Sunnyhills School
Learning for Life
Learning for Life through our Sunnyhills GEMS
What's on Top?
Welcome to Term 3, Week 1:
Welcome back to a new school term, the third for the year. This week we have the first of our short term international students arrive. We are expecting up to 50 over the next 5 weeks and their length of stay varies with us from 2-5 weeks usually. These learners will be wearing a red Sunnyhills polo shirt so that we can differentiate that they are our visiting Chinese students and not our domestic students. Our short term international programme provides vital school generated income from the short fall that we might miss from parental donations. Last year we were able to purchase the school van with additional funds which has proved to be very useful with our sports teams. This year's additional funding will support the pool repair, bike track (if there is a shortfall from not obtaining enough grants or PTA donation) and go towards the hall upgrade. We warmly welcome back Mrs Lynn Shen, who will be taking specialist classes for our international students in the music suite and the library.
Monday 22nd July:
- 12.40pm French lessons for those learners registered in Room 4
Tuesday 23rdJuly:
- Optional before school gymnastic practice
- 12.40pm French lessons in room 4.
- Lunchtime gymnastics for the Y3/4 team
Wednesday 24th July:
- Learning as usual
Thursday 25th July:
- Learning as usual
Friday 26th July:
- 8am French lessons for those learners registered in Room 4
- 1.30pm Farm Cove Intermediate talk for Year 6 GEMS and parents interested in what FCI has to offer to continue Learning for Life!
- No assembly this week.
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Aroha - love
Mā te ngākau aroha koe e ārahi
Let a loving heart guide your decisions
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Our Curriculum Portal
We've recently made 'live' our curriculum portal from our website. Have you explored it already? Here's the link https://sites.google.com/sunnyhills.school.nz/sunnyhillslearningportal/home
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Travelwise: Y3-6 Biking or scootering Permission
If you believe your child is capable of biking or scootering to school please fill out this form. https://goo.gl/forms/pWirpkxNkbwCDEu03
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NZEI Principal Industrial Action:
We are highly concerned that the Government has been unwilling to make an offer for settlement that addresses our key issues. Principals have voted to reject the latest Ministry offer for settlement because it is inherently unfair and inequitable and, if ratified, would only have served to deepen the challenges with recruiting and retaining skilled and experienced professionals to principals’ roles.
As professional leaders we are committed to ensuring that on a day to day basis our schools are safe places for students and staff and that teaching and learning continues. We are no longer prepared to extend our goodwill beyond this to contributing to any education system operation, review or change. Therefore, until such time as our issues are addressed satisfactorily as principals we will no longer be engaging with the Ministry of Education on any of the following activities:
● Workgroups, task forces, panels or any other work process contributing to system operation, review or change
● Written reports or evaluations for the Ministry of Education or its contractors including PLD Assessment reports
● Collection, collation or reporting of data external to school processes
● Introduction of new initiatives, including implementation of the new digital curriculum
● Engagement with Ministry of Education staff visiting or contacting the school unless at the request of the school
● Participation in PLD either online or face to face for new curriculum initiatives
● Meetings or conversations initiated by the Ministry
● Community of learning activities unless obliged to as the result of an employment agreement
Many of the items on this list represent work that principals value and to which we would ordinarily be willing to contribute. We have not taken the decision lightly to withdraw from this work. Our decision to do so is an indication of the depth of our concern about our negotiations.
We remain optimistic that the Government will make an offer that addresses our issues and we can resume our involvement in work with the Ministry.
I'll keep you posted in my weekly emails on progress/actions principals will take towards settlement.
Ngā mihi nui
Ms. Justine Driver, Principal.
What makes Sunnyhills such a unique school?
Ms. Justine Driver, Principal
It is a place where children are articulate, caring and respectful, displaying a strong sense of citizenship; a place endorsed by a safe and nurturing community. Our parents have high expectations of their children, matched by unconditional support. At Sunnyhills we strive to unlock the potential in every child as we grow lifelong learners.
Our business first and foremost is children’s learning; preparing our young people with the skills they need for the future. The Sunnyhills’ ‘Learning for life’ philosophy fosters independence, curiosity and critical thinking. Students are engaged, and lead their own learning pathways through inquiry based topics. They display a ‘have a go’ attitude and are not afraid to take responsible risks.
Opportunities, both inside and outside the classroom are plentiful and diverse. Children’s learning is supported by high quality teaching, well resourced classrooms, a music and environmental educational specialist teachers and we have learning assistants in all of our junior classrooms. The Arts, sports and culture are valued and are an integral part of our varied programme.
Have you downloaded our app?
A great portal for you to keep connected with daily notices from each whanau, report an absence or lateness, direct links to Facebook (so you don't need to be a member to view our page), links to the website and Kindo/Our Shop for payments and lunches. Get it on your device today!
So here's the link: https://bit.ly/sunnyhillsapp
To add the app as a “Home Screen” do the following:
iOS Devices (iPads, iPhones) – Open Safari first: enter address, select the share box, and select “Add to Home Screen.”
Android Devices – Open Chrome: enter address, click three dots on the top right, and select “Add to Home Screen.”