Digital Safety Guidelines - final draft

Please find below the final draft for our Digital Safety Guidelines for our school. This document has been in draft form for the last couple of weeks as we've asked for feedback from parents. We've considered the feedback and included it as follows in this document:

1. One suggestion was to make the student rules more positive as they read as a long list of 'do nots'. We've altered most of the rules for students - some (eg. do not look up inappropriate material on the Internet), remain as do nots!
2. Another query related to the legality of us asking for student and parent signatures on a document that could be seen as a legal document (as it is signed), and would therefore require re-signing after every revision. Our intention in requiring a signature is to ensure the document is given importance. We've decided to only ask for a complete re-signing if the content is dramatically altered. We've also decided to give families adequate notice of any upcoming revisions and improvements to the document.

Below is the final draft document which will be put out for signing by every student and family day one of Term Two. If you want to be ahead of the game you may download the document here, prior to it coming home.

Keeping Ourselves Safe Parent Seminar 10 Nov

Dear whānau,

On Thursday we had 13 parents attend the seminar about our Keeping Ourselves Safe programme. This is a national programme run in conjunction wth schools and NZ Police. We hope you found it useful and interesting in your role of supporting the staff to help our children learn to be more safe as they learn and grow. Here is the presentation for those who were unable to make it:

Thanks to Chris Thurlow for supporting this important topic for our parents and children. Meg Moynihan, our community constable, begins the programme today.

Keeping Ourselves Safe Parent Seminar - Thursday 10 Nov 2-3pm

This is one of the booklets
that teachers work with.

We are running a seminar for parents to give an overview of this important topic which the entire school is focussed on from week 3. 

KOS is a personal safety programme and we will share what it is, why it is important and what is taught. We require minimum 10 parents to run this seminar because we run this in conjunction with NZ Police. More information about KOS in next weeks newsletter or www.police.govt.nz

RSVP via www.burnham.school.nz/facebook or admin@burnham.school.nz or 347 6851

Safety Update - All Clear

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Important Safety Notice - All Clear Dear parents/caregivers, We have been informed by the CDHB that the case of Meningitis in our school community is in fact a viral strain of the disease. It is now safe to bring your child(ren) back to school if you need to get to work, even if they have not been immunised. Please note our usual procedures for sickness always apply - ie. if your child is unwell then you should keep him/her at home and inform the office. We've checked with the Community Health, CDHB and the Department of Health and our advice earlier was in line with best practices. Once again, please remind your child about the following personal hygene practices: Not sharing a drink bottle or food Washing hands thoroughly Coughing or sneezing into your elbow Please ask if you have further questions or concerns and thank you for your patience and cooperation in this matter. Yours truly, Rob Clarke & Jackie Freeman On behalf of the Burnham School Board of Trustees Signs & Symptoms Meningococcal disease is a bacterial infection that can affect anyone. Babies, young children, teenagers and young adults are at greatest risk. It can cause two very serious illnesses: septicaemia (blood poisoning) and meningitis (an infection of the brain membranes). There are different strains of the bacteria. The B strain is the most common in New Zealand. Meningococcal disease can look like a case of influenza in its early stages, but it quickly gets much worse. The symptoms may not all show up at once. Tell your doctor if you have any of the following signs and/or symptoms: fever and headache vomiting sleepiness, confusion, delirium or unconsciousness a stiff neck and sensitivity to bright lights joint pain and aching muscles a rash or spots (show your doctor). Meningococcal disease can progress very quickly. Don’t wait – take action.  If someone in your household is sick with one or more of the symptoms identified above, you should contact a doctor or medical centre immediately, no matter what time of the day or night. More information: http://www.moh.govt.nz/meningococcal http://www.kidshealth.org.nz/index.php/ps_pagename/contentpage/pi_id/95 Links Burnham School Home Burnham School Facebook Burnham School Photos Principal Blog Burnham School Newsletters Burnham School Calendar Burnham Helping Hands Noticeboard Respect - Achievement - Responsibility - Strength/Self-Belief Whaikoha - Angitu - Tikanga - Whakapono/Wairua/Tuturu  Te Kura o Tiori - Burnham School Chaytor Ave, Burnham t: 03 347 6851 e: admin@burnham.school.nz w: www.burnham.school.nz Ka tu to kura hei whakahoa te akoranga - Our school is a place for partnership in learning.

