Glen Innes School

Good afternoon all

Here we are in the final week of term. We moved from a bright and sunny week 1 to the cold and wet we are experiencing now. The heaters have been switched on so students and teachers alike can enjoy a comfortable classroom.

As we finish the term, there are another set of highlights coming up:

Recognition assembly 2 July at 12:30 - thank you to the parents who are able to attend - your child will love having you there.
3-way learning conferences ( more detail below) SCHOOL CLOSES AT 1:15pm Thursday 2 July
3 July - last day of term School closes at 2pm.
Road Patrollers Treat - Friday 3 July (nominated students will receive a note)
School reopens on MONDAY 20 July

Did you know:
Your efforts to get your child to school each day has given us a term average of 89.5%. The girls beat the boys' attendance by a mere 1%! We’ve still got the wet July and August to get through so let’s accept the challenge to maintain or even beat this mark. The class winning the weekly award is Room 4 with an amazing 95% attendance rate. Thank you parents!

The final Writing Awards for the term have been awarded to Elainah (Rm 1) and Alexsia (Room 8). Do make time to read the displays when you are at school.

3-way learning conferences
With the numerous changes the MOE has put in place around the NZ curriculum, followed by the new reporting requirements as well as the testing changes - it is very important that every family attends the planned 3-way learning conferences on Thursday 2 July. In response to the required changes - our school has adapted the school report as well as used the 5 new descriptors to evaluate your child’s achievement placement. If you have not yet booked a time via the note sent home on Thursday, -make contact with the teacher(s). We’ll be available from 1:30 - 6:50pm on Thursday.

Food for Thought
Take Care of Yourself: Prioritise your own self-care and recognise your personal triggers so you can effectively care for your family. This allows you to stay calm during emotional outbursts - especially if you have pre-teens in the house. You are their anchor, so modelling emotional regulation helps them learn to calm themselves and engage using appropriate language.

Keep warm, stay well
Jono

Attention Year 7 and 8 Ki O Rahi teams.

FYI
KI O RAHI POSTPONED
Message from Sport Auckland.
Looking at the weather for tomorrow and it doesn't look great! I don't imagine much will change between now and 7am tomorrow so Sally and I have decided to make the call now about postponing.
Save date is Wednesday 1 July 2026.

Greetings everyone
We are rushing towards the end of term! Testing weeks are complete and now the staff will be really busy pulling together all the information to present you with a well written report detailing your child’s progress and next learning steps. See below for more detail about the upcoming 3-way-conferences.

Our recent trip to the zoo was enjoyed by all. It was interesting to hear just how many students felt exhausted at the end of the trip - they must have been fully engaged!

Writing Awards: This week we celebrate with Princess (Room 3) and another excellent piece of work by Kamsi and Bekah (Room 6). Do make time to read the displays when you are at school.

Some Reminders:

Drop-In Cafe - two opportunities on 24 June - Either at 9am or 2pm: Topic: The new school reports
Road Patrollers Treat - selected patrollers will be confirmed early next week; treat day Friday 26th
Recognition Assembly - 12:30 - 2 July
3-way-conferences - 2 July with an early closure at 1:20pm . Then from 1:30 - 6:50pm conferences take place. It is important that your child is present with you (otherwise it’ll not be a 3-way-conference).
If you would like to book a specific time with the teacher, send them a couple of options to book in a specific slot.
3 July - last day of term - we close at 2pm.

Have you sorted these items:
Stationery fee - $20per pupil
Tech fee for Years 7 & 8 - $50
Does your child have a device for learning? (Yr 6 - 8)

Attendance was again superb - thank you for the efforts, parents! The class winning the weekly award is Room 9 with an amazing 96% attendance rate. Thank you parents!.

Food for thought
Mealtimes matter and there is a list of golden benefits for eating together as a family. Research shows that children who eat meals with their family - learn to communicate better; feel safe and part of the family; do better at school; eat better and are less likely to become overweight. We as adults just need to acknowledge that mealtimes can be stressful but remain present without device interruption for just that short space of time. Can you accept the challenge?
Stay well
Jono

Good evening all.

