| | | | | | | Newsletter Term 1 Week 10 |
|
IMPORTANT DATES
Term 1
Week 10
Wednesday 5th April - Athletics Presentations - 9:15am - Hall
Wednesday 5th April - PTA Meeting - 7pm
Thursday 6th April - Hot X Bun Morning Tea PTA - gold coin donation
Thursday 6th April - Pod 8 Assembly - 2:15pm - Hall
Thursday 6th April - End of Term 1
Term 2
Week 1
Monday 24th April - Teacher Only Day - SCHOOL CLOSED
Tuesday 25th April - ANZAC Day - SCHOOL CLOSED
Wednesday 26th April - First Day of Term 2
Wednesday 26th April - Y5 and 6 Tech Challenge Competition
Week 2
Tuesday 2nd May - Waste Free Wānaka Show
Week 3
Friday 12th May - Tribe Afternoon
Week 4
Monday 15th May - Board of Trustees Meeting - 5pm - Staffroom
Friday 19th May - Pod 4 Assembly - 2:15pm - Hall
Week 5
Tuesday 23rd May - Upper Clutha Rippa Rugby
Week 6
Tuesday 30th May COPSSA Rippa Rugby
Friday 2nd June - Pod 2 Assembly
IMPORTANT NOTICES Leaving Wānaka Primary School If you and your family are leaving Wānaka Primary School at the end of this term and you have not notified our office, can you please do so as soon as possible. Thank you.
Hot Cross Bun Morning Tea - Thursday 6th April 
Please bring a gold coin donation.
A big thank you to New World Three Parks for their support.
|
|
|
Athletics Presentations Tomorrow, Wednesday 5th April, we will be presenting certificates to the placegetters at our school, Upper Clutha and Central Otago athletic events.
Whanau are most welcome to join us in the hall at 9.15am to help celebrate the athletes' achievements. |
|
|
Lost Property We have a mountain of lost property in the school office - if you are missing anything please come and check the lost property before the end of term, as unnamed lost property will be taken to Wastebusters in the holidays. |
|
|
Trail Ride Success Again Wow! Another great Trail Ride was held on Saturday and there was a fabulous atmosphere as excited riders claimed their registration packs, and volunteers worked so well together to provide an absolutely awesome event. It was enjoyable being there as one of the volunteers on the day. Even the weather played its part. This is a Montessori and Wānaka Primary School fundraising event and it looks like we will benefit from this at around the $10,000 mark each again this year. A superb result not only in the calibre of the day but also financially for our 2 learning centres.
Thanks so much to the Trail Ride organisers and main volunteers who put so much into preparing this successful day. I am in awe of the professional, efficient and well organised team who planned and executed this event. Riders and volunteers commented on the fabulous communication leading up to the day, the welcoming atmosphere and how beautifully the day flowed. I was so proud to be part of such an event. A big thanks to Lucy, our office manager, who is our WPS 'main lead' in the organising team with this event.
The Trail Ride provides us with much needed extra funding to spend on our school each year. This year we will use the funds to extend our landscaping project by developing the playscape parts - quiet and active nooks around the school where children can go to chill out or to interact and have fun with their friends. I look around our school and see the many advantages that the funds raised by past Trail Rides have provided. The Trail Ride is usually our biggest fundraiser of the year and is great in that it brings in funds from outside the school community.
Many thanks and well done to the Trail Ride team. And thanks to the many volunteers and businesses who supported the day and of course the riders who turned up to support our event. You are all TUMEKE!
RECLADDING - do not send children to play at school unsupervised as work continues over the holidays. Pod 3 are moving into the recently completed Pod 1 at the end of this week to allow the recladding of Pod 4 over term 2 and Pod 5 will move into Pod 6 over the holidays. This area will be fenced off however there will be trucks, deliveries and lots of action around the school so please make sure you keep an eye on your children should they decide to come to school to play. Pod 6 and Pod 1 will also be having some finishing touches done and landscaping around Pod 1 and 2 started. So there will be lots of tradespeople on site.
Landscaping Our main entrance ways off Ironside Drive have all been landscaped and the area by the hall is being worked on today. It's all looking great! Over the holidays Pod 1 and 2 will get their facelift. Grip Conference Last Friday, a group of our Year 6 children went to Queenstown for the GRIP Leadership Conference. It was a full-on but amazing day with the children learning valuable leadership strategies through games and activities. It was definitely well worth the 7.15am start :) Festival Of Colour Top Bike Competition Pod 8 Assembly Pod 8 Assembly is this Thursday 6th April at 2.15pm. Come along and see what Pod 8 students have been learning about this term.
