Website Manager – Page 3

Term 2, 2022 Newsletter

May 5, 2022May 4, 2022 by Website Manager

Wilson School

School Newsletter

Excellence in Special Education.

Me Mahi Tahi Tatou Mo Te Oranga O Te Katoa

We work together for the well-being of everyone

2022 Term Dates

Term two: 2^nd May – 8^th July – (Term Break – 11^th July – 22^nd July)

Public Holidays in Term two

Queens Birthday, Monday the 6th of June

Matariki, Friday the 24th of June

Term three: 25^th July – 30 September – (Term Break – 3^rd October – 14^th October)

Term four: 17^th October – 16^th December

Kia ora koutou.

Welcome back to school! We hope you all enjoyed the term break and had a great Easter. We send out a very warm welcome to our new students and families.

We are very pleased to be starting the year under the Orange level of the COVID Protection Framework, this is great news for all of us and helps to increase what we are able to do in school. Thank you for your support throughout Term 1, particularly with running IEP meetings remotely. We are very much looking forward to introducing visitors back to school.

We are aware that we are still living with COVID-19 and continue to work within our COVID-19 Safety Plan. We will continue to let you know if there has been a case of COVID-19 linked to your child or young person’s class group. I would like to thank our staff team for their support and dedication last term. Due to their hard work, we were able to remain open throughout the duration of Term 1 amid very high levels of absence due to COVID or having to isolate.

Although we had high levels of absence last term, our overall levels of COVID-19 infection have been lower than in other comparable schools. Thank you for playing your part in this and keeping your child or young person at home if they are unwell. We ask you to continue to do this and to be vigilant again this term. Last year the Government mandated COVID-19 vaccinations for all school staff, the rules for this were relaxed before the term break. We have looked closely at how we can operate as safely as possible, and with vaccination rules relaxed we are asking staff to opt-in for twice-weekly surveillance testing, using Rapid Antigen Tests. The Ministry of Education is supporting this preventative measure and is providing us with the test kits. We’ve just had 1000’s more test kits arrive today. This will help to identify asymptomatic cases.

Our COVID Safety Plan is on our website and can be found here –

https://www.wilson.school.nz/our-covid-plan/

Our School Strategic Plan

Thanks to all of you who responded to the questions sent out at the end of Term 4, 2022. In our last newsletter, we shared our priority areas for the next three years. We have now broken these down further and created our school strategic plan and annual action plan. A copy of this has been uploaded to our website to share with you –

https://www.wilson.school.nz/strategic-direction-and-annual-reports/

Have a great term everyone!

Noho ora mai

Neil Kefford – principal@wilson.school.nz

COVID-19 Vaccinations

We have now run four vaccination clinics from Base School, there has been a great response to these, we understand it makes it much easier coming to school rather than an unfamiliar vaccination centre.

We have also had positive feedback from parents around home-based vaccinations. This is a service available for all ORS funded students. Details below –

If you are worried about getting the vaccine, you can talk to a trained advisor in the Healthline disability team. The team is made up of people who have experience of a disability themselves, or who have worked with the disabled community. They will support you, your whānau or someone you care for and answer any questions you may have about:

Accessibility arrangements and getting mobility assistance at different vaccination centres.
Getting your vaccination safely.
Home vaccinations
Any effects the vaccine may have on your or your medications.

The disability team is available Monday to Friday, from 8am to 8pm.

Call 0800 28 29 26 and push 2.
Free text: 8988
Email: accessiblecovidvaccinations@whakarongorau.nz

Wilson School Organisation 2022

Principal: Neil Kefford – principal@wilson.school.nz

Deputy Principal: Kay Gunston – kay.gunston@wilson.school.nz

Junior Syndicate

Anju Raza – Assistant Principal

anjuman.raza@wilson.school.nz

Base Class 1

Craig Field

Base Class 4

Marie-Therese Stevenson (Senior Teacher)

Manuka

Phil Johnson & Rebecca Bartlett

Windy Ridge

Susan Murray (Senior Teacher) & Ria Du Plessis

Bayswater

Robin Taylor-Lyons & Sushen Ganancial

Senior Syndicate

Linda Kneale – Assistant Principal

linda.kneale@wilson.school.nz

Base Class 2

Mike Wynne

Base Class 3

Coby Delle Donne

Base Class 5

Patricia Pascual

Base Class 6

Kirsten Kirkby

Albany Junior High School

Ben Crosby & Nancy Combs

Glenfield College

Kathryn Huish, Brendan Crossan & Maureen Gatmatian

Update from the Therapy Team

We welcomed two new members to the team at the beginning of the year – Mikayla Scott (SLT) and Magdalena Kuhn (OT). They have been a fantastic addition to the therapy team and enjoyed their first term getting to know our students, staff and whānau.

