ACG Sunderland Newsletter - 3 February 2023

ACG SUNDERLAND WINGS NEWSLETTER

Vol 19, Term One, Week Two, 3 February 2023

Dear Parents and Friends of Sunderland

What a Week!

I wish to start with a huge thank you to everyone - students, parents, and staff for being able to quickly adapt and respond to what was a Regional State of Emergency.

This took place last Friday afternoon and again on Wednesday 1st February. These unprecedented/biblical events caused such disruptions and carnage to the entire city that almost every citizen has been affected in some way.

I want to reassure parents and students that the school is safe and dry. There was some minor egress of water into some store rooms in the bottom of the school, but otherwise we have not been affected negatively.

I am conscious however that some of our parents and wider community have been flooded and I want to reiterate that the school and staff are here to support you in this very challenging time. The staff have not been immune to damage either with our barn at home plus Mr Robson’s retaining wall all being damaged.

With the city into full clean up mode, it was reassuring to get staff and students back to school on Thursday morning and back to regular teaching and learning.

Some of you may have heard already, the West Wave facility has been affected by flooding and currently their operations are closed. Therefore, we will let you know when our swimming sports will be rebooked later this term hopefully.

I am pleased to report that our café and bus services were both able to restart on Thursday and really the full function of the school restarted without a hitch. I wish to publicly thank all the staff of ACG Sunderland who were able to switch into ‘online’ lessons so quickly and efficiently and then return to face-to-face teaching on a dime. Well done to everyone.

This weekend is another long weekend with Monday a public holiday with normal school beginning on Tuesday 7 February.

May you all have a more relaxing time this weekend than last and I look forward to catching up next week.

Aspire. Succeed. Respect.

Nathan Villars Campus Principal ACG Sunderland

Value for next week is:

Service the action of helping or doing work for someone

Early Learning School

Under 2’s Room

This month the children of the Junior room have had a learning focus on shapes. Our distance learning for this week is revisiting the children's knowledge of shapes. Children use shapes to build creations, spatial awareness exploration. We also included Under 2’s room in our Zoom meeting for this week.

Junior Room

During our zoom meeting today: we had greetings, variety of songs, story and shapes hunting/scavenger hunt. They looked around for different shapes at home; find something that makes them happy, with a face on it, made of wood and smells nice. It was fun and they certainly learn through play.

6 Waipareira Ave, Henderson, Auckland

Early Learning School

Senior Room

This week started off with an interesting turn of events for the Senior children, we found ourselves back on Zoom after such a long time! The Senior children eagerly joined in singing our welcome song and greeting their friends through their computers. We used our hands to demonstrate big and small objects as we discussed the difference in size comparisons. Senior children were very creative and made small butterflies with their hands as they flew across the screens!

6 Waipareira Ave, Henderson, Auckland

It’s already the start to the 2023 school year, and, as usual, The Student Voice has a new theme for the new year. As some of you may remember, last year we had a column called No Planet B which focused on environmental issues.

Of course, the topic of our Earth is a very important one, and the discussions surrounding eco-issues need to continue so we can raise awareness, and educate ourselves and our peers. That’s why this year’s theme will continue to encourage articles about environmental issues – but encompass a whole lot more.

Our new column is called Sooner Than You Think. We are taking a focus on the future: our personal futures; the future of Sunderland; the future of our planet; and the foreseeable future.

We are looking forward to publishing more content throughout the year, and hopefully you’ll see some pretty exciting changes we’ve got in store coming your way!

Stay safe in this wild weather!

Amelia Lee, Editor of The Student Voice

Arrival at School

Please be reminded that school starts at 8.30am. Students must arrive by 8.15am and they will be marked absent if they are not in class by 8.30am.

Lost Property

We are accumulating an awful lot of lost property – uniforms, drink bottles, lunch boxes, shoes etc.

Please ensure that ALL your child’s belongings are labelled with their name.

Sundry Purchases

If you are purchasing sundry items from Reception like calculators, badges etc, can you please ensure your child has the correct money as we do not have change at reception. We are unable to put these on your school account.

2nd Hand Uniform Shop

A reminder that the 2nd hand uniform shop is no longer sending cheques out or able to pay into your school account for uniform items sold on behalf. If you know you have uniform items in the shop to sell, please go to reception or ring the school with a bank account number to deposit the funds. No bank account number – no payment

School Socks

We have available in the 2nd hand uniform shop, a range of brand new boys socks in a variety of sizes. Price is $14 per pair.

School Badges

House Badges $5, Sunderland Badges $8.50, Speciality Badges $12. Please ensure your child has the correct money as we cannot charge these to your school account. These can be purchased from Reception.

Parents and Friends Committee

Dear Parents and Friends of ACG Sunderland, ACG Sunderland is an independent school whose students are of incredibly diverse ethnicity. From pre-school to senior college the school strives to help their students achieve their full potential. The Parents and Friends Committee works alongside this aim of the school.

