One Year On ...

Since the devastating earthquake at 12:51pm on February 22nd, 2011 we have received help and support from many people and have learnt to be resilient and strong.


We commemorated this day at school by creating mosaics for our school Resilience Garden that is being established and will grow over the next few months.

First the tiles had to be broken into smaller pieces

Next the pieces of tile were glued to a base tile

Adding tile pieces to create a 'Helping Hand' mosaic

Everyone in the school got a turn to help create one of the tiles for our new Resilience Garden. We created 20 'Helping Hands' tiles to represent all the many different people, schools and organisations from around Aotearoa who helped us in lots of different ways.

We also created 6 large tiles representing different things - a large heart representing the aroha shown to us; a picture of the Cathedral to remember this iconic building that crumbled in the February quake; a large koru fern representing new beginnings; a sun to represent the bright future that lies ahead of us; two hands reaching out in front of a mound of earth with a seedling beginning to grow to represent the help and support we have to help us rebuild our lives; and lastly the Rise Up Christchurch symbol to represent our resilience, strength and determination to be strong and move on with our lives.

The large heart mosaic, ready for grouting

The tiles will be placed throughout the garden.

At 12:51pm we all gathered together to remember those who passed away or were injured or had their homes damaged. We observed a minute's silence.

Matua Te Rau & Mr Boyd planted the first tree in our Resilience Garden

Matua Te Rau said a karakia


Later on in the afternoon some kotiro from R2 made a giant heart in the sandpit.

Thermals to Keep Us Warm From Vulcan Steel

The children from Woolston School have been very lucky to receive a pack of lovely warm thermals donated by Vulcan Steel Ltd. The team from Vulcan Steel were worried that many of the students at our school are living in earthquake damaged homes that are cold and drafty and maybe have no heating. Some of our families are even living in caravans and tents as their homes are too damaged to live in.


Each pack was worth about $80. Every child received 4 navy thermals that can be worn under their school uniforms. Everyone also received other items including funky purple hats  and pink gloves for the junior girls; red scarves and thermal leggings for the senior girls; and beanies, longjohns and socks for the boys.


Have a look at the slideshow of us receiving our thermals.

What a very generous donation from Vulcan Steel. We thank you very much.

Christchurch Heart T-Shirts for Woolston School

On the 7th of June Deborah Kelland who designed the heart for Chch t-shirts, visited Woolston School to launch the red heart t-shirts. 

Chch heart t-shirts were created so that people outside of Christchurch could show us that we are in their hearts and to give us hope and money to help rebuild our lives. The t-shirts were also popular with people here in Christchurch, so Barbara designed the red t-shirts for the people of Christchurch.

Barbara and her crew visited Woolston School and gave every child and staff member a red 

t-shirt.

If you would like to buy one they are available in many Christchurch stores for just $10. 

We love our Chch heart t-shirts!

Woolston School Has Reopened

Woolston School reopened on Thursday, June 16th following the 5.6 & 6.3 earthquakes on Monday, June 13th.

Once again our buildings have stood up to the battering and our students and staff have shown how resilient they are. 

On Thursday morning we went ahead with our planned Matariki activities to celebrate the Māori New Year. As you can see from the slideshow below, there were some fun things to do, including: poi making, painting mauri stones, games, craft activities, jewellery making, team building activities, making Gods eyes, gardening, sports and making Matariki stars, woven baskets and fans.

School to Reopen on Thursday, June 16th

Following yesterday's 5.7 and 6.3 earthquakes the school has been inspected by structural engineers and we have been given the clearance to reopen on Thursday, June 16th after the small amount of silt is water blasted and roped off at the back of the school.


All students will need to bring water bottles filled with boiled drinking water as our drinking fountains will be turned off until further notice. We currently only have a very limited supply of drinking water available at school.

We hope that you and your whānau are all okay and your houses have not suffered too much more damage. If you know of any families who have been displaced or are in need of some extra support please let the school know so we can see how we might get some assistance for them.

