TAUPO INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL

1 T A U P O I N T E R M E D I A T E S C H O O L Striving for Excellence Kotare Street, TAUPO 3330 Telephone: (07) 378 8097 Fax: (07) 378 8618 Email: Kia ora koutou te whanau o tenei kura, Newsletter Number: 1 te kura Waenga o TAUPO Date: 5th February 2016 Greetings to all of our families In my opinion Letting go helps us to live in a more peaceful state of mind and helps restore our balance. It allows others to be responsible for themselves and for us to take our hands off situations that do not belong to us. This frees us from unnecessary stress.

2 Melody Beattie. Melody Beattie is one of America's most beloved self-help authors and a household name in addiction and recovery circles. Her international bestselling book, Co-dependent No More, introduced the world to the term "co-dependency" in 1986. Welcome to the new academic year at TAUPO INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL , and thank you all for enrolling your child with us. We would never assume that your child would automatically enrol with us, and so for this we are grateful for the opportunity to have your child with us for at least the next 2 x years. With this enrolment comes a shared responsibility for the welfare of the students academically, physically and emotionally, and we will work together on these important areas. I refer you all to the SCHOOL Prospectus which clearly outlines our organisation and expectations in our SCHOOL , and we would like you to commit and support us as this year we have already exceeded our roll predictions.

3 There are not many classes with small numbers of students. We have an extraordinary number of late enrolments in fact approximately 50 x in the last fortnight. So what might seem to be a small issue or variation to our expectations or standards, will have huge ramifications for the rest of the SCHOOL . Allowing your child to; - wear variations to uniforms. - bring and encourage them to use cell phones - arrive late to SCHOOL or having unexplained absences - or by not communicating changes to your address or phone numbers along with family circumstances, these are all issues best sorted immediately and adopting an attitude of support for us. Yes, we also encourage individuality and creativity, but there are many ways to do this in the academic field, on the sports field, or in the arts and drama fields.

4 If you consider dyeing your child s hair in an outrageous colour, or letting them arrive here with a number of body piercings and think that this is a way of expressing themselves, then I am sorry, it will be deemed unacceptable here at TAUPO INTERMEDIATE again I refer you to the Prospectus for some guidance in these matters. Thank you to all our students who turned up on time on the first day, all looking splendid in their uniforms and looking forward to the transition into the Year 7 or Year 8 classes. Well done students. If you as parents will now let us settle into our routines, let your child start looking at all the opportunities then we will reduce the anxiety and stress levels. During the 2 x years at TAUPO INTERMEDIATE we want our students to grow, to learn to make decisions, even make mistakes from which they will hopefully learn, that they will become responsible for themselves and others, and that they will be proud of their SCHOOL , their mates, teachers and of course their families.

5 Here are some other reminders; You are to make sure that you check into the main office before you proceed into the SCHOOL during SCHOOL hours. If you wish to see a teacher, then you must make an appointment through the SCHOOL office. You cannot drive into the SCHOOL gate before and after SCHOOL as we have a huge number of buses using the main entrance shifting up to 280 x students each day. You are to park on the road and the loading zone is for short term use only. You are not to park and leave your car unattended in the loading zone or it will get ticketed . On Kiddle Drive, we are encouraging students to cross the road where our teacher is stationed by the traffic island. You are discouraged from calling your child across the road to where you are parked, you should come across yourself and then escort your child to save you the anguish of watching your child being hit by a vehicle.

6 This also applies at the front gate in Kotare Street that is parents calling out to their child to cross the road to them. There are new rules for the buses this year and in particular, with students having to display a tag to allow them to use the service, some eligible travelling free with a small percentage having to pay and being issued with a different coloured tag If they lose their tag then they will have to purchase a replacement at $ per tag. Why will some children have to pay to use a bus in 2016? The Ministry only provides funding for eligible students, those who are attending their nearest appropriate SCHOOL and who meet certain distance criteria. The student s home must be more than: - kilometres from their nearest appropriate SCHOOL if they are in years 1 to 8 kilometres from their nearest appropriate SCHOOL if they are in year 9 or over The Ministry also provides funding for some students not attending their nearest appropriate SCHOOL , however they must also meet a second distance criteria of / from the Transport Entitlement Zone (TEZ) boundary of the SCHOOL they are attending.

7 The Ministry does not fund any students for travel outside the TEZ of the SCHOOL they are attending. This means that students that are attending a SCHOOL that is not their nearest are being asked to contribute to the cost of their travel. While schools in TAUPO have covered the cost of travel for many of these non-funded students in the past, we are no longer able to continue doing this due to rising costs, increased student numbers and the strict enforcement of Ministry policy on our district since 1/4/2013. From 2016, students that do not meet the Ministry of Education criteria for transport funding will need to purchase a bus pass from their SCHOOL . Money collected will be used to continue to provide bus services for these students. Laptop Programme for 2016 The scheme initiated in 2015 continues this year with an opportunity for all students to be part of the Technology being offered by our SCHOOL 3 X Year Warranty with onsite Technical repairs and support 2 x year Insurance ($ excess only this year) new case, Programmes licenced to our SCHOOL loaded onto the Laptop BUT removed when you leave our SCHOOL .

8 As a Year 8 student it is still possible to be part of the programme where your payments can be spread over 11 x months. Some of this year s Year 8 students started the programme last year but did not complete the contract, and their laptops have been locked away over the holiday period. There is still an opportunity for them to revive the contract but time will be limited for you to do this We will be sending a letter home directly to those affected and dependant on the response we may in fact have some second hand laptops at a reduced price, for sale, by the end of this month if not sooner. This year s Year 7s have the opportunity to be part of the scheme and payments can be spread over 22 x months while those who have already signed up, you will be receiving your new laptops and cases once the minimum deposit has been paid and we complete the formatting.

9 YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SIGN UP FOR A LAPTOP THERE ARE DESK TOPS AVAILABLE IN CLASS FOR THOSE NOT INVOLVED IN THE LAPTOP PROGRAMME. MEET THE TEACHER / PARENT EVENING IS THURSDAY 11th FEBRUARY 2016 in our SCHOOL hall for a start at where the Principal will address the assembly and then you will be able to proceed to classrooms to meet the teacher. The teacher will then outline their organisation and expectations for the year. They will NOT be in a position to talk about individual students. They will need time to digest the information they have already from the student s previous teacher, and from their own observations. Bill Clarke - Principal TAUPO INTERMEDIATE Triathlon: This is being held at Wharewaka Point Monday 29th February, entry forms available from the SCHOOL office.

10 The event consists of 180m swim, 9km bike and run, which students can complete as individuals or in a team. Students will be transported by bus, though parents will be encouraged to transport their bikes if at all possible (those who can t get their bikes out to the race will have them taken out on a trailer). Across the Lake Swim: Several students attended a meeting on Wednesday regarding the Across the Lake swim which is being held Saturday the 27th February. Entries are due back to the SCHOOL office by Wednesday 17th Feb after which we will trial them in the SCHOOL pool to check they are capable of the 1km distance. Where possible, students should be training daily leading up to this event. Bevan Docherty, Donovan Bixley and Principal s Academic Awards: These three awards help promote and encourage involvement and excellence in sporting, cultural and academic pursuits, as set out in the prospectus.