Newsletter, Term 4 Week 9 (Last Newsletter of the Year)

Term 4, Week 9 – Monday 13 December 2021

Principal’s Chat

Kia ora everyone

As this will be the final school newsletter for the 2021 school year, and my final farewell, I would like to take the time to thank everyone who has supported the learning of our students, and our school, throughout 2021 and my time at Long Bay. 

A big thank you to our parents and wider whanau for supporting your children, and especially during the lockdown times. We have prided ourselves in being a school for the community – and the hardest thing this year has been the length of time we have been without having our wider community involved and coming in to school. Thank you all for your understanding and supporting the health measures we put in place to keep our school Covid free. I so hope that in 2022 the school gates will be able to be open. 

We have so many parent and community helpers at Long Bay. This year we have been unable to host our community helper morning tea, but please know how much you are valued.
I would like to thank the school Board of Trustees over the years, who have all been absolutely wonderful to work with, and who always had the best interest of all of our school at heart. The community are blessed to have them in the governance role. A particular acknowledgement for their work this year in selected Rob as the new LBPS Principal from 2022, and a thank you to James for his nine years on the Board.

The school PTA committee is another wonderful group; they fundraise, they help with school events and they provide a connection between our school staff and our community – they are creative, energetic and community minded and great to work with. Their work, with community support, has enabled our school to provide playground spaces and resources that enhance the school lives of our kids. Thank you also to the local businesses who supported our PTA and school throughout the year – including donations for our raffles and gala days. 

Thank you to the Kapahaka mums and dads, who come every week to support this group of whom we are so proud. A special thank you goes to Sef, Winiata, Michelle, Amanda and Kirsten. The staff and parent leadership of the Kapahaka has inspired our students to participate and grow their understanding and skills. 

Thank you to our sports coaches and managers, and to Nikki our sports coordinator and to Sandy behind the scenes for all their work this year managing sport around the pandemic. 

Thank you to our parent helpers at school, on trips, at sport events and Waterwise, with PMP and the Walking School Bus. Thank you to all of those who have supported Kaitiaki Kakariki, our student enviro group. A special shout out to Bill, our grandad extraordinaire who also made the little bus and sandpit, rockets and more for the Junior classes. 

Thank you also to our wider community of educators: The specialist teachers and Resource teachers of Learning and Behaviour who visit and support our Long Bay teachers and learners, and our colleagues across the Kahui Ako. 

Thank you to parents who have translated, and to all who have welcomed our new families to Long Bay. The reality is that we cannot offer our children all of these experiences without you, and we enjoy your company. Your support is always valued by all of the staff at Long Bay. 
And lastly – a thank you to every parent for being their child’s first teacher.

A big thank you to all of our students for their demonstrated resilience and engagement in learning this year, and for being the lovely kids they are. I have so enjoyed their company and watching them grow as learners and little people. 

And a thank you of course to the school staff. I will miss them so much; my wonderful leadership team of Julie and Jo, John our property manager and jack of all trades (including mud pit specialisation and waterslide promoter), my fellow admin staff (Lorna, Sandra and Sandy) with their care of kids and community connection, our teacher aides who bring patience and skills to support learners, our talented and committed teachers and their awesome team leaders, plus Nick and Carolyn who have brought us the gift of music. I think you are wonderful in your professional lives and as people and I have been blessed to walk among you.

I wish you all a happy and safe summer break. All the best for our departing students and their families as they head off on their next learning journey. I wish everyone else well for their first day of school next year on Tuesday 8 February. I have listed the school organisation in 2022 below (again a lovely, talented staff). 

I have loved being the principal of Long Bay Primary. 

Haere ra, enjoy the summer everyone.

Linda

School 2022 Organisation

Each year our school is structured slightly differently as we adjust the team compositions to suit the needs of students, numbers of students at each year level and the layout of our school classrooms. We are also mindful of keeping class sizes manageable, and allowing for future growth. Our programme is designed to teach students from the level they are at. We do have cross level classes at our school, in 2022 this is predominantly in Year 5 & 6, so you may find that your child’s peers are across two teams, for instance; Year 5 & 6 students may be in Totara or Kauri team. 

It is quite a complex process making up classes; we have looked carefully at the compositions. In regard to friendships, we have tried to place children with a friend. Please remember too that the children have opportunities to establish new friends in 2022, and they will see their existing friends during breaks and whole team/school activities. In a normal year, our students will have had the opportunity to meet their next year’s class and teacher before school finishes for the year. Unfortunately, we cannot do this in 2021 as we have reduced at school days due to the pandemic. On their first day back at school on 8 February 2022, the children can go straight to their new class. The senior leadership team will be available to support students who are uncertain about where their class is. 