Bedtime Beanies!

On the 18th May some lovely ladies came to our kura to give every student a beanie. 

The beanies had been knitted by people all over New Zealand for children in Christchurch.

The idea started with a lady in New Brighton who realised that since the February 22 earthquake many Christchurch children would be living in cold homes, many without heating, this coming winter.

The New Brighton group had a philosophy:

"A lot of our body heat leaves through the head – keep the head warm and the body stays warm. 

The goal is to provide the children in our district with a “Bedtime Beanie”, a soft and comfortable bed hat, to wear each night."

We are very grateful to all the people who knitted the beanies for us. There were all sorts of styles and colours  so we were able to choose one that just suited us perfectly.

WE LOVE OUR BEANIES!

THANK YOU

Schoolathon

Recently Woolston School was asked to launch the Schoolathon initiative.
We sung our school song to welcome our visitors.
It happened to be be Pink Shirt Day, Anti-bullying Day, so lots of the students were wearing pink.
Some of the students from Kererū 2 read out their descriptive earthquake poems which vividly captured many of the sights, sounds and feelings they experienced on February 22.
Finally, Ruru 2 performed the rap they had written to help them come to terms with the devastating effects of the February 22 earthquake. They are a bilingual class, so had studied the story of Ruaumoko, god of earthquakes. Their teacher had lost his house and all his possessions, so had to temporarily move north, and they were awaiting his return, while in the meantime the Deputy Principal taught their class.
Click on this link to see some of the poems being read and the Ruru 2 rap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQQOICMLm_k

Woolston School Would Like to Thank Everyone For All Their Help After the Christchurch Earthquake on Feb 22, 2011

Custom Glitter Text

The tamariki from Woolston School would like to thank everyone who has helped us to recover after the Christchurch February 22nd earthquake.

Each class helped to make the letters to hang on our fence and also made a large poster to express their thanks. 

We then displayed all the posters together on the end wall of our library.

School To Reopen on Monday

We are all looking forward to school reopening on Monday March 21st at 9:00am.
Our classrooms have been thoroughly checked by several teams of structural engineers and deemed to be undamaged and safe for us to return to.
Our new buildings especially, stood up to the shaking extremely well.


On Monday we also welcome tamariki and staff from Te Waka Huruhurumanu ki Ōtautahi, a local pre-school, who will be sharing our site until they again have access to their own buildings which are located just within the cordoned off CBD.


We have also had to lose two of our relocatable classrooms which were not being used for regular class programmes. These classrooms have been moved to Cashmere High School. Pupils from Linwood College will be hosted at Cashmere High School in the afternoons while their school is repaired so some of our ex-pupils will recognise the classrooms when they commence there, one of which has a graphic reminder of where it has come from on its end wall!

Preparing the classroom for removal.

This classroom takes with it a graphic memory of Woolston School.

Mrs Maher's old classroom, ready for its journey to Cashmere High School.

Custom Glitter Text


Today many of our students who are still in Christchurch, their families and friends, came to school to have a fun day, reuniting with each other in preparation for school reopening on Monday, March 21st.

There were lots of fun activities to do. Have a look at these photos:

Darkest Hour - by Poem

Have a look at this You Tube video. The song was written by one of our ex pupils, Rua Morgan aka Poem. 

He is now residing in Sydney and has just become a proud dad.

Well done Rua. Tēnā rawa atu koe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F4RF390dIk

Natural Disasters

Find out more about Natural Disasters in New Zealand.

This link shows you what to do in a range of natural disasters and some historical facts by region.

We strongly recommend that your family has a plan for each type of emergency. Have a safe meeting place for when you are all at home or when you are scattered over the city - where will each family member go to keep safe?

http://www.whatstheplanstan.govt.nz/mcdem/index.html

Latest Update for School Reopening

W O O L S T O N   R E O P E N I N G   P L A N S

Info to date:

·      We are yet (8/02/11) to get clearance for adults to be on site at school.

