Moving on...learning...celebrating

 It was great to open up part of our field for the children to play on today...(shame we will have to put the yellow closed flags up tomorrow because of the rain).
The children enjoyed running round on the field and were very interested in the patches with grass seed on them.

This week teachers have been released to meet with parents and the children to discuss goals for the year (you may remember these were scheduled for the 22nd February and had to be cancelled).

On Friday we are having a special celebration to acknowledge the bravery and resilience of our children. From 11.00 the school day will proceed as follows:

 11.00 Whole School Assembly
 11.45 Activity Station 1
 12.15 LUNCH cooked and provided by the Lions
 12.55 SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCE
 1.00  Activity Station 2
 1.30  Activity Station 3
 2.00  Activity Station 4
 2.30  Return to class

Each activity station will enable the children to participate in fun, challenging and exciting activities!!

We hope to see you there, and don't forget the children can wear mufti so leave the school uniforms at home! No gold coin required.

School's back...

It was great to re-open on Tuesday! Staff and children were all very happy to see each other. Being open has allowed our children, their families and us to have some sort of normality again. We had a few less children than we normally do, though.

Thanks to the parents who have rung or emailed me to update us on what your plans are. The children miss some of their old friends so email them either on info@shirleyprimary.school.nz or each class has their own email address, too. room.1@shirleyprimary.school.nz  room.5@shirleyprimary.school.nz etc.

One of the learning activities the children participated in this week was identifying some of the things that are the 'same' at school and some of the things that are 'different' -

• Same - happy, smiling faces
• Different - large round septic tank on-site
• Same - active, learning children
• Different - large green water tank on-site (don't confuse the two!)
• Same - exciting learning programmes
• Different - heaps more spongy bark in the playground!

Earthquake Update #11

Unfortunately local residents have just received notification that they should not use their toilets and that port-a-loos will be provided for them.

We have had our drains cleared of silt and drainlayers do not anticipate a problem with sewerage on the school site but a backlog in the local area might create problems for us.

The Ministry of Education are going to provide us with a septic tank which will suck away the effluent waste (from our toilets) so that it does not go into the local shirley pipes until they are fixed. The septic tank arrives on Wednesday.

As we are due to open tomorrow (Tuesday) the MOE are going to provide us with a temporary solution - port-a-loos -  which may be used for our staff and some senior students only (i.e. seniors who feel confident about using one). Junior students will still use the toilets. Minimal flushing should be fine over this short period of time (24 hours).

I am very sorry that this new late development has occurred but I hope that you will rest assured that we have done all that we can to minimise any potential problems.

See (some of you) tomorrow
Sylvia

Earhquake update #10

Great news. The Board of Trustees met today and signed off all of the requirements for re-opening the school on Tuesday 15 March 2011. So, just to confirm,  Shirley Primary will open this Tuesday 15th March, normal hours.

Please send your child along with their own named boiled or spring water. The school will have some spring water which we have bought but it is important that each child brings along their own. We do have running water (non-drinkable) and our toilets are flushing. We have hand sanitiser for each classroom.

There will be a parent coffee meeting in the hall from 8.45 a.m. on Tuesday once you have dropped your children to their classes.

Please note the court along the fence next to the library and by the garage will be an out of bounds area as will the verandah end past R8. Look out for tape and temporary fences.

The staff are every excited about the children returning to school.

Sylvia

Earthquake update #9

some more progress pics....

Earthquake update #8

Well, as stated in a generic text sent out to the community we cannot open on Monday 14 March 2011 sorry but we hope to open VERY soon after.

We are doing all that we can to make our school safe for our students and staff. We have had a number of contractors at school this week: builders, electricians, carpet layers, glaziers and 'ashphalt layers'. We have even invited more structural engineers back in to double check the safety of a classroom.

Special thanks to our caretaker Mr Robin McKenzie who is doing an awesome job of continuing to remove silt, clearing up rubbish, fixing things and re-organising storage spaces etc.

Thanks also to our cleaners, Mary and Margaret,  who have thoroughly cleaned the interior of the school which has not been a pleasant job.

And thanks also to our dedicated teachers who have been ringing all of their students and families to check on their well-being, planning for the return of the students, discussing our earthquake procedures, tidying their rooms and generally supporting each other. I am pleased to inform you that as of last night all of our teachers, who are still able to live in their own homes, got power on; YAH! but some are still living without water or sewerage - as I'm sure many of you are.

Finally, a big thanks to Mr Ian Fletcher(Principal) and Pillans Point School in Tauranga who once again are supporting our school after an earthquake. I will look forward to sharing some of the neat ways they have been supporting us in the future.

Anyway, here are some progress photos. Unfortunately (despite priding myself on being a 21st century learner) I still cannot upload my videos from my phone to my pc even after two frustrating hours of trying, d'uh.

Earthquake update #7

Please disregard what you read in the paper today or saw on the MOE website regarding our starting date. We do NOT have one yet. We are still waiting for our sewer pipes to be cleared and checked, for our water testing to be completed and for our concrete areas to be re-surfaced.

We are working hard to rectify these problems but we cannot compromise the health and safety of our students and staff. Thanks for your patience.

Check out the school website for e-learning games, encourage your children to do some daily writing and maths, read a book, make a newspaper bridge or tower, design a trendy face-mask etc


Thanks
Sylvia