Newsletter T3W4
Tuesday August 16
Tēnā koutou katoa
Congratulations to Megan Shearer on the birth of little Archie. We wish them all the best and look forward to meeting Archie in the coming weeks.
We also would like to welcome Maddison Benseman and Aimee Fish who are student teachers working in Rooms 3 and 11 respectively, over the next few weeks. We know Miss Lee and Ms Silcock-Kent will be wonderful teachers to mentor them.
Lights Over Marlborough - Saturday 12 November
It’s that time of year again! The PSG (Parent Support Group) have been busy behind the scenes organising our main fundraising event ‘Lights Over Marlborough’ being held on Saturday 12 November (postponement Sunday 13 Nov). For new parents … this is a huge community fireworks event combined with other stalls and entertainment that the PSG organise, and which we hope all parents can help out with. As always, our goal is to provide a massive community event where the people of Marlborough can unite and celebrate something beautiful in the night sky. We are especially looking forward to it this year, since we had to cancel due to Covid-19 last year.
In the next few weeks, we will be sending home a Volunteer Sign Up form so start thinking about what stalls you would like to help out on. Stalls include: Mystery Bottles; Drinks; Glow Sticks; Candyfloss & Popcorn; Chocolate Wheel; First Aid; Bouncy Castles; Security; Trailer Rides; and Kidzone. We’ll also need set up and take down crews as well.
Lights Over Marlborough is a real community event that usually attracts up to 5000 people on a fine night. It is our school’s main fundraiser so please keep the date free and sign up to help when the form is sent home.
We usually have 4 mufti-days leading up to LOM. This is so we can gather a massive stash of chocolate for the Chocolate Wheel and Bottles for the Mystery Bottle Stall. We shared the dates in our last newsletter and they are as follows:
Term 3 Week 7 Friday 9 Sept (Mufti Day): Non-consumable bottle
Term 3 Week 9 Friday 23 September (Mad Hair Day): Consumable bottle, sealed
Term 4 Week 1 Friday 21 October (Mufti Day): Chocolate
Term 4 Week 3 Friday 4 November (Mufti Day): Either Chocolate or a Mystery Bottle - tbc)
Thank you for your support!
Preschool Enrolments
We are asking for our Whitney families, with children who are aged under 5, to take the time to check with the office that they are pre-enrolled at school. This allows for us to plan the classes more effectively and to ensure that we have spaces available.
We will also have some out-of-zone placements available in most year groups for 2023 and will put an advert out via our app and website later in the term, so let any friends or family know.
Lockdown Drill Update
In light of the recent lockdowns in schools across the country (not to be confused with Covid lockdowns), we wanted to assure you about our practices. Last term, we held a Lockdown Drill where the students practised getting into a safe position within the school buildings and doors are locked, should the need ever arise. For this drill we used the scenario of a swarm of bees outside rather than a threatening person or bomb threat.
In the case of a real lockdown situation we understand that there needs to be clarity for our parents and whānau in the case of a real lockdown situation. If the school ever does have to go into a lockdown, we will have access to our phones and the internet so we will send out app alerts via our school app. It really is important that you have downloaded the school app so that you receive messages in an emergency. Please do not ring school and trust that we are taking care of your children. We will be following police advice and when it is safe to do so, we will send out an alert and email stating that it is safe to come and collect your child/ren.
Some important things for you to know or consider;
No child will be released from school unless a parent / caregiver (or person authorised by the parent/caregiver) comes for them. Please make sure your contact details and emergency contacts are up to date in Hero. This is something that you will need to login to change or let the office know.
If parents/caregivers cannot be contacted, or are unable to collect their children, the children will be cared for at the school.
The hall will be an alternative venue for caring for the children should the classrooms be deemed unsafe.
Cross Country
Congratulations to the following students who represented us with pride at the recent Marlborough Primary Schools’ Cross Country event held at the Wither Hills Farm Park. Unfortunately Paetyn is missing from the photo.
Year 6 Girls - Flo Paulo & Margot Davis
Year 6 Boys - Harry Holland, Kobie Madsen-Clark & Pryce Buckland
Year 5 Girls - Paetyn Collins & Mackenzie Wyngaard
2023 Enrolments for Bohally Intermediate School - Now OPEN
Creative Boards in our Community
The Map
Inter-Primary Rainbow Ski Champs
The Solander Inter-Primary Rainbow Ski Championship 2022 will be held at Rainbow Ski Field on Wednesday 14 September (postponement date Thursday 15th September) 2022. Each school is allowed to enter one team. Please let Cheryl (principal@whitneystreet.school.nz) know by tommorrow if you have a child/ren who is a competent skier and they would like to enter. Parents would need to provide transport and supervise on the day. There are 4 people in a team. Information about the event is here.
