| | | | | | IMPORTANT DATES
Term 1
Week 2
Harold and Pip from the Life Trust Mobile Classroom - all week
Wednesday 12th February - School Band practices start (info under school notices)
Wednesday 12th February – Parent session with Pip from the Life Trust Mobile Classroom - 3.00-3.40 pm
Wednesday 12th February – PTA Meeting – 7pm School Staffroom
Friday 14th February – Wānaka Primary School Triathlon held in conjunction with the Puzzling World Junior Challenge Triathlon (info below)
Week 3
Wednesday 19th February – Waste Free Wānaka Show in the Hall – 1.30pm
Thursday 20th February – Welcome Back to School Picnic – 5-7pm
Week 4
Pod 8 Swim Week
Monday 24th February – BOT Meeting – 5pm School Staffroom
Friday 28th February – El Gregoe Performance 9.15am and 11.15am
Friday 28th February – Pod 5 Assembly – 2.15pm – School Hall
Week 5
Pod 3 Swim Week
Tuesday 3rd March - WPS Athletics - Years 4-6
Thursday 5th March - Postponement Date for WPS Athletics Years 4-6
Friday 6th March - Fancy Feet and Whacky Wheels Day
Sunday 8th March - Ice Skating Rink being set up in the Hall!
Don't Forget Sunhats are Compulsory
for Outside Activites in Term 1 IMPORTANT NOTICES Safety Around the Carparks Please do not park on the broken yellow lines on Totara Terrace opposite Koru Way - it makes it very difficult for the buses to exit. Just a top tip from the 'Road Code' - broken yellow lines mean no parking!
Parent Info Session with Pip and Harold There is an open afternoon for parents with Pip from the Life Trust Mobile Classroom to give you a glimpse of what she covers at school. Please come to the mobile classroom outside the hall as soon as possible after school as her presentation will start at 3.10pm (lasting for roughly 30 minutes). Children are welcome to play in the playground whilst you are at the session.
General Hygiene Please remind your children about hand washing and toilet flushing practices as well as covering their mouth/nose when coughing and sneezing - we do this at school and we would appreciate you reinforcing the same practice at home. The beginning of the year is time to set routines and this is one of them.
NO Subway Orders this Friday 14th November Due to the Junior Challenge Triathlon being held on Friday there will be NO subway orders. Please ensure your children have lunches fit for triathletes on Friday!
Watch Found Santek turquoise digital watch has been handed into reception. If you are missing this watch please drop into reception to claim. |
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Wānaka Primary School Triathlon - this Friday 14th February Please check your email for information that was sent home yesterday with 'what's happening' this Friday at the triathlon. Thanks to everyone who has registered, your child will receive their race pack either today or tomorrow at the latest.
If you would like to come down and support your child/children - below are the times that the races will take place.
If you need to refer to the email please click here and for the course map click here. |
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Classes for 2020 Over the last week, teachers have enjoyed meeting the children in the year level they will be teaching and found this to be very valuable in sorting classes. Children have also enjoyed working with these teachers as well as working with teachers in specific curriculum areas. Your child's class number and teacher's name will be sent home via email this Thursday. We still have students arriving, and some leaving, but hopefully this will settle now.
We are on our 4th organisation plan and we would have had to change class groups and teachers around if we had allocated classes according to the plan we had in the week before school started. This would have been unsettling for everyone. We put a lot of time into matching children's learning styles and personalities to teachers teaching styles and personalities, as well as consultation with previous years teachers and parent input. We have some composite classes to ensure we keep numbers even throughout the school and with junior classes smaller than that of the seniors.
