Wairakei Primary School Newsletter

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March 17, 2020

Maehe 17, 2020

Week 7 Term 1, 2020

Issue Contents:

Principal's News
Latest News
- Dance Competition Results
- Weekly POWER 4 Learning Draw Award Recipients
- Working Party
Upcoming Events
- Donovan Bixley Visit
- Winter Sports Registrations
- Board of Trustees Meeting
- Mufti Day
- PTA Sausage Sizzle
Room 14 - The Story of My Life
Other Notices
Sponsors

Principal's News

Dear Parents and Caregivers

Yesterday the Ministry of Education published information to schools in regards to COVID-19 requesting the halt of large group gatherings and to maintain a safe distance from each other. For us, at school, this would be 1.5 metres and for immune-compromised people, 2 metres from others.

By following these directives from the Ministry, I have decided to postpone all school extra curricula related events until the end of the term. This will minimize the amount of large group contact we have as a school.

These events include:

PTA school disco
POWER assembly
Athletics prize giving
Parent-teacher discussions
Singing assembly
Kapa Haka - Lessons will be taught in classes instead of in the school hall
Whanau Day tabloids
Celebration of Learning visits to classrooms
Swimming for Aratiatia and Room 8
Go Girl Cricket
Ohaaki and Poihipi athletics display
Year 3 – 6 football festival

Some of these events will be moved to Term 2 depending on the information provided to us by the Ministry of Education.

Please refer to the updated community calendar.

I have not made this decision lightly. Based on the information given to the school at this time I feel we need to be preventative in the spread of COVID -19 and to support the initiative of the Government to stop its spread. For the school, the most likely scenario is if a student or staff member is confirmed with COVID-19, the Ministry of Health may require the school to close for a day or two, to undertake tracking and tracing of close contacts. By stopping these extra events we are able to continue to do our day to day business of teaching and learning. I would like to stress that if your child is unwell to keep them home.

We have been asked to encourage

good hygiene at all times – hand washing, coughing etiquette etc
reducing the number of events with large numbers
thinking about current practices – handshakes, hongi etc - as noted by the Prime Minister "we need to stop these practices”

In our community, we have some immune-compromised students and family members. I want to ensure everyone's safety by upholding the recommendations provided to the school by the Ministry of Education. Should any further developments occur I will contact the community via the school newsletter.

I am currently working with the Ministry of Education to access the school's capability to provide suitable online learning exercises for students if we needed to close. I feel we are well placed to be able to manage this should it occur.

Refunds for the PTA discos tickets can be made from the school office by providing the ticket as proof of purchase. If purchased through EFTPOS please provide bank details for your refund.

I have set a mufti day for Friday March 27, 2020, so our students can wear their favourite character clothing. We will not be asking for a gold coin donation for this mufti day. The PTA will still be hosting a sausage sizzle on Friday March 27, 2020.

Like everyone in the country, we are in uncharted territory. I am following the best advice given to me by the Ministry of Education and Health.

Toward the end of the term, I will be updating the community if any of the term two events will be postponed. Please work with us to support the recommendations to keep our community safe.

The Te Mihi team hosted a wonderful assembly last Friday. Each class presented some of their learning for us to see. I particularly liked the videos made by the students showing their range of feelings. While some of the videos were humorous they also showed feelings that everyone in the room could relate to.

After the assembly, we had a walk through the lost property. I am pleased to report that no student was lost in the pile. We did manage to give some jersey's and hoodies back to their owners.

The Interschool Athletics went ahead today. I have been down to Owen Delany Park today and seen some fantastic sporting efforts and great sportsmanship.

I think there will be a lot of information coming out to the community in the upcoming weeks until the term break. I will be informing you all as soon as I have any further information.

Keep well and keep safe. It is a good time to teach and remind everyone to wash their hands.

Paula Farquhar
Principal

Latest News

Dance Competition Results

Over the weekend March 14 to 15, 2020 3 students performed for their very first time in the local dance competition at the Great Lake Centre, Taupo. They were Grace W, Isla P and Seraphina W.
They found their strength and courage and demonstrated "POWER" to perform and be judged on stage. We celebrate your success on your achievements.

Working Party

Kia ora - As you may be aware Wairakei Primary School is one of 5 local schools that manage the Central Plateau Ski Lodge (gifted by the Auckland Tramping Club) on Mount Ruapehu . From time to time this requires working needs to maintain this facility This weekend (and next weekend as a postponement date) we are doing work at the Lodge which includes painting, cleaning of gutters, reorganizing the pantry etc. If you would be able to help for a couple of hours or even stay overnight please contact Chris Te Whare on 02885000311
or call into Bluelight Lodge, Wairakei Village, Taupo. Thank you.

