ECS Update Term 1, Week 1 – Friday 2 February 2024

ECS Update Term 1, Week 1 – Friday 2 February 2024

Kia ora,

It has been great to meet many of you as we have started back into the 2024 school year.  Can I especially welcome families new to the Emmanuel School community.  I know I am looking forward to getting to know you over the weeks ahead.  It is my ongoing prayer that you will find this a strong community, focused on Christ, and commited to supporting you as we work together for the best for your children.  

These weekly emails are an important source of information about what is coming up in the life of the school.  I would encourage you to read them carefully each week.  We do our best to get these out early to mid afternoon each Friday.

Another source of information (and an easy way to view the calendar and contact us re student absences) is via our School App, which can be downloaded here.

Blessings

Alistair

This newsletter contains information on the following:

• Important Dates
• Meet the Teacher Afternoon and BBQ
• House Tabloid Sports
• School Board Election
• Student Support and Counseling Service
• Primary School Student Support
• Parent Handbook
• Scholastic Book Orders
• Blazer Orders
• Lost Property and naming your Uniform

Important Dates

Tuesday 6th February – Waitangi Day

Thursday 8th February – Meet the Teacher Afternoon and BBQ

Friday 9th February – Tabloid Sports 1.30pm

Thursday 22nd February – Year 5-10 Swimming Sports

Tuesday 27th and Thursday 29th February – Year 3-10 Parent Teacher Meeetings

Friday 29th March – Tuesday 2nd April – Easter 

Friday 12th April – Last day of Term 1

Monday 29th April – First day of Term 2

(The School Calendar and full 2024 Term dates can be found here)

Meet the Teacher Afternoon and BBQ

On Thursday 8th February we have a chance to come in and meet your child(ren)’s teacher, find out a bit more about how things will operate as a class for 2024 and to join as a school community.  A BBQ will be running from 4pm with sausages avaliable in the main quad area.

3:40pm:     Harakeke, Koru 1 and Koru 2

4:00pm:     Kowhai 3

4:20pm:     Kowhai 4

4:40pm:     Kahikatea 5 and 6

5:00pm:     Year 7 and 8

5:20pm:     Year 9 and 10

Between 4:40pm and 5:30pm some members of the Board of Trustees will be in the staffroom.  This is a good chance to drop in and meet with them, talk about what is involved in being on the Board and share ideas about the strategic direction for the school moving forwards.

House Tabloid Sports

House Tabloids is a fun event where all students take part in relay events in a mixed age group.  The aim is to start the year with all our students interacting and building connections with each other.

Year 1 – 6 can come to school in their PE gear or house colour clothing.
Middle School students must come to school in school uniform and get changed at lunchtime into PE gear or house colour clothing.

Please see the notice below for further information.

School Board Election

Every state and state-integrated school or kura in New Zealand including Emmanuel Christian School has a board that governs it.

The board’s role is to oversee the governance of the school  and to ensure that everything that needs to be done gets done – legally, ethically, and as well as possible in the best interests of its students.

The board is the employer of all staff, including the principal, and sets the overall strategic direction for the school. The principal is the board’s ‘chief executive’ and manages the day to day operations of the school  in line with the board’s direction and policies.

The School Board at Emmanuel Christian School is made up of Elected Parent representatives, representatives from the Emmanuel Proprietors Trust, a staff representative and the Principal.

In Term 3 and 4 last year we had an election to fill 2 vacancies for Parent Representatives on the Board.  Unfortunately we did not receive any nominations so these positions are still vacant.  A result of this is that over the next few weeks we will be holding a by-election to fill these vacancies.

This process started with the issuing of nomination papers to our caregiver community these were sent by Email on Wednesday 31st January.  

Can we ask that you prayerfully consider if this is a role you could take to support the school over this period.  Please feel free to come and make a time to talk about what this involves in more detail.  This could be by meeting with the Principal or with another Board Member.

Student Support and Counseling Service

At Emmanuel Christian School we offer a counselling and support service every Monday and Wednesday during the school terms. The purpose of this service is to help students explore and regain a sense of hope and purpose for their life that is found in Jesus Christ. Our hope is that students thrive in a safe learning environment by providing the opportunity and space for them to recognize individual strengths and challenges. This service looks to support the psychological, academic and social development of students. This may involve helping students face personal problems, conflict resolution or promoting the development of interpersonal skills to build positive relationships within the community around them.

