Kia ora Otaika Valley parents/caregivers,
AG ANIMALS – awesome
Take a look at our six lambs at school today. It is fantastic to see animals back at school and growing in numbers, 6 lambs and 1 goat. Lady the goat is hiding in the background doing what goats love to do, standing on a log. These hungry little creatures thought they were going to get a feed from me while I was taking a photo for the newsletter. There are a few other lambs been registered, with one of those waiting until it is feeling better before coming to school. Each owner signs a declaration stating they will keep their animals at home if they have runny poo’s etc, not well or have illnesses. Words to that effect. This helps us keep our pasture clean and healthy. Thank you for continuing to do this.
We have two calves registered from one family from one farm, which makes managing mycoplasma bovis simple. Nobody else has responded to my messages about bringing calves. It will be fantastic to see these two calves at school this year. Information about animal registration is posted on this website under Ag Day and Flower Show and registration forms are kept on the wall in the office.
Ag and Flower Show Day will not look the same if we are still in Level 2, but I am determined that the children who raise an animal get the opportunity to show and share them. I will inform you about the changes to the programme for level 2, if we are still in this situation.
School Cross Country
Today we made a decision to run our school cross country event at Otaika Valley School on Monday 7th of September. If we are under level 2 this will mean strict distancing rules and crowd numbers. Parents will be able to enter the school grounds, just as they are now, use the contact trace app and write their names in our register. Due to the rules of social distancing for parents we will require parents on site only to watch their child’s race. Parents will need to be in designated cheering, encouraging viewing areas. A detailed timetable and instructions will come out next week. This organisation will not be perfect for everyone, but in these times we will do the best we can.
The children getting to run their cross country will be the most important outcome.
Playground Improvements – working bee
Last Sunday, Brendan Oakden (Board of Trustees – property) organised Gareth Burke and Matt Macdonald and myself to complete the existing playground fix up jobs. This work was funded by Oxford Sports Trust, which allowed us to get the playground back to the legal requirements for playgrounds. These funds paid for replacement decking for the platforms and the wood on the elevated tunnel, the impact mats, the wood for the swing bridge and new attachments. We now have thick black mats on the decks with overhead apparatus, which makes them much safer for any falls. The flying fox has been totally replaced (covered by Oxford Sports Trust) and is now in full operation. The children are loving using this. It has been a pleasure to watch them sharing and trying a few tricks. I would like to acknowledge the Oxford Sports Trust for the grant to make this work happen. The children love it.
This work has been delayed due to Covid-19, delivery delays and wet weather. Liam a student of the school worked very hard unbolting most of the bolts on the tunnel for the dads to replace. A big job and slightly technical. Thanks Liam, your skills with tools were evident on the day. Jordan another student was also here giving moral support and eating the sausages and chips I cooked for the workers (I think I ate more than Matt?).
We just got the job done before the weather completely pack up. All of us were pretty wet by the end of the day.
Now that this stage of the playground is complete we will get to the more exciting part of extending the playground and putting in some drainage to stop the mud forming. More on this soon.
Thanks to Brendan for pulling this all together and the already mentioned helpers. Well done.
Regards
Terry
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