Whilst Term 1 is always busy with IEP meetings, we saw some great programmes roll out across the school. The physio team have introduced PMP (perceptual motor programme) to base school, with a range of new equipment and fun activities. It was awesome to see the progress made by our students in a single term, and we look forward to seeing this roll out across the school over the coming year.

Intermediate and Senior/Transition Syndicate

Our focus for Term 1 was celebrating. We were especially happy being back together even under some restrictions.

We enjoyed some Art creations including our wonderful Canvas Art depicting the values of our school. Drama with Genevieve is always a fun and stimulating activity and some got creative with ice blocks which were not only delicious but also cooling on those hot Summer afternoons.

We dressed up for St Patrick’s Day and Easter which included some hunting for eggs and of course some Easter eggs were eaten.

A few lucky people ended the term with celebratory Pizza! We are looking forward to having more fun in Term 2.

Linda Kneale

Assistant Principal

Junior Syndicate

It was wonderful to see all the students comje back this week with such positivity and full of enthusiasm.

The Junior syndicate have had a lot of fun last term learning about the past and present with each class focusing on different aspects. While Windy Ridge focused on transport, Bayswater 2 explored photos and movies from long ago and now. They had fun making and sailing their cardboard boats and having paper aeropnane competitions! Bayswater lived the lives of stars and dressed up to take photos in black and white. They mastered the art of taking ‘seflies’, ‘usies’ and ‘groufies’ as any self- respecting influencer would do. They learned the elements needed to take and develop photos- camera, light, special paper and special liquid to develop the paper.

We also celebrated Easter and Green day and the student loved the activities planned on these days. We have a busy term planned and look forward to having more fun filled learning activities this term!

Anju Raza

Assistant Principal

Have you heard about Project Employ?

Project Employ’s vision is to create a community where young people with intellectual or learning disabilities are engaged in meaningful, paid employment in the same way as any other member of society. Project Employ is a new charity and needs everyone’s support to make it a success.
They are setting up a training café to provide an authentic workplace for trainees to learn the work skills they need, to gain paid employment in the community. For further information or to support this newly formed organisation visit their website here – https://www.projectemploy.nz/

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, this is a great tool to share what is happening within the school and to link with other useful events or organisations.

Student Absence

Please report all student absence to the main school offices for base and satellite students. Absence can be reported via phone or email:
09 489 5648 – phone
office@wilson.school.nz – email.

Moving Home?

If you have reccently changed your address, please let us know so that we can update your details.

CHANGES TO TRANSPORT (SESTA)
Please let us know ASAP if there are any changes to transport arrangements, including changing
address, this can take up to 10 weeks to be processed by the Ministry of Education.
Email the our admin team: office@wilson.school.nz

Call us on (09) 489 5648

Email us at admin@wilson.school.nz

1A St Leonards Rd Hauraki Auckland 0622

Term 1, 2022 Newsletter

March 2, 2022 by Website Manager

Wilson School

School Newsletter

Excellence in Special Education.

Me Mahi Tahi Tatou Mo Te Oranga O Te Katoa

We work together for the well-being of everyone

2022 Term Dates

Term one: 3^rd February – 14^th April – (Term Break – 18^th April – 29^th April)

Term two: 2^nd May – 8^th July – (Term Break – 11^th July – 22^nd July)

Term three: 25^th July – 30 September – (Term Break – 3^rd October – 14^th October)

Term four: 17^th October – 16^th December

Kia ora koutou.

Advanced warning – long newsletter, grab a cuppa! It’s been a busy start to the year

I hope this newsletter finds you safe and well.

It’s been an exciting first few weeks back to school, everyone has quickly settled back into routine. We send out a warm welcome to all our new students and staff!

Operating under the COVID-19 Protection Plan – Red Phase 3

I’d like to thank our amazing staff team, they have welcomed our students back with open arms and helped to make the start of term very positive. At the start of the year we shared our COVID Protection plan, this sets out how we will be operating under red. This plan does include keeping visitors to school at a minimum, we appreciate your support with this and look forward to welcoming you all into school when we are able.

