Kia ora koutou
We’re almost there! Just three more days to go and the school year for 2020 is over. Actually, that’s not quite right. We finish at 12:00 on Wednesday. There will be no bus run at that time so any children arriving by bus in the morning will need other arrangements made for their pick up from school at 12:00. There will be no supervision in the afternoon.
Miss Kate Wilson is the latest addition to our staff. She will begin in 2021 with our Year 6 group, some of these students have already had the opportunity to meet her briefly as Kate joined us on Tuesday for our initial 2021 staff planning session. It was great to have her there and I know she’ll be a valuable addition to the team.
I’d like to thank Linzi Keen for organizing another planting day. It was pretty challenging in windy conditions and on the the same day as our cricket tournament at NSC. Alex and Megan from Enviro South, Tess and Josie were also there helping out too so thank you very much all of you for the effort you’ve put in, it is looking fantastic! Also thank you Gabriela and Lukas for donating plants and Reforest Southland Trust, also for donating plants. Your support is truly appreciated.
Our end of year ceremony is Tuesday night beginning at 6:30 at the Lumsden Memorial Hall. This is probably the most important event on our calendar as we celebrate and recognise our students for their hard work during the year and say goodbye to our Year 6 group. Quite a milestone as they head off to another school next year.
Finally, I’d like to thank our whole school community. It’s fair to say that 2020 has thrown more than a few unexpected challenges our way. Your support throughout the year has been vital to the success our school has experienced. Hopefully next year will be a little different.
Merry Christmas everyone. We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and summer break and we look forward to seeing you again in 2021. School will begin again Wednesday 3 February. And just know, that if you see one of Santa’s little helpers singing and dancing, it might just be Elfis.
Ka kite ano
Callum Tytler
Acting Principal
Tena koutou Lumsden school whānau,
Thank you to all the families who participated in our Annual Parents Survey. The insights gained from your responses are used to shape the school's Charter and strategic plan for next year so we thank you for your time in completing this and to Trish Gill for providing the below Summary.
We also want to thank the 26 families (out of 65) who participated in our review of Religious Instruction. As the majority of families who responded (15) were in favour of providing Religious Instruction, the school will continue to close for half an hour a week for Religious Instruction in the form of Launchpad. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all our fabulous volunteers who make the provision of Launchpad possible at our school.
Meri Kirihimete and a Happy New Year! Thanks so much to all our amazing teachers and staff for what has been a rollercoaster of a year. We hope you all enjoy a safe holiday break with your whanau exploring our beautiful backyard and return ready to engage in some awesome learning together next year.
Nga mihi nui,
Your Lumsden School Board of Trustees (BOT)
Lumsden Primary School Annual Parent Survey 2020
The following is a summary of the parent survey analysis. This is supported by the
recorded data from the responses. Thank you to everyone who took part in the survey.
2020 has been a challenging year. The survey responses recognised this as a positive
reflection on how well Lumsden Primary School (LPS) managed both challenges and change. Building on this, the responses also identified focus for the coming school year and priorities for the future. There were some common themes that came through and these are highlighted in this summary. The final two survey questions give us an insight into what your opinion is of how well instruction on the curriculum is, and how well we respond to and include cultural diversity at LPS.
We received a total of 47 responses via Survey Monkey.
The most prominent theme for what LPS did well in 2020 was the management of the Covid 19 pandemic response, with 63% of respondents commenting on this. Specifically, respondents considered the communication around this crisis, the effort of teachers and the online learning capabilities during lockdown and keeping students safe upon return to the school environment were done well. In addition to this, the ‘Arts’ was a highlight for our school community, with the production rating high as a strength. Our teachers were also regarded as an asset, with both the leadership of the school and gaining a 5th teacher as something to be celebrated. The culture of the school and implementing the values, as well as happy and engaged kids was also identified by several respondents. Meeting students’ individual needs, kapa haka, the renovation of the learning spaces and upgrades to the school environment, cross country and overall school communication were considered to be achievements in 2020 by some.
While the largest percentage of respondents felt there was nothing specific to do better in 2021, the following were identified by some respondents to improve on; curriculum focus, especially writing but also in reading, maths and science, reporting on academic progress, communication and use of school stream to inform parents/school community and the timing of notifications, more excursions/ETOC and involvement in extracurricular trips (Agri kids, Epro8), improving the tidiness of the school grounds, implementing the values of the school and improving and supporting the school leaders roles.
The dominating theme for LPS to do better in 2020 was to focus on the core curriculum subjects and communication in relation to students’ progress and communicating with the school community in a timely and appropriate manner.
The priorities for the next three years reiterated the common themes for 2021. Education was the resounding response. While this can be broadly interpreted, literacy – especially writing, and numeracy were of the greatest priority in relation to curriculum subjects. Inclusion of Te Reo Māori and delivering on cultural inclusivity and responsiveness was also a high priority. Implementing the values of the school, fostering positive relationships between peers and between teachers and students, and focusing on both student and staff well-being, especially as a reflection of the past year, were other higher priorities. Other priorities were to give regard to individual student’s needs, and foster student’s independence and an environment for happy,engaged kids.
Question four and five of the survey this year were scaled responses.
The responses for question four (46 in total) concluded that LPS was instructing the core
curriculum well most of the time or higher with a total of 89.13%. 8.7% of responders thoughtwell sometimes, and 2.17% thought not well at all.
