| | | | | | IMPORTANT DATES Term 4
Week 7
Scholastic Book Fair Week
Pod 8 Year 6 Camp - Tirohanga
Wednesday 25th November - Y6 MAC Parent evening 6:00pm at MAC
Week 8
Monday 30th November - BOT Meeting 5:00pm - Staffroom
Monday 30th November - Year 6 MAC visit
Friday 4th December - Reports sent out via Edge
Friday 4th December - Choir performing at Christmas Tree Lighting
Week 9
Tuesday 8th December - Students Reporting to Parents
11am-12:30pm, 1:30-3pm and 5-6pm
Tuesday 8th December - Performances by Band, Kapahaka, Choir - info below
Friday 11th December - Pod 1 and 2 Christmas Assembly 2:00pm - Hall
Week 10
Monday 14th December - Year 6 Graduation 1:00pm
Tuesday 15th December - LAST DAY OF TERM - 3pm finish
Term 1 2021
Wednesday 3rd February - First Day of Term 1
IMPORTANT NOTICES 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 have started to plan classes for 2021.
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 Black Hoodie We are looking for a black hoodie that was left at The Central Otago Triathlon. If you picked this up could you please return it to the school office.
Found Please come to the office to collect. |
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Recapitation Survey The Wānaka Primary School Board of Trustees have been approached by parents who want to look at the issue of bringing Year 7 and 8 students into primary schools in our district. Primary schools often teach to Year 8 and this is currently the situation in Queenstown and Alexandra. Holy Family is the only local primary school with Year 7 and 8. There are many considerations around this, such as having the physical capacity, what it means for Mount Aspiring College, which is best for the overall development of our children, etc. We would like to see if there is significant interest in exploring this issue and encourage you to complete the attached survey by clicking here. |
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2021 Year 5 and 6 Language Learning ....What language is your child going to learn? We are launching our new language learning programme next year, which involves all children in Year 5 and 6. Please discuss with your current Year 4 and 5 children what their preferred language learning option is for next year.
Learning another language has many benefits as it increases the capacity of the brain, developing connections and brain capability. Some benefits include: Boosting brain power Improving memory Enhancing the ability to multi-task Sharpening the mind Keeping the mind sharper for longer Enhancing decision-making The first language is improved Improves performance in other academic areas As the research shows such positive outcomes for intellectual development we are offering all children in Year 5 and 6 to take part in learning another language for 1-2 hours per week. We will send out a Google Form to our Year 4 and 5 students/parents to ascertain your preferences so that we can see what numbers we have for each language and allocate teachers accordingly.
The languages we will be offering next year are: Mandarin (Level 1 and Level 2), French, Spanish, German, Japanese and Te Reo Maori.
End of Year Reporting is Approaching Fast - 8th December End of Year written reports: Reports will be sent out via our parent portal in Edge on Friday 4th December. You will be alerted via email, so watch out for this.
Student reporting to parents: Parents are invited into their children's classes and children will share evidence of their learning over the last part of the year.
Parents are welcome in between 11am-12:30pm or 1:30-3pm or 5-6pm. Further information will be sent home by Pods to help you and your child make the most of this opportunity.
Parent teacher interviews: Any parents who have queries about the written report, or student reporting or would like to further discuss aspects of their child's progress and achievement are invited to make an appointment directly with the classroom teacher.
Band, Kapahaka, Junior and Senior Choir Performances An end of year performance of our cultural/music groups is planned for our student reporting day on Tuesday 8th December at 4.00pm in our school hall. Parents and friends of children performing and any interested parents or members of the community are invited along for a 40-50 minute performance to celebrate the work of these groups and their tutors/teachers.
Xmas Singing at Enliven and at Lighting the Xmas Tree Our junior and senior choirs are entertaining the elderly at Enliven on Wednesday 9th December. We will transport the children there by bus for a performance at 10am. We will be back at school before 11am. The parents of children involved will be contacted by teachers.
Our two choirs are also performing at the Lighting of the Xmas Tree on Friday 4th December - more information will be sent out to parents of these children.