Toki sio (see you later - in Tongan)
We are proud to share...
Year 1 and 2 Netballers win BEST DRESSED!
Our values at school and in the community
Our values - something for our whānau to ponder
Term 3 Kiwi Can
Repeated (But important!) School Notices
Daffodil Day - 26 August
This year Daffodil Day, which raises money for the Cancer Society is on Friday 26 August. As we have a lot of mufti days for Lights Over Marlborough coming up we are making this an optional fundraiser. Your child is welcome to wear something yellow and/or bring a gold coin donation. You may like to pay online via this link.
Wairau Camp
The Whitney Street School BOT bank details are: 03 0599 0305934 00
- Rooms 1, 2 and 8 will attend Monday-Wednesday (26th-28th September)
- Rooms 3 & 4 will be attending Wednesday-Friday (28th-30th September)
The FIRST NOTICE can be found by clicking here.
Free Period Products for Girls
If your Whitney Street School daughter has her period, she is eligible for two packs of free period products per month. These will be available to her when you let Christee Dalzell know via email (dalzell@whitneystreet.school.nz), by leaving a wee note on her desk or by contacting the school office.
Hopefully, this initiative is utilised really well by our Whitney kōtiro/girls! We have figured out a system where the students are able to easily able to quickly access these in an inconspicuous way.
This is a brilliant way to save money on the grocery bill so please take advantage of it.
If you have any questions, please feel free to pop in and talk to Christee.
Our school calendar is often filled with trips and events and sometimes the dates and details change. The BEST place to keep an eye on what is happening is on the school App in the calendar section.
Download our school App
We encourage all parents to download our school app from the Playstore or Apple Store, as we find this the most effective way of sending out Alerts to parents/caregivers. You can also access a wealth of information from the app as it has links to the school calendar, newsletters, etc.
Please subscribe to Alerts from the classes/groups that your child belongs to. If you want to subscribe to groups later on, you can do this via the ‘Alerts Subscriptions’ which is in the Menu (top left). Please do this to ensure you are subscribed to the classes and Teams that your child or children are in for the 2021 school year.
This is also the way we would like you to inform us of absences. This system streamlines the morning routine for Tanya and Michelle so that they can easily see who is away and why.
Please click here to download the School App.
Hero
Suggestions Box
Automatic Payment Option
The Whitney Street School BOT bank details are: 03 0599 0305934 00
Embroid a Stitch (Previously known as Pretty Things Embroidery)
Contact Us
Email: principal@whitneystreet.school.nz
Website: https://whitneystreet.school.nz
Location: Whitney Street, Blenheim, New Zealand
Phone: +64 3 578 3028
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhitneyStreetSchool/
Community Notices
Krankin' Kids - a local mountain bike programme
Krankin' Kids is a local Mountain Bike coaching programme and we have some exciting programmes coming up in Blenheim, Picton and Nelson that your school kids might be interested in. Bookings are open now!
Our Krankin' Kamps are a 2 day Mountain Bike riding extravaganzas! Krankin' Kamp runs from 9am-3pm each day and is packed with games, activities and a whole lot of riding action!
Kaiteriteri: 4th & 5th of October
Codgers (Nelson): 6th & 7th of October
Marlborough: 11th & 12th of October
This programme is open to riders 8-15 years old (talk to us if you have a keen 7 year old!). Cost for the Krankin' Kamp is $205pp - bookings are open now! - www.krankinkids.co.nz
Term 4 After School Riding
Our After School Riding Programmes runs in term 4:
Wednesdays at Wither Hills Farm Park, Blenheim 5pm-7pm
After School Riding Programmes run for 7 weeks and allow riders to progressively improve their skills and confidence week by week. This programme is open to riders 8-15 years old (talk to us if you have a keen 7 year old!).
Cost for the term is $215pp - bookings are open now! - www.krankinkids.co.nz
POSTPONED: Walk of Light (Image below)
Regrettably, we are postponing this Saturday's 5 pm event WALK OF LIGHT along the Taylor River as recommended by the Marlborough District Council, due to the amount of heavy rain anticipated.
The event below is now scheduled to take place in Pollard Park Saturday 1st October from 6.30 pm.