The responses for question five (47 in total) concluded that LPS was delivering on cultural inclusivity and celebrating cultural diversity well most of the time or higher with a total of 78.72%. 6.38% of responders thought well sometimes, 2.13% thought not well at all and 12.77% did not
know.
Lumsden Values SILVER AWARD Winner
Stevie with her Silver Award Certificate, having earned 40 Gotchas so far this year.
Lumsden Values BRONZE AWARD Winner
Kaya with her Bronze Award Certificates, having earned 20 Gotchas so far this year.
JR McKenzie Youth Education Fund
NSC have advised us that families of Year 6 students may qualify for this fund. It is to help with uniform costs and applications close on Friday 11th December. Contact NSC office for further information.
Silver Award Lunch Outing
Andrei, and Jed enjoyed their lunch with Mr Tytler on Tuesday.
Launchpad Donations
Donations towards the cost of books for the children who attend Launchpad would be much appreciated. The approximate cost for each child is $7.50. Please send any donations along to school in a named envelope. We can then forward these on to the LBK Presbyterian Church who provide the books. Thanks to those who have already paid.
School Lawns
Here are the guidelines to follow;
· Pick up the school mower shed key from the Four Square Supermarket
· Check the mower has fuel and fill from can in shed if necessary. Please let the school know if petrol can is low and we will refill
· Check the map attached to the mower showing which areas to mow
· Catcher loads of grass can be emptied around the back of the school next to the sports container.
· Top mower up with fuel, when finished and return key to Four Square Supermarket.
The roster for the next couple of weeks is:
5/6 December Ware Family
12/13 December Wathukarage Family
Financial Donations for Term 4 now due
We ask that you pay $25 per child (for the first two) and $17.50 for the third child for the fourth term now. Please make payment to the office at school or directly into the school bank account 030960-0112624-00 (child/ren’s name as reference). Your support is much appreciated. Thanks to those families who have already paid.
Mitre 10 ‘Tough Kids’
The Year 6’s had an awesome day at ‘Tough Kids’ on Wednesday and showed great team spirit. Thanks to Mrs Evans and the parents who helped with transport.
Cricket Action from Thursday
Touch Rugby
Over November a number of Year 5 & 6 students from Lumsden Primary, together with other Northern Southland students, were part of a development squad playing in three tournaments against other teams from Southland/Otago. An awesome experience and the players did themselves proud. A great way to learn the sport, have fun, meet new people and build on their skill set. Well done to all the players and thank you to Tama, Mike, Harley and Trish for coaching, managing and all the support of parents/guardians. Couldn't happen without it.
The last tournament for the 2020/2021 season will be 28th February 2021, in Gore (venue TBC). Everyone is looking forward to it. Oh and they got some pretty fancy sporting gear too! The hoodies and t-shirt have been a hit!
Elf on the Shelf – Room 5
For the last couple of weeks we have had an elf on the shelf and unfortunately he has gotten into a little bit of mischief.
One day we found the elf on one of the playground models and he needed our help. This motivated the children to write about how the elf had got himself into trouble.
I think that the elf didn’t like the playground and he didn’t like the slide. I think he was practising his flying and Santa told him to do it. Written by Nixon
Today there was an elf stuck on one of our playground creations. Maybe he wanted to go on the swing, but he fell off. Someone must have tied him up. I wonder who? I think we should help him. We should untie him because we should be kind and caring. It happened yesterday because our teacher put him on the whiteboard shelf, but he went on the playground. Written by Rosy
The elf wanted to go down the slide but then a bad elf came and tied him up. He is still hanging there. Then a nice elf rescued him. Written by Elijah
Today was weird. Today Mrs McMillan found an elf on the playground. The elf might have wanted to steal the playground however if the elf was stuck how could the elf get the note on him? Written by Leah
Today Mrs McMillan saw an elf on a playground. How did the elf get up there? It is so weird. A note is on him. It says ‘please help me.’ It is on Jake’s playground. I don’t like what is going on. I’m not happy because that elf has come in the night, and that is when everyone is asleep! I wonder what he is going to do tonight? I bet it is something naughty. He is in the RED! The red is when you get mad or you don’t think before you act. Written by Sophie H
The elf isn’t thinking straight. What are you doing up there elf? He did this because he wanted to go up the slide, but he tripped over and he fell over the side. Then he got himself tied up, because he was being naughty. Written by Slade
I think that the elf needs a lesson because he is not on the shelf! I think the elf was on the shelf yesterday but he fell off the shelf during the night and got tangled up on the playground. Written by Ronald
The elf might have got himself a lego crane to get on the playground. He maybe liked the playground because he liked the slide. Written by Jacob
Another day he wrote a naughty and nice list for Santa and put himself on the nice side and the children on the naughty side.
Some of the children decided to write to Santa to tell him that in actual fact the elf had been quite naughty and they were nice, and some of them wrote about what happened.
Dear Santa
Elfie has been naughty. He wrote that Room Five is naughty and he was nice. He mucked with our playgrounds. From Rowan
Dear Santa
The Elfie has been naughty but we are not naughty. He has been naughty for most of the week when Room Five children have been nice. From Sylvia
Dear Santa
The Elfie in Room Five put Room Five children on the naughty list. I am going to put the Elfie on the naughty list! From Emma
The elf is on the shelf because Santa put him on the shelf. He has been naughty and put us on the naughty list and put himself on the good list. Santa is grumpy because Elfie is NOT behaving! Written by Arabella
I think the elf has been naughty and I think Santa might not give him any presents this year. I think he should stay on the shelf! Written by Georgia
