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Letter from the Board – March, 2023

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Industrial Action – NZEI Strike on 16 March 2023

Kia ora Parents and caregivers,

Industrial Action – NZEI Strike on 16 March 2023. 

The New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) has advised the Birkdale Intermediate School Board that its member principal and teachers at our school will be taking strike action on Thursday 16 March 2023. Given this, the BIS Board has carefully considered the availability of non-union teaching staff, and decided that we cannot safely provide normal instruction during the strike which means the school will be officially closed for instruction on Thursday 16th March. 

Accordingly, it’s important that you make alternative arrangements for the care of your child/children on Thursday this week (16th March). 

We may be able to supervise a very small number of students (a maximum of 20) with our very limited number of non-union teachers, however, to help us make this decision we require more information. If making alternative arrangements for care creates a safety concern, please contact the office by end of day today, 4pm Tuesday 14th to let us know if your child will need this supervision. We will then communicate with those parents directly on our ability to provide this.

Please do not send your child to school on Thursday if we have not confirmed that we can safely supervise them.

Our school vision is “A quality education in a caring environment” and we want to be able to continue to deliver on that promise for our precious tamariki. We know that this is inconvenient for parents and students, however please be assured that student safety is our main concern. Thank you for your understanding and continued support as our teachers continue to negotiate for increased investment in our tamariki to enable them to reach their full potential.

Please contact Becs Reti on rreti@bis.school.nz if you have any queries relating to this decision. 

Yours sincerely the Birkdale Intermediate School Board  

Reminder about the Parent Survey – Principal Appointment

Kia ora Whanau, parents and caregivers,

Linley and I are the consultants advising the Board of Birkdale Intermediate School on the appointment of a new principal. Thank you to those who have already responded to our brief survey. Your comments will be valuable to the Board in the appointment process. We have extended the deadline for responses to 5pm Monday 13 March to enable any other communication. We appreciate your feedback. Here is the link to the survey:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdb5QAVFrFqw3WKZtHUGTBbYBKdZ8EYvklbuaUH2am8n0KYAg/viewform?usp=sf_link

Ngā mihi nui,

Stuart and Linley
Stuart Myers MEd Mgmt, BA, LTCL. Myers Bruce Leadership

2 Alfred Street, Northcote Point, Auckland 0627
Email: smyersmbl@gmail.com
Mobile: 021 609716

Swimming Sports has been postponed from Monday 8th March. We will advise when this is going ahead.

Letter and Survey from the Board

Letter from the Board of Trustees

Kia ora koutou,

It is hard to believe that we are already in Week four of 2023! 

Following the resignation of our Principal, the Board shared that Mel and Katrina were appointed as the school’s Acting Principals until a permanent appointment is made. Now we are a few weeks into the school year, the Board wanted to send you a brief update on the next steps with the Principal Appointment process.

To ensure the recruitment process is fair and transparent we have engaged recruitment consultants Myers Bruce Leadership to assist the Board in finding a new Principal. The role of a Principal is critical and considering this and to ensure we recruit the best leader to take our school forward, we want to run a thorough and collaborative recruitment process. Key to this is through engaging with our staff, parents, community schools and wider community to gain feedback on what they want and need in a Principal. This feedback is really important to the Board and will form the basis of who we appoint as a Principal.

As parents of children at Birkdale Intermediate, we encourage you to share your feedback on what you hope, want, need to see from our future Principal. You can do this through completing our survey: CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO SURVEY

As you can appreciate, it takes time to run a thorough consultation process. Considering this, we expect the new Principal to start at the beginning of Term 3. Feel free to contact our Board if you have any questions.

Rebecca (Presiding Member), Hone, Jenny, Lleuarne, Michelle and Shannon.

Basketball Registration

For all those interested:

LINK to Basket Ball Registration

Trials after school Thursday 3:15-4pm

Join us this Friday for our Whānau picnic!

School open tomorrow

Kia ora whānau 

I hope you’ve come through the cyclone okay and that you and your properties are safe. 

