KIA ORA / GREETINGS TO ALL PARENTS AND FRIENDS OF THE SCHOOL
I hope that you all enjoyed a relaxing three-day break over the Queen’s Birthday weekend. It came at a good time for children as it was midway through the second term. There is still a lot to achieve over the next five weeks of learning!
Online Safety For Parents
This month I would like to discuss Cyber Safety. In my role of School Community Officer I look after 35 schools, and over the last 3 years I have been contacted by almost every school for assistance with cyber safety related issues. The issues range from relatively minor concerns around unwanted texts, to young people obtaining sexually explicit images of their friends and posting them on line. The age of some children involved is alarmingly young, and in many serious cases there are strong indicators that the child has had access to pornography, which may be considered psychological abuse when viewed by a person under the age of 18.
The problem is not going to go away and criminals are in our area. The rule of optimism means we think the baddies are in Nigeria and we doubt our children would be at risk, however, they are.
Make family and friends aware of what you will and won’t allow when posting photos online – and leave the personal information out. You wouldn’t ask your child to go to the supermarket and give a stranger a photo of them sitting on their bed, so why would it happen online? And it is – a lot! This draws the wrong type of person to you, and just like adults, if the friendship/relationship breaks down, your image could be used to destroy your reputation, and future. Predators troll the internet for images with clues to a potential victim’s location and identity. A photo posted of a child in school uniform, or a sport’s team uniform may be enough to start a connection. Declaring vulnerability to strangers is motivation for the offender, for example if a child has had a fight with dad, the predator will become the confidant and listen and agree with the child. They will find common ground and this is the process of grooming.
Online requires the same parental oversite as the physical world. We may be tempted to tell children to get in the real world when they are on their devices, but our children have grown up with the internet and it is ‘The Real World’ to them. It is all they have known. Make sure your child can talk to you about anything, and consider your response because if you have the wrong response your child will not talk to you about problems. It is up to parenting relationships and values to protect the child, regardless of whether it is the Internet of physical world.
Netsafe is an excellent source of information for all internet users. Check out these 10 things to think about at https://www.netsafe.org.nz/online-safety-for-parents/
- Set expectations
- Understand what they do online
- If you don’t understand it, try it
- Set a good example
- Teach them the basics
- Setting up social media
- Give them the tools they need
- Online bullying
- What about ‘sexting’
- What if something does happen?
Catherine Sell
School Community Officer
Thames Coromandel
ATTENDANCE
One of the key requirements for students achieving success at school is regular attendance. At this time of the year when students are frequently picking up winter chills it is easy to lose track of their time spent away from school.
If a student misses a day a week they have already missed 15 days of learning and that is equivalent to 3 weeks. Attendance also takes into consideration the children who are regularly late for school. If a child is 10 minutes late a day that is 50 minutes a week and by mid-year they would miss as much as 12 days of learning.
It is not only the fact that they are away, it is that they are missing out on extra support provided to help underachievers improve. Every day they miss vital group learning that is targeted to their needs so they are constantly scrambling to catch up.
Children definitely need to stay home when they are unwell for both their own wellness and to stop it spreading to others. We do ask that parents monitor these absences or unpunctuality however, as every absence is a missed learning opportunity.
Tracey Fisher
Principal
COMING EVENTS
| 12-16th June | Book Fair Week |
| 14th June | PTA Meeting 7pm |
| 15th June | Grandparents Day |
| 16th June | Book Fair character Parade |
| 19th -23rd June | Room 7 Camp week |
| 28-30th June | Room 8 Camp |
| 5th July | Tackle Rugby Day |
| 6th July | Mother/Daughter morning |
| 7th July | End of Term 2 |
CLASS CERTIFICATES
| Room 4 | Chase Crowther-Waite for bringing a happy, positive attitude to school. |
| Room 6 | Jayden Richmond – Welcome to Room 6! |
| Room 7 | Jessee Mikkelsen for effort in writing. |
| Room 8 | Ethan Gaskin for awesome use of adjectives in writing. |
| Virtues: | Zara Siddins for kindness to others. |
| Olympic Award | none this week |
PLEASE,PLEASE, PLEASE
Return your Grandparent Day Forms and Mother Daughter forms.
You can RSVP by email to: admin@turua.school.nz
ROOM 8 WANTED
Room 8 would appreciate any spare magazines at home.
Particularly home, garden, hunting, animal type magazines or woman’s weekly.
Thank you very much
OFFICE HOURS
Maree will be away on Friday 9th June and Monday 12th June.
Please ensure your children put any notices in the class box.
Please make any payments by internet banking or wait until Tuesday.
Our account number is: 02-0316-0127016-00
Do not leave any money on the office desk.
We cannot take responsibility for cash left when the office is unmanned.
IT’S OUR BOOK-IN -EERS BOOK FAIR
Next week is Book Fair Week. Please come and have a look at the wonderful selection of books which will be displayed in the ICT Suite from Monday 12th – Friday 16th June 9.00am-3.00pm 
The 15th June is Grandparents Day so please let them know it is on.
CHARACTER PARADE
The Character Parade will be held on Friday 16th June at 9.15am so start working on those costumes. You are never too old to dress up and have fun!
Last year we had some really amazing and inventive costumes which made judging very difficult.
Remember that costumes don’t have to cost money, just be inventive with what you have at home.
WATCH OUT NITS ARE ABOUT!
We have had reports of nits in our Junior School.
Please check your child’s head and treat as needed.
Information about nits and treatment is on the notice board in the office. Please come in and help yourself.
ABSENCE REPORTING
With the cold weather comes the bugs and there have been a few nasty ones circulating around school. Please if your child is away let us know by phoning the absence line or using the absence reporting on our website.
www.turua.school.nz
If your child is away without explanation we need to ring you to check on their safety and whereabouts.