Omicron appears to be spreading through our communities very quickly and at this stage we have had positive cases linked to school. If there is a positive case, we will let families know if their child or young person has been in the same location. As a reminder, close contacts are now only those that live with someone who is a confirmed case.

The school is registered as a critical service and is therefore able to operate under the close contact exemption scheme. This will allow us to bring staff back into work if they are considered a close contact. To do this, those staff members will be required to complete a Rapid Antigen Test each morning before coming to school and must be symptom free. They will continue to follow our COVID Protection Plan, which includes all staff wearing a mask. We will be making every effort to keep school open, however if our staffing levels are too low we will need to revert to remote learning. This will be kept to a minimum and only to the areas of the school where it is absolutely required.

If there is a positive case in school we will treat this with respect and privacy, we have had parents calling to ask who the confirmed case is. Please note, we will let you know if there is a case linked to the area of the school where your child is but won’t be identifying the person. A big thank you to those parents who have been in touch with us to share information, we really value this and thank you for supporting us to create the safest environment we can at this time.

Should you have any questions about how we are operating under Red Phase 3 please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Please take care everyone. If you are currently at home sick or isolating, we send you kind wishes and hope you are able to join us back in school soon.

Noho ora mai

Neil Kefford – principal@wilson.school.nz

COVID-19 Vaccinations

We have now run three vaccination clinics from Base School, there has been a great response to these, we understand it makes it much easier coming to school rather than an unfamiliar vaccination centre.

We have also had positive feedback from parents around home-based vaccinations. This is a service available for all ORS funded students. Details below –

Accessibility arrangements and getting mobility assistance at different vaccination centres.
Getting your vaccination safely.
Home vaccinations
Any effects the vaccine may have on your or your medications.

The disability team is available Monday to Friday, from 8am to 8pm.

Call 0800 28 29 26 and push 2.
Free text: 8988
Email: accessiblecovidvaccinations@whakarongorau.nz

Wilson School Organisation 2022

Principal: Neil Kefford – principal@wilson.school.nz

Deputy Principal: Kay Gunston – kay.gunston@wilson.school.nz

Junior Syndicate

Anju Raza – Assistant Principal

anjuman.raza@wilson.school.nz

Base Class 1

Craig Field

Base Class 4

Marie-Therese Stevenson (Senior Teacher)

Manuka

Phil Johnson & Rebecca Bartlett

Windy Ridge

Susan Murray (Senior Teacher) & Ria Du Plessis

Bayswater

Robin Taylor-Lyons & Sushen Ganancial

Senior Syndicate

Linda Kneale – Assistant Principal

linda.kneale@wilson.school.nz

Base Class 2

Mike Wynne

Base Class 3

Coby Delle Donne

Base Class 5

Patricia Pascual

Base Class 6

Kirsten Kirkby

Albany Junior High School

Ben Crosby & Nancy Combs

Glenfield College

Kathryn Huish, Brendan Crossan & Bridie Connew

Supporting Families and Whānau: Free training for whānau

Support your child’s emotional wellbeing and help reduce stress for the whole whānau. The Triple P – Positive Parenting Program® has helped thousands of Aotearoa families be happier, cope better with stress, and enjoy family life more. Choose the FREE online course that’s right for you, to help with child or teen anxiety, general parenting issues, and supporting your child’s development. A whole range of tips and tools are all available to FREE, to all parents and caregivers in Auckland, Counties Manukau, Waitematā and Waikato DHB regions that have been most impacted by Covid 19. Find out more at https://triplep.online/nzmoh

Free access to Triple P Online, Teen Triple P Online, and Fear-Less Triple P Online has been funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Health, with support from Whāraurau.

Our School Strategic Plan

Thanks to all of you who responded to the questions we sent out at the end of Term 4. Your responses were really useful! We’ve placed the comments you have provided alongside the feedback from our staff team to identify priority areas for 2022 – 2024.

The overarching aims for the next three years will be:

STUDENT LEARNING, DEVELOPMENT AND ENGAGEMENT

Students are provided with high quality teaching and learning opportunities, that are personalised to support their growth and development.

1.1 Creating high quality and functional learning opportunities, focusing on communication skills, independence, and community engagement.

