Pinehill School Newsletter
Wednesday 2nd March 2022
Message from our Principal
Kia ora koutou,
2022 House Leaders
I am very proud of all of our Year 6 students who went through the process of applying for house leader positions. We had 32 students apply, which is an overwhelming number of responses for 8 positions and shows how many of our students aspire to be a leader.
The process involved completing an application form and an informal meeting with myself, Mrs Ward and Mrs Mabon, followed by shortlisting. All those shortlisted were given the task of preparing a presentation. The topic was: “If you are a house leader, what project will you continue or start-up in the school so that Pinehill School continues to be a great school?” We were very impressed with all the presentation ideas and the exciting new initiatives our house leaders have planned for 2022. We are lucky to have students so dedicated to the school. Many thanks to parents for taking the time to support their children during this process.
A special congratulations to the students listed in the table below, who are our house leaders for the 2022 year. We will acknowledge our house leaders and present them with house badges during our Zoom assembly next Tuesday. Mr Mathers and Mr Yoo will mentor and work closely with the leaders as their initiatives are planned out and put into place, as well as broadening their leadership opportunities within the school.
Multi Coloured Mufti Monday
The students are doing so well with Phase 3. There is a lot to remember and many rules to follow. I am so proud of how well everyone has adapted and is continuing to remind each other and keep everyone as safe as possible. This is not always easy. As a celebration of adhering to Phase 3 rules and following the Pinehill Way, we will have a Multi Coloured Mufti Monday, next Monday 7th March. Students can wear an outfit of choice. No donation required.
Meet my Teacher and Classmates Online Day
Meet my Teacher and Classmates Online Day is taking place tomorrow, on Thursday 3rd March. Your child’s teacher will have sent you a zoom link to attend. The zoom meetings will be staggered by year level, so that if you have more than one child at our school you have the opportunity to attend all meetings. See the table below outlining year level times for these sessions.
The purpose of our ‘Meet my Teacher and Classmates’ online is for you to be able to Zoom in from home or work and meet your child’s teacher online as well as see your child in their classroom environment. Students will be sharing their classroom with you through the screen. This will not be a Zoom meeting to discuss your child’s individual learning. Learning conversation meetings are scheduled for the end of the term. We hope to see you online tomorrow!
Please see the table below for your childs class times.
Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini
Success is not the work of one, but the work of many.
Ngā mihi nui,
Carla Veldman, Principal
Growing our Positveness
Across all our Year 5/6 classes, we are committed to supporting the well-being of our rangatahi. Part of this is completing a daily journal near the end of our school day, reflecting on 3 things that have gone well for us on that day, or 3 things that we are grateful for. This helps us find the positives in our day. We are getting into the habit of ‘collecting’ these positive thoughts during our school day so we have ideas ready to record.
There is a lot of research to support the idea that we can train our brains to think more positively (our natural tendency can be to dwell on the negative). This retraining can take up to 6 months, but once our positive pathways are established in our brains, they become our ‘go-to’ thoughts.
Attached is a PDF of examples showing the variety of ideas recorded by students in Room 7 and 18. We are grateful to these rangatahi for offering to have their thoughts included.
We encourage Pinehill parents to experience the power of this positive practice. You could:
ask your child when you pick them up after school, “What went well for you today?” as a starting point for talking about their learning day
try this at home as you eat dinner as a family - how powerful it would be for your children to hear what has gone well for you during your day too
try this at home as you tuck your child into bed - how powerful to drift off to sleep with positiveness in their heads!
Take a look at our examples. We hope you are inspired to join us on our well-being journey. We would love to hear from you if you would like to share how your whanau is incorporating this into your daily routine, and any changes you notice.
Some Examples from Room 7s GEM Journals
Fitness was good today because I was one of the last people alive in ‘Octopus’
(Jaxon)
The WTE writing programme was fun because I could see my feedback about
my Summer pineapple writing. (Max)
We played a maths subtraction mini game which was fun and helped me with
my learning. (Shua)
At ‘Jobs’ time, I got a lot of work done so I felt happy. (Luna)
Maths went well for me because I learned that when I add tens to a number, that
the ones stay the same. (Jisoo)
Today’s PE lesson because I managed to catch the ball 10 times in a row.
(Dylan)
I hung out with some people that make me happy. (Jaecob)
At lunch time we played handball with a lot of people which was more fun than
playing with 4. (Benjamin)
We went to the library today which was interesting as there were new books.
(Edi)
We used WTE (Write That Essay) website for the first
time today. (Eddie)
Mrs Blanchard came into Room 7to work with us
and we grew Room 7’s reputation as a good class.
(Sally)
Some examples from Room 18s GEM Journals
I am grateful that I got to wet day monitor my sister Emily,
because I love her. (Taylor)
I am grateful to be given the opportunity to be a student leader
because it has always been my dream. (Tara)
I am grateful for having friends who want to be an interior designer
when they're older so I don’t have to worry about our future
house that we are going to live in. (Shirley)
I am grateful that it is my sister's birthday today because I am
happy for her. (Tom)
I am thankful that my grandma made my lunch because she made it
with lots of love.