End of Term SCHOOL CLOSES AT 3PM this Thursday for EASTER and the school holidays. As it is a NZ wide Teacher Only Day for Curriculum Refresh 'training', on Monday 24th April, and Tuesday is ANZAC day, children do not return to school until Wednesday, 26th April, the first day of term 2.
What's Up Early Next Term? - Technology Challenge Day - Wednesday 26th April
We have some Year 5 and 6 teams taking part in the EPr08 Challenge the first day back next term. This event is being hosted in our school hall as an inaugural event for Wānaka this year and we are looking forward to taking part.
The EPro8 Challenge is an inter-school science and engineering competition. Last year 25,000 studetns from throughout New Zealand took part. This year is the first year they have run events in Central Otago. In the past the nearest events have been in Dunedin.
The easiest way to describe the EPro8 Challenge is to watch a short three minute video showing the highlights of one of their recent events: https://youtu.be/JZnP0x5HZF8
12 teams of four students each are based at a workstation containing an impressive assortment of easy to use equipment. From here they compete to: - build large sized structures
- solve practical problems
- engineer using pulleys, motors, gears, wheels and axles
- undertake interesting experiments
- invent machines that can complete simple tasks
- construct basic electronic circuits
- solve interesting problems using practical maths
We wish our Year 5 and 6 students the best as they participate in this fun and challenging event. - POD 3 are off to Arrowtown Museum on Wednesday 26th and Thursday 27th April as part of their NZ Histories studies.
- Tuesday 2nd May we have the Waste Free Wānaka Show
- Tribe Afternoon Friday 12th May - with a Music Month theme perhaps?
Have a fabulous Easter and holidays. Thanks for your support of WPS and your children's learning and life at school over the last term. We look forward to term 2, which may not be as busy as term 1 has been (judging by my diary) so plenty of time for intensive learning in the foundation literacies through Deep Learning. I hope Easter Bunny is kind to you, and the weather too as you enjoy quality time with your children. |
|
|
Seasons for Growth
Anyone wanting their child to take part in this programme should register using the link below by Friday 28th April. There will be a junior group (Years 1 - 3) and senior group (Years 4 - 6). Group sizes are limited, so please register your interest early.
|
|
|
School Camps 2023 - Terms 3 & 4 Payment is not required until closer to the camps.
The costs are yet to be finalised.
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Further information will be sent out during term 2. Payment is not yet required. |
|
|
Positive Behaviour For Learning - PB4L PB4L School-Wide looks at behaviour and learning from a whole-of-school as well as an individual child perspective. The framework is based on international evidence and is helping New Zealand schools build a culture where positive behaviour and learning is a way of life. Each fortnight we focus on a school wide goal to encourage positive behaviours. The current goal is: 'We are prepared, organised and on task'. |
|
|
PTA Raffles The PTA Raffles have now been drawn and the lucky winners were:
Raffle # 1 - Missie Neal
Raffle # 2 - Alison McFarlane
Raffle # 3 - Liz Cowie
Raffle # 4 - Laura Lang
Raffle # 5 - Fiona Moir
Raffle # 6 - Jo Murphy
Raffle # 7 - Steve Bickley
Raffle # 8 - Kay McFarlane
Many thanks to everyone who supported the raffle through donations of goods and services, the stall holders at the A&P Show who sold the tickets, the PTA selling tickets at the Athletics days, our wonderful parents who sat outside Mitre 10 selling tickets and to all those who bought tickets.
The PTA managed to raise $3,000.00 from the sale of the tickets. |
|
|
PTA Meeting - Tomorrow - 7pm - Staffroom Our next PTA meeting is tomorrow, Wednesday 5th April at 7pm in the staffroom. Everyone is welcome to attend.
The Wānaka PTA Committee are urgently looking for a Chairperson and new members to join the team.
Apart from getting to know people and feeling great about helping raise funds for our awesome school, it can be a lot of fun coming up with ideas for events for the kids and parents. Due to relocation, our current Chair is unable to continue in the role and we are looking for someone who is keen to get on board and take over. We understand our parents of WPS are busy and it can be hard to commit, however the role of the chairperson is to delegate and help come up with ideas and work together as a team with our other members.
Although we need a specific chairperson named for the compliance of the committee, this is a joint effort and we are all working together as a whole. We are also seeking more parents to get involved on the committee, due to some recent members now not having children at WPS and having moved on, we are lacking in numbers. There is no pressure to commit to every meeting or every fundraising event, but if there is one a year you are happy to help with or you even just want to come along as you have some previous experience and ideas, we would appreciate any contribution.
