Term 2 Week 8 Book Week - second hand book sale and book swap Wednesday 22nd June - Authors' Visit Wednesday 22nd June - Matariki Celebration for Rooms 9, 11 and 12 Wednesday 22nd June - STAR One Day School Meeting - 7pm - Staffroom Thursday 23rd June - Dress Up Day for Book Week Friday 24th June - Matariki Holiday - School Closed Week 9 Tuesday 28th June - UC Swimming Sports Week 10 Tuesday 5th July - Garden to Table Bake Sale - Pods 1 and 3 Wednesday 6th July - Garden to Table Bake Sale - Pods 4 and 5 Thursday 7th July - Garden to Table Bake Sale - Pods 7 and 8 Friday 8th July - Last Day of Term Term 3 Week 1 Monday 25th July - First Day of Term 3
IMPORTANT NOTICES
Coding Club
There is no coding club this week so please ensure you have made plans for your children to get home from school.
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 Wednesday 22nd June.
Lost Jacket
Lost - a brand new Mac Pac reversible Jacket - size 6. It is named on the pocket tag. If found please bring into the office so that it can be returned to the owner.
Next Week is Book Week
We will be celebrating the world of books and the joy of reading during the week of Monday 20th June until Thursday 23rd June (Friday school is closed for Matariki).
DRESS UP DAY THURSDAY 23rd JUNE If your child has not already told you, on Thursday 23rd we have a school wide dress up day and parade. Children can come dressed as their favourite book character (or super hero or just in their favourite dress up). It is not meant to be stressful, it is just for fun. We will also be having a BOOK SWAP and more details will be emailed in regards to this from your teacher. (It's about bring a book or 2 that you no longer want and the children will get to swap for another book.) Please do not send book/s in yet until an email has been sent out. We have 2 wonderful authors (Juliette MacIver and Ruth Paul) coming to perform on the Wednesday and we will also be having a second hand book sale in the library courtyard all week - lots of good bargains! I really look forward to this school wide celebration.
CURRICULUM COMMENT
Snow Day Yesterday
Thank you all for your positive response to our snow day closure yesterday. We do not make these decisions lightly as we are aware that parents have to give up a work day or find carers. However, health and safety of getting to school (via bus, car or by foot), and being at school in snowy or icy conditions are also considerations. Usually Holy Family, Take Kārara, Wānaka Primary and MAC get together to make the decision around a delay in school start time or cancelling school for the day, early in the morning, around 6am-ish. We then send out a ping on the school app, post on the school website and put something over the radio. We usually have a blanket decision for all of the schools to make things more streamlined for families and schools. If in doubt about the weather and school listen to the radio at 7am-ish, watch out for a ping from our school app or visit our website. The MoE do not require us to work an extra day at the end of the year in lieu of a snow day.
Support Staff Week
Thanks to those of you who sent messages of support to our Support Staff. We value them and know that you do too.
Principals' Moot
I attended the Principals' Moot last week with at least 100 other Principals from all over NZ and common issues were heard...lack of appropriate staffing levels and large class sizes, lack of resourcing and expertise when dealing with behaviour, emotional and social student issues, the need to have equity with secondary schools so primary teachers have more non contact time to do their planning assessment and report writing (which we now tend to do in the weekends), more management units so there can be more specialist and leadership roles, equity in funding, property issues and increasing building prices. The overcrowded curriculum and too many initiatives happening at once adding to teacher workload. Covid of course has exacerbated the situation in many of our schools. The good part of the Moot is that some priorities were identified and we (NZ Principals Federation) will be actively seeking solutions to some of the issues.
Next week...keep an eye out for these
Next week is a busy one with Book Week activities, the Pod 7 Museum Showcase, Student Leadership Conference in Queenstown (called GRIP and we have 20 senior students attending this), Year 2 Matariki Showcase, author visits, Book Week dress up parade, and of course Friday 24th is the Matariki Day holiday. Our Kapa haka group is involved in Matariki celebrations on Saturday 25th June in town.
Paid Union Meetings
Tomorrow staff are attending a Paid Union Meeting and rather than close school for the afternoon we are instead meeting at 1.30-2.30pm which we will make the children's lunchtime. There will be staff (teachers and TAs) on duty during this time, more than we usually have at lunchtime breaks to ensure children are well supervised. With isolation, Covid, other bugs and the snow day we are trying to minimize disruption for our kids as well as you the parents. This way you do not have to take time off work and teachers have kindly agreed to meet during their lunchtime. They will eat their lunch before heading out at 1.30pm - if they are anything like me my tummy starts to gurgle at 12.45pm on the dot!