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Important Safety Update

Important Safety Notice Dear parents/caregivers, We have a confirmed case of Meningitis in our school community. This case is likely to be the viral strain of the disease, however this is not yet confirmed. The child concerned is currently safe in hospital and is well cared for. Our advice is as follows: We are erring on the side of caution and so advise you to keep your child at home if they are unwell during the coming week. If your child has not been immunised, then we advise you to keep your child(ren) at home pending further advice from the Ministry of Health tomorrow. Please also remind your child about the following personal hygene practices: Not sharing a drink bottle or food Washing hands thoroughly Coughing or sneezing into your elbow We have informed the Pre-School, BOOST, Burnham Kindergarten, as well as the Communications Manager of the camp so that our community can be aware and take necessary steps. Please read below for signs and symptoms so that you are able to help us maintain student, staff and parent health and safety. Please ask if you have further questions or concerns. Yours truly, Rob Clarke & Jackie Freeman On behalf of the Burnham School Board of Trustees Signs & Symptoms Meningococcal disease is a bacterial infection that can affect anyone. Babies, young children, teenagers and young adults are at greatest risk. It can cause two very serious illnesses: septicaemia (blood poisoning) and meningitis (an infection of the brain membranes). There are different strains of the bacteria. The B strain is the most common in New Zealand. Meningococcal disease can look like a case of influenza in its early stages, but it quickly gets much worse. The symptoms may not all show up at once. Tell your doctor if you have any of the following signs and/or symptoms: fever and headache vomiting sleepiness, confusion, delirium or unconsciousness a stiff neck and sensitivity to bright lights joint pain and aching muscles a rash or spots (show your doctor). Meningococcal disease can progress very quickly. Don’t wait – take action.  If someone in your household is sick with one or more of the symptoms identified above, you should contact a doctor or medical centre immediately, no matter what time of the day or night. More information: http://www.moh.govt.nz/meningococcal http://www.kidshealth.org.nz/index.php/ps_pagename/contentpage/pi_id/95 Links Burnham School Home Burnham School Facebook Burnham School Photos Principal Blog Burnham School Newsletters Burnham School Calendar Burnham Helping Hands Noticeboard Respect - Achievement - Responsibility - Strength/Self-Belief Whaikoha - Angitu - Tikanga - Whakapono/Wairua/Tuturu  Te Kura o Tiori - Burnham School Chaytor Ave, Burnham t: 03 347 6851 e: admin@burnham.school.nz w: www.burnham.school.nz Ka tu to kura hei whakahoa te akoranga - Our school is a place for partnership in learning.

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Encouraging Positive Behaviour

Recently I've been reflecting on some of the media attention that was focussed last term on the issue of bullying. This was the result of some rather nasty stuff that happened in the north island. You may have noticed some of this discussion. I agree with our Minister of Education's statement:

"...bullying does not occur solely on school grounds, but I do believe that schools have a leadership role to play in their communities on this issue." [stuff.co.nz 5 May]

We want everyone to be safe at our school and we take this issue extremely seriously. In fact, all schools in New Zealand are charged with ensuring a safe physical and emotional environment for children and staff (refer to National Administration Guidelines 5 for further reading). It is timely to remind you of some of the key messages relating to this:

What is bullying? Bullying is ongoing persistent behaviour that is negative towards another person or people. It can be verbal, physical, emotional and includes digital communication such as email/chat. While it can lead from a one-off interaction, it is generally negative behaviour that is ongoing or continuous.

How do we help children cope if it occurs? Children are coached in a range of ways to effectively deal with issues as they arise. We ask children to report negative behaviours they can't deal with themselves to a safe adult. We support students (and family if need be) in the most appropriate way and this could happen in a wide range of ways following our discipline policy. As part of our curriculum we teach Kia Kaha and Keeping Ourselves Safe programmes alternate years which allow us to explore these issues in depth to empower children to deal with them in positive and healthy ways.

