IN THIS NEWSLETTER

IMPORTANT DATES

Term 3
Week 1
Ezra Dance Programme - all week
Friday 24th July - Ezra Dance Performance:
Performance 1 - 1:30pm - Pods 1, 2, 3, 5, 7
Performance 2 - 2:10pm - Pods 4, 6, 8
Week 2
Friday 31st July - Pod 8 Assembly - 2:15pm - School Hall
Friday 31st July - Written Reports will be sent home digitally
Week 3
Monday 3rd August - Chess Tournament
Tuesday 4th August - Students Sharing Evidence of their Learning to Parents
Thursday 6th August - EOTC / SNOW Programme - Day 1
Week 4
Monday 10th August - Parent / Teacher Interviews 3:30 - 5:00pm (all rooms excluding Rooms 1 & 23)
Tuesday 11th August - Parent / Teacher Interviews 3:30 - 5:00pm
Wednesday 12th August - Parent / Teacher Interviews 3:30 - 5:00pm (Rooms 1 & 23 only, Room 6 will organise their own interviews at a later date)
Wednesday 12th August - PTA Meeting 7:00pm - Staffroom
Thursday 13th August - EOTC / SNOW Programme - Day 2
Friday 14th August - Pod 4 Assembly - 2:15pm - School Hall
Week 5
Monday 17th August - BOT Meeting 5:00pm - Staffroom
Thursday 20th August - EOTC / SNOW Programme - Day 3
Week 6
Thursday 27th August - EOTC / SNOW Programme - Day 4

IMPORTANT NOTICES

Wānaka Primary New School App

Exciting news we have a new App for Wānaka Primary School.

To install the App please:

Go to the App Store on your Apple or Android device
Search 'SchoolAppsNZ' to download the app
Then search Wānaka Primary School
You will then have to request Wānaka Primary School log in details which will be emailed to you.

The main features of the App are:

Absences - record children's absence from school
Buses - to record bus changes
School Info - access to the school website and other useful links
Calendar - displays upcoming events at school - you are able to tap on the event and be provided with more information
Newsletter - displays recent newsletters
Parent Portal - takes you to Edge where you can view your children's reports
Alerts - reminders sent to parents - we can now define classes, pods and years so you should only get alerts relevant to your child.

School Banking

Westpac School Banking is Tuesday mornings - come and see Jodie in the School Office 8:30 - 9:00am

CURRICULUM COMMENT

Welcome to Term 3

It is so good to see everyone back. Most of you in one piece, but there are one or two students...and parents...with broken bones and injuries. We aim to keep ourselves fit and healthy this term so a reminder to adhere to the handwashing and coughing/sneezing protocols and for children and adults who are unwell to stay at home. This will help to keep colds and flus to a minimum over term 3.

It sounds like there were lots of fun things happening over the holidays with skiing, ice skating, travelling, sleep overs and even a cold, grey day cuddled up by the fire watching a movie. We had lots of smiles and warm greetings as children returned.

It's an exciting term 3 with dance week, the C.O. Chess Tournament hosted by WPS, Maori Language week, celebration of our International Students week, Cross Country events - our school, Upper Clutha and Central Otago, swimming for Pods 5 and 6, EOTC/SNOW activities starting in week 3, the U.C. Kapahaka Hui (with live performances) and also the C.O. Kapahaka will be shared online this term. The music festival we were planning to host this term has been cancelled due to COVID and Lockdown and our inability to get all of the primary schools together to practice. This is biannual so we will look at hosting it again next year. We were also disappointed to have to cancel our Kapahaka's Marae visit, also due to COVID. Hopefully this will happen again next year.

It is Dance Week at Wānaka Primary

This week we have Ezra's dance tutors in school and there has been some great music booming out of the hall and some classy moves on the dance floor. I am amazed how Dean and Omar, this year's dance tutors, are so good at getting dances learnt and ready to perform - with groups of 100 in each pod at a time. Remember to come along Friday afternoon to watch the dance performances:

Performance 1 - 1.30pm - Pods 1, 2, 3, 5, 7
Performance 2 - 2.10pm - Pods 4, 6, 8

Mid Year Reporting has 3 parts to it this year

Written reports will be sent home digitally via the parent portal next week on Friday 31st July. You will receive an email telling you how to access these.

On Tuesday 4th August, parents are invited to school anytime between - 11:00 -12:30pm, 1:30-3:00pm, 4.30-6:00pm - for students to report to their parents and to show their work and talk about their achievements, progress and parts of their learning that they find tricky. Teachers will provide a script, a talking strip or questions to help you to look at their learning and children will also have prompts to help them share with you. Teachers will provide more information re the student sharing their learning journey next week.