The Flu Bug
Today we have a few classes with over half of the students away with flu and cold type symptoms. Winter bugs have certainly replaced Covid as our main health issue at the moment, it may be a time to rethink masks for your child if you are concerned about your child's continued infections with one thing or the other, especially in Year 4-6. I have asked staff to be more vigilant with mask wearing to minimise staff infection and absence. Handwashing and sneezing / coughing protocols need to be reinforced at home as well as at school. Please, as you are already doing, keep children home if they show any symptoms of being unwell. Our absence rate dropped to an average of 60 a day last week. We have 74 in total away today with sickness. We hope this keeps falling. We have only 3 reports of positive Covid tests today. Keep well. Keep warm.
SCHOOL NOTICES
2022 Snow and School Based Programmes
Snow Sports Programme Please refer to the website for all information about the 2022 Snow Programme. You should have received an email from the office with the shortcut to purchase the programme and local school lift pass as well. Unfortunately, there is no Snow Farm option in 2022. If you have not received the invitation please let Jason know - jasonc@wanaka.school.nz School-Based Programme There are no choices this year in the school-based programme. If your children are not skiing then they will be grouped in the coming weeks, assigned a teaching team and a daily programme organised from there. We are just finalising staffing at the moment, when this is completed we can organise the structure for those remaining at school.
International Language Week at WPS
This week it is International Language week. We are celebrating the skills of our children who speak two or more languages by having these children greet and farewell our students over the school intercom system each day this week. We hope to invite parents of all ESOL (English as a Second/Other Language) students into our school for a shared morning or afternoon tea next term. More details will follow early next term. This morning Emma Kambe (Japanese), Lara Beams (German) and Keira Lam (Chinese) greeted our school demonstrating their language speaking skills.
Garden To Table Bake Sale - Week 10 in Pod 8
STAR One Day School Community Meeting
SPORT NOTICES
Congratulations to our Gymsports Students
Several Wānaka Primary School pupils competed for Aspiring Gymsports at the Dunedin Regional Interclub in May. Aika Scott and Charlise Wyatt competed in Level 4 in a huge field of 25 gymnasts from Christchurch to Balclutha. Aika placed 11th vault, 9th beam and 3rd place floor routine and Charlise placed 4th in vault. Both gymnasts scored a whopping 9.5 out of 10 to earn their 3rd and 4th places. Sasha Milne competed in Level 2 in her first competition placing 10th beam, 9th bar and 13th overall, along with her team mates, their team placed 2nd overall. Hazel Robinson, Mila and Toni Guy and Alice Cruden all competed in Level 3. Hazel placed 12= in vault and 2nd in bar with a huge score of 9.3, Mila placed 12= in vault, 9th floor and 7th bar, Toni placed 11th bar, 6th vault, 6th beam and 10th overall, Alice placed 12th bar and 7th floor routine and 12th overall, fantastic results for everyone in their first away competition. It is great to see your confidence growing and the support you have for each of your team mates. Congratulations.
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 take ownership of our learning and behaviour'.
LIBRARY NEWS
Library News
Click here to view our wonderful Library Webapp. Feel free toemail 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 above to find out more and browse to see what is available:
KEEPING HEALTHY
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
Aspiring Gymsports is running a series of fundraisers to help buy new equipment in preparation for moving into a larger space. “Nerf Night” will begin this Saturday 18th June - 4-5.30pm for year 5 students and 6-7.30pm for Year 6 students. We will start with target practise then have a Battle of the Forts!! Team rumble and capture the flag. We will supply safety goggles and bullets, just bring your own small to med gun. $20 per person. Register your child on our webpage www.aspiringgymsports.co.nz and go to “holiday program /drop in class“ tab to find the session. This is open to all children within the Year 5/6 age range. Text 0274149562 for more info - $20 Each participant max of 24. Friday June 24th will be Yr 7/8.
NZ Mountain Film and Book Festival
Free Mountain Films for families We're delighted to offer a family friendly option for kids and parents to be part of the festival. There are shows at Edgewater in Wānaka at 10am, on both 25th and 26th June. Entry is free, but you need to reserve your spot. (Sorry, but Adults can't come without kids!) To book your spaces, please visit the festival website. NZ Mountain Book Festival We're delighted to announce three great book events for our 20th NZ Mountain Film and Book Festival, held on the evenings of 27th, 28th and 29th June. 'Words and Wine' is back again this year! What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than by savouring a glass of Maori Point wine while you enjoy some good old-fashioned storytelling? In our second book event, Shaun Barnett and Peter Laurenson take us From Aotearoa’s tramping lore to the culture of the Khumbu; and finally, Hazel Phillips and Chris Long will recount tales of two lives less ordinary. Full event details and ticket sales are available on the festival website
Delicious, nutritious and popular with kids, Subway delivers school lunches every Friday. Order online at subwayexpress.co.nz by 9am.
