11 May 2020

Newsletter Articles

Principals supporting Principals… Principals supporting Principles!

Kia Ora

Please find this week’s Monday Mailing below.

Another week and hopefully we are preparing to move out of Alert level 3 into Alert level 2 (or is it 1?).

We all know these are strange times and we are being asked to make decisions relating to our schools that have serious implications if we don’t do them right.

I have recently been in contact with some of our sponsors and had not realised the seriousness of the situation with businesses that rely solely on the education sector.

You may realise disasters are especially tough to navigate for everyone. For businesses it is far worse. Businesses want to show their commitment to their customers and demonstrate their support, but it can be difficult for them to know how to approach the situation.

It is now time for us as members of the WPA to stand up and show our sponsors how much we appreciate their past support. Some of these businesses have been loyal sponsors to Waikato (and NZ) Principals for in excess of 30 years. They are now facing considerable hardship and some may not survive.

I understand over the next few weeks you are all going to be very busy. However, if you have been considering projects/ purchases and spending money this year, please make a commitment to our loyal sponsors. More than any time in the past this is when we really need to show we care for our sponsors, especially those who have been with us for many years.

Due to the current circumstances the connections day for term 2 is cancelled. This means we won’t be face to face with our sponsors till next term so it is up to us to make contact with them. Make an appointment in your diary!

Kia kaha

Remember this is your newsletter. Again if you would like to share a reading, opinion or an event feel free to contact me.

Kind regards
Tony Mangan
Glenview School

WPA Dates

From our President:

Kia Ora Kotou

The imminent move to Alert Level 2 looks to be less complicated than originally thought. That being said I think it is important to emphasize to your staff and community that its not just ‘business as usual’. Schools will be required to implement the key practices identified in Iona Holsted’s bulletin on the 7th of May, these are:

• enabling good hygiene practices – regular washing and drying of hands and good cough and sneeze etiquette remain fundamental to preventing spread of illness such as colds, flu and COVID-19
• ensuring people with COVID-19 symptoms stay away from school
• maintaining physical distancing where practicable - in schools at Alert Level 2 this means children, young people, and staff maintaining a physical distance so that they are not breathing on or touching each other (there is no minimum distance requirement for schools at Alert Level 2)
• keeping track of people that enter your school – through your attendance register, timetable and visitor register.

When developing your Alert Level 2 operations plan base your planning on these principles. I have attached an example of a plan I have developed with my team. Please feel free to use any parts of it if you want.

There has been some confusion regarding how schools will operate on Thursday 14th & Friday 15th assuming we go to Alert Level 2 midnight Wednesday 13th May. The message I have received from the Ministry is schools continue to operate under Level 3 conditions. This means only students registered for Alert Level 3 onsite support can attend. Because bubbles are no longer required under Alert Level 2 parents need to find a relative, friend or neighbour to look after their children for Thursday and Friday. All staff are required to be at school on Thursday and Friday. How schools implement this message is up to each individual principal but it is my view teachers will need time to get set up for schooling under Alert Level 2 and the children remaining at home gives them time to do this.

Any message worth thinking about is talking to your neighbouring school to see how they are managing Alert Level 2. A consistent message will make it easier comply with our procedures and make life easier for everyone.

I wish everyone the best of luck with their preparation for the move into Alert Level 2. I agree with Perry’s advice; look after yourself this week I think things are going to get very busy.

Marcus Freke
WPA President

NZPF / APPA Trans Tasman Conference 2020

This function is now under review and is likely to be rescheduled for 2021

Remember our sponsors, support those that support us

Waikato based Playground Creations are delighted to officially be a Gold Sponsor of WPA!

Along with the rest of New Zealand, we’re finally nearing the end of COVID-19 Alert Level 4 and looking forward to getting back into the community safely! Our management team have been hard at work ensuring everything is in place for some of our manufacturing teams to return to a safe working environment and our design and finance teams are all set up to work from home.

At Playground Creations, we create playgrounds to inspire and ignite the magic of play and are passionate about design excellence, outstanding quality and exceptional play value. Are you thinking about a new playground for your school? Download our school’s brochure from our website to see some of our latest creations for some inspiration!

We are available anytime via phone, email and all social media channels and love nothing more than building and maintaining playgrounds within our community, so get in touch with the team and let’s get creative together!

Stay safe whanau!

Ngā mihi nui | Kind regards

KUKRI UPDATE:

Kukri have introduced a few warm winter options, our down jacket and gilet are filled with 50% down and 50% feather, making them super warm.

Both the jacket and gilet are lightweight, they are not bulky and both have a hood along with zip side pockets.

Great garments to keep warm in this winter and are currently in stock for quick delivery.

