Pinehill School Newsletter
Wednesday 23rd November 2022
A message from the Principal
Kia ora tatou, Mālō e lele, Ann yeong haseyo, Ni hao, Dzień dobry
Welcome to Week 6! We are continuing to make every moment matter and every minute count as the final weeks of term 4 are upon us. As well as continued great learning happening in classrooms we are also keeping on top of health and safety, including a fire drill which took place last Thursday. I was very impressed with how diligent, quick and responsible all our students were with assembling at their meeting points and throughout the drill. We are all very excited about our up and coming Christmas concert next week and hope you can all join us for an evening of joy.
Fire drill
Last Thursday the full school took part in a fire drill. We practice evacuation drills once a term, so in case of an actual emergency event we all know what to do. Our fire drill was just before lunch time. The drill evacuation officer was very impressed with how responsible and quick our Pinehill students were with evacuating classrooms, lining up quietly and assembling at the meet up point. The staff were efficient with clearing blocks and checking all students were accounted for. Our goal was to assemble in our meet up points safely and all accounted for within 5 minutes and we certainly met this. We talked to the children afterwards about the drill and why we do this. For 18 of our students, this was the first time they have done a drill at Pinehill School.
I was so very proud of everyone.
Christmas Concert
We are all looking forward to our ‘Pinehill Christmas Concert’, which is taking place next Wednesday 30th November from 5pm - 6:30pm.
Families are encouraged to arrive from 4:30pm. Children must be accompanied by their parent/s or a guardian. This is an opportunity for the whole family to come along with a picnic rug or picnic chairs and dinner, for an evening of joy. For families that would prefer to buy dinner to bring along, you may want to stop in at one of the many local food outlets on the way to the Christmas concert or purchase something to eat from one of the food stands the FOPS (Friends of Pinehill School) are organising for this event. This includes Korean snacks, doughnuts and drinks, bake sale, sausage sizzle, sushi and more. We will have Roast Kumera and the Mr Whippy Ice cream truck onsite. There will also be jolly jars and 25th merchandise for sale as well as face painting.
We will also be collecting non-perishable food items (cans or packages). We encourage families to bring a non-perishable food item to drop into our boxes by the court. This will be delivered to our local food bank run by Lifeboat Community.
Students do not have to wear school uniform to the concert. Students are invited to wear Christmas themed clothing and accessories. Students will sit with their classroom teacher and classmates on the lower court under the taumaru by the field. Please position your picnic area on the field so you are facing the taumaru shade top area for the show. This is outlined in the map below. B and C block toilets will be open and signposted. Each year level team will be performing a Christmas themed song which they have been learning and practicing all term. The concert will start at 5:00pm and we anticipate we will be finished by 6:15pm - 6:30pm. Mark it in your calendars and keep it free. We hope you can all join us in an evening full of Pinehill Christmas joy.
Class organisation for 2023
We are currently compiling our class lists for 2023. Thank you for the contributions we have received which we are taking into consideration alongside teacher input and student voice. We endeavour to combine your input with our knowledge of your children to make the best decisions we can. If for some reason you are NOT returning to our school in 2023 and haven’t told us, could you please let the office know, info@pinehill.school.nz. This helps us with the class organisation.
In this newsletter we farewell staff who are leaving us at the end of this term and introduce new teachers joining our Pinehill School community in 2023.
Staffing
Farewell to…
Aimee Bradley who has been in a fixed-term teaching position in a Year 2 class this year. We wish Aimee all the best for her future endeavours at Upper Harbour School.
Sarah Stubbs will be moving on to Matakana School next year and is excited to be teaching close to home and to have much less of a drive each day compared to her commute time to Pinehill.
Ji Reh Yoo will be teaching in an International School in Korea next year. We wish Ji Reh all the very best with his exciting new journey next year. We may see Ji Reh in a relieving capacity in term 1 before he departs NZ.
Beccy Warburton has been at Pinehill School for the last three years. She is relocating away from the North Shore and will be teaching closer to home.
We thank all our teachers who are leaving for their dedication and commitment to our tamariki, particularly the last two years which have been very different and challenging. We wish you all the very best with your future endeavors.
We will be holding a special farewell staff assembly on our last day of school, Friday 16th December. This event will commence at 9:00 am. All parents are welcome to attend. We would love to see you there.
A warm Pinehill School Community welcome to staff joining us in 2023
Kayle Riley: Kayle is an experienced teacher relocating from Wellington bringing strengths in maths and e-learning.
Veronica Donaldson: Veronica is an experienced teacher and brings strengths in maths, extension and drama.
Danika Chambers: Danika is an experienced teacher with strengths in literacy and numeracy.
Wendy Chatterton: Wendy has been successful with a permanent position at Pinehill. Congratulations Wendy!
Our new staff members are working on teacher profiles that will go out in report envelopes at the end of the year so you can learn further about them. They are all looking forward to beginning their Pinehill Journey in 2023.
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
Character Strengths
What are character strengths?
