Due to covid-19 Alert Level 2 restrictions the following

events have been cancelled or postponed.

• Whole school assemblies will not be held this term.

• Award presentations on Friday mornings will resume in

a fortnight but parents are not permitted to attend in

person. We may try to livestream the ceremony for par-

ents to watch online. To be advised.

• The Friday morning coffee gathering hosted by the PTA

will not be held this term.

• Tea & Chat in the library will not be held in term two.

• Sausage sizzle Fri 26 June—cancelled.

• PTA meeting 9 June—will go ahead in the library.

• Disco Fri 5 June—cancelled.

• Winter sport is off in term two but there may be options

for a limited season in term three.

• Russley cross-country which was meant to be held on 5

May was postponed. We are looking to have the cross-

country near the end of term two, but no date has been

set yet.

• National Young Leaders for senior students, Wed 27

May, now on Fri 23 October.

• Year 5-6 basketball tournament on Wed 3 June post-

poned—no date set yet.

• Year 7-8 basketball tournament on Tues 23 June post-

poned—waiting on a new date.

• Great Kiwi Competitions held over til the first three

weeks of term 3.

• New Entrant Open Evening on Thurs 28 May — can-

celled.

• Strum Strike Blow Festival in August—cancelled.

• Christchurch Schools’ Music Festival in November—

cancelled. Details below.

Postponements and Cancellations

20 May 2020

Week 6 / 12

Te Paritō Kōwhai

Music Events Cancelled

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Christchurch Schools’

Music Festival will not be held in 2020. This is the first year

since WWII that the iconic festival has not been part of the

Christchurch music scene and it will be sorely missed by all

the 4000 children who would have participated. The 2020

Music Festival would have been the 81st year of the long-

running event.

President of the Christchurch Schools’ Music Festival Associ-

ation, Sharyn Hay, said that the decision was difficult but the

Executive is exploring ways to assist schools with a music

focus for the rest of this year; it will not replace the Festival

but it may help keep music alive while this difficult year

plays out.

Among the children most disappointed about the cancella-

tion of the 2020 festival will be those who were eagerly look-

ing forward to obtaining their Four-Year Medal for participa-

tion in a Representative Group for four years. The Executive

has decided that those children who have completed three

years and who have applied for their fourth year of participa-

tion will be presented with a Four-Year Medal. These chil-

dren will be contacted in due course. In future years, 2020

will count as a completed year for each Representative

Group participant seeking a Four-Year Medal.

The Strum Strike Blow Festival — a percussion extravaganza

featuring 1000 Canterbury students—that was scheduled to

be held at the Horncastle Arena in August is also cancelled

due to COVID concerns. However, the Russley Ukulele Or-

chestra will still be learning the songs for the Festival and

hopefully performing them later in the year. The Festival or-

ganisers are looking at the possibility of recording each of

the individual schools that would have performed at the Fes-

tival, and releasing a combined production.

Principal’s Message

Tēnā koutou katoa. Nau mai, hoki mai

ki te kura Te Parito Kōwhai Russley

School.

Well, after everything everyone has

been through over the past eight

weeks, it was great to have everyone

back at school on Monday. We appreci-

ate that for some people it was a big

deal and we saw many people being

brave — both parents and students.

Thank you parents for avoiding coming

into school if at all possible. Restricting

the number of visitors makes our re-

turn to school safer and more manage-

able for our staff and students. It has

been wonderful to see our students

rising to the challenge of becoming

more independent, for instance, by

leaving Mum or Dad at the entrance

and walking into school by themselves,

or by walking in with a brother or sister

or with one of our student leaders.

This week has been about reconnect-

ing and re-establishing relationships

with our students and with each other.

We are treating this week as similar to

the start of the year in getting people

and classes up and running.

We are also keen to get school-based

learning underway again. After this

week, we still have six weeks left of the

term. We want to make the most of this

time.

