Challenge What a fabulous day was had by all. Perfect weather, a super duper event and happy children and teachers as the day flowed so well. Everyone came back feeling they had been challenged and also had fun.
Parent Voice Meetings Thanks to those parents (62%) who turned up last week to connect with teachers and tell them about their children. There have been others of you who have turned up prior, in the last week or so, and others will pop in this week. Tonight at the Welcome to 2024 Picnic/Jump Off is another opportunity to connect with your child's classroom teacher if you haven't already. We are delighted with the response to these and this will serve to set up a positive learning relationship between parents, families and the school.
Attendance and Getting to School Before the First Bell at 8.55am Last year's attendance data was back to its pre-Covid high levels so well done everyone. Remember that your children need to be at school every day it is open for instruction, to benefit their learning in all areas. Of course if they are unwell they need to stay at home.
The school cannot be held responsible for days of missed instruction or any effect this may have on children's learning. We do not provide extra work or special programmes for days not present at school. This includes if children attend programmes such as One Day School, or external ski programmes and any private tutoring, music or dance lessons or exams etc. Teachers always try to fill gaps, and teach what the children need as next learning steps, but cannot be accountable for lost instructional opportunities from a day when the child was not present.
Farewell Teresa our Terrific T.A. Teresa, one of our awesome Teacher Aides (or teacher angels!!!) is moving on to greener pastures (literally) and taking on a career change, after 21 years at Wānaka Primary School. What will we do without her wacky sense of humour and the laughter that she incites? She has worked with children with higher needs, and also worked with groups on our STEPS programme. She is an expert at Lego Club and also our Numicon maths programme just to name a few of the talents we will miss. The kids love her as do the staff. Teresa will be missed, however, we can still head down to the golf club, her new workplace, to catch up with her. The staff are having a farewell morning tea for Teresa tomorrow.
Swimming Underway Pod 1 kicked off their swimming instruction sessions yesterday, with Pod 6 swimming next week and Pod 7 the week after. We are able to take 22 students down to the swimming pool thanks to our minivans, however teachers will be looking for parents to help transport children as well, so get in touch with your child's teacher if you can help with this.
Wānaka Primary School Run, Jump, Throw Athletics Our school athletics involve all children in Year 3 through to Year 6 this year and take place on our school field on Thursday 29th February and spill over onto Friday 1st March as well. Further information about the activities and the timing of these will be sent home to you in the next day or two. So watch out for this. The PTA will have a BBQ sausage ($2), 'no sugar' cans of drink ($2) and ice blocks ($1) for sale, $5 for all three, at lunchtime on Thursday as a school fundraiser. Please send along the correct change if possible and as always it's best in an envelope, especially for our younger students, they can pass over to the parent helpers, with what the child is buying written on the outside. This stops coins being lost in bags or on the ground. The PTA are also looking for helpers to cook the BBQ sausages etc. If you can help for an hour on Thursday, either between 11am and 12noon or between 12noon and 1pm, please offer your help by clicking on this link. We will need at least 5-6 helpers for each time slot to support Annie, our PTA BBQ fundraising Queen (go you Annie!). Wānaka Show Art All classes are creating artworks to be displayed at the Wānaka Show. I love seeing what each class comes up with.
It's been another fantastic week here at WPS. Thanks for your ongoing support of your children and our staff, as they lead their busy lives at school learning and living our values and global competencies. | 
