Kia ora to all our Mānuka whanau
Duathlon We have just completed a very successful duathlon with all of our students giving it a go, running hard and making us all very proud! An extra congratulations to those children who managed the Dynamo run! A massive thank you to all the parents that came and helped - we couldn’t do it without you! If you have any photos from the day, could you please put them here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1P-tkuVerjz-8mk5gmGS0QVxyJj_fLFEM?usp=sharing Year 3 Camp The Year 3’s (and the teachers) survived the overnight camp and managed to get some sleep after all. We had a fabulous time, and hope it is a good practise for the upcoming Year 4 camp in Term 1 next year. Thank you again x100 for all the parents helps, especially the three ladies that helped with the food!! Reading Books We will be collecting in ALL reading books this coming week for stocktake. Please have a look around at home for any books that may have gone for a wander. In addition, we still have some Library books to come in. Whanau tokens to anyone who brings reading books and or library books back on Monday! Swimming The Mānuka Community is swimming on Thursday 12 and Friday 14 December, in the afternoons, so please ensure your child has his or her togs at school those days. Learner Orientation Week In Week 9 (9-13 December) , children will have the opportunity to spend time in their new community for 2020, along with the teachers they will be working with next year. There will be three sessions and we hope this extended transition will give children more security and confidence about their placements for 2020. On the Monday, children will bring home the Getting To Know You sheet. Please fill this in and return by Friday 13, to your child’s pod teacher. We will make sure they are handed on to their next year’s pod teachers, so they can read them over the holidays and get a head start on knowing and working with your children. Prizegiving We will be running our prizegiving from 11am-12noon in conjunction with Kōwhai on Friday 13 December at the West Melton Community Centre. You are all cordially invited to attend. If you also wish to come back to school after and sit and each lunch with your son or daughter, we would love to see you. Farewell We wish a farewell to Leanne, Anita and Libby as they endeavour on their exciting ventures for next year! End of school The official last day of school is Tuesday 17 December, with school finishing at 12noon and buses leaving shortly thereafter. Please pick up your children promptly, as staff will be moving off-site soon after midday. Term 1 2020 starts for all learners on Tuesday 4 February. Thank you for the support, laughs, and for letting us teach your awesome children. Have an incredible holiday!
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Kia ora to all our Mānuka whanau Well, we are really moving throught the term and heading towards the summer holidays very quickly! Here’s some information you may need for the end of term. Athletics Sports Today we had this exciting sporty event and your children had a great time running, jumping and throwing in all sorts of different ways. It was fun to see them try new things and getting stuck in, challenging themselves and having fun. Thanks to all parents who came along to watch. Library books and readers The library is closed for issues from the end of this week. Please ensure your child returns all libary books to their pod teacher as soon as possible so our library assitant can compelte a stocktake and search for missing titles. We will continue with our formal reading programme until the end of Week 8. Please make sure all readers are returned to our community by then, thank you. Notices Look out for two notices coming home today (or yesterday!) if you are the parents of a Year 3 - an overnight camp notice and a duathlon notice, both with important information you will need to know. For Year 2s, there will just be the one notice, for the duathlon. Year 3 camp This event is overnight from Thursday 5 - Friday 6 December. The notice today outlines parent helps for all aspects of the camp organisation and running, along with information on how to pay for the camp. There is also an attached kit notice for what gear your child will need to bring. Duathlon This exciting event is run for all the Year 1-3 learners on Friday 6 December - yes, right after the overnighter! Year 3s will need to bring either bike or scooter on the Thursday evening (we can put them in the wharenui so they are safe overnight). With the notice home today about the duathlon, you and/or your child need to restate their choice of race (it might have changed since Term 1) and get the right hand side of the form back to us as soon as possible - there will be tokens for prompt returns! All the Mānuka children may wear mufti (suitable for sports) on Friday 6 December. In the first part of the hard-copy notice about the duathlon, the Year 2s have only been given the option of scooter and run. In the cut of portion they can either scooter and run OR bike and run - this cut of portion is correect, your Year 2 child CAN either scooter or bike! Reports Written reports for each child will be coming home on Wednesday 4 December. Children will also bring home their most recent goal sheet, reviewed. Learner Orientation Week In Week 9 (9-13 December) , children will have the opportunity to spend time in their new community for 2020, along with the teachers they will be working with next year. There will be three sessions and we hope this extended transition will give children more security and confidence about their placements for 2020. On the Monday, children will bring home the Getting To Know You sheet. Please fill this in and return by Friday 13, to your child’s pod teacher. We will make sure they are handed on to their next year’s pod teachers, so they can read them over the holidays and get a head start on knowing and working with your children. Prizegiving We will be running our prizegiving from 11am-12noon in conjunction with Kōwhai on Friday 13 December in the wharenui. You are all cordially invited to attend. Thanks for another great week! The Mānuka Community teachers Kia ora to all our Mānuka whanau Sun Hats November has begun with some sunny days, and with that comes a reminder to remember named sun hats, sunblock and lots of water! WM’s Got Talent We had lots of Manuka children trial for WM’s Got Talent during the first few weeks of school, and we are proud of them all. We had 3 Manuka Acts in the finale and they were:
