Wānaka Primary School Newsletter for Term 4 Week 3
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Newsletter Term 4 Week 3
29th October 2024

IN THIS NEWSLETTER


 

IMPORTANT DATES


Term 4
Week 3
Year 4 Camp Week
Wednesday 30th October - Year 4 Camp - Pod 3
Thursday 31st October - Year 4 Camp - Pod 4
Week 4
Pod 2 Swim Week - all week
Tuesday 5th November - Year 5 Camp - all week
Tuesday 5th November - Year 6 Bike Ready
Wednesday 6th November - Year 3 Camp - Pod 4
Wednesday 6th November - Year 6 Bike Ready
Thursday 7th November - Year 3 Camp - Pod 3
Week 5
Friday 15th November - TEACHER ONLY DAY - School is closed for instruction
Week 6
Book Week - all week
Thursday 21st November - COPSSA Orienteering (postponement 22 Nov)
Friday 22nd November - POD 2 Assembly - 2.15pm - Hall
Week 7
Tuesday 26th November - End of Year Parent Deep Dives
Thursday 28th November - COPSSA Triathlon (postponement 29 Nov)
Friday 29th November - Tribe Afternoon
Friday 29th November - End of Year Reports emailed out
Week 8
Monday 2nd December - Final Board Meeting of the year
Tuesday 3rd December - Parent Teacher Conferences
Wednesday 4th December - Parent Teacher Conferences
Thursday 5th December - WPS Disco (see flyer below)
Friday 6th December - 'Taste of MAC' Year 6 Transition Visit
Friday 6th December - POD 1 Assembly - 2.15pm - Hall
Week 9
Tuesday 10th December - Matinee Performance of Pantomime
Wednesday 11th December - Evening Performance of Pantomime
Friday 13th December - Wendy's Farewell
Week 10
Monday 16th December - Tribe Water Fun Afternoon
Tuesday 17th December - Year 6 Graduation Assembly 1pm
Wednesday 18th December - Last day of school 2024
school closes at 3pm, buses run as usual

Term 1, 2025
Monday 3rd February - First day for students 2025
 

IMPORTANT NOTICES

 

Friday 1st November is Gum Boot Friday!

Children are asked to come to school in their flashiest gumboots and bring a gold coin donation to donate to "I Am Hope", a charity supporting little people with big feelings.  Don't have gum boots?  No worries - just wear whatever you like, decorate your feet even :) but please remember a gold coin for this important charity. 
 
 

Year 6 Bike Ready

Next week when the Year 5 depart for camp our Year 6 children are participating in the Bike Ready Programme that is run by the QLDC.  All Year 6 children need to bring their bikes, in working order, and a helmet on Tuesday 5th November and Wednesday 6th November.
 

Parent Teacher Conferences

Parent teacher conferences are Tuesday 3rd December and Wednesday 4th December from 3.20pm - 5.00pm.  This is a chance to catch up with your child's teacher to find out more information about progress and achievement and how you as a parent can help support your child's learning over the holidays.  These will only be face-to-face; if you are away and would prefer a video meeting, please make arrangements directly with the classroom teacher on a different day.

Bookings will open on Tuesday 5th November.  There will be a link to book in next week's newsletter.
CURRICULUM COMMENT

My trip to Finland

A big thanks to the Board who supported my use of the Ministry of Education Principal Wellbeing and Professional Learning grant and agreed that visiting schools in the much talked about Finnish education system was a great way to gain some PLD and also provide heaps of wellbeing for me, which it did.  It is a great way to finish off my 20 years at Wānaka Primary School and also inspire my next steps in my own learning and thinking, which it has also done!  Thanks to the wonderful office team and teaching staff for making sure the school ran smoothly whilst I was missing in action for the 8 school days.  

