Notices

School Closed for Instruction on Thursday 16 March

The NZEI Te Riu Roa (Primary Principals and Teachers Union) has advised the Maraetai Beach School Board that its members at our school will be participating in industrial action on Thursday 16 March 2023. The Board has considered the number of teachers involved in the strike and decided that the school will close for instruction.

Therefore, the school will be officially closed for instruction on Thursday 16 March 2023. 

Maraetai Beach School’s annual Fun Run is happening this March to raise much needed funds to support our wonderful school!

The funds raised make a huge difference in enhancing the overall school environment and educational outcomes of all our students. Our 2023 funds raised will go towards an exciting upgrade of our school pool complex. This will include painting the exterior and installing a new heat pump which all of our students can enjoy!
As well as raising much needed funds, this event is a highlight of our school calendar! Our extended school community come together and work as a team towards a common goal, helping our school – and our students have a great time on Fun Run Day.
How will this fundraiser work? This year we have partnered with online fundraising company Go Raise It.  Collecting sponsorship online makes it super easy for everyone - no more door knocking, your child can collect more donations from further afield (friends & family living overseas, work colleagues etc) and no need to worry about handling cash!
 
How do I sign my child up to fundraise online? Each child can sign up for their very own fundraising web page to send out to collect online sponsorship from anyone, anywhere!

• Just go to our Fundraising Hub page at:  https://maraetaibeachfunrun.raiseit.co.nz/hub
• Click on the SETUP A FUNDRAISING PAGE button
• If you need any help email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for direct assistance

 
Multiple children in your family? No problem, all children can sit under the same email address. You’ll find a button to set up another page while logged in to the fundraising account you created first.
 
Do I have to sign up for an online account to fundraise? We would love everyone to have an online account as this allows the school to significantly reduce the administration overhead of collecting and dealing with cash. Go Raise It adhere to strict cyber safe guidelines and this is built into our fundraising website. If you really do not want an online fundraising page, and still want to participate please check with the school office to see if you can collect cash.
 
Prizes:
We have a great range of fundraising prizes available including spot prizes and overall fundraising prizes for classes/individuals. Please see the Prizes page linked on the Fundraising Hub page of our fundraising website.
1^st Prize                                Family Pass to Rainbows End
2^nd Prize                               $150 Warehouse Voucher
3^rd Prize                                $100 Warehouse Voucher
4^th – 10^th Prizes                    $25 Warehouse Voucher
 
Event Details:

Friday 31 March 2023 9.30am at Maraetai Beach School.  Parents and caregivers are welcome.

 
Kindest regards,
MBS PTA

Dear Parents/Caregivers You will have seen the devastating effects of Cyclone Gabrielle in the news and on social media over recent days. Efforts to support those impacted by the cyclone are gaining momentum. From recent interviews, it would seem that donating money is the most helpful, as it provides flexibility to target needs.

To help support, Maraetai Beach School would like to have a special one-off Own Clothes Day on Friday 3 March. There will be no set amount for participation in this Own Clothes Day. You may wish to send a donation to school on Friday from the whole family/whānau.

I am sure all donations, no matter how big or small, will be gratefully received and will make a real difference in the lives of those severely impacted. All money raised by MBS students, their whānau and staff, will go directly to The Red Cross NZ Disaster Fund, https://www.redcross.org.nz/support-us/our-current-appeals/new-zealand-disaster-fund/ who are one of the major relief funds.

He waka eke noa (We’re all in this together)

Mark Keenan

You’ll be aware that New Zealand has moved to a new, long-term approach to COVID-19. These changes have been made based on public health advice and reflect high levels of immunity and declining case numbers across New Zealand.

This new approach will only result in minor changes to the way we operate.

The very positive news is that household contacts of a person with COVID-19 do not need to isolate, but instead are asked to complete a RAT test each day, for five days. Therefore, ākonga/students who are household contacts but test negative and do not have COVID-19 symptoms, should continue to attend. It is the best place for them to be so they can be engaged in their learning, and connected with their teachers, classmates and friends.

Information on how to get RAT kits can be found here: Request a RAT– Ministry of Health  

Mask wearing is no longer required however students may still choose to wear these.

All the other recommended public health measures will stay in place as we know they reduce the spread of infectious illnesses including COVID-19. These include ensuring our indoor spaces are well-ventilated, maintaining good hand hygiene, encouraging everyone to cough or sneeze into elbows and, most importantly, staying home and getting tested if they have COVID-19 symptoms.

