| | | | | | IMPORTANT DATES Week 5
Swimming Pod 8
Thursday 4th March - Lab in a Box
Friday 5th March - El Grego Performances - 9:00am and 11:00am
Week 6
Swimming Pod 3
Monday 8th March - Parent Voice Meetings - 3:20pm - 5:00pm
Tuesday 9th March - WPS Senior Athletics - Years 4, 5 & 6
Wednesday 10th March - Parent Voice Meetings - 3:20pm - 5:00pm
Wednesday 10th March - PTA Meeting 7:00pm - Staffroom
Friday 12th March - Pod 7 Assembly 2:15pm - Hall
Week 7
Swimming Pod 7
Tuesday 16th March - Maths Information Evening for parents - 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Friday 19th March - Pod 8 Assembly 2:15pm - Hall
Week 8
Monday 22nd March - Otago Anniversary Day - School Closed
Tuesday 23rd March - Upper Clutha Athletics
Friday 26th March - Pod 5 Assembly 2:15pm - Hall
Saturday 27th March - Wānaka Trail Ride
Week 9
Monday 29th March - Board Meeting 5.00pm - Staffroom
Wednesday 31st March - Clued Up Kids Programme Y6
Thursday 1st April - Clued Up Kids Programme Y6
Friday 2nd April - Easter Friday - School Closed
Week 10
Monday 5th April - Easter Monday - School Closed
Tuesday 6th April - Easter Tuesday - School Closed
Wednesday 7th April - PTA Meeting 7:00pm - Staffroom
Friday 9th April - Pod 4 Assembly 2:15pm - Hall
Week 11
Monday 12th April - Top Bike
Tuesday 13th April - WPS Junior Athletics Years 1, 2 & 3
Friday 16th April - Term 1 Ends
IMPORTANT NOTICES
Parent Voice Meetings
Parent voice meetings will be held on Monday 8th March and Wednesday 10th March from 3:20pm until 5:00pm. Please go to the School Interviews website www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and enter our school code - ewxs2 - to book a time to meet with your child's teacher. Please note our Learning Support Teachers, Marg Grieve and Emma Stewart, will be available from 1:00pm - 4:00pm on Monday 8th March.
If you do not have access to a computer, or you wish an interview to be booked for you, please contact Katrina.
Dental Clinic Carpark A friendly reminder please to wait patiently in your car and let the buses go first. The buses have a tight time frame to keep to and need to be at Holy Family and Mt Aspiring College at designated times. This is especially important if you are parked in the first lot of parks facing the school grounds. Kindling for Sale We are selling boxes of hand-picked kindling for $10 each to raise money for our girls' and boys' clubs to allow them to do their planned activities this year. Come into the office to purchase a box. Thank you for your support.
Westpac Banking Westpac Banking is every Tuesday morning 8:30 - 9:00am at Reception.
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
Purple Trek Bike Missing A small purple Trek bike is missing since Challenge, it is Race #1254. Please let us know in the office if you have seen it. |
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Introducing the Office Staff Lucy Jewell I have enjoyed working, with a fabulous group of colleagues, in the office for the last 6 years. We moved to Wānaka from Fox Glacier and love what the region has to offer - walking, biking, skiing, boating to name a few of the wonderful outdoors activities on tap! I have 3 children – my eldest, Charlie, is now working in Wellington, Sam has just moved to Christchurch and studying Engineering at UC and Sara is in year 11 at MAC. My husband Rob commutes to Fox Glacier (not daily) where he manages Fox Glacier Guiding (albeit a bit quite at the mo!).
Katrina Kreft
I have been married to Mike for 40 years and have 2 children and 4 grandchildren, 2 of whom attend Wānaka Primary School - how lucky am I?
I love walking - the Wānaka tracks are my favourites but Motatapu, the Ridgeline and the Queenstown Half Marathon have also been ticked off. I am now awaiting the opening of the Lake Dunstan trail.
I also enjoy reading, catching up with friends at a movie, travelling (sadly my wings have been clipped!) and spending time with my gorgeous grandchildren.
I have been at Wānaka Primary School for more years than I care to remember, and am absolutely certain I have the best job in Wānaka!
Karon Henderson
I began working at WPS as a TA 12 years ago. For the last 4 years I have worked part time with the Admin team on reception. We have a great team and enjoy every opportunity to dress up!
Out of school I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, walking and travelling NZ and overseas when possible. I have 2 adult children and my husband runs our plumbing and heating business.
