Wānaka Primary School Newsletter for Term 4 Week 2

Newsletter Term 4 Week 2

20th October 2020

IN THIS NEWSLETTER

IMPORTANT DATES

Term 4
Week 2
Tuesday 20th October - Year 5 Camp Meeting 5:00pm - Rm 21
Thursday 22nd October - Year 2 Camp Sleepover at School
Friday 23rd October - Rippa Rugby Competition
Week 3
Monday 26th October - Labour Day School Closed
Tuesday 27th October - School Photos
Wednesday 28th October - Year 3 Overnight Camp at School
Thursday 29th October - Year 3 Overnight Camp at School
Friday 30th October - Pod Artwork Unveiling 11.00am
(Further information below)
Week 4
Swim week - Pod 2
Monday 2nd November - BOT Meeting 5:00pm - Staffroom
Year 4 Camp - Bannockburn
Year 5 Camp - Columba
Year 6 Camp (Pod 7) - Waiora
Week 5
Swim week - Pod 1
Wednesday 11th November - Central Otago Orienteering
Week 6
Swim week - Pod 4
Tuesday 17th November - Science Roadshow
Wednesday 18th November - Science Roadshow
Wednesday 18th November - Central Otago Triathlon
Thursday 19th November - Tribe Fun Run 11:00am
Week 7
Book Fair Week
Pod 8 Year 6 Camp

LAST DAY OF TERM - Tuesday 15th December - 3pm finish

IMPORTANT NOTICES

School Photos - Tuesday 27th October

School Photos are next Tuesday 27^thOctober - please ensure children are in their correct school uniform and look tidy and gorgeous for school photos. For sibling photos children will be called over to the hall - remind your children to listen out for the bing bong.

Leaving Wānaka Primary School?

If your child / children are leaving WPS at the end of this term and you have not advised the office, can you please do so as soon as possible as we will be starting to plan classes for 2021 soon.

If your child is in Year 6 and leaving to attend MAC there is no need to contact us. However, if your Year 6 child will be attending a different school, please advise us of this.

Lost Property

If these trainers look like they belong to you please come and collect them from the office.

CURRICULUM COMMENT

Welcome Back

First of all welcome back to term 4. After a busy second week of the holidays on school business, for me last week felt like about week 4 of the term and it never occurred to me to warmly welcome you all back. WELCOME BACK EVERYONE! We are well into our stride with camps, sports, cultural events already being planned and implemented. We look forward to another successful term and hope that you will capitalise on the events that we are offering this term.

Pod Art and Kapahaka Powhiri

Next week on Friday 30th October at 11am we invite all parents and members of the community along to celebrate the unveiling of the pod art works Chrissy Wickes has produced, based on design ideas from our children. We will start with a powhiri to welcome Chrissy and all of our parents into the school. After this each pod will tell it's part of our school story, 'Weni and the Kowhai Seed', and then after each pod has spoken the pod artwork will be unveiled. We get to do this for each of the 8 pods. This will then be followed by lunch and the PTA are kindly providing a BBQ sausage free for each child, and there may be some for our guests too. So come prepared to join your child for lunch. Make sure children have their own lunch that day as well as sometimes it takes more then 1 sausage to fill you up. Please let your classroom teacher know if your child requires a gluten free sausage. For parents we will also have a cup of tea or coffee available.

Staff Update

We welcome Andrena and Jill who are the teachers working with our new 5 year old arrivals. At the end of this week we farewell Katie who is off on maternity leave. Have a relaxing couple of weeks before that wee one arrives Katie. Welcome also to Carin who is relieving in her place until the end of term. Katie and Carin have worked together over the last few weeks to ensure this transition of teacher is as smooth as possible.

Road Safety...please look after our kids!

Keeping safe on our roads and in our Pick Up Drop Off areas is always a concern. We have had parents make comments about children scootering, biking and walking along and across Aubrey Road. They are concerned that these children are unsafe as they are not following road safe rules. Aubrey Road and other roads around us are really busy before and after school. We urge all parents to walk, bike or scooter with their children, so the routes and the child's maneuvering are safely laid out. Our children are too precious not to take care and have concern.

This also applies in our carpark area by the dental clinic. Please follow the directions of our wonderful parking warden, Claire, whose only concern is keeping your children safe. We are seeing too many parents on their phones whilst driving around this area or approaching this area with little regard for the other motorists and more importantly other children also using this area. The Board has employed Claire to manage this very busy area and so don't be offended if she tells you to move on etc. That is her job.

The Management Team continue to enjoy welcoming families to school each morning and getting to meet mums and dads and catch up on families. We look forward to our morning chats with you all.