I have outlined the school organisation for 2022 below. We welcome five new teachers next year; Ankeli Van Rooyen, Christine Yeh, Shirley Carran, Tiffany Driver and Paula Ritsma, as well as a new office administrator, Ennva Street, plus our new Principal, Rob Hutton, and new Associate Principal Lliam Carran. Between them they bring a passion for teaching and a range of experience and interests – the Long Bay team are so looking forward to working alongside them.

The 2022 school teaching team structure is as follows:

Kowhai Team Year 0-1: Tarina MacKay (team leader, R2), with Irene Hayakawa (R3), Jitka Bloomfield (R5) and Susie Stringer (R6). Helen Fairclough and Dee McGibbon will be joining the Kowhai team later in the year when another New Entrant class starts.
Rimu Team Year 2: Lisa Leggett (team leader, R8), Fenneke Gingell (R7), Christine Yeh (R9) and Rebekah Webb (R10)
Manuka Team Year 3: Steve Anderson (team leader, R17), with Jonathon Oates (R11), Kathryn Hohaia (R12), Shirley Carran (R18) and Diane Edgoose (R19).
Nikau Team Year 4, downstairs in Te Ao Marama: Kate Porter (team leader, R20), Ankeli Van Rooyen (R21) and Pip Rive (R22)
Totara Team Year 5/6, upstairs in Tiaho Mai: Tiffany Driver (team leader, R23), Elisha Russell (R24) plus John Keoghan and Nikki Douglas (R25)
Kauri Team Year 5/6:  Miranda Kelly (team leader, R14), Mark Wallace (R13), Ellis Walker-Bell (R15) and Paula Ritsma (R16)
Our specialisation and leadership release teachers in 2022 are:
Nikki Douglas – classroom teacher in R25 plus lead sport teacher and drama specialisation teacher
John Keoghan –  classroom teacher in R25 plus digital technology specialisation teacher
Louise Lumsden – music specialisation teacher
Claire Dowson – visual arts specialisation teacher                                                                       Anne Kelly – literacy learning support teacher 

Our classroom release teachers are Victoria Koopen, Briar Porter, Emily Sherpa and Helen Fairclough.
Our senior management team in 2022 includes three Associate Principals; Jo Patrick, Julie Butler and Lliam Carran, plus the new principal Rob Hutton.
I am pleased to say the following support staff members remain at Long Bay in 2022;
Christiane Checksfield, Ruth Swift, Katie Henderson, Kaylee McDonald, Sabine Berkman, Susannah Wyndham and Lisa Dunlop continue with learning support.
Sandy Tickner and Lorna Corrie provide administration, and in 2022 they are joined by Ennva Street. John Underwood continues with his role as property manager (and multi-tasking supporter of school activities and events).

A Special Thank You

A special thank you to Kerry Walls and Target Commercial Painters, who came and carried out some paint repairs at our school earlier in the year.  They provided great advice and did not charge the school for this remediation work. Thank you!

Congratulations to Ben!

Farewell to Linda Barton from the School Board

Community Message from the School Board

As we come to the end of another challenging year, the School Board would like to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of the Long Bay School staff in making the most of the unusual circumstances and continuing to put our students first.  We also bid a bittersweet farewell to Linda Barton, our amazing principal of the last eleven years.  Linda, you will be missed.  Thank you for your exemplary service to our school and community, we wish you all the very best.  Long-standing board member, James Edgoose is also vacating his seat after nine years, we thank you for your commitment to our school, James.  A replacement parent representative will be appointed in 2022 at the next designated election cycle.

To our whole school community, have a safe and happy summer.  We look forward to an exciting start to 2022 with considerable work being completed in Block 1 over the break and as we welcome our new principal, Mr Rob Hutton, for the start of Term 1.

Meri Kirihimete

The Long Bay School Board

2021 Upcoming Events

2022 Term Dates

New Long Bay Primary School App

Medications to be Collected from School

Families Leaving the School – LBP Shop/Kindo Info

LBP Shop/Kindo Upgrade fro 2022

If you don’t already have an ezlunch or LBP Shop/Kindo account, then new users can create an account by clicking here.

Staff Farewell Interviews

Sadly for us, at the end of this year we are farewelling staff who are moving to other places, schools or to retirement. We would have liked to have had the opportunity to share with our community our farewells and best wishes however this was not to be.