Character strengths are the positive qualities that a person possesses naturally and impact the way a person thinks, feels and behaves in their life. Character strengths are used to help define our own core identity. There are 24 character strengths and we all have different strengths. We can use these strengths to help us engage and get the most out of a situation or opportunity, or cope when things get hard.
Room 7 has been investigating the 24 character strengths and thinking about which ones they identify with.
Einstein Olympiad
On Friday 18th November, Pinehill took 11 children from Year 5 and 6 to the annual Einstein Olympiad event at Rangitoto College. Despite the rainy weather, the children were excited and looking forward to tackling new challenges. The children were put into teams and collaborated with children from other primary schools, as well as intermediate and college students. The day started with some challenging activities such as building the highest tower using only sellotape and popsicle sticks, making the longest word out of a selection of letters and getting to the closest target number using a selection of numbers.
After what has been an exhilarating first half of the morning, the students had lunch before embarking on the Amazing Race. Trying their best not to get lost in the vastness of the college, the children completed a series of activities in an attempt to win the ultimate prize (chocolates and skittles!). Favourite activities from the race included chemical experiments in the science lab, guessing the number of lollies in the jar and guessing the name of different instruments.
It was a fantastic day full of laughter. Thank you to the children who participated, you all did a fantastic job representing the Pinehill Way!
Pinehill's Got Talent
Auditions are next week for Pinehill's Got Talent. Solo acts and groups who signed up received a letter on Monday with details about when and where their audition is. A copy of the letter is below and explains how the process will work. The key to a successful audition is to be organised. Email links to backing tracks to Mr Rogers or Mrs Milne before your audition day. If you need to borrow an instrument, let Mr Rogers know. If you have any questions, come and see us or email us. Give it all you've got, Pinehill! Practice, practice, practice!
Lost Property
Year 6 - Breakfast
Please put this date in your calendars.
CLASS AWARDS
Room 2 - Purum You
Room 3 - Tess Bateup
Room 4 - Sara Krivoshapkina
Room 5 - Emily Lou
Room 6 - David Maher
Room 7 - Benjamin Fu
Room 8 - Emma Jin
Room 9 - Marcus Zhang
Room 10 - Amy Kim
Room 11 - Alice Kim
Room 12 - Ciyalea Haumaha - Anderson
Room 13 - Lucas Zhou
Room 14 - Nathaniel Xia
Room 15 - Naomi Yu
Room 16 - Tiffany Moore
Room 17 - Daniel Zhou
Room 18 - Coby Le Bourque
Room 19 - Shirley Yang
Room 20 - Hayley Lee
Winning House - Waiheke
Cluster Athletics Day
Cluster athletics is on this Friday at Sovereign Stadium, beginning just after 9.30 and finishing around 2 p.m. Parents are most welcome to come and watch. The organisers would like spectators to stay behind the barriers around the outside of the track. Unless you have been asked by our school to be a helper, we would ask that you respect the organiser's wishes in this regard.
Thank you.
Netball - Players of the day
Cecilia Marange
Amy Kim
Year 5 Pinehill Dragons
Savannah van Biljon
Taylah Heidar
Basketball - Players of the day
Year 3/4 Pinehill Pirates
Jonathon Qiao
Year 3/4 Pinehill Wizards
Zahri Pritchard
Year 5/6 Pinehill Pistons
Charlie Haycock
Year 5/6 Pinehill Heat
Adam Sng
Sean Lee
Splash Polo - Player of the day
Hunter Taylor
Bogyeom Kim
Friends of Pinehill School
SHOWCASE YOUR BAKING SKILLS!
We are looking for anyone who LOVES to bake and would like to contribute to our bake sale at the Christmas Concert and Picnic on Wednesday, 30 November.
PLEASE make sure NO fresh cream, fruits, custard etc., only items that can be stored at room temperature. Cupcakes, Gingerbread men and cookies are always winners, but there are many more great ideas. Please also list all the ingredients. Thank you!
Home baking is to be brought to school on Wednesday morning between 8:15 am and 9 am in the Hall. Ideally, we would like you to bake the day/night before.
If you have any questions, please email us at pinehillfops@gmail.com.
We appreciate your support!
Fun Food Friday 25 November
It’s Fun Food Friday this week! Online orders close tonight, Wednesday, 23 November. Please place your orders using the Kindo Online Shop.
Jesters Pie Day is EVERY TUESDAY!! Orders close one day prior at 11 am.
KIDS ART WORKS (Calendar Art) FUNDRAISER 2022
Thank you to everyone who has placed their online orders. Your children's artworks are now put into production. Printed items are estimated to arrive on Tuesday, 13 December, and will be delivered to your child's class once they arrive.
CookieTime Christmas Cookies
Thanks to parents and teachers who supported this fundraiser. We sold 43 buckets, and $107.50 were raised.
Jolly Jar Sale at Christmas Concert
We are asking for a Jolly Jar donation from each student. It can be filled with anything non-perishable and will be displayed and sold at the Christmas Concert. You can hand in your beautiful Jolly Jar at the office.
Pinehill School Policies
All School policies are available through School Docs – click here
Logon – Pinehill
password – pinehillway
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