Supporting our community

As a staff, we have talked about the

possible changes to circumstances

within families as a result of the lock-

down. This could be family upsets, job

losses, bereavements, etc. It is im-

portant for the staff to know how we

can support our school community in a

respectful way. We also don’t want to

assume anything, so if you feel you can

share, please talk to your child’s teach-

er or to DP Jane Rush or myself about

how we can support. Please know

these issues will be discussed in confi-

dence.

Staffing update

Over the lockdown period, Mrs Cooley

sadly lost her sister due to a very short

illness — non-Covid related. She is tak-

ing some extended leave at present. As

it would happen, Miss Brooke Young

recently returned from overseas and

has is able to renew her association

with our school by teaching in Room 9.

How lucky we are.

Mrs. Stretch continues to be away from

school on extended leave. She is doing

really well and we look forward to

catching up with her again in Level 2.

Student assessment and reporting

With the amount of time away from on-

site learning, we have made the deci-

sion to postpone the reporting window

that normally takes place towards the

end of Term 2. We will keep you updat-

ed about our new timeline for this in

early Term 3.

One of the positives that has come out

of the lockdown is the advances in

online technology. New knowledge,

skills and applications have been

learned, by both children and adults.

With improved access to digital tools

throughout the lockdown period, our

school is considering options to use

digital tools in our reporting process, to

share student learning and progress by

making use of the new skills and

knowledge we have obtained

Greg Lewis

Tumuaki

principal@russley.school.nz

QR Code

Contact tracing is essential at Alert

Level 2. If parents must come in to

school, we ask that you sign in at the

kiosks in the old admin. foyer or out-

side the new hall. You can use pen-

and-paper, or use your smartphone to

scan a QR code and record your name.

School Photos

PhotoLife has extended the FREE DELIV-

ERY for orders placed for your child’s

school photos until midnight on Sunday 7

June. After this date, you may still order

photos but you will be charged freight.

Orders received up to this date will be

processed and delivered free to school.

Huge thanks to parent Leanne Preen who donated $970 for

monogrammed swim caps for Russley swimmers to wear at North

West Zones last term. We appreciate your support.

RUSSLEY HUG!

We raised $665 from a mufti day fundraiser that we held

before lockdown. We will donate the money to South New

Brighton School’s fire recovery. Such a lovely gesture, for

our community which has suffered the devastation of a

school fire, to be so generous in giving to another school in

the same predicament.

Mufti Day Fundraisers

Awards Focus: Healthy

To comply with the government’s restriction on mass

gatherings, whole school assemblies have been can-

celled for now. This round of award winners will be per-

sonally presented with certificates at school.

Team Awards

Room 1 RJ Manalac, Lowanna Chan

Room 2 Ruby Kitchingman, Franklin Yuan

Room 3 George Wesley, Shona Beedie

Room 4 Abigail Viljoen, Isla Sangkop

Room 5 Edward Bateman, Esme Stalker

Room 6 Sara Taylor, Lily O’Halloran

Room 7 Henry Elkins, Howard Poh

Room 8 Emilia Agnew, Ryan Bond

Room 9 Victoria Poh, Mason Cox

Room 10 Chané Botha, Benjamin McNally

Room 11 Eliza Sellier, Lilly Ghobrial

Room 12 Willow Rentoul, Daisy Forster

Room 13 Antonio James, Lilly Lan

Room 14 Lily Holland, Lily Stack

Te Kohanga Harper Beckingham, Allie Johnston

Room 18 Miller Johnson, Lily Burgess

Room 19 Porou Rongonui, Leah Richards

Kowhai Award Finalists:

Waka: Lily Burgess

Roto: Isaac Elkins

Awa Nui: Emily Tubman

Moana: Ryaan Malik

Te Tohu Kowhai winner: Isaac Elkins

Whakatauki Mā whero, mā pango ka oti ai te mahi. With red and black the work will be complete. This whakatauki refers to working together. Traditionally ‘whero’ signifies chiefs/leaders and ‘pango’ the communi-ty/workers. It acknowledges the need for both to work together in order to complete the work.