1.2 Using Sport and The Arts to create accessible hauora focused opportunities for students, supporting with re-engagement in school following COVID-19 lockdowns.

1.3 Further developing the school’s transition provision, specifically focusing on accreditation pathways and a life skills focused curriculum.

1.4 Continuing our digital journey, supporting all learners to engage in a digitally rich learning environment, building capacity and increasing integration of digital tools to enhance and consolidate teaching and learning.

DEVELOPING AND GROWING OUR TEAM

Our team are supported with opportunities to promote professional growth and equipped to meet the learning and development needs of our students.

2.1 Developing the use of coaching skills throughout the staff team, impacting on teaching and learning, student, independence, leadership, and collegial support.

2.2 Developing the school’s approach to the delivery of Literacy, including assessment for learning, teacher judgement and understanding next steps in learning.

2.3 Equipping and upskilling all staff around positively supporting behaviour and well-being, providing a positive, safe, and nurturing learning environment.

2.4 Developing a framework for inquiry, knowledge sharing and reflection, supporting staff to be well equipped to meet the changing needs of the school population.

CULTURE, SUSTAINABILITY AND ENVIRONMENT

Working in partnership with our community, we recognise all cultures and strive to develop sustainable and future focused initiatives.

3.1 Creating further opportunities for whānau engagement and community learning, creating a culture of openness and sharing.

3.2 Recognising Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the variety of cultures represented within Aotearoa New Zealand and within Wilson School, celebrating the principals of protection, participation and partnership.

3.3 Identifying areas of the organisation where sustainability can be improved, alongside educating students and staff around the importance of sustainable and healthy practice.

Some of the highlights from your feedback – Thank you 😊

Calm peaceful environment, high support needs
Effective IEP process
Excellent open lines of communication
The quality of support staff is very high, from SLT’s to OT’s
Wilson’s lockdown support and their quick return to full time lessons was commendable.
We thought the timely vaccine clinic was a great example of the way the school is proactive.
Thank you for working hard with my son to provide the opportunity to him to grow and learn.
Great year with visible improvements in whanau connection, physio, communications, an excellent covid response.
Kids really enjoy going to school.
Culture of inclusion- Care, Respect and dignity towards the child.
The work the teachers did with online engagement was fantastic.

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, this is a great tool to share what is happening within school and to link with other useful events or organisations.

Let’s get physical!

Our Physical Gurus, Dermot and Pippa, have made sure lots of our students have had a busy start to the year. They have recently reviewed our PMP programme and purchased new equipment. Our students are really enjoying this, it’s wonderful to see them so engaged. Thanks Dermot and Pippa! Here are a few photos from Room 1.

Student Absence

Please report all student absence to the main school offices for base and satellite students. Absence can be reported via phone, text or email:
09 489 5648 – phone
027 336 9467 – text
office@wilson.school.nz – email.

Moving Home?

If you have reccently changed your address, please let us know so that we can update your details.

Call us on (09) 489 5648

Email us at admin@wilson.school.nz

1A St Leonards Rd Hauraki Auckland 0622

Christmas Newsletter, Term 4

December 10, 2021 by Website Manager

Wilson School

School Newsletter

Excellence in Special Education.

Me Mahi Tahi Tatou Mo Te Oranga O Te Katoa

We work together for the well-being of everyone

2021 Term Dates

The last day of term for students will be 13^th December.

Staff Only Day / Accord Day 14^th December

2022 Term Dates

Term 1 – 3^rd February – 14^th April

Term 2 – 2^nd May – 8^th July

Term 3 – 25^th July – 30^th September

Term 4 – 17^th October – 16^th December

Kia ora koutou.

How is it nearly Christmas already!

Thank you all for your support this year, it has been another year of us all having to operate in different ways. We know that face-to-face learning opportunities work best for our young people, we were all so pleased to be able to re-open when we did.

We are continuing to follow our Alert Level 3 Safety Plan for the rest of this year and will review this alongside the COVID-19 Protection Framework (traffic lights) ready for the start of Term 1. If you aren’t yet familiar with the framework, further details can be found here – https://covid19.govt.nz/traffic-lights/covid-19-protection-framework/

The end of the school year always brings change, for students and staff. If your young person has a new teacher next year or is moving class you will have received an email from us, if you haven’t, your teacher/class will remain the same. We have some new staff starting at the beginning of 2022, we look forward to introducing them to you then.