(Chloe)
Writing at Pinehill School
As part of our professional development, teachers are using Writers Tool Box (or formally known as Write that Essay) to further develop their writing programmes. Your children may have talked to you about sentence types or their ‘quick write’ sessions in class. The Year 4-6 children will be able to access this programme online both at home and at school. We are very excited to be part of this new learning. The link to more information on this programme is here https://www.wtbox.com/. Please email rochelle@pinehill.school.nz if you have any questions.
Class Awards
- Room 1 - Bohdi Earl Kingi
- Room 3 - Claire Li
- Room 4 - Mishel Alrashed
- Room 5 - Elaine You
- Room 6 - Levi Brunton
- Room 7 - Emily Ke
- Room 8 - Olivia Lim
- Room 9 - Belle Esteruizer
- Room 10 - Siuta Naufahu
- Room 11 - Christian Long
- Room 12 - Joshua Marange
- Room 13 - Victoria Meshkova
- Room 14 - Soyou Kim
- Room 15 - Naomi Yu
- Room 16 - Jayden Lim
- Room 17 - Kitty Shen
- Room 18 - Jackson Danks
- Room 19 - Mia Wang
- Room 20 - Keion Gunaruthna
- Winning House - Kawau
Board News
The Pinehill School Board of Trustees met again on 16 February via Zoom with renewed energy for the year ahead.
We had a lengthy discussion about COVID with particular interest around the guidelines that the Ministry of Education have published for schools, and how Pinehill will continue to work through the changing face of the pandemic. Please be assured that the school is in great hands when it comes to COVID planning. The Board continue to be impressed at the level of understanding, planning and preparedness that the senior leadership team have, and we have full confidence that the school is a great safe learning environment for our children. The school will continue to monitor and adapt on a daily basis as needed, but for now the main thing we can all do is be kind to one another and support our wider Pinehill family.
It was fantastic to hear about the topics that were covered in the recent Teacher Only Day that was re-scheduled from last year due to the lockdown. These included writing professional development known as The Writers Toolbox, First Aid training and of course the COVID Protection Framework and how this looks at Pinehill School. It is great to see continuing professional development for all of our staff.
We also saw some fantastic progress on the design of the new top playground. Our 2021 House Leaders did a superb job in Term 4 last year to work with each of our classes to understand the different needs and ideas of each year level. These have now all been incorporated into a final design which will be shared with the wider school community once the last details have been confirmed and we have a timeframe for the new build.
We will continue to share more news and progress from Board meetings with you as we navigate our way through the school year, and look forward to celebrating the successes of the school together at some stage during the year.
Sports News
Netball
Thank you for expressing an interest in winter netball 2022.
Netball is open to all children from years 2-6. Games are played at Pinehurst school on Saturday mornings through Kidzplay netball.
Fees for the season are approximately $55, Umpire fees are additional. Children will need to wear the Pinehill school red sports T Shirt and a black skirt and netball shoes.
Once the expression of interest has closed off, we will start to organise the teams, if required we will hold a trial to place children in teams. Every effort will be made to place your child in a team, however due to the number of children interested this may not be possible.
Once this process has been completed we will notify parents via email, inviting you to REGISTER and pay through Kindo.
*Teams will only be confirmed to go ahead if we have enough children and parent volunteers for the coach and manager positions, and fees are paid in full.*
Please fill in the expression of interest form and submit by 3.00pm Thursday 24th March.
Friends of Pinehill School News
Fun Food Friday and Snack Food Friday are suspended this term. We thank you for your patience and understanding.
Welcome to the CookieTime Fundraiser 2022!
Purchase New Zealand’s favourite cookies - Original Chocolate Chunk Cookie Package TODAY!
Individually wrapped 25g Rookie Cookies (20 per pack). Each pack is selling at $17 with $5 contributing to our school fundraising towards new playground.
- Order through Kindo online shop
- Last day for orders Wednesday 16th March
- Delivery to school by Friday 25th March
Yummy Stickers
We are collecting “Yummy” stickers from apples, nectarines, peaches and pears, and barcodes from bags of “Yummy” fruit. This is a year-long promotion. The stickers are exchanged for sports equipment for the school. All stickers and barcodes need to be stuck on the official forms which can be downloaded from www.yummyfruit.co.nz or from the FOPS fundraising page on the school website. Please keep complete forms at home. We will let you know when you can return them to the school. Thank you for your ongoing effort!
Pinehill School PTA - Friends of Pinehill School
Sun Hats and School App
Sun Hats
A reminder that it is compulsory for all students to wear a hat at break times in Terms 1 & 4. Any sun hat is ok, or you can purchase a school hat from Janbells in Mairangi Bay.
SchoolApp
Please remember to update your alert groups for this year. Select your child’s relevant year level, classroom and sports groups if they are registered to play that sport for this year.
Contact Us
Email: info@pinehill.school.nz
Website: https://www.pinehill.school.nz
Location: 2 Hugh Green Drive, Pinehill, Auckland 0632, New Zealand
Phone: 09 4780301