Keep training. cross

country Is still

on! Date tbc.

Writing Talent

Burnside High School

Due to COVID-19 re-

strictions, our Open Evening

has been cancelled. Pre-

enrolment applications for

2021 for in and out-of-zone

places is 4pm on Friday

31st July 2020. https://

www.burnside.school.nz/

enrolment/

The Writers’ Club has been busy

throughout the lockdown. Some stu-

dents have had poems published on

Paula Green's Poetry Box website.

Sophie Elkins | My Favourite Tree

James de Wit | Death of an Autumn

Leaf, The Wiggly Squiggly Hose, The

Peaceful Night

Lillia Poh | Lockdown List

Lucas Yee | Lockdown Walk, Bean Bag

Ella-Rose | Beans

Reuben Veenstra | Mondial Rose

Liam Bond | Nibbles My Pet

Liam Clark | Autumn

Eabha Dalton | String Lights, Things

That Wake Me Up in the Night

Aaliyah Rentoul | Weedeater

Ila Rutherfurd | Things That Wake Me

in the Night

Ella-Rose Evans | Daisy

Eabha Dalton | Cat

Liam Bond | Mingles, my Pet Cat

Reuben Veenstra | Millie

James de Wit | Explaining a Cat to an

Alien & Ocean

Oliver Peters | The Prowler of Night

Lillia Poh | Greygrizzledog

Henry Peters | Things that Wake Me in

the Night

Willow Rentoul | Going to the Sea

The following students have been

picked by Paula to win a copy of her

book, Groovy Fish:

Sophie Elkins—overall favourite,

James De Wit — a prolific poet who had

three poems published, as well as

Liam, Reuben, Lillia, and Henry.

Paula also published two of our group’s

Pass the Poem pieces...

• Team Roto Writers (Mrs K,

James, Lucas Y, Emilia, Henry,

Oliver, Amber and Sam)

Pass the Poem - Ninja Cat

• Team Awa Nui Writers (Mrs K,

Lillia, Aaliyah, Sophie, Lily T,

Therese)

Pass the Poem - Button Moon

https://

russleywriter-

sclub.blogspot.com/2020/05/poetry-

box-poets.html

But wait, there’s more...

The following Russley writers had their

work chosen for a poetry anthology by

Paula Green. The book will be pub-

lished by Penguin Random House, and

released next year. Congratulations to

these talented students:

Liam Bond

Eliza Sellier

Jade Holmes

Eabha Dalton

Benson Lee

https://

russleywriter-

sclub.blogspot.com/2020/05/russley-

students-to-be-published-by.html

Melanie Koster

Writers’ Club Tutor

Karate At Russley

Kids’ Class (5—13 years)

Thursdays 5pm - 6pm.

Adults’ class

Thursdays 6pm—7.30pm.

Ph Hayden 021 412212

hayden@takecontrol.co.nz

Disclaimer: Russley School does not necessarily endorse the public notices advertised here.

Community Notices

St Thomas of Canterbury

College

No open day due to Covid-

19. Enrolments for 2021

close July 31st.

www.stc.school.nz

MASH Kids Russley holiday

programme

To book a place in the on-

site, out-of-school pro-

gramme, MASH-Kids, go to

www.mashkids.co.nz or

Ph. 3669408

Txt: 0226717390

E: russley@mashkids.co.nz

Riccarton High School

If you are considering apply-

ing for Year 9 in 2021, we

will be accepting applica-

tions for in-zone and out-of-

zone places until Friday 31

July. https://

www.riccarton.school.nz/

enrol/

Villa Maria College

Apply for our 2021 intake.

Applications for 2021 close

on Friday 26 June.

http://www.villa.school.nz/

new-parents/enrolment/