Weetbix Tryathlon Our school is a registered school for this years event. The information document is attached at the end of this post if you would like to participate in this fun day. Junior Athletics day We have our junior (Yr 2-4) Athletics day coming up. A copy of the letter is below, and will also be sent home with your learner today. 2020 Organisation In the recent school newsletter there was information regarding the school organisation for 2020 particularly teachers, year groups and spaces. This can be reached here: https://hail.to/west-melton-school/publication/cmkaq4y/article/rv8tQa4 Upcoming events Term 4: Fri 22 Nov Y2-4 athletics sports Thurs 5 Dec Y3 overnight camp Fri 6 Dec Y1-3 duathlon (held over from T1) Fri 13 Dec Kōwhai/Mānuka prizegiving Letter for junior athletics day 2019West Melton Junior Athletics Day 2019 Thursday 8th November 2019 Dear Parents/Caregivers, On Friday November 22nd, we will be having our Junior School Athletics day! This event will be run for students from Year 2 to Year 4. Our Junior Athletics is a day to encourage all children's participation in modified events based on Run, Jump and Throw activities that we have been learning about in class time. The main focus of this day is to have fun and participate in different activities. There will be no formal ‘athletics day events’ (e.g. year level sprints or high jump etc) or finals. What to bring: Children need to come to school in appropriate clothing and footwear for participating in athletics. Hopefully it will be a sunny day, so please ensure your child has sunscreen on in the morning and has a hat. Warm over clothing is also needed incase of cold weather. Plan: Prior to the day beginning, teachers will put their Pod’s into four teams. These teams will then compete during the day to earn points at different activities. Our day will begin at 10.30am on the field, and conclude at 12.30pm. Pods and their teachers will then rotate around different team activities together. Any prizes for winning teams will be given out in communities after the event. Parent help: We do not require any parent help for the running of this event, however if you would like to join us, you are welcome to come along! Coming up: Our Year 0-3 Duathlon will be held on Friday 6th December! Please put this date in your diary now as we WILL NEED parent support for this event :) More information to follow... Thank you, Junior School teachers If you have any questions, please email [email protected]
Kia ora to all our Mānuka whanau Welcome back to school for the final term of 2019. It’s going to be a busy one! Congratulations Congratulations to the following Mānuka learners who won prizes in the Book Week competitions. Book cover competition: Riva Hulston, Poppy Addington and Mikalah Bailey Guesss the mystery reader: Charlotte Brewster Book character hunt: Jack Gould, Natalie Byers Sun Hats Well done to everyone who remembered sun hats at school from the start of term. Would you please check that your child’s hat is clearly named, so we can read and return any misplaced ones. Hats will come home in bags every Friday and need to come back every Monday. Cards and Countdown tiles Please ensure that your child doesn’t bring these items to school. While they can be a source of pleasure, they are also a source of sadness when they go missing, are not traded fairly etc. Likewise, toys should not be coming to school. Overnight camp - Year 3 We have set a date for this of the evening of Thursday 5 December - there will be more information and forms coming out shortly. Disco We all had a great time at the disco last Friday! Your children danced their way to exhaustion - we hope! Mrs Morgan got the chance to bust her best dance moves and Ms Mckendry macarena-ed all night! Farewell Mrs Morgan has been sucessful in winning a permanent teaching position at Linwood Avenue School and will be leaving West Melton at the end of this school year. Leanne has has had a great first year teaching at West Melton and we will miss her greatly. Overdue library books and readers It seems that there are plenty of these still lurking out in the never-never. Please take time to check and return any overdue readers or library books. Dates Check the calendar that came out last week for important dates for this term. The main ones relevant to Mānuka are: Wed 30 Oct Final of West Melton’s Got Talent Fri 22 Nov Y1-4 athletics sports Thurs 5 Dec Y3 overnight camp Fri 6 Dec Y1-3 duathlon (held over from T1) Fri 13 Dec Kōwhai/Mānuka prizegiving Kia ora koutou, Mānuka whānau,
Today marks the end of Term 3! We have had a great 10 weeks and jam packed it with mahi. We would like to extend a massive thank you to all of the parent help we have had over the term - you guys are awesome. School Book Week Wow - we have had some awesome book characters roaming around West Melton today. We have had an exciting day being all our favourite characters, and some of us have new books to read from the Book Fair too. Headlice We still have some cases of headlice in the community. Please check your child over the break so we can come back headlice free. Disco Friends of West Melton School present the Term 4 Disco. Tickets are $5. Years 1 -3 Kowhai, Manuka and Ti Kouka 5pm-6.15pm Years 4-8 Ti Kouka, Totara and WMI 6.45pm - 8pm Ticket sales Wednesday 16th, Thursday 17th and Friday 18th from 8.20 inside the Wharenui. Also Thursday 17th at 2.50pm. Door sales are also available on the night. Transition Survey We are gathering information from students, parents and teachers on the best ways to support our learners when they move into a new classroom at the beginning of the school year. If you could please take two minutes to fill out the survey that would be appreciated. WM’s Got Talent West Melton’s Got Talent is next term, if your child has entered the competition they will need to keep practising. Have a lovely holiday spending quality time with your families. We will see you again on the 14th of October ready for Term 4! Kia ora koutou, Mānuka whānau,