We met and completed a full walkthrough of the school site today, and we can confirm that the school is safe for students and staff, and that we will be opening tomorrow.  

There are some repairs to be completed on the theatre from the first event, so that will remain closed. The bottom field will also stay closed as it is still very waterlogged.

If you decide not to send your children to school, please log their absence through the office.

If anything changes overnight, we will let you know on our School App and Website.  We can’t wait to see our students tomorrow and get back into teaching and learning.

Ngā mihi

Mel & Katrina

BIS Closed Feb Mon 13th & Tues 14th due to Forecasted Weather – Home Learning Provided

Kia ora whānau,

Due to Auckland moving to a red weather warning and in the interests of safety, for both staff and students, after consulting with our Board of Trustees we have decided to close Birkdale Intermediate for on-site instruction on Monday 13th February and Tuesday 14th February 2023. This decision also aligns with the other schools in our cluster. 

We are conscious that this is unfortunately another disruption for our students; however, we hope that we will be able to return to normal school activities on Wednesday the 15th February. 

To minimise disruption to learning, we would like to offer a home learning option for students; however please note, this is not enforced. For those who are able to we are providing two options:
The homework sheet that was sent home last week to complete;
Otherwise, below is a link to our home learning instruction sheet that all students can work through over the two days at home. Home Learning Feb 2023.
The work can be done in their home learning books or on a device if this is preferred. Please share the link with your child and encourage them to work through the activities that have been prepared. The link to the home learning will also be accessible on our website, facebook page and school app. 
Alternatively, you can contact Whaea Mel who will send them through guidance on how to access the learning. mrobinson@bis.school.nz

Once again this is a last-minute disruption and we greatly appreciate your understanding and support of your child’s learning at home.

If there should be any changes to the information in this letter we will contact you, otherwise we will resume normal onsite school this Wednesday.

Please stay safe and we hope to be back in at school on Wednesday.

Kia Haumaru Tātou,

Whaea Mel and Whaea Katrina
Acting Principals
Birkdale Intermediate School

Week 1 – Term 1 – Newsletter

Please see our fortnightly newsletter to stay up to date with reminders, notices and highlights.

W1 – T1 – 2023

Board of Trustees Welcome to 2023

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FIRST DAY 7th Feb 2023

Dear Students/Whānau!

We are looking forward to finally seeing you on Tuesday 7th Feb! 

Year 7’s and new Yr 8– On the 7th Feb, you should aim to arrive at school around 8.30 am, dressed in your new uniform. If it is hot, don’t worry about bringing your sweatshirt, you can leave it at home. Sandals are the best option for the first month or so as it can be quite hot. On the first day it would be a good idea for you to look for a friend, so organise it before you come – especially where you may meet up. It is always nice to see a familiar face, especially if you are a bit nervous, which is absolutely normal. 

You will see student helpers to show you where your class is and there will also be teachers there to guide you to your whānau class. 

At 10.15 there will be a pōwhiri to welcome our new students. All parents/whānau are welcome and we would love to see as many of you there to welcome you also. 

THINGS TO KNOW: UNIFORM, PHONES & BUSES 

You will need to bring your school cap on the first day, this is an important part of your uniform for the summer terms in particular. School caps and other uniform items can be purchased at THE WAREHOUSE. PLEASE NOTE: Some uniform stock has been delayed due to supply issues. Please do your best and bring a note from home to let us know what you are waiting for. We do have some 2nd hand uniform that we can lend out if this is the case. 

Some other things you will need on your first day

Pens and pencils, eraser, colour pencils etc. Some refill or an exercise book – an old one with old pages cut out would be fine. Your PE gear might be needed because it will be hot and you will enjoy getting out of your uniform for a lesson. (Of course, you may not have PE on the first day, but it’s a good idea to be prepared!) Have all clothing named please – in permanent marker. If you need to bring a phone, please make sure to give this to your teacher as we do not allow phones during the day. Each class will have a safe that they are safely locked away in until the end of the day. Bring your lunch on the first day or buy it on the way. (Remember to bring your manners too! We love good manners)

If you catch the bus there will be plenty of teachers that will help to make sure you get on the right bus at the end of the day. So please do not worry.