How can parents/family help with this? We ask parents to reassure children to tell a safe adult as soon as possible so action can be taken to ensure their child is safe. We encourage families to use our school values of Respect and Responsibility when dealing with issues such as these. As always, if you have concerns please come and speak to us so we can help resolve them with you.

As an aside, when doing some background reading about bullying, I discovered that the word 'bullying' actually used to mean sweetheart! Who would have thought that!!

I think teaching our children to be resilient, confident and assertive when faced with adversity is really crucial in helping them learn to effectively deal with problems. It is also an important part of growing up and becoming independent and mature. This ties in with our goal for student learning for children to be self-directed learners as well as being prepared for the future (these are two elements of our vision for student learning). This secondary student is someone who epitomises taking positive action on this issue.

Here is our school procedure relating to bullying, it includes links to our behaviour management procedure and other useful references.

What do you think? Feel free to send us your views or make comments on this blog post.

Here are some good links I've come across relating to bullying. They include books, web sites, downloads and more.

Speed lowering trial outside Burnham School

We've just been informed that the Selwyn District Council are installing a speed lowering sign as a trial for one year outside our school! This is great news! The sign looks like the one in the picture. Our thanks to Carolyn Bennison, the local Schools Travelwise Co-ordinator, for her great work in helping our communities become safer for our young people

Acts of Kindness

Staff and volunteers have worked hard to ensure the school is a safe and nurturing environment as children learn to cope with the aftershocks and how to Drop, Cover & Hold. We've had support from a number of people who I'd like to acknowledge: Steve, Tracy, Zoe, Kelly from BOOST, Paul K, Joe M, Ange and Kala, Jackie, Liz, Sue, Joe T who supplied us with some soldiers who made a huge difference.

The support we received last Friday gave the staff time to prepare for opening this Monday. We've also had additional staff on deck this week to support where required. Please welcome Melissa Lewthwaite as an additional Teacher Aide in our school until the end of term. Melissa is on loan to us from Halswell Residential College.

Burnham School would like to thank the personnel from the New Zealand Defense Forces for their support in helping with clean up after the recent earthquakes. In addition to this support, Plimmerton School has sent us care packages and cards. We greatly appreciate these acts of kindness. Thank you, your support makes a huge difference!

School Closure - Update 6 - Ready for Action

Just a quick update for everyone. The school is safe and the physical environment has had a thorough clean up today. Huge thanks to the staff team who came in to work the day, as well as a number of parents, BOOST staff, as well as a number of soldiers who helped out. Without this help we may not have been in a position to re-open on Monday.

Now the physical environment is safe and tidied, we turn to supporting, nurturing and strengthening our emotional environment. The team have had a full staff meeting this afternoon to look at the timetable for Monday which is published for you to see, as well as strategies for ensuring we are best-prepared to help our children transition back to school.

We've got access to Ministry of Education and Army camp resources and services for supporting adults and young people who are dealing with trauma. We've also got additional staff on deck on Monday and may have more if required during the week. Our camp padre, Leon O'Flynn, is available to parents on Monday 2-3pm for a chat in the library if you wish, as am I as the principal.

Any parent/caregiver wishing to join their child or children during the day is most welcome, as long as you first sign in at the office. Our procedures are rigorous and we will be training children how to cope in the unlikely event we encounter further events. This training is future-focussed and aims to support children to be prepared and know how to respond. It will also ensure children can talk if they wish to which will help process and move through any trauma.

This is an excellent site to explore with the kids!

We will be posting resources for parents on our web site, along with some homework for the weekend leading up to school on Monday. For Monday all children need to bring and we will be asking for:

1. A full water bottle for drinking.
2. Every family to confirm their contact details including mobile numbers, emails, and emergency contact details. You will be given a slip to confirm or amend.

Rob and the team.

Success! Lowering the Speed Zone on Godley Road

AWESOME!!!!

