| | | | | | IMPORTANT DATES Term 4
Week 8
Friday 4th December - Reports sent out via Edge
Week 9
Tuesday 8th December - Students Reporting to Parents
11am-12:30pm, 1:30-3pm and 5-6pm
Wednesday 9th December - Performances by Band, Kapahaka, Choir - 2:15pm
Parents Welcome
Friday 11th December - Pod 1 and 2 Christmas Assembly 2:00pm - Hall
Week 10
Monday 14th December - Year 6 Graduation 1:00pm - Hall
Tuesday 15th December - LAST DAY OF TERM - 3pm finish
Term 1 2021
Week 1
Wednesday 3rd February - First Day of Term 1
Week 4
Wednesday 24th February - Welcome back to School Picnic/Meet the Teacher - 5pm
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 Property
Please come and check the lost property before the end of the year, both in your child's pods and in the office. Any lost property that remains at the end of term will be taken to local charity shops.
Found Property 
This was purchased from the book fair and found last Tuesday. Please collect from the office if it is yours. |
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Recapitation Survey The Board discussed the results of the recapitation survey at our meeting last night. There was a strong response to the survey and a clear majority were in favour of looking at returning Year 7 and 8 to primary schools. 85% of respondents were in favour of recapitation and 75% were interested in hearing more about the issue. Thank you to everyone who took part. This has given us a clear mandate to engage with the Ministry on this issue and we will represent you and share your views with them. We will keep you informed as the discussion progresses.
Nga Mihi
Andrew (Howie) Howard
Board Chairperson |
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End of Term Approaching With only 10 school days left I am wondering how I am going to fit everything in. I can't believe how fast the year has gone, even with our COVID hassles. However we are in preparations for 2021 and we have started planning so that as soon as our students' feet hit the ground on Wednesday 3rd February they will get stuck into learning. We will be continuing with our Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) and New Pedagogies for Deep Learning (NPDL) initiatives as we go deeper into providing our students with future focused dispositions and strategies. We have seen some big leaps in our achievements this year with our STEPS, phonological awareness, phonics and spelling programmes. Our schoolwide writing moderations are not yet completed but are already showing excellent progress and performance in the surface features of writing, including excellent results in spelling and punctuation, after 3-4 years of a tight focus on these aspects of writing. It is so heartening to see this at last coming through. Once we have completed the moderation of all students' samples we will then provide a report for the Board and community. This may be next year for our community as next week is the last newsletter for the year. Deep Learning is about the global competencies as well as quality pedagogy and both of these have impacted on this heartening improvement in our students' writing. The other aspect that is shining through too is the beautiful handwriting we are seeing after 2-3 years focusing on a very structured approach to teaching cursive handwriting from Year 1 right through.
Charter Development and Strategic Direction We will be consulting our community early next year as we look at the next cycle of our charter development and strategic direction. SO have a think over the holidays about the skills, values and dispositions you would like your child to leave school with, and also about any curriculum directions you think are valuable to our students as growing global citizens. What does your child look like as a leaver at Wānaka Primary School? We would value your considered feedback as we plan the next 3-4 years identifying the strategies, values, skills and knowledge that will empower your child as a learner.
End of Year Reporting This Friday 4th December student written reports will be uploaded to the Edge Parents Portal. Please see the instructions for this below.
Next Tuesday 8th December we invite parents along to join their children in the in-class reporting sessions (either 11am-12.30pm or 1.30-3pm or 5-6pm) where children will share evidence, workbooks, assessments and tell you about their own progress and achievement over the second half of this year.
The third and final part of the reporting is to make contact for an interview with the teacher if you feel you need further information or have a question to ask. Please email your child's teacher directly to book an interview time and day. Many parents commented in our mid year reporting feedback that they did not need to attend all 3 reporting sessions so don't feel obliged to book time with the teacher if you feel well informed about your child's learning and achievements.
Upcoming Events The senior and junior choirs are out of school, Xmas carolling for our senior citizens, on Wednesday 9th December.
Our student leadership groups are heading off to the pool for an afternoon of fun and frivolity.
The band, choirs and kapahaka groups have changed their end of year performance to Wednesday 9th December 2.15pm-3pm. Any parents of children in these performing groups are also welcome to attend. The band and kapahaka group will also be performing at the Year 6 Graduation Assembly on Monday 14th December.
And as we couldn't finish off the year without our Pod 1 and 2 Xmas assembly that is all happening on Friday 11th December. Phew!!! So much still to happen - but it's all good fun and so nice to be involved - we would love to have you come to all of the above events at school.
The last school day for students is Tuesday 15th December with a 3pm finish. The first day back for students next year is Wednesday 3rd February. Our welcome back to school picnic for 2021 is planned for Wednesday 24th February (not the 11th as previously advertised) and this is when you have a chance to come along and meet the teacher and visit the classroom/pod your child is in. We will welcome everyone with a powhiri and invite you to come along with a picnic or fish n chip meal, and we will provide some entertainment. Book that date in now as we would love to see you come along.