See you Tuesday!

Katrina Bush & Mel Robinson

CREATIVE CREATURES

After School Art Programme

Thursday – school term days (3-4:30 pm). First session begins next week 9th February.

CLICK HERE TO ENROL (limited spaces available)

Preterm sale is extended until 7th February. Term, half and full year bookings available:

Aroha nui,

Whaea B (BIS Art Specialist Teacher)

lyndi@creativecreatures.co.nz

SCHOOL OPENING UPDATE

Kia ora Whānau

We hope you and your whānau have remained safe and dry during the last 48 hours. The Ministry of Education has just sent advice to schools, lifting the direction to close schools, instead, shifting the decision to open or close to the Board of Trustees, based on the context of each school. 

With this in mind, after consultation with our Presiding Member (Board Chair) and our local schools, we have decided to align ourselves with other schools in our cluster, and remain closed until 7th of February.  A few of our staff and some spaces in the school have been negatively impacted by this weather event, and if we were to open tomorrow we would not be able to have our full complement of teachers and support staff in front of classes. This would not be an ideal or safe start to the school year.

Whilst we are aware this will be disappointing news for some families, it is important that the health and safety of our school team and any families impacted by the recent weather event, is taken into consideration.  This will give them the time to clean up and be prepared for the new school year. 

Thank you for your support and understanding during this tricky time. See you all Tuesday 7th of February.   We are looking forward to seeing you all! 

Ngā mihi nui

UPDATE

Kia Ora whānau 

As you will know all schools in the Auckland region have been directed to close until February 7th. This is a decision that is out of our hands and is in the best interests of safety for all our communities. We will update where there are any changes and what they mean for our school community. 

School Start Date – Thursday 2nd Feb

Kia Ora whānau, 

We are aware that some of you and your friends and whānau will be facing difficulties right now and our thoughts are with you. What we do know is that this is an amazing community that pulls together in times of crisis. We are aware that some schools across the region may have to change their start dates due to health and safety concerns, however, we have assessed our situation thoroughly and at this stage, we will be welcoming our students on Thursday 2nd as planned. 

We will update you in response to any changing situations. 

Used/Second Hand Uniforms

Kia ora!

Our second hand uniform shop and Office are open today & tomorrow.

If you would like to donate/ koha any uniforms of ex students we would be very grateful as stocks are limited

Ngā mihi nui

Stationery, Uniform, School Payments and Notices 2023

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EFOMUzpSGe5pOfF_pk3rr4mtWbROrVBy/edit

A message from The Board of Birkdale Intermediate School

Ngā mihi o te tau hou ki a koutou katoa,

Following the resignation of our much-loved Principal JoAnne Sutton, the Board will be
commencing a collaborative recruitment campaign to appoint a permanent Principal for
Birkdale Intermediate School.
In the interim, the Board has completed an expression of interest process for the role of
Acting Principal. We were very fortunate to have experienced staff to consider for this role. 

We are pleased to announce that the Board has opted for a co-leadership arrangement, with
Mel Robinson and Katrina Bush being appointed as Acting Principals for Birkdale
Intermediate School.

For the past five years, Mel and Katrina have been instrumental deputy leaders supporting
JoAnne, the wider staff and community. Mel and Katrina work extremely well collaboratively
and bring many skills, experience, and knowledge of the school to the table. We are
confident that they have the leadership skills to support BIS through this transition phase.
It was crucial to the Board to ensure that the school has stability and continuity during this
time.  We want to assure you that your tamariki will continue to receive a quality education in
a caring environment.

The management team will be in touch in due course to update you on the term ahead. In
addition, we are conscious this change will mean a change to Whaea Mel’s whanau class,
and the team will be in touch with those whanau directly to discuss the plan for the term.

Thank you for your support and patience through this process.  
We look forward to welcoming your tamariki back to school on the 2nd of February.

Noho ora mai,
Rebecca (Presiding Member); Hone; Jenny; Lleuarne; Michelle and Shannon