thanks to those responsible for sourcing, funding and delivering the programme. It has been fantastic.

Have a great weekend.

John

Update 1 December

Kia ora koutou katoa

A few things to update you on:

Congratulations: To Aroha Green and her family on the arrival of their new baby Ruby, 7lb 13 oz. Mum and baby are both doing well.

Whānau Hui: Our final whānau hui for 2011 was held last night. It was great to have good numbers of whānau supporting this kaupapa. We are planning already for hui next year starting with a hangi in week 4 of 2012, so please keep this in mind. We'll inform you of the exact day and time in the New Year.

Freeville Gardens: Last Tuesday representatives from Fonterra Colin and Kane, Adrienne from Avonside Girls' and Hannah from Tony Milne Landscape Architect presented Freeville School with 67 native plants. They were welcomed and the plants were accepted by some of our junior children and then the first three trees were planted in the corner of the field. Hannah will be working with us as we develop our gardens further and continue to make Freeville School a pleasant place to be.

School Roll: Currently our school roll is 311. We are planning on starting next year with approximately 300 students. This is more than we had at the beginning of 2010.

Year 8 Camp: Our Year 8's enjoyed a fantastic camp in Wellington last week. What a great bunch of senior students we have. Visits to Te Papa, Parliament, Capital E and the Weta Cave were all experiences they are unable to have anywhere else. We must thank the schools who contributed to funds so that we were able to run this camp with no cost to families. A special thank you to Paul and Bernice for their organisation.

PLP Folders and Meet Your New Teacher: Children will be given their PLP folders to bring home on December 9. At 2.15pm on this day they will go to the classroom that they will be in for 2012 and, if possible, meet their new teacher. We have two new staff starting next year, Kerry Poulsen from Otautau School and Jo Peters from Kauri Park School in Auckland. Kerry has been able to come to Christchurch for that day and will be able to meet with her new class. Unfortunately Jo is unable to leave her school and won't be able to join us.

Freeville Fun Day December 13th: The Freeville Fun Day is from 10am to 2pm on December 13th. Children do not need to be at school until 10am and can leave with their parents at 2pm. If this does not fit for you then please contact your class teacher so that they know who will be arriving early and who will need to be supervised until 3pm.

End of Year Assembly: Our final assembly will be held in our school hall on Thursday 15 December starting at 10.30am. Usually the assembly takes about two hours.

Starting 2012: Starting details for next year are as follows:

Friday January 27 - Teacher Only Day being held at the Russley Golf Course

Monday January 30 - PLP Meetings

Tuesday January 31 - PLP Meetings

Wednesday February 1 - Classes start. Pōwhiri to welcome new whānau and staff is at 9.15 am.

Children do not need to attend school during the PLP days but the school is open. If you are unable to arrange alternative care then your children can join a programme that will be run by our support staff on those days. Please let Jan in the office know if your children will be attending this programme so that we can check that everyone who should be there, is there.

Ngā mihi

John

We're Green

Kia ora e hoa mā.

Good news. In today's announcements from Gerry Brownlee and CERA our school site has gone GREEN.

Have a look at http://www.landcheck.org.nz/Property/Details/5058461

Ngā mihi

John

Update 4 November: 30 Days to Go

Kia ora koutou

The year is racing by and at the time of writing we have 29 and a half days of school left this year. Our staff is working extremely hard as they try to cram in all the things that we would usually be doing in a ten week term into a term of less than 8 weeks.

We have a number of good things to announce:

Property - We have finally had the area in front of the learning studio sealed after six months of trying to get it approved. It looks much better and makes the school a much more pleasant place for our children and our staff to be.

Room 8 do it again: Our congratulations to Room 8 and their teacher Elizabeth Kazmierczak who have made the finals in two categories of the MADE (Movies and Digital Excellence) Awards. They have done extremely well as they are a Year 3 & 4 class compering in the Year 4-6 category. The presentation ceremony is on Thursday next week in Tauranga and we wish Room 8 all the best.

Nicole's Masters: Our congratulations to our Junior Team leader Nicole Cunningham who has completed her Masters and has been awarded second class honours. This is a fantastic effort and a huge commitment when you consider the amount of time Nicole already spends at work! Please give her a pat on the back. She deserves it.

At present the Ministry of Education is carrying out consultation with schools, communities and individuals around the future of schooling in Christchurch. Next Tuesday at 3.15pm we are having a meeting so that we can formulate a school response to this consultation. Anyone who would like to join us is most welcome to attend. The consultation is not about which schools will stay, close or merge. It is clearly directed to the purpose, shape and delivery of education in Christchurch and we will be seeking to put in a submission that aligns with those three headings. If you would like to put in your own submission go to http://shapingeducation.minedu.govt.nz/

Nga mihi

John

Update 7 October: The end of term 3

Kia ora koutou

We have finally reached the end of what has been a very long term. I am sure that everyone - children, teachers, support staff and parents have earned a break and a rest. I hope that you have the opportunity to have one.

The last couple of weeks have been very positive at Freeville School.

School Roll - Our roll continues to rise and we now have 304 students at school. We are opening another Year 1 class next term in one of the relocatables by the field. Helena Ballard will be teaching the class. She has been relieving for Anne Westwood while she has been away so the children know her very well. We should have around 320 students by the end of the year, and expect to start 2012 with about 300.

Van Fundraising - We have recently had confirmed that Pub Charity via the Wave Bar in New Brighton have donated just over $45 000 so that we can purchase the second of our new vans. We are just waiting on our LTSA number to arrive then we will be able to take possession of our two new vans, organise the sign writing and get them on the road. Exciting stuff!