Mark McConnell
Kukri NZ

e: mark@kukri.co.nz
m: 021781122
t: 078461023
w: kukrisports.co.nz
a: Unit 2, 45 The Boulevard, Te Rapa, Hamilton 3200, NZ

Environmental Disinfecting and Sanitisation for Schools

We’re approaching week four in our effort to reduce and irradiate COVID-19 from New Zealand.

This means we have to start planning for what happens next. What can our local communities do to keep our children safe when they return to school?

One way Carus can help is with our deep clean and sanitisation service.

Our experienced wash-down teams work throughout the Waikato region, including in close to thirty schools. We want you to know we’re here to help.

Carus can help you with your first deep clean and an develop an ongoing plan around disinfecting and sanitising for the upcoming weeks and months.

To find out more contact your local WPA Business partner Rawiri Marshall Rawiri.marshall@carus.co.nz 0221895169

Kind Regards,

Rawiri Marshall | Regional Business Development Manager
P 0800 453 628 | M 022 1895 169 | E rawiri.marshall@carus.co.nz
47 Commerce Street, Frankton, Hamilton 3204

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At home or at school we need to keep kids active, creative and moving!

For educators across NZ looking for remote learning ideas. Register below and we will give you a solution to students learning dance at school and at home.

Sample Lesson

Many thanks

Stephen Evans
Director
stephen@footsteps.com.au
www.footsteps.com.au

Footsteps
Educating through movement

Australia
Telephone 1300 760 588
Facsimile 1300 760 878

New Zealand
Telephone 0800 66 66 88
Facsimile 0800 66 66 81

PART 1:

Protect Your Students Online While Learning at Home

If your students are expected to engage in online learning while at home, then you will likely want to extend your filtering to ensure they are safe and focused while doing so. Certainly if you've sent any school devices (Chrome, Win, Mac, iPad) or Google accounts home, you will want to ensure they are filtered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Family Zone is offering their filtering and classroom tools free of charge until the end of term 2. Currently they have over 300 schools in NZ using their services and 1,300 globally.

In most scenarios, protection can be deployed to students even if devices are already with students at home.

Learn more here and register your interest. A Family Zone representative will make contact with you.

Watch an 8 min walkthrough of Family Zone's School Manager and Classwize systems here.

CERTAINTY - all students instantly protected while learning at home
VISIBILITY - powerful reporting and red flag alerts let you know who's at risk so you can take action. Classroom tools empower teachers teaching remotely.
GRANULARITY - take ownership of your filtering, at the school level and class level.

PART 2:

Family Zone can extend school rules to protect the following scenarios:

1. School Google accounts - whenever students are using their school Google accounts, they will be protected against harmful content, 24/7. This acts anywhere they sign into their school Google account, on school devices or BYOD (Win, Mac, Chrome). Filtering rules can be granular, so younger children can be protected from age-inappropriate content easily (eg risky social and streaming media).
2. School-managed Win, Mac & iPads - protect students 24/7 as per your normal school rules.

BYOD: We also have powerful tools for parents to use to manage internet access at home, free for term 2. Empower your community to actively protect their children online.

Family Zone is hosting a free webinar with John Parsons next Wednesday aimed at tackling the cyber safety challenges associated with taking teaching online. Full details here .

Firstly, please extend to all your staff as it is designed for those on the coal face.

Secondly, if you think this is something that the wider WPA membership would value signing up for, please also share with them.

Finally, Geoff I see we've set up 24/7 protection for your school Google accounts and Chromebooks. Hamish, this is in place for you too. Marcus, if you'd like to explore this for your school Google accounts/Chromebooks, please let me know. If any of you have any questions on protecting your students while they're learning from home, please let me know.

All the best to you and your community.

Saunil Hagler
NZ Education Director
+64 22 679 6252

The Team at TigerTurf are available to discuss multi-sports and other synthetic turf projects you may be planning for your school. Despite the current uncertainties, now could be a good time to be assessing your sports and playground facilities. Check out our website for inspiration and ideas and feel free to get in touch. Email: NZinfo@tigerturf.com or phone: 0800 804 134 for more information.

Kind regards,

DAVID KOSOOF
Business Development Manager
TigerTurf New Zealand Ltd
M +64 27 455 7816
d.kosoof@tigerturf.com | https://tigerturf.com

384 Neilson Street, Onehunga, Auckland 1061 | PO Box 28 348, Remuera, Auckland 1541

‘There is no better time than now to support local’

Here to help with any options, design and planning for your schools learning or admin spaces.

Ezra Murray
Ezra.murray@furnware.co.nz
0274 060 086

Ezra Murray | Account Manager
M +64 27 464 0086 | NZ Toll Free 0800 655 155
P.O. Box 1, Hastings 4156, New Zealand

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This offer is completely free of charge for schools and families, and has no ongoing obligation.

The purpose of the resources is to ensure that existing school staff can access and provide quality PE learning for their families during this difficult period, in a manner that is completely user friendly and very low on tech requirements.