Jo Murphy
I moved back to NZ in 2007 with my husband, Murph, when I was expecting our eldest, Otis, who is now in Year 10. We lived in Auckland for a year where I completed my Masters in Education before moving to Lake Okareka, Rotorua, where our daughter, Tasmin (Year 8), was born. We fulfilled our dream of moving to Wānaka 7 years ago.
My background is mostly in Outdoor Education; Murph and I met working at Outward Bound Wales, and prior to kids I was the Deputy Head of an Outdoor Ed Centre working with Birmingham schools in the UK.
My family love music and spending time in the outdoors and I really enjoy walking my 2 dogs on the local tracks taking in the incredible scenery.
I started working at WPS in Term 2 last year and am really enjoying working as part of a great team in such a varied job. Maths Session for Parents 'What Parents Need to know to support their children in mathematics'.
We are working with Viv Thompson this year, around provision of a balanced maths programme and the ALiM (Accelerated Learning in Maths) programme.
We have never moved away from students learning basic facts and tables or teaching algorithms. However given all the information in the media, (re international testing - with pencil and paper tests only may I add!), we have asked Viv to lead a parents' information session about what you need to know to support your kids at home. She will also answer any questions you may have about the teaching of maths and our leadership team and some staff will be there as well to respond to any queries as well.
The maths information session is being held on Tuesday 16th August 7- 8pm here at school and we will advise which space nearer the time. We would love to see you there.
As foundation literacies, we are always involved in professional learning and curriculum review in maths, reading, writing and oral language as these are the foundations of all learning.
Parent Voice Meetings We are holding parent voice meetings on Monday 8th March and Wednesday 10th March from 3.20pm - 5.00pm. Parents and teachers find these meetings to be very informative. We want to ensure you have the opportunity to tell us about your child; interests and passions, social relationships, learning styles and how you would like to be contacted throughout the coming year. In addition to this, it is hoped you will gain an insight into the values and expectations of your child’s teacher, which in turn helps you to support your child within the class environment and our school community. Teachers take the role as listeners whilst they learn all they can from you about your child.
A parent voice script with a variety of questions for your consideration can be found here. Please feel free to make notes and bring the script along with you. Remember to book a meeting time using our online system as outlined in the newsletter. The parent voice meeting will be a time for you to discuss your child with the classroom teacher in a one to one situation with the teacher doing the listening. Many parents have indicated they would like time alone to discuss issues with the teacher without the child being there, and this is a good opportunity for this. We want to ensure a strengthening of relationships will come about from these meetings so we really appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you. We want you to tell us how we can best help your child learn.
Pod 7 Assembly 12th March 2:15pm Pod 7 will be sharing some of their learning over the first 5 weeks at school for 2021. We love to see our parents at these assemblies so please feel free to come along and hear and see what Pod 7 have been working on.
Y3 & 4 Lab in a Box Year 3 and 4 will be visiting 'Lab in a Box' on Thursday 4th March. The box is full of exciting hands-on science equipment that the children will enjoy experiencing.
El Gregoe Performance
We have the El Gregoe comedian/magician performance on Friday 5th March. This is focused with great humour on our school values and closely links to our positive behaviour and resilience work. Please pay your activity fee as soon as possible as such performances are what your activity fee pays for. |
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Mufti Day 25th February for Kidscan NZ My name is Maddi Frazer and I am currently in my last year of school at Mount Aspiring College. I am a former Wānaka Primary School student, living in Wānaka for as long as I can remember starting Wānaka Primary School right from Sky Bridge when I was 4. This year alongside my dad, Jarrod Frazer, we will be participating along with 59 other teams (all driving Minis), in the Pork Pie Charity Run from Paihia to Bluff, driving the length of the country in 6 days.
The Pork Pie Charity Run is a bi-annual fundraising road trip for Mini owners, based loosely on the route taken by the Blondini Gang in the original Pork Pie movie. The run first took place in 2009 with just 36 teams making the trip from Kaitaia to Invercargill. The run has raised funds for many different charities and organisations such as Starship Hospital, Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand and KidsCan. To date across all 6 previous events over $1,000,000 has been raised! This year I have the opportunity to participate in the 2021 Pork Pie Charity Run, fundraising for the chosen organisation KidsCan NZ.
