Thank you to everyone who has been so generous to us at this time. We appreciate this is a difficult time for everyone and there has been no precedent before.
Last night the Secretary for Education issued some clarity around changes for the school holidays. Here is what you need to know:
- The school holidays begin this weekend for two weeks. The holidays begin on Monday the 30th of March. This means we will be sending work for you children this week for Wednesday – Friday.
- The holidays finish during Easter. Note that for schools and some others Tuesday the 14th is counted as part of the Easter break. This means Term 2 officially starts on Wednesday the 15th of April. At that point there will still be a week remaining in the lockdown phase. Teachers will send work home for the beginning of term.
- Over the last few days we have been working out how to deliver learning online schoolwide. Every child has now been given an online Google Classroom account. Work will be sent via this and an email address that is setup for them. Their email address is their first name, dot, last name @students.matamata.school.nz, for example; donald.duck@students.matamata.school.nz
You can expect to hear from your child’s teachers very soon. They will explain how everything will work. We are trying to start off a bit simply to get everyone in the flow of this before stepping it up. We are not going to try and create something that will last for six hours each day as this will create pressure for both you and your children. Have lots of fun and build in fitness and play activities and feel free to add your own creative stuff. Enjoy your family through this time (you’re going to be close to them for awhile!). If you have any questions please email your child’s main teacher in the first instance:
jessicaschutte@matamata.school.nz
alyssarossier@matamata.school.nz
joanneevans@matamata.school.nz
While the school office will be officially closed queries will still be answered. You can contact the office at office@matamata.school.nz
While the use of devices will be necessary for our children over the next month can we suggest that you limit this too please. Don’t let your children live on these but rather treat them with respect and as a tool. Some fun time on them is okay but remember to keep a close eye on what they are doing and keep them out of bedrooms to help you monitor what’s going on. While Family Zone has been set up at school we have not yet been able to roll this out to homes yet so devices are relatively unprotected while away from school. Take care with your children.
Be safe and stay close to God
Alistair Paterson
Principal