Lesson Plans will be delivered in two formats - one for teachers identifying curriculum aspects (currently mapped to the Australian ACARA curriculum), and a second version for parents and students to follow, that can be easily transferred to other communication platforms or simply printed and sent in hard copy.

All plans will include structured lesson guides, physical activity and game content via Moovosity's simple to use app, learning intentions, easy to follow instructions and suggested extras to keep students and families moving.

To take advantage of these free resources, follow these steps:

1. DOWNLOAD THE MOOVOSITY APP by searching 'Moovosity' in the Apple App Store. (Android users and families will be given access to an online library)
2. REGISTER YOUR DETAILS below to receive the full term scope and sequence, lesson plans and resources, parent information and student reflection form. Lesson plans will be created on a fortnightly basis and sent directly to the registered email address.

Kind Regards,
Chris Bartels
Business Development Manager
sKids | t: (09) 576 6602 | f: (09) 576 9902 | m: 021 974 221 | w: www.skids.co.nz

Growing awesome kiwi kids since 1996, sKids provides dedicated, affordable supervised out-of-school care for kids. Our teams create inspired learning, experiences where discovery never stops...

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

LINC-ED Hero… responding to schools’ needs

We hope that all the members of WPA are safe and well, there is no doubt that we are going through a huge shift in schooling at present, as we face unfamiliar and uncharted territory. At Linc-Ed Hero we are passionate about providing the best solutions to our schools. This passion has inspired us to fast track the launch of two great features to help schools, not only right now but well into the future:

New Release - Student Feed

The relationships our children have with staff at school extends beyond their teacher or teachers. The principal (particularly in a primary school) is a hero and the person that kids respect, admire and look up to. The librarian provides children with a safe haven and leadership opportunities to boost confidence. Teaching assistants are more than a “reader-writer”, providing a sense of stability. These relationships provide security and even more so through challenging times.

Hero is a robust communication learning tool for students, parents, teachers, support staff and all of those on the children's learning journey. It is the "walled garden" that enables secure, whole-school communication and ensures the learning and communication is visible for all. Student feed takes the students beyond their class bubble to selected group and school wide bubbles - whilst putting safety first.

New Release - Super Simple Survey - the level 3 hero we need right now

In response to the government’s Covid Alert Level 3 announcement last week, LINC-ED Hero has released a brand new feature - Super Simple Survey - to manage the attendance of students learning both onsite and at home.

LINC-ED Hero is New Zealand’s fastest growing MoE approved Student Management System that puts the leaner at the centre.

Check out the latest from our blog - It Takes a Village to Sharpen our Toolkit

To learn more about LINC-ED Hero as a communication, online reporting and student management system for your school visit the link below.

Let me know if you need anything else.

Best regards,

Colin Hogg
+64 21 249 9599

Sponsors’ note from Sitech

Kind regards/Ngā mihi nui,
kia ora, kia ora te iwi

All of our staff at Sitech especially sales consultants are taking the utmost care to protect ourselves and your school students and staff before and after we visit

Warren Leet
Education Technology Consultant - Waikato and Bay of Plenty

Sitech Systems (NZ) Ltd
Ph: 07 846 0060
M: 021 405 284
E: warren@sitech.co.nz

Warren Leet
Technology consultant
Waikato. Bay of Plenty.Taranaki
Sitech Systems (NZ) Ltd
T: 0800 100 607
M: +64 21 405 284

Upcoming staff PD

Rototuna Primary School is hosting Nathan Wallis for a day of PLD for their teaching team on Tuesday 13 October 2020.

We have 40 spaces available for other teachers in our area who wish to attend.

Here’s your chance to get all the latest brain development research from a valid source, in a series of talks that are made to make sense. Nathan's focus for the day will be talking about The Developing Brain: The Big Picture, including:

1. Understand Your Brain – The First 1000 Days
2. Engage Your Brain - 2-7-Years
3. Change Your Brain! Change Your Life!

We will be hosting Nathan at the St Andrew's Golf Course, 64 St Andrew's Terrace, St Andrews, Hamilton.

Morning Tea and Lunch is included in the ticket price of $175 (including GST).

The 40 available spaces will go to the first in, first paid!

Once payment is received, you will receive a confirmation email with your ticket number/s.

Please use the link below to register for tickets

Remember our sponsors, support those that support us

Schoolzine

Schoolzine is proud to be a digital partner and supporter of Waikato Principals' Association.

Schoolzine has been an industry leader in digital school communications for 14 years. They are dedicated to customer service, product development and understanding the school landscape that keeps them at the top of the industry. Schoolzine’s Parent Engagement Platform consists of 3 packages, an eNewsletter, Mobile App and Website offering. Purchased separately or together, they guarantee each package will make engaging with parents easy and even enjoyable for a school of any size. Schoolzine addresses the need for media-rich, interactive content that engages parents.