We are fortunate to have small class sizes, as well as our team leaders - Jason (Pods 1,3,4), Jennie (Pods 5, 6) and Kerry (Pods 7,8) as extra support in classrooms, our literacy lift team who work with small groups/individuals across the school, our learning support team of TAs and ESOL teacher, Clair Winslade, thus further reducing the student to teacher ratio during the day. Our NE/Y1 classes have 19, Year 2s and 3s have 21 or 22, year 4s 23, Year 5s and 6s 24-25. A fabulous situation to be in. We have used our staffing fully to ensure our students get the best possible learner/teacher opportunities. |
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School House Build Work is progressing well with the Wānaka Primary new school house on Roche Street. The framing is up and the roof is on and over the coming weeks, we will have the electrical and plumping fitouts completed. The exterior cladding and exterior window joinery are arriving today. This four bedroom home has been funded by the Board of Trustees and will create a warm and modern living environment which will hopefully help to attract and maintain our teaching team.
Many people have been involved in bringing this project to life and the Board of Trustees would like to extend their sincere thanks to those who are involved. A particular thanks is given to Paddy Kilbride and the GJ Gardner Wānaka team who have been overseeing the job and who have been great to deal with. Further updates on the build project will be coming in the next few weeks. |
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SchoolDocs Our school has works with SchoolDocs who maintain, update, and review our policies. SchoolDocs provides us with a comprehensive core set of policies, which have been well researched and follow the Ministry of Education National Administration Guidelines. The policies and procedures are tailored to our school, and the school supplies specific information such as our charter, and procedures for behaviour management, reporting to parents, etc.
SchoolDocs updates, modifies, or creates policies in response to changes in legislation or Ministry guidelines, significant events, reviews/requests from schools, and regular reviewing from the SchoolDocs team. Our board of trustees has the opportunity to view changes/additions and comment on them before they are implemented. We will advise you when policies are up for review and how you can take part in the review process.
We invite you to visit the site at https://wanaka.schooldocs.co.nz (note that there's no "www."). Our username is "wanaka" and password "wanakaprimary". |
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School Activity Fee 2020 Annual School Activity Fee The annual activity fee is $40.00 per child for 2020. This is a compulsory fee which covers extra-curricular costs, such as those incurred by bringing visiting performers/specialists to Wānaka, for example, sports coaching, dance/music/drama performances and special events. Collecting this annual fee avoids the time-consuming exercise of collecting 600 plus entry fees each time there is a performance or activity. The $40.00 payment is required by Wednesday 26th February 2020. Please make your payment as soon as possible, as our first performance is on Friday 28th February, with El Gregoe performing a comical performance getting the message across about our values using laughter and magic. We would appreciate school fees being paid BEFORE this date so all children can benefit from this performance.
Payments can be made by:
Direct credit to Wānaka Primary School - account 02-0673-0023784-001
Eftpos - available at the school office
Cheque - please make payable to Wānaka Primary School
Cash - please ensure you provide your child's name and room number with payment.
School Donations for 2020 This year, the government has introduced a new donations scheme – the initiative will see decile 1 – 7 schools receive their additional funding in January 2020, alongside their regular operational funding, if the Boards agree not to ask parents and caregivers to pay donations. Unfortunately, as a decile 10 school, Wānaka Primary School does not qualify for this funding and this has increased the reliance on receiving a donation from parents to adequately staff and resource the school, so please consider donating this year.
The suggested school donation is $150.00. The BOT requests the donation annually to assist with costs (not covered by the MOE operations grant), these include providing specialist teaching tutors (eg. Maori and Music), extra resources and teaching / learning enrichment and extension programmes, as well as employing extra staff to address teacher / student ratios.
Tax deductible receipts are issued for all donations. |
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Welcome Back to School Picnic Thursday 20th February 5-7pm Our welcome back to school picnic is great way to start off the year. We invite all parents and students to come along dressed in tribe colours to enjoy some activities and a picnic. Activities will be planned as follows: - 5.00pm: The staff and Kapahaka group will welcome everyone with a powhiri. Families are asked to gather by the hall where you will be met and led into the school.
- 5.15pm: Families will be invited to set up an area for a BYO picnic tea, or take-aways, whichever suits best.
- 5.30pm: JUMP OFF - we will have students in year levels show off the Jump Jam routines they have been working on. Families can eat their picnics whilst these are being performed.
