Term 4: Welcome Back!

News Article: The Return of Ruapotaka School by J.Nevalagi 

Yesterday, primary students and teachers all over Auckland were finally allowed to return to school after their longest covid-enforced lockdown since 2020. Schools are allowed to open on a part-time basis. The rules for opening are decided by the individual school's leadership team and Board of Trustees. Ruapotaka School will be open from 10.00am to 2.00pm, Monday to Friday, to all students. This is allowed because they have a low number of students per class. 

School communities still need to do their best to follow the government's rules because Auckland is still at Alert Level 3. Rules such as social distancing, allocated spaces for play and frequent hand washing and sanitising are common practise. This is to minimise and limit everyone's possible exposure to covid. 

Most of the students who returned to Ruapotaka seemed to enjoy being reunited with their friends. The mood in classrooms and play areas was a mixture of excitement, happiness and a bit of lockdown fatigue. School lunches are still being provided by the New Zealand government. 

There are still some families yet to return. Home learning will continue for those students minus the regular online meetings. Teachers will stay in contact with those families and students. 

Ruapotaka's return was a wet one and drenched many latecomers on arrival to the school gates. This was not enough to wipe the smiles of many students who were just happy to see their teachers and classmates in person in such a long time. 

This piece was written TO INFORM (factual, formal, third-person) the AUDIENCE (Y7&8 students) in the CONTEXT of primary school students being allowed to return to school. I PRACTISED keeping third-person perspective (avoiding use of I, our, we), keeping key points in separate paraphs and using relevant detail for support. 

Description: The Great Return by J.Nevalagi 

Finally! We have returned to school. "It feels like I haven't been here for a year!" Malachi said with wonder in his voice. He was followed closely by Willie, Ocean and Renei. Our "full house" was completed when Hone turned up. I'm wearing a mask but it isn't big enough to hide the smile on my face. 

We're all buzzing. We haven't seen each other in such a long time. How long has it been since we were in the same room? The last thing I remember was saying "Good afternoon" to my class, expecting to see them the next day. Because of covid, that obviously didn't happen. 

It's only been a day but I'm already excited for what tomorrow brings. Spinning on the vortex, swinging in the swing and singing in the rain. THIS is how you celebrate being back with your friends. 

This piece was written TO DESCRIBE (emotive, informal, first-person, present tense) the AUDIENCE (Y7&8 students) in the CONTEXT of primary school students being allowed to return to school. I PRACTISED using long and short sentences, logical sequencing and capturing the mood of the moment. There's even a few language features in there. 

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YOUR TASK: DESCRIBE OR INFORM your readers of your return to school. Capture the facts and/or emotions of how you've felt coming back after such a long time. If you're happy, say so. Still nervous, you can say so too! Not feeling it? Of course you can write about. 

DESCRIPTIVE Sentence Starters 

Walking through the school gates yesterday felt like ... 

[Pick three emotions you felt the most] Laughter, joy, happiness, with a little bit of fatigue. 

I LOVED / DESPISED coming back to school. 

If I could use one word to describe coming back to school it would be ... 

Coming back to school is like ... 

Wow, what a day! 

Ugh, I'm sooo tired. Is it Wednesday already?! 

I arrived to the applause of my teacher and classmates. 

I wore my mask to protect myself and others from getting covid, however, it wasn't big enough to hide the smile on my face.