Sacred Heart School-Reefton

Dear families,

As of midnight Wednesday 25th March, we moved into ALERT LEVEL 4. This means the School and grounds are closed to everyone. Please do not try to enter the School Property (including courts, playing field and playground) over the lockdown period.

LEARNING FROM HOME and CHANGES IN THE SCHOOL HOLIDAY DATES

The Ministry of Education announced that the School Holidays will be brought forward so that they occur within the 4 week closure period. School holidays began on Monday 30 March through until Tuesday 14 April inclusive (as schools always observe Easter Tuesday). This means that until Wednesday 15 April enjoy some ‘chill time’ with your children and focus on the health and wellbeing of those in your household.

From Wednesday 15 April, all NZ schools are expected to provide learning for students to work on at home. Currently we are are planning and refining these ‘at home’ learning opportunities. When ‘home learning’ time begins, we are really keen to stress to parents to just do what you can. Below are some Do's and Don'ts for home learning......

DOs

• Do focus on emotional well being. Find time to laugh and keep things light and positive.
• Do fun, low-key activities with your kids: Read to your child, play games, do puzzles, draw, bake...
• Get kids out in the backyard for fresh air and exercise
• Have lots of discussions with your child - oral language is great for brain development
• Try to balance device time with hands on tasks and physical activity
• Find ways for kids to keep in touch with friends e.g. phone calls, skype, share photos of what they’ve been up to etc
• Reach out if you are feeling stressed e.g. email your child’s teacher, email me, talk to a friend, call a helpline

DON’Ts

• Don’t sit your child down between 9am and 3pm and try to recreate daily life at school. Doing this is likely to stress you and your children out.
• Don’t feel the need to complete every single task your child’s teacher sets. We will simply be offering a range of things to select from.
• Don’t worry about your child’s learning progress. All NZ kids are in the same situation and they will be ok.

Between now and Wednesday 15 April your child’s teacher will be in touch with you with further information about what ‘learning from home’ tasks they are planning.

Have a look on our website for at home learning sites. Room 3 have their own page with websites we already use in class. We will send out updates via our Facebook page and through Seesaw. We will also be updating the website regularly.

Lastly I want to inform you of two websites the Ministry of Education has launched, “Learning from Home” and “Ki te Ao Mārama”. These websites include resources for parents, students and teachers. More resources will be added as they’re developed. The information and resources are available at https://www.learningfromhome.govt.nz/ and https://www.kauwhatareo.govt.nz/ki-te-ao-marama/. If you do not have internet connectivity at home, the Ministry and our school will work on getting hard copy packs out to you (from 15 April).

Stay safe,

Tony Webb