Thank you for your ongoing support in protecting our community.

Noho ora mai

Mark Keenan

Dear Parents/Caregivers

I hope this newsletter finds you and your whānau safe and well. We are delighted to be able to welcome more children back onsite under Alert Level 3 from next Wednesday 17 November. There is a lot of information to share with you today so please take the time to read through this.

Even with the Delta variant, the risk of COVID-19 transmission in schools is low because of all the public health measures we will have in place. What this will look like:

• we will need to limit the number of children and staff onsite each day
• we will keep those onsite in separate groups
• we will ensure our classrooms are well ventilated
• we will continue to practice physical distancing where possible
• we will have a range of strong  health and safety measures in place to keep everyone safe

In addition to this, all staff and children in Years 4 and above are required to wear face coverings indoors (unless they have an exemption). We will also ensure all staff (and external contractors) who are on site are fully vaccinated (98% of MBS staff) or will have had at least one dose of the vaccine and they must then return a negative weekly test. 

Further information will follow regarding health and safety protocols however today I wanted to share with you our overall school organisation for a safe return to school. Planning has been based on both Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education guidelines as well as the Public Health Order. While I understand that the return to school plan may not suit every family, the health and safety needs of both students and staff have been at the forefront of all decision making.

Parent Survey Results:

Thank you to all the families who filled in the return to school survey sent yesterday. We had an excellent response and the results are as follows:

235 families responded for 346 students (77%) of our school roll

303/346 (88%) indicated their child will return at this stage 

• Junior 101/139 (73%)
• Middle 82/128 (64%)
• Senior 61/95 (64%)
• Intermediate 59/82 (72%)

The survey will now be left open until tomorrow morning. If you have not yet responded or wish to change your answer then can you please do so to further help with our preparation. Please access the survey here.

School Organisation:

We are excited to have the children returning but need to do so in a safe manner that ensures we meet all requirements. The following school organisation has been based on both Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education guidelines and because of this we are unable to support all students onsite at the same time. Guidelines are clear  that all schools from Year 0 to 8 should keep students and staff in stable groups and wherever possible distanced from one another inside and out. Starting from Wednesday 17 November students may attend on the following days:

• Monday and Tuesday - Junior & Senior students onsite (beginning week 6, Monday 22 November). All students will be in their class with their teacher. They will not mix between year groups and will have separate play areas as well as gate entry and exit at the beginning and end of the day.
• Wednesday and Thursday - Middle & Intermediate students onsite (beginning next week Wednesday 17 November). All students will be in their class with their teacher. They will not mix between year groups and will have separate play areas as well as gate entry and exit at the beginning and end of the day.
• Friday - whole school distance learning until 12pm. As per the Primary Teachers Collective Agreement teachers are entitled to classroom release time (non contact time) every week. From 12.00pm each Friday teachers and support staff will have their non contact time. I’m sure you will agree that our teachers and support staff continue to work extremely hard and deserve time to ensure they can continue providing the high quality onsite and distance learning programmes that will be offered.

This will mean every student has 2 days onsite and 3 days learning from home for all students who choose to attend. When students are off-site, distance learning programmes will continue. Please note that on the days staff are physically at school they will not be responding online to students. Hard packs will still be made available to all families in Year 1-4.

Kidzclub (before and after school care) will not be running.

We will have a Teacher Only Day on Monday 15 November. This will be an opportunity for us to set up classrooms for returning students. No distance learning will run on this day.

Full time school bubble:

As you are aware schools have been essentially closed at Alert Level 3 with the exception of those few children whose parents and carers must go to work as there has been no appropriate caregiver at home and there were no alternative care options available. For those of you with no other option, we will continue to provide this option. Due to the requirement to keep to stable groups all students who are in this full time bubble will not have an option to return into their classroom or play with classmates once other students return. All students will continue to take part in their class distance learning onsite. As in previous weeks a survey will be sent home soon from Mr Harper-Travers. We do want to continue to limit the amount of children in this bubble.

Thank you for your continued support. We are doing our best to ensure a safe and smooth transition back into school. I know we will have many excited students (and parents) who are looking forward to being onsite and we are too. There will also be some students (and parents) who are feeling nervous and that is understandable. Our school SENCO Rebecca Norrish will be providing some information on how best to help with this. 

Further information outlining our school protocols will be sent out before the return to school next week.

Kind Regards

Mark Keenan

Principal