Just a reminder about our Senior Zoo trip tomorrow morning. Please ensure children are in school uniform, wearing closed walking shoes, school jacket, have a refillable water bottle and snacks such as fruit/muesli bars/sandwiches etc. Please ensure our students are at school early as we are leaving school, 9AM sharp. No permission slip, no trip.

Thank you.

Hello everyone

We’re certainly starting to feel the cold set in, if they could, many of our students would spend their breaks indoors - and probably want to increase their screen time! However, additional screentime is not an option here at Glen Innes School. For us, devices are a learning tool - to be used to help students gain new knowledge, investigate new areas of interest and blog - our way of sharing what we do! That’s us - how about at home? Have you set boundaries - what they can access, how long they spend on a device versus actually interacting with the family, what time is device off time and where they place their device when going to bed?
We’ve noticed children, tired; grumpy; arriving late or even staying home to sleep during the day - all due to unmonitored / condoned screen time! Setting your child up for the day (being school ready), starts at home. A well-rested child interacts well in all learning activities - even when the activity is challenging.
My simple request to all families is to ensure that your household finds ways to create boundaries for device use that works for the family AND allows each child to be school-ready each morning.
BTW - Did you know that when we sleep - our brain is actively sorting and storing newly learned skills into long-term memory? !

Our assessment weeks are almost complete. That means teachers are ready to use the new guidelines to write the mid-year report. Even though the report looks similar the descriptors used are new. If you would like to better understand how reports are read, I am hosting TWO opportunities on WEDNESDAY 24 June - this is called DROP-IN CAFE. To better help families attend, you can register to attend at either the 9am slot or the 2pm slot. Simply call reception and let us know which one you’re attending.

We still have another couple of activities before the end of term:
Zoo Trip - Rooms 6,7,8,9 - 18 June
Road Patrollers Treat - day to be confirmed
Recognition Assembly - 12:30 - invitation to be sent home to recipients
3-way-conferences - 2 July from 1:30 - 6:50pm

When attending the 3-way-conference - it is important that your child is present with you (otherwise it’ll not be a 3-way-conference). Your child will be expected to talk about their progress helping you understand your role in supporting the learning. On the day, mid-year reports will be handed to caregivers. If you would like to book a specific time with the teacher, send them a couple of options to book in a specific slot. Please be understanding of the fact someone may have got in before you!

Writing Awards: This week we celebrate with Joanne (Room 1) and another excellent piece of work by Lennox (Room 9).

Attendance was again superb - thank you for the efforts, parents! The class winning the weekly award is Room 4.

Have a lovely weekend
Stay warm
Jono

Greetings all
We’re well into the start of our official whole school testing programme. This testing forms a large part of our mid-year report that will be issued DIRECTLY to parents at the parent evening during the last week of term. Keep up the outstanding support in the way your children are attending - this makes the class teacher’s job much easier AND also ensures that your child makes constant progress.

Last week, we missed congratulating the Room 6 students for their collaborative writing sample and Tangaroa Room 4. Their work is on the alternative display board at reception. This week we celebrate with Bon (Room 8) and another excellent piece of work by the seniors Crisriel and Fatima (Room 7).

Room 8 earned the pizza award for winning the attendance award 3-weeks-in-a-row! I was really impressed with their third week as their class teacher was away travelling for the entire week.
This week we have a new winner - Room 9 with 95% attendance.

We do have students in our 1:1 class who still need the family to provide a device for learning. As a school we can assist to a small degree when we know what help is needed. Please come and have a chat with the class teacher or myself.

Upcoming events:
18 June - ZOO trip for rooms 6 -9
25 June - Drop-in Cafe for parents to chat with Jono - 2pm
2 July - Recognition assembly - invites to follow
2 July - Parents & Guardians collect mid-year reports

Have a lovely weekend
Be well
Jono

Hi all.

A reminder to our school community of our Teacher only day tomorrow. Enjoy the four day weekend.

Ngā mihi.