Our Year 6 reporters have been able to interview three very special staff members.

Farewell Mrs Grayson

By Georginia and Neve

Mrs Grayson has been at LBP for a very long time, she has in fact been here for 28 years, that means she is the longest serving teacher. We asked Mrs Grayson about her career.

After leaving school she trained as a teacher. She loved art which is why she decided to start training college, then she realised that she really enjoyed working with children. Mrs Grayson had a break from teaching when she had her family. She taught aerobics at different gyms and was involved in the fitness industry while raising three boys. 

Over her years here she has taught in a variety of different teaching roles and over all the different age levels. She has been a reliever, shared a class, provided release for teachers, supported beginning teachers and been an extraordinary and wonderful dance teacher. Her skills as a dance teacher have encouraged and supported many students to enjoy and be creative with their dance moves and styles.

She has many happy memories but her favourite is probably standing back in the hall and watching the classes cooperating while forming their unique dances. When Mrs Grayson retires she is planning to look after her grandchildren and get lots of art done especially painting. She also hopes to travel when able and could even take up golf again. 

Mrs Grayson has stayed so long due to all the amazing and dedicated people that she has met at this school. We thank you and wish you happy retirement.

Happy Retirement Mrs Nicholls

By Tanya and Doris 

“Retirement: a time to enjoy all the things you never had time to do when you worked”

Hello we are Tanya and Doris, reporters for the Long Bay Primary newsletter. We heard that Mrs Nicholls is retiring, so we want to share the astounding interview that we had with her.  

Mrs Nicholls has been at Long Bay Primary for eight years. Before joining our school, she was an administrator at Rangitoto College. When asked why she came to Long Bay Primary, Mrs Nicholls replied that she wanted to change environments, meaning she wanted to help the smaller kids instead of the bigger kids. Mrs Nicholls shared that she has loved meeting new students and families and welcoming them to our beautiful school.

One of Mrs Nicholl’s favourite memories was playing netball against the wonderful year 6 netball team. She really enjoyed it, even if she was a bit rusty.

Mrs Nicholls is looking forward to retirement and her plans include a move to cold, frosty Queenstown, being able to walk her dog, Dyson and doing her photographs. She has enjoyed very much being here and she will miss everybody.  Mrs Nicholls does like a new challenge and this move will also offer a new lifestyle! 

Mrs Nicholls has been the ‘face’ and ‘voice’ of Long Bay Primary. She has helped many students and families over the years and has gone beyond her job description many, many, many times. She is an amazing ‘go to’ person and always responds with a smile.

We will miss you heaps. Many thanks for your time, we wish you all the best!

Farewell and Thank you – Mrs Barton

By Mieke and Naomi 

Kia Ora, We are Mieke and Naomi, reporters for the Long Bay Primary newsletter. As you know Mrs Barton our lovely principal is retiring at the end of this year. We asked her a few questions about her time here and her plans after retiring.

Mrs Barton came to visit Long Bay Primary 11 years ago and fell in love with the big field as it looked like a country school in the city. She also loved the big number of staff. The school also had lots of things happening and loads of art and Mrs Barton thought “ooo, this would be a fantastic school to work at” and she ended up being able to work here.

We asked Mrs Barton why she chose to become a teacher, she replied it’s really fun teaching children and doing fun activities, although you had to fit in the curriculum, you could choose how you want to do that. Mrs Barton’s favorite part of her job is working with amazing people and with the community. She also loved working with the staff and of course, the kids.

Mrs Barton has always loved assemblies, kids giving new things a go, like camp or Waterwise. She loved it when the All Blacks came to Long Bay Primary and especially when Mrs Nicholls sang ‘Mamma Mia’. Mrs Barton loved it when our school did mud runs, discos and she loves the new build. Mrs Barton has a lot of favorite memories, but her absolute favorite was running the mud run with the children and with the staff (with Mrs Nicholls in 2021, and with Mrs Butler and Miss Wyrill a few years ago). Mrs Barton said that she will miss all the children and watching them grow up in Long Bay Primary school. Mrs Barton will also miss the spectacular staff very very much.

Mrs Barton has a plan for after she retires, her plan is to stay in a little campervan with her  husband Bruce and her dog Wesson, she also wants to spend more time with her 3 grandsons. Mrs Barton is very thankful for this opportunity to work here at Long Bay Primary she also loves it and will miss it so much, Mrs Barton will pop back into school to see how things have changed soon enough.

We want to thank Mrs Barton for everything that she has done for us and our School. We love you so much as our principal and we wish you all the best for the future.