Parents and Friends is a committee run by volunteers all, unsurprisingly, are friends or families of the school! The committee raises funds to cover items of benefit to the students that are not covered by school fees. In the past this has included such things as donations to the school ball, shade sails over playgrounds, cricket nets, and the planting of a hedge for privacy at the front of the primary playground.

All activities run by Parents and Friends are fun, social activities that help to instil a feeling of belonging throughout all families attending the school. Meetings take place on the first Thursday of every month at 8.30am in the staffroom. Please let Mrs Sonya Eldridge know if you are interested in joining the committee by email: sonya.eldridge@acgedu.com

The next meeting is Thursday 2 February 2023.

ACG Sunderland Parents and Friends Committee Scholarship

Parents & Friends Committee would like to let all parents know about this scholarship for 2023.

The purpose of the ACG Sunderland Parents and Friends Scholarship is to assist an individual or group of current students to participate in an activity that extra finances are required to allow the activity to take place. These activities may include (but are not limited to) representative sports, music, the arts, or sponsorship.

Criteria

 The student/s must be currently enrolled at ACG Sunderland

 A full application Form must have been completed and signed

 At the discretion of the Parent and Friends committee a maximum of $1000 may be allocated each academic year.

Application forms can be requested from Linda Storey at linda.storey@acgedu.com

Notices

Senior Tutorials

Tutorials are offered to students as a means to give extra support and guidance. The key to tutorials is be prepared.

Examples of what you could get help with and what you should bring but not limited to

• Review past exam questions

• Specific questions related to the course

• Practice essays

• Questions on your coursework

• Teacher is reviewing a specific area you are not confident in.

The key is being specific, remember staff like it when you are proactive. The tutorial is the opportunity to look closely at the requirements of a piece of work with the guidance of a staff member.

Sunderland on Service at ACG Sunderland

Dear parents and students, as you maybe knowing service is a crucial value that should be practised by all ages. Here at Sunderland we want to recognise those who already do active selfless service at home or in their community, but most importantly we would like those who don’t really do active service to be given a chance and to be educated about service, and this can be reached through Sunderland On Service (S.O.S).

What is our Mission statement?

To develop the values of service and respect by helping others in our school and community.

To actively contribute within our communities, display values of selflessness, enthusiasm and determination.

How to get involved or get your badge?

We will be putting up information about different activities that can be done on our notice board and will be posting more information soon. You can collect a sheet at reception to fill in with your hours or find it on blackboard, and it can be handed back to reception so that we can award you for your outstanding service.

Anything you want to count as your hours should be done as a volunteer, meaning you shouldn’t be paid for doing it. Remember to keep the service age appropriate.

Below is the information for the badges:

Ground Crew

Freedom2Play School Wear Shop

40 Patiki Road

Avondale

Auckland

Tel 09 838 6164

Open

Tuesday, Thursday from 9.00am to 5.00pm Saturday from 9.00am to 1.00pm

Closed

Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Public Holidays

As a reminder all school uniform continues to be available for purchase online on our Freedom2Play website freedom2play.co.nz/collections/schoolwearschools-acg-sunderland-school

Kids at School Care

Kids at School Care operates in G02, Monday to Friday, from 7.00am to 8.20am and 3.10pm to 5.45pm. They also run a Holiday Programme.

Contact Beth Rivero for enrolment and fees information by email beth.rivero@gmail.com or Phone: 022 394 5743.

Staff Emails

Email format for staff is: Firstname.Surname@acgedu.com

Sunderland Second-Hand Uniform Shop

The shop is open. Please ask at reception for access. We are taking good quality uniform items for the second-hand shop. Blazers must be dry cleaned.

Lunch Orders – From Libelle

You can order your child's yummy and healthy lunches at www.lunchorders.co.nz. Cut off time for ordering same day is at 8.30am. If you have any questions, please reach out to the Lunch Orders team via email on lunchorders@libelle.co.nz or flick a message on the Lunch Orders FB Messenger. Happy Lunch Ordering!

No cash-out service available.

6 Waipareira Ave, Henderson, Auckland

Lost Property

All lost property can be found by the Second-Hand Uniform Shop.

For your best interest, please name all clothing, lunch boxes and drink bottles, as we will return all named items to the student’s homeroom teacher.

School Contact Details

School Office: Phone: 838 7070

Address: 6 Waipareira Ave, Henderson

Waitakere 0610

Email: sunderland@acgedu.com

Attendance: sunderlandattendance@acgedu.com

Web: www.acgedu.com

2023 Term Dates

Term 1: 26 January to 6 April

Term 2: 26 April to 30 June

Term 3: 24 July to 22 September

Term 4: 9 October to 8 December

2024 Term Dates

Term 1: 25 January to 12 April

Term 2: 29 April to 27 June

Term 3: 22 July to 27 September

Term 4: 14 October to 3 December

Traffic- Safety

Please note that numbered car parks are for staff. Please do not park in the numbered carparks.

Contacting School Bus Drivers

Please do not ring or text the drivers after 7.15am as they will not be checking their cell phones while they are driving. Thank you for your support.