Hello GI Families

How ever did the time fly by so fast - it’s MID TERM! Next week sees the start of our official whole school testing programme. This past week though, selected students participated in the new SMART assessment programme in Maths, Writing and Reading. As this is a new online test, the developers are taking up to 6 weeks to evaluate and scale all the assessments from around the country. We used this testing opportunity to learn more about potential hiccups and difficulties both students and teachers would encounter when using the new tool. Management and teachers are looking forward to the outcomes.

Another change that was introduced to schools is the new 5-step reporting system. Unfortunately no parents / families took up the invitation to learn about the new reports. A new date has been set for Thursday 25 June - time to be confirmed - though if you make an appointment with me before that, I’d be happy to have the conversation. Mid year reports will be made available to parents at the evening meeting on 3 July - a day before school closes for the term.

Our PINK M***i Day in aid of Breast Cancer Awareness was well supported - THANK YOU - and the students in their pink attire were an absolutely delightful sight.

REMINDERS:
#1 Friday 29 May is a Staff Only Day. All schools across Tamaki are meeting for an area-wide professional development day. No teaching / support staff will be onsite. That is followed by King’s Birthday celebration on the following Monday - so school is closed both Friday 29 May and Monday 1 June. Let’s aim for 100% on the Tuesday!

#2 Please remember to pay your child’s stationery fee of $20/YR - This covers all writing requirements for the entire year! Electronic devices for learning years 6 - 8 are a family responsibility.

#3 Next week: A trip to the ZOO for Room 1, 3 and 4 on Wednesday. The Board meets on Thursday afternoon, followed by an area-wide Boards Forum meeting the same evening.

Congratulations to Asia (Rm3) and Tiringa T (Rm9) for their excellent writing work. Did you know that there is a second display board in the admin area?

STAR: Another highly contested week! Great work Rm8 - win next week and you have yourselves a pizza reward! Thank You families for keeping us informed of absences, but more so for getting your children to school each day. The next challenge - be punctual - especially as it’s testing week #1.

The very first part of the BIKE TRACK starts next week as the foundation for the storage containers are laid. Watching the delivery will be an epic experience for all students - we’ll let you know the date of the container's arrival as soon as it has been confirmed.

Stay well
Jono

Good afternoon all.

This week the students enjoyed a trip to the Ormiston Temple. This outing was used as a way to introduce the children to another group of people living in our wider community that at some stage we would be interacting with. Every child attending arrived back at school carrying a small bear encouraging them to remember one of the 3 main cultural aspects for that community. That physical reminder of a worthy philosophy to ‘Think good thoughts’ we hope will translate into each of us developing a more caring attitude for those around us.
Our next school outing sees the junior school off to the Auckland Zoo! This is a very different trip that should expand their vocabulary and assist in providing good context for their writing and art tasks. Before that we enjoy a special music activity for all students.

We have decided to scale back our use of the SMART programme to measure student achievement. Not all students will participate in the first round as both teachers and students get to understand how to implement the tests. Nevertheless -EVERY child is still expected to be at school as our general testing week starts soon.

REMINDER: Please note: Friday 29 May is a Staff Only Day. All schools across Tamaki are meeting for an area-wide professional development day. No teaching / support staff will be onsite.

Congratulations to Heti (Rm1) and Sione T (Rm8) for their excellent writing work. Did you know that there is a second display board in the admin area?

STAR: Another highly contested week! Thank You families for keeping us informed, but more so for getting your children to school each day. The next challenge - be punctual!
Well done Room 8 for winning the attendance award this week with 95% attendance - fabulous effort!

We are hosting a Drop-In Cafe on 22 May at 2pm to help parents / guardians better understand the new report formats. If you would like to learn how to read your child’s mid-year report I will be hosting a very informal chat on the new format - join me - I promise short, sharp and as informal as I can make it!

Don’t forget:

Free in-school music activity with MusicAl - Wednesday 20 May
Stationery fee - $20per pupil
Tech fee for Years 7 & 8 - $50
Does your child have a device for learning? (Yr 6 - 8)
PINK M***i Day (sensible attire please) on Friday 22 May in aid of Breast Cancer Awareness - a student koha on the day is welcomed and appreciated.

Enjoy the last of the warm (ish) days
Stay well
Jono