We have previously let you know that out Deputy Principal, Rosemary Jenkins, will be stepping down at the end of the year. We are very pleased to announce that Kay Gunston has been appointed as Deputy Principal, Kay is currently Assistant Principal and has also been a class teacher with us. Following this change, Anjuman Raza will be starting the year as Assistant Principal, working alongside Linda Kneale. It is wonderful that we have been able to appoint for these two positions internally!

Kay Gunston – Deputy Principal

Anjuman Raza – Assistant Principal

Rosemary has dedicated 34 years to Wilson School and has seen so many changes during that time. Rosemary is affectionately referred to by staff as the heart of the school. During her time here she has demonstrated compassion, leadership, and resilience. She has an amazing ability to promote a sense of calmness wherever she is. Rosemary will be keeping in touch with us next year. We have decided we aren’t saying goodbye, instead ‘see you soon’!

Our current School Strategic Plan comes to an end this year. Over the summer we will be working on developing priorities for the school for the next three years. Our staff team have already been thinking about this and we would really value your views too. Over the coming days we will be sending out a link to a whānau survey, it would be greatly appreciated if you can take a few minutes to let us know your thoughts.

Please remember the last day of term for our students is Monday 13^th December 2021. The first day of Term 1 will be Thursday 3^rd February 2022.

We wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a very happy and healthy 2022.

Kia Kaha

Student Absence

Moving Home?

If you have reccently changed your address, please let us know so that we can update your details.

Call us on (09) 489 5648

Email us at admin@wilson.school.nz

1A St Leonards Rd Hauraki Auckland 0622

Term 4 Newsletter

October 28, 2021 by Website Manager

Wilson School

School Newsletter

Excellence in Special Education.

Me Mahi Tahi Tatou Mo Te Oranga O Te Katoa

We work together for the well-being of everyone

2021 Term Dates

Term 4 – Monday 18th October – Tuesday 14th December

The last day of term for students will be 13^th December.

Staff Only Day / Accord Day 14^th December

2022 Term Dates

Term 1 – 3^rd February – 14^th April

Term 2 – 2^nd May – 8^th July

Term 3 – 25^th July – 30^th September

Term 4 – 17^th October – 16^th December

Kia ora koutou.

I hope you all enjoyed the long weekend.

I’m sure you are as disappointed as we are that school hasn’t been able to re-open yet. Things do seem to be moving in the right direction, this week we have been able to open for small groups of our Year 11+ students. It’s been great to see our young people back in school, however, at this point school needs to look a little different. Staff are following the guidance provided by the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health. Chris Hipkins announced today that Primary aged students might be able to return to school mid-November, we will communicate further details as we get them and when we have a plan. At this point we aren’t sure what we will be able to do regarding our end of year assemblies, we will need to continue to review the alert levels and guidance for schools.

Vaccination is heavily focused on within the media, and we’ve had lots of questions from parents regarding the vaccination status of our staff team. Although we are unable to disclose personal information about staff, we are obliged to follow the vaccination mandate for all education staff. This will mean that all staff must have received their first vaccination by 15^th November and second by 1^st January, at the latest. In addition, all staff returning to school physically during Alert Level 3 are required to provide a negative COVID-19 test. If a staff member isn’t yet fully vaccinated, they are required to be tested on a weekly basis. I would like to thank the team who are currently back in school. These members of staff responded very quickly at the end of last week and kept the testing stations busy over the weekend!

It appears that COVID-19 is going to be part of our lives for quite a while to come and we are going to need to become used to living with it. Thank you to all parents who have sent Lizz Sadler appointment dates and proof of vaccination. This is helping us to put together our vaccination register. If your young person is over the age of 12 and you haven’t contacted Lizz yet, please do so. The Ministry of Health would require this register from us, if we had a case linked to the school. If we do have a case in school, we will need to follow direction from the Ministry of Health, this would involve providing contact tracing information for students and staff, closing for a period of time and initiating deep cleaning. The period of time we would need to close for will be set depending on the number of cases and the vaccination levels of our students and staff.

As per our last newsletter, we welcomed Ben Crosby and Sudha Packirisamy at the start of this term, this week we also welcomed Helen Meyrick. I know these new faces have already been joining Zoom calls and are working towards getting to know everyone.