- 6.00pm: Families will then be invited to join us for some games and activities such as t-ball, softball, parachute activities, fitness trail, playgrounds, etc. It will be fun.
- Parents can also visit pods and meet the teachers and have a look around the rooms.
We look forward to having a fabulous turn out and celebration of the start of another year at Wānaka Primary School. |
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School Band The School Band practices start this week. To those continuing from last year, please make sure you bring your instruments to school on Wednesday 12th February. For any students who would like to trial for the school band, please also ensure you bring your instruments to school on Wednesday 12th February so Pete and Helen can get organised. School music will start once pods have set their timetables, etc. |
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Annual Kids Day Out Variety Show Wednesday 19th February at the Lake Wānaka Centre, 6pm start. A special sponsored performance for children with additional needs, and their families, to enjoy. Check out info about the show by visiting www.kidsdayout.co.nz, and contact Leah, our SENCO (senco@wanaka.school.nz or 443 7687), if you would like to be allocated with free-of-charge tickets. |
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First PTA Meeting for the year The PTA's first meeting for the year will be held on Wednesday 12th February at 7pm in the School Staffroom. Everyone is welcome to attend. |
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Wānaka Trail Ride Saturday 28th March 2020 Sign up to volunteer and be part of this fabulous fundraising event
The Wānaka Trail Ride offers a unique and stunning, all-abilities trail bike ride, whilst raising funds for Wānaka Primary School and Montessori Children’s House Wānaka. Now in it's sixth year and 100% volunteer driven this is a fantastic event and volunteers are sought to help in a range of roles including catering, registration, marshaling and parking.
Head to the volunteer registration here, browse roles and choose a time and role that suits you. Roles are varied to suit a range of skills and availability. Parking, registration, marshaling, track set up and break down, catering or pre-event baking. Don't worry if you don't know anything about trail rides - many of the roles don't need knowledge of riding, whilst those with great riding skills will love joining the marshal team. If you have kids who you want to ride with then sign up for a half day shift as a marshal and ride with your family for the rest of the day.
We work hard to ensure volunteers enjoy themselves and feedback from previous rides has been really positive:
“It’s great to have three hours or so of my time go towards raising so much money...
it’s a value for time volunteer event. If only all my other three hours
of volunteer time helped make so much money!”
“The vibe in the pumping base paddock was brilliant –
the riders were just so excited to be there!”
If you have any questions pop in and see Lucy Jewell at WPS office,
Anne Marie Love at MCHW office
or speak to Gillian 021 500 394
(www.wanakatrailride.org - Facebook@WanakaTrailRide) Photo credit and thanks to Tonia's Photography |
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Wanaka AFC - Junior Football Starts This Week |
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Fit Collective - Athlete Development - Ninja Kids |
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Navigating the World of Children and Technology |
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The 10 Beethoven Violin & Piano Sonatas |
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What's Happening at Wānaka Library |
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Thrill Zone - Birthday Party Packages |
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Rozzie & the Orchestra - Magical & Interactive |
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Warbirds Over Wānaka 2020: Schools Programme All students aged 0-16 are FREE to attend on Friday 10th April 2020.
One of WOW’s fundamental objectives is the education of young New Zealanders about our country’s aviation history. We aim to inspire young people to take an active interest in all facets of aviation at the Airshow.
This year we are excited to welcome the Royal New Zealand Air Force who will be partnering with Air New Zealand to present School to Skies: On the Road. This programme travels all around the country and is a fully interactive and fun hands-on experience.
The Air Training Corps, 50th (Alexandra) Squadron Cadets will be running tours throughout the morning of the 10th April.
Student tickets can be collected on the Friday morning at a collection point beside the ticket boxes at the entrances to the Airshow.
We hope all students will enjoy their day at the Warbirds Over Wānaka International Airshow! |
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| Delicious, nutritious and popular with kids, Subway delivers school lunches every Friday. Order online at subwayexpress.co.nz by 9.00am. |
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