Week 7 Term 4 Panui
Monday/Rāhina - 29th November
Contact Us
Email: office@witherlea.school.nz
Website: https://witherlea.school.nz
Location: 214-216 Weld Street, Witherlea, Blenheim 7201, New Zealand
Phone: 64 (03) 578 5568
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/witherleablenheim
Principal Message
Kia ora koutou Witherlea whānau,
As we head into the last few weeks of 2022 our tails seem to be in a spin.
It is all go this coming week with our newly designed Leadership Week for our Year 4-5 students with the Life Education Bus, training for Medical Monitors, PALs (Physical Activity Leaders), Recharge Station, Techies, and Kaea, Karanga and Haka for our Mihi Whakatau. These students are so excited about being our next leaders and you may notice our newly trained Road Patrollers learning off the Year 6 patrollers - this is Tuakana Teina at its best.
As we prepare these amazing young leaders we also transition our Year 6 students to Bohally, set up our hall for the Year 6 Celebration Board Display and Tours (Thursday and Friday - booked through School Interviews) and give them a well-deserved treat afternoon on Wednesday.
We still have one more group off to Mistletoe Bay Camp, Room 8 and 17 in Week 8 and this will see all our Year 4-6 students completing their camp experiences for 2021 without issue through all the COVID restrictions. This has been no mean feat and is entirely dependent on the support of our volunteers which are our wonderful parents and the organisation, time, energy and passion of our teachers to continue to deliver exciting EOTC (Education Outside the Classroom) programmes.
Next year our Kowhai Team will head to Mistletoe Bay and Kauri will be at Teapot Valley Camp making sure all our Year 4-6 students continue their EOTC experiences. These unique opportunities bring out the best in many of our students who thrive in the outdoors and brings learning from the classroom to life.
A huge thank you to Mr Robertson and Anna Crowe for delivering the science sessions at all camps this year - your time, expertise and connection is invaluable in enabling our rich and broad curriculum to come to life at Witherlea.
As we move to the new Traffic Light System we are awaiting guidelines from the Ministry of Education regarding the application of the new rules for schools. As we receive these, make sense of them, unpack them and put them into action we will keep communicating to our community. It does mean that our end of year events are NOT able to go ahead as stated in the last newsletter and adaptations have been made to ensure we can share as much as possible, digitally. Thank you for your support with this.
We really miss having our community onsite and look forward to 2022 where not only the borders open up but the school does too. You and your children have been so flexible and understanding, not to mention all the scanning in and wearing masks.
This term was always going to be busy however we are still taking the time to remind our children of our motto with examples, we are reminding the adults in our school of the motto because when we get busy, we get stressed and when we get stressed it can be harder to treat each other kindly and fairly. Our teachers are making sure that learning continues right to the last day so that the children feel safe, secure and among all the activities they are centred.
A massive shout out to Mr Western who is Caretaking at the moment while our Caretaker is away and has the pool looking amazing and safe for our children. To Mrs Sim, Ms Moran and Mrs WiRepa for weeding and mowing so the school is operational - even in the hot sun. We are so lucky to have devoted, hardworking staff all across our school.
As we are in the swing of shoutouts we wish to formally thank Martina Sulieman who has single-handedly raised a huge amount of money for our school this year. Without fundraising, schools are increasingly hard to operate. Martina had the idea of the 'Closet Room' a few years back and now she has raised over $10K both this year and last in the two hardest years to fundraise with COVID shutting down many of the usual options. As a school, we do rely on both the donation and the generosity of time and effort from our community and WSPCG (Witherlea School Parent Community Group). We look forward to having a strong WSPCG with innovative ideas like Martina's so we can continue to provide amazing resources, extra adults and upgraded facilities.
We will have one last newsletter in Week 9 for the 2022 year where we will connect and farewell the 2021 school year together.
Ngā manaakitanga,
Andrea Harnett - Tumuaki
Farewell to Mrs Nelson
Mrs Nelson is such an asset to us but she loves adventures so we cannot deny her these. She may be back from time to time to help us out but please stop by in the next couple of weeks if you would like to say goodbye.
Welcome to Witherlea School
We wish to welcome these new students and their families and whānau to our school and community;
Logan G, Theo S
Welcome to School Certificates are given out at our Flag Raising on a Monday morning at 9am when we are in Alert Level 1.
Concerning Incident in the Community
Please follow up at home with conversations that are age-appropriate and encourage your children to know that any stranger, no matter how safe they appear, is a stranger.
If you see or hear anything that concerns you please contact the local Police.
Term 4 Events - Wahanga Tuawhā
Week 7 - Wiki Tuawhitu
Monday 29th November - Friday 3rd December
Life Education Bus Year 4-5 Leadership
Wednesday 1st December
Bohally Transition Day (busing our students to and from)
Year 6 Treat Afternoon = water day (BYO water gun)
Thursday 2nd December
Year 6 Leavers Celebration Boards in our Hall (booked times only)
Friday 3rd December
Year 6 Leavers Celebration Boards in our Hall (booked times only)
Subway School Lunches
Week 8 - Wiki Tuawaru
Monday 6th December - Friday 10th December
Monday 6th - Thursday 9th December
Mistletoe Bay Camp 3 = Room 8 and Room 17 (Year 5's)
Friday 10th December
Subway School Lunches
Week 9 - Wiki Tuaiwa
Monday 13th December - Friday 17th December
LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL for 2021
Monday 13th December
Reports Go Home
Tuesday 14th December
Class Swap - Meet 2022 teacher (in school)
Friday 17th December
School Closes at 12pm
Be Kind, Be Safe, Be Fair Shoutouts
Ferns Team
Gwen K; for consistently being a kind and helpful class member.
Beau B; for being a positive role model and consistently trying hard in everything you do.
Aurora P; for always thinking of others and their feelings and being a kind classmate to all.
Kowhai Team
Mia K; Mia gets on well with all of her classmates and consistently displays an amazing attitude towards everything!
Hamish H; Hamish is very helpful and kind to his classmates. He consistently demonstrates the Witherlea school values.
Kauri Team
Andrew R; for always trying his best in class and making good choices.
Sophie P; for radiating our school values. You are a valuable role model to the students at Witherlea.
Flynn P; for always showing integrity and kindness. You are a fantastic role model to everyone around you.
Izzy O; for always being a kind and caring friend. You show compassion and empathy and appreciate the people around you. Kia Manawanui - Have a heart!
These students have been using their kind, safe and fair qualities within our school, towards other students and supporting our culture at Witherlea.
Pine Valley Camps - Room 15 and 16 + Room 17 and 18
Just a small selection of the many photos and videos that were taken during Pine Valley camp week.
Early Words Recognition
Isla A, Rosa I, Connor M, Ze Hui O
We are very proud of the effort towards learning that our youngest students put in as the Early Words is the start of mastery at Witherlea School.
Santa On Tour
Marlborough 4 Fun have invited Santa to join us in Marlborough to spread the Christmas cheer throughout each neighborhood from Tuesday 7th-Friday 10th December from 6pm. Listen out for his favourite Christmas music!
Santa will be driving around the Blenheim area ready to wave at you all from the safety of your driveways. Why not make him a sign to see!