Recapitation Survey (Retaining Y7 & 8 Students in Primary Schools) Out of our 445 families at school over 220 have filled in this survey. Thanks so much to those who have filled this in, a great response so far. If you have not already done so please fill this in. The survey will only be active until 3pm this Friday 27th November so get in now before you forget.
Pod Artwork Our pod art work, painted by Chrissy Wickes using children's design ideas, has now been mounted on the outside of the pods, under the pod name and number. Please come and explore this beautiful artwork from Pod 1 to 8 which tells our story of Weni and the Kowhai Tree.
Pod 8 Hill Development
The plantings on the Pod 8 hill are coming on fantastically. Please come for a wander around and enjoy our new plantings. We have plans to develop this area further next year.
Board Meeting The last meeting for the year is being held on Monday 30th November at 5pm in the staffroom. The two special reports planned for this meeting include the literacy lift report (the progress of the students who work in small groups with Kit, Marg, Emma or Marj) the ALiM (Accelerate Learning in Maths). The Principal's Appraisal (interim report) will also be presented to the Board. As usual all members of our school community are welcome to attend.
Last Day for 2020 and First Day for 2021 The last day for 2020 is Tuesday 15th December finishing at 3pm.
The first day for students in 2021 is Wednesday 3rd February. Monday 1st February (Balanced Reading Programmes) and Tuesday 2nd February (Leveraging Digital) are Teacher Only Days, with teachers also involved in a school planning day on Friday 29th January.
Classes 2021 We will not be notifying parents of students' classes for 2021 at the end of this year. We are still experiencing roll fluctuations with children coming and going and this looks like it will continue throughout January. This makes finalisation of classes tricky and unable to be confirmed before the start of the new school year. Therefore class lists for 2021 will be displayed on pod doors in the week beginning 25th January.
However I can tell you that we have a number of straight year classes/pods next year: Pod 8 will have Year 5 and Year 6 classes Pod 7 will have 2 Year 5 and 2 Year 6 classes Pod 6 is our spare pod next year so will be put to a number of uses Pod 5 will hold our Year 4 classes Pod 4 will hold our Year 3 classes Pod 3 will hold our Year 2 classes Pod 2 will be our ESOL/Literacy Lift/Term 3 NE intake pod Pod 1 will hold our NE/Year 1 classes This will give you an idea of where to look for those class lists in late January. As with this year our classes are going to be around 24-25 students Years 4-6 and 22-23 students for Years 1-3. The Board has agreed to provide funding for our extra literacy and maths programmes, to keep our class sizes as low as possible and to enable our Year 5 and 6 Languages options for 2021.
On the 3rd February we will be straight into learning and setting up the year for success. We have a welcome back to school celebration on Thursday 11th February and parent voice meetings shortly after, so you can tell your child's new teacher all about your child as a person and as a learner. |
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Year 6 Transition to Mount Aspiring College If possible, please attend the parent information evening which will be held in the MAC north block classrooms at 6:00pm on Wednesday 25th November. This is an opportunity to meet the 7-9 curriculum leaders and junior house deans as well as having any of your questions as new parents answered. |
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Diwali Celebrations in Room 4 Last week Room 4 in Pod 1 celebrated Diwali the Hindu Festival of Light. The class made rangoli patterned art which is traditionally put by the front door to welcome visitors. They enjoyed making diyas (traditional candles), ate some traditional food of samosas, bhaji, poppadoms with mango chutney and enjoyed learning about the story of Rama and Sita. Bisesh's mother kindly provided Laddoo, a traditional Diwali sweet milky treat, for all the class to share and enjoy.
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Trinity College Music Exams Congratulations to the following students:
Zack Wilson (Piano Initial –Merit)
Sophie Bull (Piano Initial – Merit)
Amy Thomas (Piano Initial –Merit)
Hank Weathington (Piano Grade 1 –Merit)
Laila Telfer (Piano Grade 2- Distinction)
Arnaud MacKenzie (Piano Grade 2 –Distinction)
Monte Halliday (Piano Grade 2 –Merit)
Hannah Thomas (Piano Grade 2-Merit) |
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Enviro Club Lemonade and Brownie Stall A group of very enthusiastic members of our Enviro Club have organised a lemonade and brownie stall for Wednesday 2nd December in front of Pod 7, Te Whainga, to purchase much needed gear for our Enviro group.