If this service is something you feel might benefit your child/ren or you wish to learn more about it, then please do not hesitate to contact Alisha or Josh. Referrals forms are found in the office, or alternatively can be emailed to you as well. Students from Year 9&10 have the opportunity to self-refer, and this will be explained to them in the coming week. The service is available for all ECS students, and we encourage you to talk to your child about this if you feel it would be beneficial for them.

Alisha – alisha@emmanuelchristian.school.nz

Josh – josh@emmanuelchristian.school.nz

Primary School Student Support

One of our missions (Te Kaupapa) is to foster and strengthen relationship within our school community (hapori) as we encourage our students to serve one another in brotherly love. We have two opportunities of service that we wanted to make you aware of as it is our hope that you can use these services as encouragements for your children.

Buddy Bench
We have introduced a Buddy Bench system that looks to support our younger students who may feel a little lost or lonely in their play times. The purpose of this brightly painted bench is to allow students to always have a peer to spend playtime periods with. This bench will be monitored daily by designated buddy monitors within our older primary classes. Students that sit on the buddy bench will be seen by our buddy monitors and taken care of for the remainder of that play period. We look forward to seeing our students embrace this new way of supporting one another, and hope parents are able to encourage their child to use this system if they need too. The buddy bench is aimed to be monitored from Week 3, and students will hear more about this within their classrooms next week.

Buddy Drop off
We recognise that for some students it can be particularly challenging to leave their parent at the start of the school day. We would like to offer a system to support both parents and children where this is the case. The buddy drop-off system is supported by our wonderful middle school students who are encouraged to serve in this way. A middle school student will be paired with our primary student and meet them each morning at their classroom at 8:40am. From there they will stay with the student as they settle into their morning routine and spend time with them before the bell rings at 8:50. If you wish to learn more about this, or think this is something that might be helpful for you then please do not hesitate to contact Alisha. We appreciate that situations may change throughout the year, therefore at any point throughout the year if you wish to utilise this service than it would be available to you.

Alisha – alisha@emmanuelchristian.school.nz

Parent Handbook

The Parent Handbook contains a lot of useful information.  It has been updated for 2024 and is available to download via the link below and the school website.

Scholastic Book Orders

Once per term each student will receive a brochure for the book club to bring home.
If you would like to order any of the books, this can be done online on LOOP. 
For your first time you will need to register in order to make a Book Club LOOP login. 
We cannot take orders/payment via the Office so please order online. 
Instructions are on the back of the brocure.  You will have approximately two weeks to place your order.
Once orders close, they will be sent to school and will come home with your child. On all orders the school earns 15% in scholastic rewards which benefits our school library.

Emmanuel Christian School does not endorse all material that is available for purchase from Scholastic Book Club.  Please use your discernment when selecting reading material for your child.

Closing date : Friday 23rd February

If you didn’t receive a brochure we have some at the Office and they are also available online on LOOP.

Blazer Orders

If you would like to order a new Blazer (these are optional for students in Year 9 and 10) please let the Office Staff know by Friday 9th February.  The cost is $201.25.

If you have a second-hand blazer you would like to sell, we keep a spreadsheet with the details so we can help match up buyers with sellers.  Please let the Office Staff know if you would like us to add your details to our second-hand blazer spreadsheet.

Lost Property and naming your Uniform

Please ensure you name all of your children’s uniform items, especially the polar fleece as these seem to get lost often.  Some people also sew a brightly coloured ribbon or button on the inside of the fleece so their child can easily recognise their one. 

Please could you also check through your children’s polarfleeces and ensure you don’t accidentally have someone else’s fleece as there are several parents looking for their child’s polarfleece but they haven’t yet shown up in the Lost Property.

Lost Property Boxes can be found in several places around the school including in the classrooms, in the Office hallway (by K5 and K6’s doors) and in the Middle School foyer.  Please check through these Lost Property boxes regularly if you have an item that goes missing.
At the end of each term anything left in the Lost Property boxes is donated or discarded.

We still have a lot left in the Lost Property (Office hallway) from the end of last year so please check through this as it will be emptied next week.  We also had some polarfleeces dropped off from Nomads football club today.  There is a large collection of drink bottles here too.