Sadly, we will be saying goodbye to Susie Mole (Speech Language Therapist) and Jenni Verity (Teacher) at the end of the year. Both have invested significant time into Wilson School, Susie 21 years and Jenni over 13 years. Their passion and dedication in supporting our students is exceptional and they will be greatly missed. Jenni has been instrumental in developing our Transition provision at Glenfield College, she has built up a wealth of connections between the school and the local community. These have supported our students with valuable opportunities for work and leisure experiences. As our Speech Language Therapist, Susie has worked across the school, both directly and indirectly with so many of our students. Her passion for communication and experience with a range of communication methods has benefitted so many. We wish them well with their move, the South Island is very lucky to have them. Susie will be working alongside Sudha this term for a substantial handover.

We will also be saying goodbye to Alicia Gilchrist, Emily Botes and Angela Robinson, Emily and Angela are moving onto new roles and Alicia is going to be re-locating to Palmerston North. We wish them well and look forward to working with them until the end of the year.

After 34 years of dedication to Wilson School, our Deputy Principal Rosemary Jenkins, has decided to step down from her position. Rosemary has been one of the rocks that has helped to build Wilson School into what is it today. She was also amazing and supported me into the Principal position last year. She worked for the school long before it moved into the Base School we have today and has navigated her way through numerous changes to the education system. We are hoping that Rosemary stays in touch and continues her relationship with Wilson and we will be working with her to see what this could look like. We are already well into the recruitment process to find our next Deputy Principal, whoever that person might be, they will have some big shoes to fill.

We were due to have an Accord Day / Staff Only Day Friday 26^th November. Due to the recent levels of disruption, we have now moved this to the end of the year. The last day for students will now be 13^th December 2021.

I’m hoping to be able to see everyone back in school soon!

Kia Kaha

Useful contacts that remain open During Lockdown

Healthline for COVID-19 health advice: 0800 358 5453
Counselling Free Call or Text 1737
Oranga Tamariki call centre 0508FAMILY
Depression Helpline 0800 111 757
Women’s Refuge 0800REFUGE or 0800 733 843
Alcohol and Drug Helpline 0800 787 797
Oranga Tamariki call centre 0508FAMILY
Samaritans 0800 726 666

New Staff Announcement

Welcoming Helen Meyrick

Kia Ora Wilson School Whānau!
My name is Helen Meyrick, I am excited to be joining Wilson School in term 4 as a Teacher. I have been teaching in education for 11 years all over West and South Auckland as well as two years teaching and living in Virginia, USA.
I am excited to be joining Wilson School, getting to know the staff and students and learning lots of new educational ideas and experiences. When I’m not teaching, I like spending time with my family and friends as well as hiking, walking my dog and trail running.

Tēnā koutou katoa,

This year we enjoyed a wide range of activities to celebrate Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori. Our tamarariki participated in waiata-a-ringa (action songs), kanikani (dance) and haka as fun and engaging ways to learn Te Reo Māori.

We adapted a waiata to include local place names to help with pronunciation. Māori kites were made to demonstrate old traditions using Flax, Toi toi and Rāupō.

Despite lockdown, we were able to connect through Zoom, and shared resources and activities on our school Facebook page. Here are some of the photos and resources we enjoyed through the week. Kia kaha te Reo Maori!

Albany Junior Satellite Classes

Kipa singing waiata with manu tukutuku (kites) in the background:

Fun with Flax and Maori drill technology we began this term:

Links to further Māori Home Learning resources

For pronunciation

https://www.tetaurawhiri.govt.nz/en/learn/pronunciation/

To learn about colors, numbers and more:

https://www.digitaldialects.com/Maori.htm

Explore a Maori village through an interactive website:

https://christchurchcitylibraries.com/kids/te-whata-raki/index.htm

Student Absence

Moving Home?

If you have reccently changed your address, please let us know so that we can update your details.

North Harbour Hockey – Hockey Without Limits

A FREE hockey-based programme open to participants aged 8-21 with physical or intellectual impairments. Further details and contacts can be found here.

https://www.harbourhockey.co.nz/programmes/hockey-without-limits/?fbclid=IwAR15nU-OtKF10SqVdlnXUaNpfsJ4ipqdksmRiY-b2HOKlCAqHIxOkDj9BAY

Call us on (09) 489 5648

Email us at admin@wilson.school.nz

1A St Leonards Rd Hauraki Auckland 0622

Term 3, Week 8

September 15, 2021 by Website Manager

Wilson School

School Newsletter

Excellence in Special Education.