Weekly POWER 4 Learning Draw Award Recipients

Congratulations to the following students who have received a POWER 4 Learning Award for Weeks 6 and 7.

Week 6
Room 1 Zayn - Environment
Room 2 Scarlett - Self and Others
Room 3 Eli - Others
Room 4 Emma - Self
Room 5 Addison
Room 6 Clare - Self
Room 7 Tara - Others
Room 8 Jack S
Room 9 Clara - Self and Others
Room 10 Max H - Self and Others
Room 11 Swanson
Room 13 Callan - Self
Room 14 Harrison - Environment
Room 15 Elyse
Mrs Graham Indie J Room 1
Mrs O'Sullivan Tegan Room 10 - Self
Mrs Forrest Darrius Room 8

Week 7
Room 1 Harry - Self
Room 2 Zoe - Self
Room 3 Caleb - Power 4 Learning
Room 4 Hunter
Room 5 Cohen - Power 4 Learning
Room 6 Jackson L - Self
Room 7 Baylee - Others
Room 8 Jackson - Power 4 Learning
Room 9 - Zahn - Self
Room 10 - Olive
Room 12 Thea - Self
Room 13 Grace - Power for Learning
Room 14 Alyssa - Others
Room 15 Phoebe - Environment
Mrs Graham Laila T Room 4
Mrs Forrest - Ashe Room 6 - Self
Mrs O'Sullivan - Sadie Room 13 - Power for Learning

Upcoming Events

Wednesday March 18, 2020

Donovon Bixley Visit

Donovon will be visiting the classrooms. If you have any of his books please bring them to school and he will sign them. More information is on the attached flyer.

Wednesday 18 and Thursday March 19, 2020
3.30p.m. to 8p.m. at Sports House

Winter Sports Registrations

Thursday March 26, 2020
5.30p.m. to 7.30p.m. in Staffroom

Board of Trustees Meeting

All welcome.

Thursday March 27, 2020

Mufti Day

Dress up as your favourite character.

March 27, 2020
Lunchtime

PTA Sausage Sizzle

More information to follow.

Thursday April 9, 2020
9a.m. to 3p.m.

End of Term 1

View our upcoming calendar events

This issue Room 14 presents

The Story of My Life

How would you use pictures and keywords to show and tell someone all about you? Well, that was the learning challenge Room 14 faced this term. Children also had to learn to organise their pictures and keywords in such a way as to include all their information. They did this by learning to layer them to create interest and a sense of depth.

I showed children a piece of work I created about 10 years ago that relates to what they would be working on.

It shows me on a journey into the future. Down the bottom, black and white photos represent my past and the ‘good at sports’ box people put me in. The blocks represent me stepping out of my comfort zone to study at 30 years old. The images on either side of me on my path are things that will help me achieve my goals. The places at the end of my path are the rewards and motivations that keep me working towards my goals.

The first part of Room 14’s task was cutting out words and pictures that have meaning to each child. The second part of the process was organising their pictures and keywords onto their page.

When asked what was difficult and how children tried to problem solve to overcome these challenges, this is what some children had to say:

‘It was hard to glue some things on because they kept getting off the side, so I had to move some down’ Andi

‘It was hard to fit everything on my page so I had to put things in other places’ Jacob

‘It was hard to put all my things on. I had to take some off and put them back on. I put them under each other and in different places’ Alyssa

This is what children had to say when asked ‘What does your work tell us about you?’

‘I like giraffes and my dad went in a plane before. It flies around in the sky and it’s keeping an eye on the crocodile’ Jacob

‘I like Frozen and I love rainbows. My cat died so I put a cat on it. I love my dog. My mum and dad are getting married’ Mila

‘I did the cat on my computer because my cat is funny sometimes. I did an owl, unicorns, an owl and a flamingo because I like them. I used cool because I like cool stuff’ Riley

The children all did a good job of layering words and images to tell a story about them. Everyone could explain the importance some of the images had to them. The art of layering was much harder but everyone included layering to some degree. This is a skill we will continue to work on in other areas of our learning. Have a look at our finished work.

Keywords: The Story of My Life, layering
Attributed to: Paul Morehu, Poihipi/Ohaaki, Room 14, 2020
Curriculum links: Art, Literacy
Key competencies: Relating to others, using language, symbols and texts

Other Notices

Students work to match image - can be repeated endlessley