·      A Level 2 structural engineers report has been commissioned by the MoE after our initial report identified some areas needing reviewed.

·      Our project manager has already organized a builder to come in and carry out a number of remedial repairs.  Lights & heaters have been reconnected to our ceilings, racked doors realigned, broken windows repaired.

·      Liquefaction has been cleared from the site

·      1000 liter Water tank of clean purified drinkable water delivered to school on 9/02/11

·      MoE sourcing portaloos as back up if sewerage system not operating when school returns.

 Where to next:

·      Once a structural engineering report is forwarded to the MoE that indicates our premises are safe I can complete an application to the MoE for ADULTS to be onsite.

·      We then need staff to come in and assist in the clean up

·      Cracked windows need to be taped, liquefaction residue cleaned and full internal clean.

·      Drink fountains to be turned off by plumber prior to students returning.

·      Assessing staff personal situations, availability, state of mind and ability to fulfill their responsibilities to students.

·      Complete reopening plan.

Supporting Our Children

The  Ministry of Education Website  (www.minedu.govt.nz) has the following message to parents and educators

The Christchurch earthquake has been frightening for everyone involved especially for children who may not understand what has happened. Children will try to make sense of what has happened and adjust to the changes that have happened to their homes and schools. Parents and teachers are very important supports for children.

How children respond to the earthquake depends on you and your ability to re-establish some familiar routines and explain calmly what has happened and why change is occurring (even though you might be feeling very stressed). You may need to explain this over and over again. Children might:

• want to be with you all the time and be a bit clingy
• need more reassurance than usual
• be scared that the big earthquake is going to happen again
• be tired and have trouble sleeping and eating
• be more frustrated and impatient than usual.

Be aware that children are most afraid that:

• the event will happen again, buildings and other things will fall down
• someone might be injured or killed
• they will be separated from you or the family
• they will be left alone.

The earthquake will result in a range of reactions and questions from toddlers, children and young people depending on their experience of the earthquake. Talking and listening is very important. Let your child/students know that you will all look after each other. It is important for parents and caregivers to give lots of cuddles and hugs.

School Closed Until Further Notice

Regardless of what you have heard, Christchurch Schools are CLOSED until further notice, and definitely closed for the rest of the week.

This edict comes directly from Civil Defence. Civil Defence controls all decision making during the National State of Emergency that currently exists. Their edict is definitive, and must be followed. If their ruling changes, we will tell you.

          The February 22 earthquake has shaken us all.

          Fortunately all our staff and students were unhurt and our buildings stood up to the  

          quake with minimal  damage.

          Our playground has gone from being a flat surface to a rolling, undulating playground.

          We hope all our students and their families are coping okay and have somewhere safe 

          to stay.

      

        

Art Week Fun

The aftershocks have continued since we have been back at school this week, but when we are busy most of us do not notice them. Everyone is staying calm, but we all know what to do when we notice a big shake.
Doing all our art activities has certainly helped to take our minds off the aftershocks we are getting.
Here are some of the activities students in the school are involved in:
Mask Making - Year 4    
                  Sculptures - Year 5
      Murals - Year 3 - 8     
Lino prints - Year 7 & 8
    Landscape Painting - Year 1
  Paper Mache Fish - Year 6 & 7
     Aboriginal Art - Year 2
Mosaics - Year 3 - 8
       Mounted Art - Year 5 - 8
Canvas Painting - Year 3

What We Did Well After The Quake

After the Quake

Students who returned to school today were happy to be back amongst their friends and to see how well our school stood up to the quake. Another positive for us was to see how much progress had been made on our new buildings while we had been away during last week. The walls of the administration block are now up and the roof of the junior classroom is nearly ready to go on.

It was also exciting to begin our Art Week activities and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine.

Here a few of the our students, staff and whanau experimenting with ideas using pavement chalk.

Back to School