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
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
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
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/