Tena koutou katoa, greetings.
After our chilly week last week it is wonderful to have Spring upon us!
Thank you for your support in allowing our staff to attend the joint PPTA/NZEI meeting in Oamaru last Thursday. It was important for as many staff as possible to be able to attend this.
Our very short term seems to be quickly coming to an end, however there is a lot going on at the moment (as you will read below). One of our goals as a school has been to create closer learning connections with you, the parents and caregivers, at home. This has included the way we have shared learning at Student Led Learning Conferences, the termly phone calls that teachers are making to you (with a focus on talking about learning), our soon to be published Writing book, and other initiatives as they have arisen. There are some challenges in this week's newsletter that link learning to home and we hope that your children (or even better - whole family) look to take up these challenges!
We are still after a few more sponsors for the Writing book. If you are interested in supporting this initiative (sponsorships start at $80), then please email me to receive the specific information. I have a group of students who are working with me to put the ideas together and to make this happen. It will be exciting when we see every child with their writing published in a real book!
Have a great week
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On Friday we will be sending home a form for you to update any caregiver, emergency and medical information.
Please return these next week. Even if all of the information is correct, please sign, date and return the sheet so that we know that you have viewed it.
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SAUSAGE SIZZLE
Thursday.
$2 per sausage
$2 per muffin
(GF Sausages available)
A reminder that there are no heated lunches on a Thursday
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Some of you will have had an email from your child's Homebase teacher in regards to an application called 'Seesaw'. This is a site/app that enables your children to share their work with others in their class, and more importantly you! Any work and comments placed on the site are only placed on it after being approved by the teacher so you can be assured that everything is closely moderated. The main reason for using this is to showcase your child's work and to celebrate what they are doing in class. It ultimately gives you an eye into the classroom. This is building on our focus of creating closer connections with our parents, with a direct link to learning.
The set up of the site has a secondary benefit though in that it teaches children how to be safe and act appropriately in an online environment.
Work is easily linked to a class blog. (Be reassured that if you have not allowed permission for your child's photo to be published, then their work will not be published on the blog.)
Only 2 teachers have implemented this so far, however over the next few weeks all teachers will be introducing it. I encourage you to 'have a play' and to give your child some feedback. This can be done by either typing in or voice recording your comments - and it is VERY simple to use!
The website link is on the picture above. The app can be downloaded for both Android and Apple.
We hope that you enjoy what you see!
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We have had 'Reading and Writing Challenges' over the holidays for nearly a year now - but we are taking it to a NEW level!
We are introducing the 'EXTREME' Reading photo competition!
Because it is extreme we thought we would introduce it a week earlier - to enable us to share some in next week's newsletter to generate interest.
The challenge . . . should you choose to accept it . . .
is that you are to send in photos of your child/ren reading in various places. We will collate the photos here at school, and some of these we will share online, either through class blogs, or on the school FB page. (If you have indicated in our Publishing agreement earlier in the year that you don't want your child published on FB - don't worry - we won't!). We might even look to share some of these in the library.
We have even started it by sharing some photos of staff (below) to show you some examples. This isn't just limited to children - we welcome parents, grandparents and other community members to join us. Take the extreme challenge to the extreme and make it a family pic!
Please email your photos either to Mrs Powell ( dpowell@waitakivalley.school.nz) or to Mrs Senior ( principal@waitakivalley.school.nz).
We look forward to seeing your photos! |
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WAITAKI VALLEY WRITING COLLECTION COVER COMPETITION
Our Writing Book is certainly underway and getting closer to making it to the publishers. A group of students are working in consultation with teachers, to help to put this together. They are running a competition to 'design the cover' of this book. The winner will obviously be selected as the cover of the book!
The competition is open until this Monday (September 19th). The outline is:
- It must be A4
- The theme must be 'Waitaki Valley School'
- Don't worry about a title or the school logo -the printer will put these on for us.
- Name on the back of the picture
We look forward to seeing the entries!
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TOUCH STARTS THE FIRST TUESDAY OF TERM 4
(Year 7 & 8s will have a bye this week)
Notices went home yesterday for those who are playing (this is the second half of the season - carried on from Term 1).
Thanks to a Sport NZ Rural Travel Fund grant there will be no cost for the travel this term.
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Year 5-8 camps - Week 1 Term 4
Payments are due next Wednesday (21st) September.
All student permission forms are due back on Friday (September 16th)
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| ASSEMBLY CERTIFICATES THIS WEEK . . . |
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CLASS AWARDS:
Mahutonga: William Smillie
Pukepuke: Hunta Gledhill & Itaia Chapman
Moana: Matilda Chilton & Tekahn Maclachlan
Hauwhenua: Ishreal Mendoza
Aoraki: Donovon Mclean & Ollie Chilton |
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Monday September 19th - Meeting for Parents attending camp 3pm
Tuesday September 20th - Yr 7/8 Ski Race Day
Wednesday September 21st - Camp payments due
Friday September 23rd - End of Term
Monday October 10th - Term 4 Starts, Yr 7&8 off to Camp Wainui
(from Oct 10-14)
Wednesday October 12th - Yr 5&6 off to camp (from Oct 10-14)
Wednesday October 19th - Whanau Hui (3:15pm)
Saturday October 29th - Jump Jam Regionals - Christchurch
Thursday November 3rd - Upper Waitaki Athletics - Twizel
Friday November 4th - Athletics postponement
Monday November 14th - Yr 8 Science Lab day
Monday November 21st - North Otago Athletics
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“The Rainbow Confectionary 5km Rainbow Run is being held on the 15th of October, 11am, at the Oamaru Racecourse. This is a family friendly event for all ages. Tickets are $10pp or $30 for a family. For more information, and for registrations, visit http://www.sportsground.co.nz/waitakicrc/88755/ or the Waitaki Community Recreation Centre.”
“Nominations are now being called for outstanding sporting volunteers. Schools, clubs or groups can nominate a person that has gone the extra mile atwww.sportotago.co.nz/regional-offices/sport-waitaki or via the Sport Waitaki Facebook page. All nominees will be invited to a recognition evening on the 13th of October, where they will be thanked and awarded prizes from the Lotto Volunteers Programme.”
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