How time flies when you’re having fun! We are at the end of Week 8 already! Only two more to go until the holidays.. Student Led Learning Conferences Thank you to everyone who attended our learning conferences on Tuesday and Thursday, we look forward to wrapping these up on Monday. It has been great to reconnect with some families we don’t often see, and focus on some exciting next steps for our learners. Please expect new goal sheets to come home sometime next week. Disco Is that time again - The school disco is coming up on Friday 18th October. Years 0-3 - 5:00pm-6:15pm, Years 4-8 - 6:45pm-8:00pm. Tickets will be on sale closer to the time - watch this space! Stationery Supplies If you are able to provide any more whiteboard pens or pencils to our community we would appreciate it. These get well used every day and we won’t have quite enough to last the year. West Melton’s Got Talent West Melton’s got talent is happening in Term 4!! We will have trials toward the end of October with a big finale in November. Ask your child if they are interested in being part of this fun event. Reading Packets We are finding that a number of children are forgetting to bring their reading packets to school. These need to come to school every day as your child will have new reading books to bring home and also we like to get them to re-read books that they have had that week to increase reading mileage, we can’t do this if they are still on the bedroom floor. Please remind your child to pop this in their bag each morning. Strategic Review Please find below the letter for the Strategic Review coming up. 12 September 2019 Kia ora koutou, We need your help! The Board of Trustees is about to undertake a strategic review to determine West Melton School children's education needs for the future. It's incredibly important to us that we understand your personal aspirations for your child so that we can help the school prioritise its focus for all our learners. On Tuesday 17 September we will be hosting a wine and cheese evening at the school where we will have a workshop-style discussion - we would love as many parents as possible to be there. This year we have had a reasonably low turnout to parent events held at the school - we know life is busy and some nights just don't suit but we believe this is a critical topic for our school community and it's a great opportunity for you to tell us what your hopes are for your children while they are at West Melton School. We can make effective goals, priorities and track progress if we know what you think. On the evening we will be asking: • What skills, abilities, and attributes do you want your child to have by the time they leave our school? • Thinking ahead, what are the greatest concerns you have regarding your child’s future and their learning needs? • How can we as a school work more effectively with you in your child’s learning? • Given the previous three questions, what do you think should be the greatest priorities for the school over the next 5 years? As well as the parent discussion next Tuesday we will also be asking Year 5 - 8 students to interview their parents one on one to discuss the questions - this is a great opportunity for you to talk about school with your kids and set some aspirations together. As we gather feedback from you, the Board will work through setting the learning goals. We make a commitment to report back to you about the feedback received and what we are doing to implement effective change during Term 4. If you'd like to know more about the evening in advance please contact a Board member or speak to Sue or Tracey. We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday 17th, 7pm starting with nibbles in the Manuka Community. Nga Mihi, hei te Rātū. West Melton School Board of Trustees Thanks for another great week! The Manuka team teachers :) Kia ora koutou, Mānuka whānau,
Well here we are at the end of week 6! The days are getting a bit warmer and we can certainly feel spring in the air…… Student Led Learning Conferences Our “Student Led Learning Conferences” are coming up in weeks 8 and 9. The booking system is open for you to make a time to meet with your child’s teacher to discuss their current goals and set some goals for the rest of our year together. The website is www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and the password is juuzy. Please make sure you have booked a time for this. Library Change of library times - with the change in our programme we have made changes to when we go to the library. Your child will go to the library with their POD teacher during our Inquiry time between 9.00am and 9.30am once a week. Miss Day will be on Monday, Ms McKendry on Tuesday, Mrs Morgan on Wednesday and Mrs Hawkins on Thursday. A gentle reminder to make sure your child brings their books back as we have quite a few overdue books and once a book is overdue no more can be issued to that child. Stationery Supplies If you are able to provide any more whiteboard pens or pencils to our community we would appreciate it. These get well used every day and we won’t have quite enough to last the year. West Melton’s Got Talent West Melton’s got talent is happening in Term 4!! We will have trials toward the end of October with a big finale in November. Ask your child if they are interested in being part of this fun event. Reading Packets We are finding that a number of children are forgetting to bring their reading packets to school. These need to come to school every day as your child will have new reading books to bring home and also we like to get them to re-read books that they have had that week to increase reading mileage, we can’t do this if they are still on the bedroom floor. Please remind your child to pop this in their bag each morning. Reading Reward If you are reading this, please give your child the secret code words “spring has sprung” and they will get a token for their whanau group. Have a great weekend! here to edit. Kia ora koutou, Mānuka whānau,
