Wānaka Primary School Newsletter for Term 1  Week 7
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Newsletter Term 1  Week 7
14th March 2023

IN THIS NEWSLETTER

IMPORTANT DATES


Term 1 
Week 7
Pod 3 Swimming
Thursday 16th March - Strike Day - SCHOOL CLOSED
Week 8
Monday 20th March - Otago Anniversary - SCHOOL CLOSED
Tuesday 21st March - UC Athletics
Thursday 23rd March - Pod 3 Assembly - 2:15pm - Hall
Friday 24th March - Tribe Afternoon 
Week 9 
Monday 27th March - Board of Trustees Meeting - 5pm - Staffroom
Monday 27th March - Pod 7 trip to Arrowtown Museum
Wednesday 29th March - COPSSA Athletics
Saturday 1st April - Wānaka Trail Ride
Week 10
Thursday 6th April - Pod 8 Assembly - 2:15pm - Hall
Thursday 6th April - Hot X Bun Morning Tea PTA - gold coin donation
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
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 1 Assembly
 

IMPORTANT NOTICES


Scholastic NZ Brochure 

The latest Scholastic NZ Brochure is available from classrooms. If you wish to place an order, please follow the instructions on the inside back cover using Option 1 – Credit Card / LOOP.  No cash / orders are accepted at school. 

If your order is a gift, please tick the ‘GIFT’ option, otherwise all orders are handed out to the children. 

Orders will close at 3pm on Sunday 26th March.

Scholastic apologise for the delay in delivering the previous order,  there has been a huge backlog due to freighting issues up North, but they assure they will be sent out in the next 2 weeks.
 

Teacher's Strike This Thursday

Our tamariki need a quality education. And we want to give that to them.

Unfortunately, the funding for our schools and kindergartens is not enough for us to give the time we would like to support all our kids to thrive.  

We need to attract and retain educators by ensuring that teaching is a valued and attractive profession.

Principals and teachers in primary, area schools and kindergartens have considered at length offers from the government to settle our respective collective agreements.  The offers did not meet our expectations, nor make sufficient steps towards the changes we need for our children to succeed. 

You may have seen that we voted to take industrial action on 16th March.  It’s the last thing we wanted to do. And the decision was not taken lightly. 

We felt that this was the only way the government would listen and recognise that when they support our children to learn and succeed, we are supporting whānau and communities to thrive. 

We look forward to another great year in 2023 – and together with your support, building the case for better investment in our tamariki. 

We’d love to see you on Thursday - come and walk with us, bring your children and make some noise. You’ll see us on Ardmore Street, we’re starting off from the Lake Wānaka Centre at 10.30am.

The staff

Wānaka Primary School

CURRICULUM COMMENT

Curriculum Refresh

A few of you have asked me what the Curriculum Refresh actually means for your children.  I am off to a Principals' 'training' session today in fact, after having already attended a few face to face and online sessions.  I am 'watching this space' to see what the actual outcomes will be for schools.  

I have included here information directly from the Ministry of Education. Check out the MoE website for more background information.  The links in blue are active so you can click and head straight to the relevant info.

The Ministry of Education believe 'change is needed to ensure The New Zealand Curriculum: 

•    gives effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi,
•    is inclusive, 
•    clear about the learning that matters for our ākonga,
•    is easy to use.'

The refresh of The New Zealand Curriculum aligns with and supports:

The Refresh is designed to be cumulative - progressions replace curriculum levels and achievement objectives with five phases of learning.  Each phase of learning contains progress outcomes that describe what ākonga should Understand, Know, and Do at each phase of learning.  

The refreshed NZC will be organised around the same eight learning areas and key competencies from the 2007 Curriculum.  Mātauranga Māori will sit at the heart of the learning areas - with key competencies, literacy, and numeracy explicitly woven into each learning area.

WPS use the 6 Global Competencies (see these on our school website) which encompass the NZC Key Competencies and we are well used to using progressions/rubrics.  We will be interested to see what the MoE progressions end up looking like.

I will update you in upcoming newsletters about other changes that are happening.  Be assured WPS is already well down the track with many of these 'refresh' goals.
 

NZEI Teachers Strike

School is closed this Thursday 16th March due to NZEI industrial action.  Parents and children are welcome to join us downtown between 10.30am and 12pm on Thursday to make sure the government knows we are not happy with the lack of staffing and funding which is provided.
 

Wānaka Show Art Work

The children and teachers were very proud of the artwork on display at the Wānaka Show.  Lots of different media, designs and themes meant it was a colourful display.

Also thanks to the many people who helped make our hamper raffles such a success.  Thanks to Rochelle and her team as the hampers looked fantastic and thanks to the stall holders who did such a good job selling the tickets on our behalf.
 


 

Otago Anniversary Day

Remember school is closed on Monday 20th March as it is Otago Anniversary Day holiday.
 

Upper Clutha Athletics

This is being held at the Wānaka Recreation Centre grounds on Tuesday 21st March, straight after Otago Anniversary Day.  Look out for an email/notice in the next few days if your child qualifies for this after our school athletics today.
 