We've just been informed that the Selwyn District Council (SDC) have moved to lower the speed zone around all schools in our district to 50km/hour! This is a major achievement in improving the safety of our school community.

Ironic - the site I got this image
from reports a lowering of speed zones
dating back to 2001... hmmm.

This has been a long, drawn-out issue which has not had success for a number of years for our school. I'm delighted to announce that we've finally done it. A huge thank you to Amy Adams, MP for Selwyn District, for her tireless support and in championing this safety issue for our schools and community. Thank you also to everyone in our community who signed the 4,100 strong petition (across the district) and Commander Phil McKee who also supports our cause.

Click the title of this post or here to download the report from SDC explaining the decision.

Further reading and more here...

Photo from our unsuccessful meeting at SDC earlier this year.

Speed Zone Petition for Selwyn District Schools

Amy Adams, the local MP for Selwyn District, is leading a petition across our community which is aimed at lowering the speed zone outside our schools. Our BOT has tried for a number of years to get the Selwyn District Council to lower the speed zone down Godley Road and has only had it lowered to 75km/hr.

We believe this is far too high and so this request is a bit of a 'no-brainer' in my view. We also have the support of Colonel Phil McKee on this issue. We have distributed petition sheets to the Four Square and BOOST and encourage you to sign them. If that doesn't work, you can sign a virtual petition online at this link:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/schoolspeedzonesselwyn/

The petition is due to be presented to the SDC on June 14th. There is more detail from Amy below...

Amy Adams, MP for Selwyn, has launched a petition to the Selwyn District Council for a reduction of speed outside schools in the Selwyn electorate. 

 A number of schools still have a speed limit of 100kmh outside their school gates, and Ms Adams is aiming for the speed outside all schools to be no more than 50 km/h.

 “How can we expect people to slow down and be prepared for a child when they are permitted to go past a school gate at 100kmh?” says Ms Adams. “The last thing any driver wants to do is hit someone, especially a child.”

The wording of the petition is: We, the undersigned, request the Selwyn District Council to reduce the speed limit to no more than 50 km/h during pick up and drop off times outside all schools in the Selwyn District.
By clicking on this link, you are able to add your name to this petition on-line.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/schoolspeedzonesselwyn/

As the legislation stands, local authorities have the power to decide what speed limits should be in and around rural schools. “I regularly hear from principals, teachers, parents and pupils, who all identify speed on rural roads as one of their greatest safety concerns for schoolchildren,” says Amy Adams.
“Rural councils have told me that they're worried that there is little justification for large reductions in speed. They are hesitant to reduce speeds around schools because they worry about a backlash from drivers.” “It isn't good enough to put convenience before the safety of our children. Our communities are calling for this, and council should be delivering.”

 When children are crossing there can be high volumes of traffic, manoeuvring vehicles, and parked vehicles obscuring visibility. Each year between 2001 and 2005, around 500 child pedestrians and cyclists were injured or killed each year during school terms. Speed limits play a fundamental role in effective speed management to encourage, help and require road users to adopt appropriate and safe speeds. Getting drivers to reduce their speed near schools is important, especially as it significantly increases a child's chances of surviving an accident.

 The Ministry of Transport states: “The faster drivers are going the more difficult it is to avoid hitting a pedestrian in their path. An alert driver travelling at 50km/h will travel 30 metres after reaction/braking before coming to a complete stop. The same driver travelling at a 100km/h will move five metres further than this before even reacting and, once braking has started, will travel a further 69 metres before coming to a complete stop.
The speed at which pedestrians are struck is vitally important in determining how seriously they will be injured. Pedestrians stuck at 32 km/h have a 95 percent chance of survival. If they are struck at 48 km/h their survival chance decreases to 55 percent. Finally, once the impact speed reaches 70km/h the survival chance is virtually zero.”

Please sign this petition, which will be presented to the Selwyn District Council on June 14.
Hard copy versions are available for signing at Rolleston and Lincoln New World, and all school offices in the Selwyn District. This petition can be signed by anyone, regardless of age.