The final part of the process are the parent / teacher interviews where the teacher gives a bit more detail about your child's school learning and parents are encouraged to ask any questions, give any feedback, etc in this time without their child being present. These are being held on Monday 10th, Tuesday 11th and for Rooms 1 & 23 only, Wednesday 12th August, 3:30-5:00pm. The interview booking portal will be opened next Tuesday 28th July. Please book your interviews promptly next week.

We have based this format on the feedback received from parents at the end of last year, after the reporting expos. To get the full picture of your child's learning style, progress, their use of work habits and the key competencies we urge you to participate in all 3 parts of the reporting process. You are always welcome to contact teachers at any time of the year to check in about how your child is going. Email works best to seek info, ask questions or request a time to come in to talk to the teacher at school.

Rejuvenated Gardens and Respect

You will have noticed that some of our gardens have had and will continue having a face lift. Staff are continually reminding children to respect our garden areas, however, places like our native garden and our front gardens get a pretty hard time. Please help us by reminding your children not to walk through gardens or intentionally pull off leaves or branches. Please think twice about walking through the school gardens or taking a shortcut across them yourselves - be a good role model.

Deep Learning Conference

In the last week of the holidays many of the staff attended the Deep Learning Conference and this year it was online. We had Jennie and Anne feature as a live workshop and the leadership team supported me (pre-recorded thank goodness) in telling the story of our Deep Learning journey over the last 4 years. We were very proud to see that we have made huge progress in developing the global competencies and our teachers and students are well established deep learners. Comments were made by the global team about the impressive work Wānaka Primary is doing. The lead presenter's word was WOW! Well done to all of the staff taking part in the conference, who obviously represented us so well.

Please remember to read your weekly newsletter that arrives in your email box every Tuesday afternoon. The newsletter and website are our main ways of connecting with you. Also with emails, the new App and texts/phone calls we aim to get information to the right people at the right time, but you need to make sure you do your bit as well and read the information when it hits your device.

SCHOOL NOTICES

Reading with Grandparents

We would like to welcome any and all Grandparents that can come weekly to read with some of our junior children. If you are able to help for an hour each Tuesday 11-12pm then we would love to see you. First meeting in the staffroom at Wānaka Primary School on Tuesday 28th July at 11am. This will provide the opportunity to meet and discuss the programme and meet children you will be working with. Please email Jason (j asonc@wanaka.school.nz) to confirm your interest.

End of Term Fun in the ESOL Room

At the end of last term the ESOL students participated in a fun afternoon exploring their senses with a food challenge. Students had been exploring the language associated with their senses and expanding and building on their current vocabulary with new and rich describing words.

Students were blindfolded and given a variety of interesting and unusual food items to taste, feel, smell and listen to. Food items included were lemons, mint, marmite, gherkins, wasabi peas, sherbet, seaweed and super sour sweets!

A wonderful afternoon was had by all! The students enjoyed trying many new things and the teachers enjoyed listening to the new vocabulary being used.

Climate Change Rally at Matariki

Our climate change rally is on this Saturday 25th July from 2:30pm at the Dinosaur Park. We have a table at the Matariki Festival, so please come and see us to talk about ways to save the Kauri trees and use less carbon for the environment.
See you there : Isabelle, Sienna, Blake, Megan, Luke, Liam and Amy - Room 23.

Scholastic NZ Brochures

The latest Scholastic brochure is available from classrooms. If you wish to place an order, please turn to inside back page and use Option 1 - Credit Card LOOP system. No cash orders are accepted at school.

If you wish purchases to be a gift, please tick GIFT option otherwise all orders are handed out to students.

Orders will close at 3:00pm on Wednesday 5th August.

PTA NOTICES

Red Ski Boots from Snow Gear Sale

If you purchased some little red ex-Cardrona ski boots from the sale and found that one had the incorrect insole - please contact the office so that we can arrange for the correct (18.5) insole to get to you.

LIBRARY NEWS

Library News

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.

Erik's Reading Challenge

Anna from Eriks Fish & Chips was interviewed by Jessie Mulligan from Radio NZ in the holidays and she mentioned how well WPS was doing. Click here to listen to the interview.

Register here to enter Erik's Reading Challenge

Remember you only have to read 5 books to get a voucher so everybody wins!!!

COMMUNITY NOTICES

Drama Classes Term 3: After School Theatre Education

Participants will learn acting skills, voice production & develop creative thinking while working towards an end of term showcase.

For more details, please email Gilly stagepresents01@gmail.com