Sunhats

Wide brimmed, sun safe hats are compulsory for this term. Children who do not have one at school will be asked to play under shade and may miss out on school outdoor activities if they do not have one. Any colour or pattern will do - we do not particularly want all navy ones as it makes it too hard to find your own. PLEASE NAME ALL CLOTHING! If you would like to send along sunscreen for your child then teachers are happy to remind them to put this on... just email your child's teacher this info.

On this note please ensure your children turn up in the correct school uniform - often we see the uniform get a bit slack in term 4, especially with the Year 5 & 6 students, so keep an eye that your children always look their best in uniform.

Camps, Swimming, Sports...it's all happening this term

Please read our weekly newsletter every TUESDAY. This and the calendar on the school website are your secret weapons to keep you on top of things. It is so frustrating to hear parents say they didn't know something was happening at school and then admit to not reading the school newsletter. Skim read every week to pick out the things you need to know.

Science Roadshow

The Science Road Show is here 17th and 18th November and every year our year 5 and 6 students are pleased to be able to take part, as it is excellent. Instead of parents having to pay the $8 this year we are funding this so for this year it is free of charge for our Year 5 and 6 students.

School Organisation for 2021

This is the time of the year where we start looking at what groupings, special programmes, etc we will have in 2021. Please let your child's teacher know if there are any factors you feel may adversely affect your child's learning and engagement at school - mainly are there any peers we should avoid putting together, or social or personal factors you think we may need to be made aware of.

The End of Year is Closer Than You Think

After sorting what to label the days between and over lockdown we find we will have worked the required number of half days for the year, with the last day of school for the 2020 year for students now being Tuesday 15th December with a 3pm finish. Consequently the Year 6 graduation assembly will now take place on Monday 14th December at 1pm.

SCHOOL NOTICES

WPS Orchard

After several years of planning and preparation the Wānaka Primary School orchard has finally been planted. Last Thursday afternoon, a small group of hard-working volunteers, assisted by children from Room 1 and Pod 8, planted 12 fruit trees. Thanks so much to the wonderful parent helpers, Dave Spedding for preparing the site and Mitre 10 Wanaka for supplying and delivering the trees. This week, children in Year 5 and 6 will be invited to become "Orchard Guardians". Their role will be to assist with the maintenance of the orchard, including working on planting companion plants to encourage pollinators and to discourage moth pests. If there are any adults out there who would like to assist in maintaining the orchard and guiding the students please email Sharon at sharonp@wanaka.school.nz.

Pod 6 Kindness Tree

This term Pod 6 are focusing on Character. This week they have been sending kind messages to each other and putting them on our Pod kindness tree. It is so great to see all of the meaningful messages they have sent each other.

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

Register here to enter Erik's Reading Challenge

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

5 Weeks To Go - Scholastic Book Fair

Our annual Scholastic bookfair is coming up in term 4. Mark the dates on you calendar now: Monday 23rd November - Friday 27th November.

This is our biggest fundraiser for our library and literacy collections and is a great opportunity to do some Christmas shopping.

COMMUNITY NOTICES

KidsCan fundraiser at the Spice Room

For every table dining in The Spice Room Wānaka or The Spice Room Queenstown in the month of October 2020, we will be donating $5 per table to KidsCan.

One of our team members is running in the Auckland marathon to Support KidsCan on 1st November 2020.

We are hoping to raise as much as we can and will offer the money raised on behalf of Wānaka and Queenstown residents.

Great Glenorchy Getaway Day

Kids Race - Deans Bank

Wānaka Cat Rescue Fundraiser

Wānaka BioBlitz - Reset Summit

The Wānaka 2020 Bioblitz, is a citizen science initiative run by Wai Wānaka where locals help take a census of biodiversity in our backyard. It's a really fun, educational, family focused event for kids and adults alike. On Sunday 1st November, come to the Wānaka Community Hub to pick up your map and find out where this year’s bioblitz will be held. The event is free but registration is essential.

Wellbeing Reset

Kahu Youth Cardboard Boat Race and Polar Plunge

The Great Kahu Youth Cardboard Boat Race and Polar Plunge will return on Saturday the 14th of November between 12:00 and 1:30pm!

Back for the 11th year, these family favourite events will once again bring fun, laughter and creativity to the Lakefront!

Lakeland Adventures are once again offering a Jet Boat ride as the prize for the overall winner of the Boat Race and there will be treasure chests of goodies including vouchers from Puzzling World, Kawarau Zipride, Urban Grind, Dominos and Amigos for all the other winners.

The Rules are available at www.kahuyouth.org

The categories are as follows:

Fastest boat to complete the course
The Titanic trophy (best sinking)
Most outrageous boat
Best themed boat
Best designed boat
Best business boat
The Commodores choice award (The overall winner)

There’ll be plenty of goodies for the Polar Plunge contestants too!

Please contact Rich on 027 570 9268 or 443 5880 or email info@kahuyouthtrust.org for more information