KidsCan NZ is a charitable trust that works to meet the physical and nutritional needs of Kiwi kids that are less fortunate than others. They provide food, clothing, raincoats etc… to over 46,000 disadvantaged children. Growing up hungry, wet, cold is the reality for over 253,000 Kiwi children which can impact their educational growth and lead to a lifelong pattern of underachievement. KidsCan believes that there is a way to break this cycle and that is by providing these essentials to Kiwi Kids so that they can arrive at school or early childhood ready and able to learn for a better future. They believe that education is how we break the cycle of hardship and education is therefore at the core of everything that they do. They partner with 787 low decile schools and 55 early childhood centres all over New Zealand to provide kids with the basics including food, clothing and health items so that they are in the best position they can be to learn.
Last Thursday, the 25th of February, Wānaka Primary School supported us by having a Mufti Day, with all funds raised going to KidsCan NZ. A total of $585.00 was raised for KidsCan. If you would still like to make a donation, please go to our fundraising page as it all makes a difference no matter how big or small it is.
A huge thank you to the Wānaka Primary School Family for their support. |
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PTA Meeting - Wednesday 10th March - 7pm Our PTA meeting has been changed to Wednesday 10th March at 7pm in the Staffroom. Everyone is welcome to attend. |
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Our School Cookbook The PTA have decided that one of our big fundraising projects for this year will be a school cookbook. We have a small team from the PTA spearheading this and doing most of the work but WE NEED YOUR HELP to get started...then it’s up to us.
Cookbook title competition: 
Recipes needed now:
We would love to receive your favourite family and special recipes. We will be sorting these into sections and we may have to cull where there are double ups etc so please don't be offended if your recipe doesn't make it into the final version. We need lunchbox ideas, breakfast and brunch yummies, mains, picnic foods, desserts, starters and nibbles…any recipe that you think would suit a busy family. To register and send us your recipe please use this link School Cookbook Recipes. We want you to get these in as soon as possible, so we can sort and decide what sections to include in our cookbook, and identify the areas where we need more recipes. So start now! We would like the cookbook form completed by the 12th of March. Copyright:
Please be aware that we need to stay clear of any copyright issues. Recipes that are not subject to copyright include: family recipes, recipes that have been adapted/changed and have not simply been copied and recipes that lack originality – think cheese scones recipe. Add your own flair or send us a recipe that has passed through the generations and is written in Granny’s handwriting somewhere. We have added a statement to the Google Form where you are asked to declare that your recipe does not breach any copyright rules.
Photographer:
We are looking for a photographer to support this project. If you are interested in being involved please contact Wendy wendyb@wanaka.school.nz That’s all you need to do - the rest is up to us. Our timeline is that recipes to be included in the book will be finalised by the end of term 1. The photographer and design team get into action to do photos, layout etc. and so the draft book is ready for printing by the end of term 2 and we have a prototype ready for pre-orders at Friday Night Lights. We hope to sell a few as Xmas presents. Watch this space for opportunities for your business to support this project. All funds raised from the cookbook will be used to purchase equipment, tools and resources for the Maker Spaces (to be built onto the back of each pod) that will hopefully be up and running by the end of the year using funds from the MoE we are entitled to through an innovation fund. We saw so much wonderful cooking, construction, building, making, designing, sewing, electronics etc. being done over lockdown it will be exciting to have a space that is dedicated to the children applying their learnings and creating a masterpiece across all curriculum areas. We will need building tables and tools, IT equipment (a 3D printer would be great), sewing machines, cooking equipment, electronic sets and tools, materials such as wood, plastic, and tools like drills, hammers and saws and bits and bobs such as nails, screws, pins etc. We also need to have a robust storage system that can be built into the Maker Space so children know where to go to grab a tool and of course where to put it back.. Emma, Abbie, Wendy
PTA Cookbook Team |
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Thank you to Wānaka Four Square and Pure NZ Icecreams Thank you to Wānaka Four Square and Pure NZ Ice cream for their support of our Welcome Back to School evening last week. |
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Senior Athletics Day (Years 4-6)
At this stage senior athletics will be able to go ahead next week on Tuesday 9th March (PP - Thursday 11th March). However, if we are still at Level 2 we will unfortunately not be able to allow parents to attend.
All students in years four to six will have the opportunity to participate in the following events:
Throws: shot put, discus and vortex
Running: sprints (60m for year four and five - 75m for year six), 800m and 60m hurdles
Jumps: high jump and long jump
Students will be asked to choose to participate in either the non-competitive or competitive division.
