Kia ora ngaa whaanau o Cambridge East kura 

We are deep into the Term now and Inquiry Learning is in full swing with our Local Stories and Aotearoa New Zealand Histories at the forefront of class lessons and even a trip down to the Local Museum for our Year 3-6 learners, which just happened to be the Native Land Court, which brought much activity from 1866 dealing with serious issues around Maaori land ownership in the aftermath of the war. I have enjoyed watching the learning we have done as a Kaahui Ako (Community of Learning) to help shape this inquiry, along with how our knowledge has grown, providing our learners with a spiral up of new knowledge each time we run this Inquiry. 

Next year is going to look different around here, especially for me, as my right-hand person has made the decision to move on. It is with sadness that I need to share the news that Philippa Burchett (Pip), Deputy Principal, will be leaving us at the end of this year. 
Pip has been instrumental in the development of not only the curriculum but also our Learning Ethos that underpins everything we do at Cambridge East School. Her passion for Inquiry Learning and developing systems to ensure students become “agents” for their own learning has been unwaning. This gives learners the skills to be curious, ask questions, and inquire about finding their own answers to their questions. Pip is also the driver of student achievement, developing student tracking that the ERO (Education Review Office) is in awe of - so much so that they have sent other schools to us to learn how to track the progress of their students.

The other area that Pip has worked hard to develop is our SENCo (Special Education Needs Co-ordinator) role. She took over this role after working with Maree Woodall (how lucky were we to have Maree here) and has worked closely with Gillian Trower to ensure our school and learners have been able to access all the available support. The SENCo role is often an unseen role within the school that is hours of work with often little reward. 

We will certainly miss Pip’s voice of reason and calm influence around the table during times of pressure, like times of uncertainty during COVID. While Pip hasn’t decided where she will land next, I know she will add value in a new setting in the near future. I would like to personally thank Pip for her support over the last decade, 10 years! That is a long time, and we appreciate her commitment to making Cambridge East a better place for learners. She epitomises our (and the Ministry’s) number one goal, “Learner at the Centre” in everything she does. 

While Pip’s news is a big change for us in 2025, it is not the only change. At our last Board meeting, we agreed to change the current structure of our school to align with the new Curriculum expectations that are coming in at the beginning of next year. The change is from a 2-year cycle across current Curriculum Levels, for example we currently have Year 1 and 2 at Level 1 of the curriculum, Year 3 and 4 Level 2 of the curriculum and Year 5 and 6 align to Level 3 of the curriculum. Moving forward, Years 1, 2 and 3 will be part of Phase One of the curriculum and Years 4, 5 and 6 as Phase Two. To be honest, the new curriculum is a lot more specific in terms of what needs to be taught at each of the Year Groups as each of the phases are broken into clear Learning Progressions for each Year Level. While we are already using Learning Progressions we will need to review ours to match that of the curriculum, the big change is with the Year 3’s will move to being part of Timatanga, our Junior Syndicate, from the beginning of 2025. This is something we had signalled to the community as a possibility at our Centre Information evening last year due changes to the curriculum.

So what does it mean? It means the curriculum will now align better with developmental research that indicates that education needs to look different for learners under 7, and also reinforces our anecdotal observations that Year 3 is a tough year for learners into the senior end of the school, many aren’t simply ready for this and are very young when entering the “senior” end of the school. We welcome this change. 

In 2025, Te Puna (Rooms 19-22) will become our Year 3 centre and be a part of Timatanga (Junior Syndicate). These spaces were deliberately set up for this age group of learners when they were built. We will always aim to have straight Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3 classes, but numbers often dictate we need to have a split-year group class. Next year is no different, with the need for a Year 2/3 split class. 

So what impact does that have on the Senior Syndicate? We will be back to two pathways from 2025, Koru our more traditional spaces and Auaha our collaborative spaces with learners from Year 4,5 and 6. This will ensure we are able to deliver Phase Two of the Curriculum over the 3 year period. It means we will require split classes, either Year 4 and 5, along with Year 5 and 6. This will mean some changes, and it will take us some time to understand the impact of these changes fully, but we will be ready to meet the new expectations of curriculum delivery from 2025.

One of the other discussion points at the Board Meeting was around camps and the feedback received from the community in our latest survey. There was support from the community to continue with camps as part of our EOTC programme (see response graphs below).

We are mindful of the cost of camps, which have increased significantly in the last two years. In the future we will ensure we indicate costs early and provide payment opportunities for whaanau (families) as they can be a big financial hit at the beginning of the year. 

With the above news, moving to a Three-Year Cycle for Phase Two means we will need to review our current two-year cycle, which includes Beach Education and Education Outside the Classroom (EOTC) Camps. For some whaanau, this will alleviate the feeling that some of our Year 3s are too young to go on camp.