Also Coming Up Next Week:

Thursday 23rd March - PALs (Physical Activity Leaders) training
Thursday 23rd March - Pod 3 Assembly
Friday 24th March - Tribe Afternoon (PB4L theme)
 

Hot Cross Buns

These will be delivered to children on the last day of term 1, Thursday 6th April for morning tea, for a gold coin donation.   If you can assist with this please let your child's classroom teacher know.
SCHOOL NOTICES

Bulb/Seed Fundraiser 

Pies and Savouries Fundraiser

We have joined forces with Kai Pai here in Wānaka and are selling their delicious pies and savouries.  These will make a fantastic snack or meal and a portion of the proceeds from the sales will be used to contribute to the landscaping projects that Wānaka Primary are currently working on.  Orders need to be made by FRIDAY 31ST MARCH and collection of orders will be available on TUESDAY 4TH APRIL 2023 (just before the holidays).

Creatives in Schools Project

"I'm loving being the artist working with WPS this year as part of the 'Creatives in Schools Project'. It's so neat giving the students creative ideas and the space, time and resources to explore them.  Kids are naturally creative so it's always a pleasure to watch them blossom in this area.  Art empowers children.  It can give them a source of great inner happiness.  I look forward to helping exhibit the students art in our community and at their school."
Chrissy Wickes

Garden To Table

Room 15 picked apples, tomatoes, basil and courgette from the school gardens and made tomato sauce . We also blanched the sweet corn and froze it.

Second Hand Uniform for Sale

Please text Penny on 0273841025 to purchase.
PB4L SCHOOL-WIDE GOAL

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 use polite and appropriate manners and language'.

PTA NOTICES

PTA Raffle

A huge thank you to the stall holders who sold tickets for our raffle at the A&P show last weekend.  Thank you also to our parents and sponsors who donated goods.  We really appreciate your support.  Raffle tickets are still for sale in our school office $5 each and 5 tickets for $20.  The raffles will be drawn on 31st March.

SPORT NOTICES

Wānaka Primary School

Netball Registrations close this weekend!


Registrations for the 2023 netball season are now open. 
Children in Years 3 - 6 are eligible to play. 
 

Registrations close at midnight this Sunday 19th March. 
No late registrations will be accepted.


The netball season is played in Term 2, commencing on Saturday 29th of April. Games are played at the Wānaka Recreation Centre on Saturday mornings.  We are always in need of coaches and team managers, so if you are interested or want to join the WPS Netball Committee, please email the Committee at 
wpsnetballers@gmail.com or call Portia Campbell on 021 454 883.
WĀNAKA TRAIL RIDE

Wānaka Trail Ride - 2.5 weeks to go - still time to volunteer! 

Thanks so much to all those who have signed up to volunteer for WTR 2023. This is our major annual fundraiser and it takes many hands to pull it together. There are still a few roles that need filling, and some key roles are required before the event itself. Here's a sneak peek, and if you can help with these or any other roles, please click on the link below.

Pre-event baking - before Thursday 30th March
* Bake biscuits, muffins, slices for marshal lunches and volunteer snacks
* In your own home

Pre-event lunch prep - Friday 31st March 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm
* Prepare and pack marshal lunches
* Wānaka Primary hall kitchen

Pee wee track set up - Friday 31st March 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
* Look for hazards, mark out track, put up signage
* Base paddock, Tarras

Gate marshal - Saturday 1st April - flexible hours
* Manning the entrance to the tracks to ensure rider safey
* Monitoring gates on the tracks to ensure stock safety
* Liaising with bike marshals to make sure everyone is riding safely and reporting any issues to comms

Don’t delay – help us to keep up the momentum for WTR 2023 by signing up for a volunteer role today!
 
For information on all roles and to register, please click here for the website.


Photo credit Meantime Images - 'The best little pee wee track in NZ!' 
 
Cheers, on behalf of the WTR crew – Alix, Anne-Marie, Gillian, Jen, Lucy, Phil, and Steph 
Rachel Allibone (Volunteer Coordinator) M: 021 1029 130 rachel@wanakatrailride.org
LIBRARY NEWS

Library News

 

Click the image below to view our wonderful Library Webapp.
 
 
Feel free to email Melissa at any time if you have any questions.
 

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:

HEALTH SNIPPETS

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
COMMUNITY NOTICES

The Incredible Years Parenting Programme


Family Works are pleased to be able to offer our
Incredible Years Parenting programme again in 2023.

It will be held in Cromwell on Wednesday evenings
6 - 8.30pm, starting 15th of March 2023.


It runs for 14 weeks and is for any parent/caregiver
with a child aged between 3-8 years.


Please click here for the brochure

Wanaka Preschool Sustainable Gala

Kiwi Conservation Club - The Amazing Race

Apple Crumble Fundraiser

$12.00

 
We are a group of Kapa haka and Māori language students from Mt Aspiring College.  We are making apple crumbles as a fundraiser for a Māori education trip to Taranaki.
 
Each crumble will feed 4-6 people. They will be made and picked up on Sunday 2nd April.

To order please email melissaa@wanaka.school.nz and I will forward bank account details for payment. 
 
HOLIDAY PROGRAMMES

Wānaka Kids Club

OUT OF SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

Code Club at MAC


Code Club is a free club run every Friday from 3:30PM to 4:30PM at
Mount Aspiring College in Technology 1. It is open to all year 3 students and up.

Upper Clutha Junior Rugby

Delicious, nutritious and popular with kids, Subway delivers school lunches every Friday.  Order online at subwayexpress.co.nz by 9am.
Copyright © 2023 Wānaka Primary School, All rights reserved.
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Wānaka Primary School
7 Ironside Drive
Wānaka, Otago 9350
New Zealand

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