The competitive division will allow for: - competing for individual and overall placings in their year groups
- eligibility for qualification to the Upper Clutha event (all events except vortex)
The non-competitive athletes will have a participation focus while earning points for their tribes. Students can choose to be in the competitive division for individual events (eg. discus and sprints, non-competitive in the others). Please talk to your children to help them decide which division they would prefer to take part in. Because of the large number of children taking part, we are not able to hold all events on Tuesday. The 800m and discus events will be held on an alternative day and advised separately. The high jump, vortex and running events will be held at Kelly's Flat. The other events will be on the school field. All children will need to wear trainers (closed shoes are compulsory for the throws) and we will encourage them to dress in tribe colours. Water bottles, plenty of lunch and snacks, hats and sunscreen are all a must too. Spike shoes are not permitted. Can you help? To help run the event as time efficiently as possible we would appreciate offers of parent help. If you are able to offer an hour or two, please could you contact Kath on kathn@wanaka.school.nz. Alternatively, while watching your child(ren) take part, please let teachers know if you are happy to roll back shot puts, rake the long jump pit or put a high jump bar in place, etc. Thank you! If the event is postponed, notification will be given on Radio Wānaka and placed on the school website and app by 8:00am. |
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Junior Challenge Well done to all the WPS students who participated in the first Challenge based at Glendhu.
A big thank you to all the parents who came out to support the racers! We had a few podium finishers... Year 1 Males 1st Hadley McElrea 2nd Cam MacFarlane 3rd Jake Clifford Year 1 Females 2nd - Alice Cruden 3rd Cleo Burford Year 2 Males 1st Monty Bright Year 2 Females 1st Zara Ellison Year 3 Males 1st Rio Carnie Year 3 Females 3rd Lara Beams Year 4 Females 2nd Emily Boswell Year 5 Males 1st Theo Taylor 2nd Sam Taylor Year 5 Females 3rd Janey Mavor Click on the link below to see video and photo footage from the event. https://www.facebook.com/ChallengeWanaka |
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Welcome to Wānaka Primary School Netball for 2021! Player registrations are now open. The season will be played in Term 2, commencing on Saturday the 8th of May and finishing on Saturday the 10th of July. In order for us to run the season successfully, we DESPERATELY NEED parent coaches and managers. Please contact us on wpsnetballers@gmail.com if you are interested in helping out. If we don't get enough coaches, we will have to limit the number of teams (which we really don't want to do!). So please offer to help out if you can! Please follow this link to register: https://www.sporty.co.nz/viewform/153545 Registrations close on Friday 19th March. No late registrations will be accepted. If you have any questions - please email wpsnetballers@gmail.com. Many thanks, Wānaka Primary Netball Committee |
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Sponsors of the Wānaka Trail Ride Wānaka Primary School and Montessori Children's House would like to thank the following businesses for their generosity in sponsoring our Wānaka Trail Ride.
If you own a business and would be interested in sponsoring the Wānaka Trail Ride please contact Anne-Marie on annemarie.love@mchw.co.nz.
Land Access
Denis Nyhon - Lucy Annan and Simon Mailing
Gold Sponsors
Maungatua Contracting - Stonewood Homes
Bronze Sponsors
Aspiring Helicopters - Puzzling World - Ecco Landscapes - Hirepool Wanaka
Additional Sponsors
Alpine Auto Centre - Tyreland Wanaka - Custom Digital - Placemakers
Cardrona Alpine Resort - 4 Square - Rotorworx - Tonia’s Photography - Logical1
Challenge Wānaka - Subway - The Lake Bar - Mitre 10 - Moto South
Wireless Rentals - Wānaka Wastebusters |
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Library News 
We have lots of new books - come and check them out! Click here to view our Library Webapp which also gives access to our eLibrary and lots of useful links, activities and book recommendations. There are also lots of talking stories including ones from Melissa, our librarian. Feel free to email Melissa at any time if you have any questions. |
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Fundraising for Ronald McDonald House
A couple of our parents are taking part in the Ronald McDonald House to House Challenge Fundraiser this month.
Their goal is to complete the number of km's it is from Wānaka to Christchurch by biking, running and walking during March (about 425km's) with the aim to raise as much money as they can for Ronald McDonald House. The link for their fundraising page is above, thanks for your support.
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Kids Yoga and Mindfulness |
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Netball Excellence in Training Skills Academy |
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Wānaka Early Years Community Kapa Haka |
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| Delicious, nutritious and popular with kids, Subway delivers school lunches every Friday. Order online at subwayexpress.co.nz by 9am. |
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