Me Mahi Tahi Tatou Mo Te Oranga O Te Katoa

We work together for the well-being of everyone

Term Dates
Term 3 – Monday 26th July – Friday 1st October

Term 4 – Monday 18th October – Tuesday 14th December

Staff Only Days
Friday 26th November 2021

Kia ora koutou.

I hope everyone is safe and well in their bubbles. We’ve been at Alert Level 4 for approximately four weeks now, we appreciate how challenging this can be.

I would like to express thanks to our staff team who jumped into action and created remote learning opportunities. Thank you also to families for supporting this from your homes. We’ve seen some wonderfully creative activities happening, it’s been great to see some of you smiling in photos or videos. Our virtual Paralympic events and masquerade parties have been a hit, thank you for joining in!

It was good to see so many of you at our vaccination clinic on Monday, we are very grateful to the Northern Region Health Board for their support in making this happen. It helped to make vaccinations accessible to nearly 70 students, families, and staff. We will make sure we pass on details of second vaccinations when we receive them.

We are pleased to be working with a local artist, Warwick Blair, on an exciting new project which is being supported by the Ministry of Culture and Heritage. This is a creative project where our students are being encouraged to take a photo, capturing their community and surroundings. Warwick will then be working with us to turn these photos into a unique composition, reinterpreted into sound. The images and sounds will be overlaid to create an abstract piece of art, representing the school and our community. Please do take part if you can.

We have a couple of staffing changes happening at the end of term. The first being that Marie-Therese Stevenson is going on sabbatical. Marie-Therese has been awarded a Ministry of Education funded sabbatical, this is a very exciting opportunity for her. She will be using the time to further research specialist approaches for working with students with complex needs. We look forward to seeing her back in school for the start of Term 1, 2022.

We are excited to be welcoming two new members of the team from the start Term 4, Sudha Packirisamy will be joining us as Speech Language Therapist and Ben Crosby as a Teacher. We look forward to welcoming them to Wilson School.

We have recently updated our school website, I would like to express thanks to Anju Raza and Kay Gunston for their work in doing this. Please do take a moment to visit – www.wilson.school.nz

Kia kaha

Useful contacts that remain open during lockdown

Healthline for COVID-19 health advice: 0800 358 5453
Counselling Free Call or Text 1737
Oranga Tamariki call centre 0508FAMILY
Depression Helpline 0800 111 757
Women’s Refuge 0800REFUGE or 0800 733 843
Alcohol and Drug Helpline 0800 787 797
Oranga Tamariki call centre 0508FAMILY
Samaritans 0800 726 666

Did you know…

Did you know you are able to take your child/young person with a disability out for a drive even during Alert Level 4? This maybe because a drive is calming or relieves serious stress in your household.

Please register for an official letter you can show Police if requested – email centre@carers.net.nz and provide your full name, email, contact details and some information about why you need the letter.

COVID-19 SUPPORTS

A range of ‘easy read’ materials have been created to help make information about COVID and vaccinations more accessible, these can be found here – https://covid19.govt.nz/iwi-and-communities/alternate-formats/easy-read/
Support and advice translated into different languages can be found here – https://covid19.govt.nz/iwi-and-communities/translations/
Vaccinations are now available for those over the age of 12. Booking can be made here – https://bookmyvaccine.covid19.health.nz/
Ideas of inclusive learning from home opportunities – https://learningfromhome.govt.nz/resources?age=Inclusive_Education
Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/WilsonSchool/ we are using Facebook and Seesaw as digital platforms to stay connected. If you need help using Seesaw please contact your class teacher.

The latest Disability Connect newsletter has lots of information on supports that are available.
Explore Specialist Advice – For people with disabilities or autism and their support people – The Explore 0800 000421 phone service available to provide advice or support. This includes advice or support around challenging behaviours. To access this service, you don’t need a referral and it doesn’t matter whether you’re new to Explore, currently on their waitlist or you’ve worked with them previously. The service is available Monday to Friday 9.00am–5.00pm.
Access to food or essential items – Information on food delivery, safe delivery methods, financial help to buy food, food banks, help getting essential supplies can be found here – https://covid19.govt.nz/activities/access-to-food-or-essential-items/

New Staff Announcement

Welcoming Ben Crosby: Accross School Teacher

Kia Ora

I’m Ben, a long time educator, recent dad to a lovely daughter, Orla, and brand new member of the Wilson School community.