Our PTA meetings are short and concise and do not take up a lot of your time. We aim to do these once a month, sometimes with an extra meeting for a specific fundraising event subcommittee.
Come along on Wednesday at 7pm and see what it's all about! |
|
|
Central Otago Athletics The 2023 Central Otago Athletics Championship was postponed on Wednesday as the cold southerly ripped through Central Otago. Friday was perfect, cool to start with but warmed quickly, perfect conditions for schools to bring their best athletes to compete for the first time in many years. Wānaka Primary had 30 competitors who had qualified through their school event and then the Upper Clutha Competition. We lost a few athletes with the change of days but all our children should be proud with their efforts and their attitude. It was wonderful to see all athletes from different schools congratulating one another. There is an assembly at WPS on Wednesday 9:15am in the Hall for all School, Upper Clutha and CO events.
Particular Standouts:
800m - Ally Moir - Year 5 CHAMPION - a new record
Relay Teams - Year 5 Girls - Champions - Tilly McLean, Caley Clifford, Ally Moir, Lara Beams
- Year 6 Girls - 2nd Place - Aoife O'Regan, Charlotte Wincop, Isabella Dye, Charlise Wyatt
- Year 5 Boys - 3rd Place - Leo Norton, Harley Mavor, Jake Norman, Jacob Heathorn
Hurdles - Tilly McLean - Hurdles - Year 5 CHAMPION
- Rhys Brugman - Hurdles - Year 6 - 3rd Place
Long Jump - Tilly McLean - Long Jump - Year 5 CHAMPION
High Jump - Lara Beams - High Jump - Year 5 CHAMPION
- Aoife O'Regan - High Jump - Year 6 - 2nd Place
Shot Put - Kelly Swan - Shot Put - Year 6 - 2nd Place
|
|
|
Hockey Lessons Chrissy Pettit has been working with many classes on their hockey skills. Thanks Chrissy and Central Otago Hockey Association for running these sessions. The Central Otago Hockey association are running a free session in the holidays (see notice below) and you can sign up for hockey with The Upper Clutha Hockey Club next term here. |
|
|
Scholastic Book Club Issue 2 Orders |
|
|
Library News 
Ebooks and Audio Books The Wānaka Public Library has 2 fantastic Ebook Platforms which are highly recommended. All you need is a library membership which is free. Click on the image below to find out more and browse to see what is available: 
|
|
|
Contact for our local Public Health Nurse Pip McLean is our local Public Health Nurse - should you wish to get in contact with Pip her contact details are: 03 440 4309 or 0272 839 395 or email Pip.McLean@southerndhb.govt.nz |
|
|
Local School Child Season Pass 2023 |
|
|
Where does our food come from? Wao Aotearoa would love your help! You may have noticed our supermarket shelves looking awfully bare in places. And this seems to be becoming commonplace and an accepted issue. So, what can we do about it? Well, with your help we can improve the food supply in our community! Take 2 minutes to complete this short food survey and help Wao and the QLDC build a roadmap to improve our ability to feed our community into the future. Whether you buy all your groceries or you are an avid gardener, if you live locally, then your input is invaluable. Lets go --------> https://www.wao.co.nz/food-resilience Share with your friends and family too - the more we know about our local community food needs, the better the roadmap will be! 
Responses close 16th April 2022 |
|
|
Lowburn Watercolour Workshops |
|
|
NZSki Local Primary and Secondary Schools Season Passes We’re delighted to welcome your school whanau back to our mountains this winter with incredible deals on local schools 3 Peak Season Passes for Coronet Peak, The Remarkables and Mt Hutt for enrolled students. Given your schools students are eligible for these passes please share with your school community. - Purchasing Online – up until 31 May 23. NZSki will manage the eligibility audit directly with our eligible local schools, this is the easiest option for you.
- From June 1 purchasing only at town Snowcentre (corner Camp and Shotover St) or by phone 0800 697 547
- In this instance you will need to bring/supply evidence of enrolment at your school.
- Primary School Passes
- Secondary School Passes
- Children 5 and under ski free please use this link for any 5 and under as at June 1 2023
Any questions please reach out to us via info@nzski.com or call 0800 697 547 |
|
|
Central Otago Hockey Association Free Session |
|
|
Dance Wanaka Autumn Dance Camp |
|
|
| Delicious, nutritious and popular with kids, Subway delivers school lunches every Friday. Order online at subwayexpress.co.nz by 9am. |
|
|
|
|
| | |
|