Please could you start nagging your children to take home any clothing or equipment you mightn't have sighted for a while as from Thursday 10th December staff will start emptying out and cleaning up rooms. I bet you are all excited about the cardboard box models and pieces of art work that will be coming home. Even though I say that facetiously I still have my son's rocket he constructed when he was 6 and my daughter's Barbie House, also constructed of household rubbish 'treasures'. And they have lasted 25 years so must be well made!
Our last newsletter for the year is next week Tuesday 8th December. |
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End of Year Reporting To access your child's end of year report please login to the Parent Portal on Edge.
If you have forgotten your password you can reset if by following the 'forgot password?'.
We will not be emailing out your child's End of Year Reports. If you are having issues please email Jason. |
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2021 Year 5 and 6 Language Learning 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.
A Google Form has been sent out today to our Year 4 and 5 student's parents to ascertain their preferences. Please fill in the form asap 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. |
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Pod 5 Fundraising for NZ Native Bird Conservation Pod 5 students unleashed their critical thinking skills and raised $930 for NZ native bird conservation last week. They created wax wraps, cat collars, bracelets, coffee cup sleeves, bird feeders, baking and busked. Thank you whanau and friends who supported them. |
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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 tomorrow. Thank you to New World Wānaka and New World Three Parks for their support.  |
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Pod 8 Plantings Pod 8 wants to say a huge thank you to the following parents who have volunteered their time to help us plant 400 native trees and shrubs from Matukituki Natives on the hill behind Pod 8 in the last few weeks: Emma Allwood, Keely Buick, Beatrix MacKenzie, Will Radford and Joanne Watterson. Furthermore, we would like to thank Prue and Chris Walsh from Base Street Wānaka as well as Annabel and Jim Murray for their generous plant donations for our hill. A final big thank you goes to Kris Vollebregt, nursery manager from Te Kākano, for her help, support, advice and for providing tools to make this planting possible.
We are really proud of what we have achieved this year on that hill and hope everyone will enjoy our future native garden. Thanks everyone! |
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Scholastic Book Fair A big thank you to parents for the wonderful support with our Scholastic Book Fair. A percentage of the profits go back into our school library so it's a win win! |
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WTR - There’s Something About Mary Actually, no. Nothing about a Mary today. She didn’t reply to my Desperately Seeking ad last week. But we did hear from a Steph, so that’s good tidings (very good tidings) of great joy (massive). Since we’re just into December I’m thinking I can get away with Christmas references… as for a movie reference from 1998… hmm… well it was just so much fun last week!
This week our big announcement is:
WTR Volunteer Registration Website is Open
We’ve already had some volunteers from previous years log in and confirm their favourite roles. Thanks Alison, Ali, Martin, Kerry, Katerina, Tonia…. We really appreciate you. There’s a whole heap of trail-bikie type roles that occur either side of The Event* with track set up/pack down, and a heap more on the day of Saturday 27th March 2021, including catering. Something for everyone. For more info, check out www.wanakatrailride.org and you can click on the Volunteers tab to browse the list of roles available, and sign on up.
Any enquiries please contact Rachel Allibone 021 1029 130 or email rachel@wanakatrailride.org.
* 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. You can also find us on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WanakaTrailRide |
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Sport Centre Events Calendar |
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Tall Poppy Colouring Competition - Competition ends Friday 11th December/Entries will be collected by 10am
- Winners announced Monday 14th December
- Great prizes
Years 1-3 Click here Years 4-6 Click here for more information and entry form. |
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Open Day at The Kahu Youth Crib!
Kahu Youth are delighted to announce this year's Open Day at The Crib!
On Tuesday 15th December, Kahu Youth are welcoming Year 6 students, their parents and friends to visit The Crib on Russell Street and meet the fantastic staff! A whirlwind afternoon of fun, activities and snacks, Kahu Youth are not going to disappoint!
Encouraging students to feel welcomed, safe and supported is the aim of the game at The Crib and with the new school year fast-approaching, Kahu are eager to reach out to the younger members of our Youth Community so come on down and check it out for yourselves!
Richard Elvey, Mr. Kahu Youth himself, will be ever-present and effervescent as one has come to expect.
‘Our open day is designed to encourage students and their families to gain an insight as to what it is we do here at The Crib, meet our brilliant Youth Workers and encourage Wanaka’s Youth to visit us regularly, starting from the new school year which is just around the corner! We hope to see many of you on Tuesday the 15th!’
If you’d like further details, you can reach Kahu Youth via the details below. We hope to see you all at The Crib soon!
 Kahu Youth, 11 Russell Street, Wanaka
Tel: 034435880
Email: info@kahuyouthtrust.org |
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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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