Learning Celebrations - I have enjoyed getting to some of the Learning Celebrations that have been held over the past few days. I particularly enjoyed our senior students"$5 Gourmet" where they prepared and served staff with a fantastic meal for $5 (see photo above). Should be a weekly occurrence!

Property - Rooms 3 & 4 are finally out of the school hall and have moved into their relocatable classrooms. I know that there was great excitement this week as they took over their rooms. We will be setting up the library at the back of the hall so that our children will at last be able to have class library times again. We are also looking forward to having assemblies again next term as we have really missed being able to gather together as a whole school.

Farewell - Yesterday we farewelled Isabel Nisbet who has retired from her role as Teacher Aide Librarian after 23 years at Freeville School. We wish Isabel and Peter all the best for a long and enjoyable retirement. Jude Bell will be taking over Isabel's role until the end of the year.

Zumba - Please remember that next term there will be Zumba in the hall every Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. There will be a session for students from 1pm to 1.45pm and then a session for parents from 2 pm to 3pm. This is FREE thanks to the Salvation Army. Please come along and get those endorphins going.

Looking ahead - Next term is very short, will go very fast and will have lots of events. Please ask if you are not sure about anything. Good communication between home and school is really important and is a two way street. Fingers crossed for a smooth and steady term 4.

Ngā mihi

John

Update 22 September

Mōrena koutou mā

We had a great start to the day this morning with LT 1's Pyjama Breakfast. It was great to see such a good turn out of families who were able to join us.

Property

The builders have finished in the new re-locatables. The carpet layer has been in and the painters have done what they were going to do. The landscaper is in today tidying up around the buildings. We expect the Council to be in next Tuesday to inspect so that they can issue the Code of Compliance and once that is received we will be able to occupy the buildings.

Survey Regarding Intentions for 2012

Thanks to all the families who have responded to our survey regarding 2012. This information will enable us to get an accurate picture of the numbers that we will have at each year level in 2012 and will be used to figure out how many classes we will have next year and at what levels. Isabel will be contacting any families that we don't have a response from today as we need a 100% response to have accurate information.

Ngā mihi ki a koutou katoa

John

Update 14 September

Kia ora koutou

I hope you are all well. It is great to finally get some good weather and the children are enjoying being able to get out onto the grass and have a good run around. There is quite a bit of good news to report:

Salvation Army Support

Tania Anderson has been employed by the Salvation Army to be a Community Support Worker for our school. She is based here four hours each day and is supporting children and staff. She has helped us to access resources and funding for various events. More about that later. Please make contact with Tania if she can help you in any way.

Funding

Year 3 & 4 Swimming Lessons: We have been able to access funding through the Salvation Army to pay for the buses and swimming lessons for our Year 3 & 4 students. This equates to about $65 per child so is a significant support for parents. Our thanks to Tania for arranging this funding for us.

Year 5 & 6 Camp: We have accessed funding through a variety of sources to be able to fund this camp so that there is no cost to parents. Primarily this has been funded by monies dispersed by the Ministry of Education and the School Trustees Association from their Earthquake Appeals.

Year 7 & 8 Wellington Camp: Once again funding from a variety of Earthquake Appeals means that we are able to fully fund this year's Wellington Camp for all our Year 8 students.

Zumba: Next term Zumba instructor Linda Thomas will be offering Zumba lessons in the school hall on a Wednesday and a Thursday. There will be two sessions each day. From 1pm to 1.45pm there will be a session for Year 5 -8 students. From 2-3pm there will be a session for parents. It's a good chance to get those endorphins going, have a workout and then take the kids home from school. The sessions are FREE (thanks to a great rate from Linda and funding from the Salvation Army). That's every Wednesday and Thursday next term.

Property

Our builders expect that they will be finished in the new relocatable classrooms at the end of this week. The painters will then do their bit and then, once the Completion Certificate is issued by the council, we will be able to occupy.

All other Ministry of Education spending on property in Christchurch has come to a halt. This is a decision from Wellington, not our local Ministry office. We continue to battle away trying to get paving, courts etc finished.

Vans

We have put a deposit down on a brand new Ford Transit 12 seater van. We have been pledged sufficient funds to pay for the van, we are just waiting on funds that were donated by the American New Zealand Association to be released to us by the appropriate government agencies that are managing the monies coming in from the USA.

In the meantime Matt and Carmel O'Regan have generously donated their own family van to our school. Matt is a dairy farmer from outside Reefton, the current Chairperson of Westland Dairy, and was the Board of Trustees Chairperson at Sacred Heart School in Reefton when I was principal there. He's also a great guy. I approached Matt to see if Westland Dairy could help with our fundraising but they had already made a significant contribution to Christchurch. Matt and his wife Carmel decided that they would donate their own vehicle to us. We are very grateful for their generosity. I am sure that their van will give us added flexibility when we are looking to transport our students.

Naumai, Haere mai.

A warm welcome to Kerrie-Anna Anderson who has been employed as a Kaiarahi i te Reo to support the development of te reo Māori in our bi-lingual class. It has taken a long time to find and employ a suitable person for this position so we are delighted to have Kerrie-Anna and her baby son Pumau at Freeville School.

Please remember that there are free Te Reo Māori lessons for parents at 6pm every Wednesday night in Room 14. These lessons are available for anyone who is interested.

Ngā mihi

John