Russell Street School

The air temperature is just too cool for having children sitting around.  Sorry, it’s cancelled.

For some weeks we have been urging parents to give consideration to stand for the Board of Trustees, or alternatively to tap someone on the shoulder who might fit the bill.  It is important that we have enough candidates with a balance of skills and experiences to run a successful election and we certainly don’t want to leave it to chance.  Not sure about any aspects of the Board’s role or what it might take? Please remember that full training is provided and like many things we learn on the job.  Please feel free to discuss any aspect with a current Board member or David. Below is Graeme Brown’s take on his last three years as part of the BOT:

Being on the Board has been a wonderful learning experience for me.

I always knew that RSS was a really good school, with great staff, with students eager to learn & a community there to support.  It’s the Boards job to make the school even better with teaching & learning our major objectives. We aim to make Russell St School an inspiring place to be – for everyone.

The team we have on the board is exactly that “A TEAM”. We don’t have a lot of time, so working as a team and getting things sorted efficiently are very important.  Our role is governance, we don’t run the place we just help .The monthly meetings start at 5.30pm & normally finish about 8.30 – 9pm but we have the odd late one now & then.

There have being some really wonderful times and some a bit more arduous but my favourite times are when the students come along to present projects they have been working on and their ideas about making RSS better.  They are great because ultimately we are here doing this job for our children.

If you want to get stuck in, learn to work through some of the hard questions that the Ministry of Education puts out, and many other areas that help guide our great school and most of all be part of an amazing team then get yourself nominated. You never know you may be elected, I was.

Take care & thanks for all the support you give the Board. We couldn’t do what we do without you

Graeme Brown.

Keep the morning of Saturday, March 20 free and come along and participate.  Come along for some bargain shopping, trash & treasure, market stalls, bake sale, sausage sizzle, kids entertainment and rides.  From 9.00 – 1.00 at Russell Street School, 25 Russell Street.  Clean out your garage and pack up the car.  Gates open for stallholders from 8.00 am.  Organised by the Russell Street School Supporters’ Club (PTA). Click here for more detail.

This group of Summer Hockey Players who played their last game the day after we finished school 09, won the trophy for their grade. Thanks to coach Robyn and well done everyone.

Our self-review cycle included reference to a formal review of Reporting to Parents framework in 2009.  A change in National Administration Guidelines made this a ‘must do’ as well.  In term three, information was sought regarding portfolios.  The term four survey was much wider-reaching, seeking feedback on all aspects of the reporting framework. Click here for a copy of the full report/summary.

If you were at Russell Street School in 2009, you may have a huge sunflower at home waiting to come to school.  This Friday is the day…please label your sunflower/poster or diary with your team name from LAST YEAR (Papatuanuku (juniors) or Ranginui (seniors)), your name and your room number from LAST YEAR.  Bring your sunflower or diary/poster to Room 10 on Friday morning.  There will be different areas set up for Team Papatuanuku and Team Ranginui.  Hopefully we will have enough sunflowers to line the back path coming in to school!  Can’t wait to see your flowers on Friday.

An on-line calendar error was drawn to our attention at the start of the weekend. This has now been fixed and those families who had made bookings have had their times re-emailed.

The date for these conferences is Tuesday, February 16. (Not Wednesday as initially shown on-line)

As a result, there is a new code for making a booking: 3PGUD

Our apologies for this!

Term four’s survey on ‘Reporting to Parents’, along with a comprehensive staff review, indicated that some areas of our reporting/communication framework needed strengthening. Much of this thinking was in keeping with the recently advised changes in the National Administration Guidelines, as well as recent New Zealand based research.

Next week, as an attachment to the newsletter, we will outline these in detail. We believe parents, on the whole, will welcome these improvements but most importantly we believe it will further enhance each child’s learning.

One of these changes needs everyone’s immediate attention. On Tuesday, February 16 from 3.30 to 7.00 we are offering a ‘Meet the Parent’ opportunity. THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS ‘MEET THE TEACHER’ EVENINGS HELD PREVIOUSLY. The intent of this evening is to allow parents to share openly everything about their child that might be useful for teachers to know, especially at a time when teachers are getting to know who is in front of them, their interests and their short to mid term learning needs. So, teachers will be listening (not doing all the talking) seeking information about such things as:

Any significant moments in your child’s development since birth that influences learning.
Your child’s out of school interests, engagement in sports/cultural experiences and what they do in their spare time.
Your child’s attitude and habits relating to home reading.
Any useful information you have about what inspires your child and what turns them off.
Your impressions of how their relationships and friendships are developing.
Any other information you might wish to share –e.g. medical or health matters

We are determined to get to know each child and you as parents as quickly as we possibly can. We are fully aware that much of this information can be gained directly from the child, but sometimes parents have a different ‘spin’ on it.

Some of you have already met with the teacher and/or team leader. It is likely you will not need an appointment. Others may wish to write to or email the staff member with information, especially if the date offered is not suitable. Or, if preferred you may wish to arrange a mutually suitable time with the teacher concerned.

For those wishing to arrange a meeting time (Tuesday, February 16) the full instructions have been sent home in a letter on Friday. This same letter is able to be located on this website under TNB/newsletters.

Welcome everyone, both new and old at Russell Street School. 2010 is shaping up as another very exciting year. We look forward to catching up with you all and working in partnership so that all RSS children benefit from a high quality, future focused education.

The 2010 school year begins for all children on Wednesday, February 3 at 8.55.

Staff are already in attendance at various times for planning, preparation and meetings. We will all be on ‘retreat’ from Wednesday, January 27- Friday, 29.

The office will be open Monday and Tuesday before the first day of school.

Please contact us either by email office@russellst.school.nz or by phone 3586671 or just drop in!

Russell Street School has an enrolment zone. If you are new to Palmerston North and are living in the zone of Russell Street School we welcome the earliest opportunity to carry out enrolment procedures. Please use the contact details above to make arrangements. If you are out of zone then the next opportunity for enrolment will be term two. The ballot for this period is on February 19. Please contact the office for more details.

Best wishes to you all for 2010.
David Reardon
Principal

Hi everyone, I’m Haleigh and a couple of weeks ago I held a competition to see what Russell Street School’s favorite book was. I have the results here for picture books first place went to ‘Duck Rabbit’ and in second place was ‘Dirty Berty.’ For non fiction 1st place was ‘Guiness World Record’ books 2nd place was ‘Save the Panda’ and finally for chapter books first place was ‘Geronimo Stilton’ second place was Andy Griffith’s books and third place was ‘Judy Moody’ Thank you everyone that helped me in this – you are awesome!
Check out the display in the library next year.
If you want to know more about these books, check out the library’s news page.