We flew out on 3rd October and spent stop over time in Dubai where we did the usual desert tour, camel ride (I used the 'I don't want to fall and break my hip' card), sightseeing and a bit of shopping at the world's largest shopping centre.  Then we travelled to Rovaniemi in Lapland to see Santa, to tell him how wonderful our children and parents have been this year (and it snowed on the day we left which made it so picturesque).  Then it was off to pick up the rest of the Tour for Principals group in Helsinki.  We managed to take the ferry over to Tallin in Estonia for a day and then it was off to the city where we visited schools and attended lectures from experts in Finnish schooling, over 5 days.  On our way back to Helsinki airport we had a few hours in a city called Por Voo, which was very quaint and then it was another stopover in Singapore.  We observed in an Australian International School in Singapore and flew home the next day, so had a brief exploration of this very busy city.

I will be writing a full report to the Board.  My major reflection has been on how much education and in particular students' attitudes and behaviour in schools is influenced by society's mores (values and customs).  We found the Finnish people, and in particular the children, to be very calm, regulated, non-disruptive and able to focus on 'seat work' learning for a length of time.  This is due, we learnt, from the great value Finland places on education and on their teachers, and thus attendance is excellent and children come to school with a ready to learn mindset.  We also noticed most of the schools we visited, used 'student workbooks' a lot of the time, and there was very little differentiation, in what and how they were learning and working on at each class level.  It also made me think about how hard NZ teachers work to provide active, stimulating hands on learning activities to provide for the learning style of different learners.

The most fabulous thing was that class sizes ranged from 18 to 23 and that each teacher had a teacher aide in support whenever they were teaching a class.  Also it is each city that provides funding for their schools and an official informed us that 70% of the city's income goes into education.  WOW!  That's incredible.  As such there were impressive resources and equipment in schools, such as large technology suites, craft rooms for art, sewing, construction, knitting, wood craft, construction and with multiple machines (such as sewing machines, and hand tools).  Parents had no day to day involvement in the school except at mid and end of year reporting times. 

I have had a fabulous trip to Finland to look at the Finnish education system.  I learned so much and would love to set up my own school based on my reflections; if I was 20 years younger!  It  was an absolute pleasure being welcomed into classrooms and meeting dedicated teachers and gorgeous children in Finland. 
 
 

Year 6 Camp

Children, staff and parents have raved about their week at camp.  Highlights included dissecting the squid, sleeping over at the museum, and the water slide at the camp where they stayed.  Many thanks to the parents who helped in lots of different ways to make this camp so successful.  Thank you to the Year 6s for being an amazing group to take camping and thank you so much to the staff who put many hours into organising and running this camp; Anna, Coral, Dave, Charlotte L, (Jennie and Moira who worked behind the scenes).  You are all tumeke!
 
 

Year 4 Camp

The Year 4s are off to camp at Bannockburn this week.  Each of the groups has a night sleepover at the Bannockburn School Camp and spends two days out and about exploring the local terrain.  Next week is the Year 5's turn and they head to Camp Columba at Pukerau, which is packed full of challenges such as abseiling, flying fox, rock climbing, raft building and racing on the lake.  Such fun and great learning opportunities.
 

Phonics Testing

We were selected to trial the new draft phonics tests the Ministry has produced as part of their work in their structured literacy implementation.  They will test 40 children, whose parents have already been informed, in a test that takes around 8-10 minutes.  (This test apparently came from Australia who in turn sourced it from England.  It appears the Ministry is going to use this trial to put a NZ stamp on this recycled assessment).  
 

Some Heads Ups

  • A reminder that Pod 2 are swimming next week 4th - 8th November.  Make sure all the Pod 2 wee 'dudes' and 'dudesses' remember their togs and towels each day.  This completes our Learn to Swim programme for this year.  Our 2025 swim dates are already being locked in.
  • FRIDAY 15TH NOVEMBER - MINISTRY OF EDUCATION CURRICULUM REFRESH TEACHER ONLY DAY.  SCHOOL IS CLOSED FOR INSTRUCTION.
  • There is a Board meeting on Monday 4th November at 5pm in the school staffroom.
  • Our annual book fair is happening in Week 6, Monday 18th - Friday 22nd November.
 