We will be sending out a future survey, only a small one, to gather the community's thoughts on whether to stick with Beach Education, Camp and add a third option, or completely review our EOTC programme with different experiences altogether. With moving to a Three-Year cycle we will need to explore other activity options and would love to hear your ideas on what we could add in - look out for our survey coming soon by email! 

I would like to say a big thank you to our community for their financial contribution towards camps and EOTC activities, as we do rely on this support to ensure we can continue to offer these experiences. Unfortunately, as a school, we do not qualify for the Ministry of Education Donation Scheme to help cover these costs.

Further Staffing News

As already communicated with Room 11 whaanau, we have unfortunately had to say goodbye to Miss Caron Purvis. We would like to thank Miss Purvis’s dedication and hard work over the past 3 years and wish her all the very best for her future. 

We have been extremely lucky to have someone of Mrs Wendy Maher's expertise who has been working with Room 11 for the last seven weeks. On hearing of Caron’s departure, Mrs Maher immediately made herself available to ensure continuity for our learners in Room 11. This dedication goes above and beyond our expectations, but we simply applaud it as it is the best outcome for these learners. 

While we wish to acknowledge and thank Miss Caron Purvis, we also like to thank Mrs Wendy Maher for her commitment. 

We would also like to welcome back Ms Jodie Malone who is working alongside Miss Kate Findlay in Room 15 and working towards opening up Room 16 over the next couple of weeks. We are lucky enough to have had Jodie complete practicums with us, along with her three boys attending Cambridge East in the past, which gives her an insight on how we operate. With the pressures on teaching stocks, we are very lucky to have Ms Malone join us. 

Ngaa mihi nui

Hamish Fenemor
Principal

We are proudly supporting Daffodil Day tomorrow by dressing up in YELLOW! Our Student Leaders will be collecting donations to go towards this great cause tomorrow morning.

Whole School Cross Country - Thursday, 5 September
Our Whole School Cross Country will be held on Thursday, 5 September this year and we encourage you all to come along and support your tamariki (child), they love hearing their whaanau (family) cheer on the sidelines! Please click here to give permission for your child to attend the school cross country at Lake Te Koo Utu on 5 September.

Salvation Army Food Drive
We have been approached by Cambridge High School Extension 4 Class who are working with the Salvation Army and Cambridge Community House to run a Cambridge-wide Schools Food Drive. Please refer to the poster at the end of this newsletter for more information. Non-perishable food items are being collected in the school office NOW! Thank you for supporting our community.

School Shirts
A reminder that school shirts area available for purchase from the school office. It is now compulsory for every Cambridge East School learner to have a school shirt for school trips and offsite events. Pop in and see Rhiannon or Casey to have your child fitted, or drop the office an email (office@cambridgeeast.school.nz) if you would like us to fit your child for you. Payment for uniform will be due on the day of purchase unless you have an automatic payment set up with the school.

2025 Term Dates
2025 Term Dates are available on our website under the "Important Dates" button on the home page.

Empty Cereal Boxes Needed
If you have any empty cereal boxes, or similar, at home we'd love to have them for an art project some of our learners are doing! Please drop them into the school office - thank you!

Pizza Lunches - the PTA hold a Pizza Lunch each fortnight on a Friday. Tomorrow’s pizza lunch orders have now closed, but keep an eye on your emails or our website calendar for the next Pizza Lunch due to be held on Friday, 13 September. Orders always close on the Wednesday before the Pizza Lunch.

Entertainment Book - Grab your Entertainment Book online at www.entertainmentnz.com and choose Cambridge East School as your fundraiser - 20% of your purchase goes directly to support our school!

PTA Meeting - the next PTA meeting will be held on Monday, 2 September at 7pm in the school staffroom. If you would like to come along we’d love to see you! We’re always looking for more volunteers to help us with our fundraising efforts. You can also email us at: pta@cambridgeeast.school.nz if you’d like to get in touch.

Our Student Management System, Edge, have made some big changes recently, including providing an app for our parents to use to view their child's attendance and school report, pay their school account, and advise us of an absence. We have attached a copy of their information document below to help you set up their App or Parent Portal.

Year 6 CMS Orientation Day - Wednesday, 4 September - our Year 6 teachers will be accompanying our Year 6 learners along to the Cambridge Middle School Orientation Day on Wednesday, 4 September. This is another great opportunity for our Year 6’s to have a look at CMS and all it has to offer. 

2025 CMS Enrolments - Please click here to enrol your Year 6 child at CMS for 2025 (if they are attending). If you have not yet completed your child's 2025 CMS enrolment it is now overdue and needs to be done as a matter of urgency. If you are unable to complete an online enrolment, please call into Cambridge Middle School to complete an enrolment form.

 Koru 1  

Koru 3  

Koru 4 

 Room 10 

Room 11 

Room 12 

Room 13 

Room 14 

Room 15 

Auaha M