I’ve had the privilege of working with students and the families of students with a diverse mix of abilities and disabilities since 2011 in New Zealand, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates.

As a teacher, I know that I cannot begin to inspire others about their learning without being a learner myself, so I am committed to trying new things and letting my learners lead me in new directions. I’m truly passionate about education and believe that emotional engagement is the key to powerful learning, which is why I endeavour to bring creativity, laughter, passion, and meaningfulness into all I do in the classroom. I’m looking forward to getting out of Lockdown, and into the school so I can meet everyone in person.

Kia kaha

Welcoming Sudha Packirisamy: Speech and Language Therapsit

Kia ora koutou.

My name is Sudha. I am very excited to be joining Wilson School as a speech-language therapist. Born in Singapore, I moved to New Zealand in 2005 to pursue tertiary education and have since made NZ my home.

I became a qualified speech and language therapist in 2016 and started my career at Arohanui Special School. I love working with children and young adults alongside teachers and therapists to enable and empower them to become excellent communicators.

Outside of work, I am a busy mum to a toddler and a fur child. I enjoy cooking, reading and going on walks with my family. I look forward to meeting you all!

Junior Syndicate

Term 3 has certainly turned out very different to what we had planned. Being in lockdown is very challenging so a sincere thank you to our families for your support with online learning.

Teachers, Therapists and Teacher Aides are keeping in regular contact with families and its been great meeting up on zoom and seeing videos and photos sent by seesaw showing all the exciting learning that is happening at home.

There have been virtual highlights, Paralympics Gold Party, Lockdown Cook Off and Masquerade Day. These were very popular with some great photos on Facebook and Seesaw.

To give students some practical hands on activities, Activity Packs have been posted to each student to use at home. These can be enjoyed with siblings.

Stay safe in your bubble and we will see you when school is back.

Kia Kaha,

Rosemary Jenkins

Deputy Principal

Intermediate/ Junior High Syndicate

Learning from home is not where we expected to be right now, but our teachers, therapists, teacher aides, and of course, our students and their whānau have done a fantastic job of adapting to the change quickly, and we have seen some creative and engaging teaching and learning happening across the Intermediate Syndicate.

We took our Paralympics ‘Going for Gold’ party online, with Zoom Kahoot quizzes, music and dancing. There have been cooking classes, scavenger hunts and concerts, as well as activities and resources on Seesaw to continue to support the teaching of our core curriculum subjects.

A huge thank you to everyone for their efforts – it makes me very proud to be a part of this amazing team!

Kay Gunston

Assistant Principal

Senior/ Transition Syndicate

The Senior students have enjoyed a variety of See saw activities and Zoom meetings including: Circability, Live Musicians, Art and Cooking challenges, story sharing and Te Reo with Kipa.

We have all enjoyed the opportunity to see each other, have some fun and interact with students and staff from other class groups.

Linda Kneale

Assistant Principal

Have you reccently changed your address?

If you have reccently changed your address, please let us know so that we can update your details.
CHANGES TO TRANSPORT (SESTA)
Please let us know ASAP if there are any changes to transport arrangements, including changing
address, this can take up to 10 weeks to be processed by the Ministry of Education.
Email the our admin team: office@wilson.school.nz

Student Absence

In addition to providing the music therapy services at Wilson School, Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre also provides individual and small group sessions at their Grafton centre and satellite locations – located around Auckland in Orewa, Titirangi, Otara and Pukekohe. The Registered Music Therapists at Raukatauri use the motivating power of music to work towards each child’s individual goals, which may focus on growth in areas such as expressive language, emotional regulation, attention, engagement and self-expression. Because Raukatauri is a charitable trust, they subsidise all of their sessions and never want payment to be a barrier to anyone receiving music therapy. While their suggested fee for individual sessions is $55, families who are on a low income can apply to pay as little as $6 per week. You can find more information about their services on their website: https://www.rmtc.org.nz/. Once their team receives the referral, they will invite you in for a free parent/carer consultation to answer any questions you might have.

Call us on (09) 489 5648

Email us at admin@wilson.school.nz

1A St Leonards Rd Hauraki Auckland 0622