Ice Skating Rink 2025

Pre-Covid we had a mobile ice skating rink set up in our school hall for a week and every class had two lessons and some fun on the ice.  All skates etc were provided.  Children brought their own helmets.  It is with great delight that we managed to secure the rink for term one in 2025.  All classes get two sessions and we usually pay for this with the school activity fee so everyone gets a go.  The rink takes up the whole hall.  We all loved it last time.  Even though I won't be here, I am excited!! 
SCHOOL NOTICES

WPS PTA School Disco

Kings Seeds Fundraiser

Scholastic Book Club/Loop Instructions

 


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. 

Or click on the image below to order:

Orders will close at 9am Thursday 31st October.
SPORT NOTICES

COPSSA Orienteering (Y6) - 21st November

This event is in Queenstown again this term at Jardine Park.  We are allowed to take 12 Y6 girls and 12 Y6 boys to the event.  These children will be identified in the coming week so we can provide them with some training before the event.


COPSSA Triathlon (Y5-6) - 28th November

This event is in Queenstown again this year.  Placegetters from Challenge Wānaka at the start of the year qualify for this event.  Parents and children will be informed in the coming weeks about who has qualified.
 

Challenge Wānaka

Challenge Wānaka for 2025 is back in town. The race will be on Thursday 13th February 2025.  This year all entries will be through school, not on the Challenge Website.  We are currently working through the logistics and changes so watch this space and emails for updates.
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 manage our emotions'.
ENVIRO SCHOOLS

Seedlings for Sale at our Garden to Table Cart
LIBRARY NEWS

Lock in the Date 18th - 22nd November

 3 weeks to go!

 

Our annual book fair is coming up in week 6.
This is our biggest fundraiser for our school library.
This is a great time to do some Christmas shopping!

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.
 

Digital and Audio Resources

Borrow box is an amazing resource which you can have free access to for digital reading and audio resources for your children.  Click on the image below to look at the amazing range.  You need a QLDC library membership (which is free) to borrow. 
 

 

BookHub

BookHub is an relatively new NZ based website where you can search for books you want to buy online from NZ based booksellers rather than from overseas sites.

Obviously I support local booksellers as well but if you are an online shopper I fully support supporting NZ businesses before the likes of Amazon who charge exorbitant shipping fees.  Click on the icon or this link : https://bookhub.co.nz/
 


 

Quote of the Week

 
HEALTH SNIPPETS

Toothbrushing Tip - Community Oral Health Service
COMMUNITY NOTICES

ESOL Classes (English Speaker of Other Languages)


Start Date: Wednesday 23rd October (you can still sign up!)
End Date: Wednesday 27th November
Location: Wānaka Community Hub, 34 McDougall Street, Wānaka
Time: Wednesdays at 1:30pm - 3:00pm
Course Fee: Free
 
Central Otago REAP (COREAP) are offering a free six-week ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) course to support our community’s newcomers in learning English.  Please visit the following link for further details and to register.

Mt Aspiring Netball Club Need You for the 2025 Season

Día de los Muertos Celebrations

Join us to honour our loved ones at Wānaka's second Día de los Muertos celebration!  There will be traditional Mexican activities for all ages, delicious food, and a strong sense of community.  Pre-register for workshops such as piñata-making or sugar skull decorating, and enjoy performances, dancing, and more!

Meet Award-Winning Authors and Illustrators

Diwali Celebrations

Help Decorate Community Link's New Produce Stand

Parenting NeuroStars

Upper Clutha Angling Club – 'Take A Kid Fishing Day'

Supported by Otago Fish and Game

WHO: This is for children 8 -10 yrs old
DATE: Sunday 17th November 2024 - 9.45am-1.00pm (2hrs free fishing)
VENUE: 45 South, Molyneaux Orchard, 3 Ord Road, Cromwell (opposite Highland Park)
TRANSPORT: Some Club members’ vehicles will be available, but assistance from parents is welcome.
TIMINGS: Allow 45 minutes from Wānaka. Meet at pond venue by 9.45am. Briefing will be at 10am followed by fishing until 12pm midday.  A free BBQ lunch and games will follow the fishing.
 
Please click here for more information and an enrolment form

Wānaka Coeliac Kids Club - Xmas Truffles
Delicious, nutritious and popular with kids, Subway delivers school lunches every Friday.  Order online at subwayexpress.co.nz by 9am.
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