We have spent the day today learning about the human body, and the systems inside that we can’t see. Ask your child for a performance of ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” in te reo māori and you will be in for a treat! Timetable In Week 5 we will be changing our daily timetable in our classroom. We will be beginning the day with time in our pod, and then moving into literacy. Play based learning and reading will be taking place in the afternoon. As such, when the bell goes in the morning (8:50) we will now be heading to pods for the roll - we will be doing quiet activities before the bell e.g. drawing, writing, reading, some card games etc. This enables some check-in time with the pod, allows us to use this time for Inquiry as well as creating similarities to the timetable in Ti Kouka for the students transitioning there at the end of the year. We will take this change slowly this week to enable familiarity! Fabric scraps If you have any fabric scraps at home, we would love to use them for play based learning. Parent Help Thank you so much to the parents/ grandparents who have been in our community helping. Your help is invaluable, and the children enjoy it a lot! Court Theatre The Court Theatre will be visiting our school on Tuesday 20 August (week 5 of this term) Learning Expo Thanks to those parents who came along to the Learning Expo it was great to see you there to see what is happening in our school. Student-Led Conferences Last week an email went out from the office with the link to the newsletter that included a link to book a time for our next round of Student-Led Conferences. It might be a good time to check in with your child to see how their goals are going in preparation for these meetings Reward for reading the KIT notice If you are reading this, give your child the secret code word “Cheeky Monkey” to say to their teacher on Monday and they will get 2 tokens for having amazing people who read the KIT notice! Kiaora whanau, and welcome back to term 3!
We have begun term 3 and are excited for the term ahead. Today we have had our Gala day and we have really enjoyed being able to support WMI in their fundraising - and get some ice-cream spiders and sherbet too! New books Your child, or their teacher may let you know that they need a new writing and/or maths book in the coming weeks because lots of them are jam-packed with learning. Toys A reminder that toys are not allowed at school, only if they are crucial for a play workshop and will go into bags after play based learning. Reading packets A number of children are forgetting their reading packets. It is important to keep up this routine, to allow children to follow up their reading at home with their new books. Thanks! The Manuka team Kia ora koutou, Mānuka whānau,
Just like that we've made it to the end of another term! There's been lots and lots of illness around in the last few weeks, and some very tired kids and adults - we hope you all have relaxing and restful holidays planned to allow for full recovery! Mātariki celebrations Over the last few weeks we've been using our Discovery Friday sessions to look at space, stars, and the Mātariki constellation and celebration. Over the holidays, you might like to take your child / family to the observatory on Bells Road to follow up on this learning. The observatory is operated by the Canterbury Astronomical Society - you can find their website here - and they are running open evenings through the holidays as part of the Kidsfest festival. During term times, they also hold open evenings on Friday nights. This is a great experience, and it's right on our doorstep! Naming belongings The holiday break is another great opportunity to label clearly any clothing, containers, or belongings that regularly travel to school. We've had a big tidy up to clear any lost property at school, and continue to be confused by clothing that is labelled with 'historic' family names (who haven't been at our school for a few years). We realise that it's great to re-use clothing, but ask that you make sure it is clearly labelled with your child's name - this will help us to get it back to the owner if it is abandoned somewhere! Have your say... Many thanks for those of you who have taken the time to give us some feedback. At time of writing we have received 20 responses. This survey is an opportunity to give us some feedback on our recent Community Evening (whether you attended or not), and to provide some feedback about what you would like to know more about in the future. We will be sharing the results once we have gathered them, and would encourage all of you to take five minutes and share your thoughts. The link is here for you to contribute your thoughts. Satellite class Last Friday we sent home a notice regarding the establishment of the Mānuka satellite class. We are aware that some of you may have missed this notice if your child was absent from school. You can read more here (please note - this is the general notice, a separate letter was sent to the satellite group parents, as well as the parents in Christina's pod). We wish you all a wonderful holiday break with your children! Keep warm and healthy, and travel safely if you are off on any adventures. We look forward to welcoming you back again in Term 3! Ngā mihi nui, Moira, Libby, Anita, Leanne, Leonie and Christina [email protected] |
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