Lemonade - $1
Brownie - $2 (with a GF option)
We hope many of you will support this initiative next Wednesday. Thank you. |
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Wānaka Trail Ride – Desperately Seeking Susan Or Jane, Sarah, Jim… we don’t actually mind what your name is. We really just want someone to take on the - WTR Marketing Role.
So far on the team we have a Robyn, a Jen, a Lucy, a Phil, a Gillian, a Duncan, and an Anne-Marie. We meet monthly from August through to March, and are a pretty relaxed but efficient bunch. We enjoy what we do, the wheels have been invented for this event*, so our job is just to roll them out again each year. Clearly the Marketing Role is not the job for me because I rely on a movie from 1985 starring Madonna to get people’s attention. So, if you’re maybe a little bit interested in writing press releases, rider newsletters, and social media, please get in touch. We’d love to have a someone on board ASAP, so we can start enthusing riders and getting them to lock Saturday 27th March 2021 into their diaries.
Any enquiries please contact Rachel Allibone 021 102 9130 or email rachel@wanakatrailride.org.
*PS. The Wānaka Trail Ride is a major fundraiser for Wānaka Primary and Montessori Children’s House. Riders come from all over to enjoy the rare opportunity of exploring the trails of the stunning Deep Creek, Long Gully, and Lindis Peak Stations; a privilege to be on the land, and a pleasure to volunteer here. Check out these links for more info. www.wanakatrailride.org https://www.facebook.com/WanakaTrailRide
Photography by Tonia Kraakman
www.toniakraakman.com; www.facebook.com/toniasphotographynz |
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Central Otago Orienteering It was both a stunning day and location at the Olive Grove for a team of eleven Year 5 and 6 students who represented our school at an orienteering event for Central Otago schools on Wednesday 11th November. This was the first time competing for many of the students taking part and they showed positive character traits to overcome some initial nerves to successfully complete the challenging course. Well done to all who took part and congratulations to Sophia Pullar, Genevieve Schmidt, Tom Simpson and Sam Quick who finished in the top ten of their race categories. Results can be accessed on the COPSSA website. |
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Central Otago Triathlon Wānaka Primary School had just under 50 competitors as individuals and teams at the Central Otago Triathlon Championships last Wednesday. It was a very tricky bike course in which the grass did not allow bikes to roll and a head wind at times draining the energy of all competitors. We joined with the other schools in the Upper Clutha to form the fastest teams we could. Our Year 5 mixed teams finished 1st and 2nd and a Year 6 team also placed 2nd. Full results are available on the school website.
Y5 Mixed Teams
1st place Grandview - Cohenn Lange from WPS and Maia and Zac from Holy Family and Hawea
2nd place Breast Hill - Sienna Clark and Flynn Robertson from WPS and Kahu from Hawea
Y6 Mixed Teams
2nd place Black - Hannah Radford, Monty Field and Arnaud MacKenzie all from WPS |
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Tribe Fun Run Last week, we held our 'epicly fun runny thing' Tribe Day. The children were so excited and had a fabulous time with their tribe peers. Our leaders as always were great at helping the children around the course.
Topped off with a waterslide and whole school sausage sizzle/lunch, it was an awesome school get together! Many thanks to the PTA for sorting the sausage sizzle, and to the Radford family for lending us the super-long water slide! |
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Scholastic Book Fair - This Week in the Library
Monday 23rd - Friday 27th November 8:30am - 9:30am and 2:30pm - 4:30pm
The Scholastic Book Fair is back for this whole week in our school library.
Last year our school had the second highest sales in NZ!!! That means that we got a huge rebate from Scholastic to put back into books for our school.
THIS IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO DO SOME PRE-CHRISTMAS SHOPPING |
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Wānaka Watersports 1st Birthday Party |
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Vetlife Open Day For a copy of the colouring in competition click here. Please return all completed entries by the 11th of December to the clinic at 2 Balneaves Lane, RD2, Wanaka. The winner will be notified directly. |
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Alpha Challenge Obstacle Course Event |
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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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