5th May 2022, Term 2, Week 1
School Newsletter
Principal's Message
Kia ora koutou katoa,
Welcome back West End Whānau, it has been wonderful to see so many of our parents, caregivers, and Whānau, back on school grounds. We have really missed this important aspect of school life at Te Kura O Urumutu.
We have been enjoying an amazing start to Term 2 with a multitude of learning opportunities for our tamariki on offer. This has included: Plant to plate, Chess Club, Music Lessons, new games on the fields with our brand new goal posts, bike safety in schools, and much more!
We are very excited to be able to offer another new learning experience at West End School. Our Puawaitanga (Year 3 and 4) children will be the first to participate in hands on learning in our new “WoodWork Workshop” with Mr. Baynes and a member of our teaching staff.
Additionally our teachers are finalising our first round of assessment in our core curriculum areas (Ready, Writing and Mathematics) to ensure we are tracking and supporting each child’s progress from the beginning of the year. At the end of this term you will receive a Mid-Year Report for your child(ren) detailing their progress and achievements over the first half of this year. Please remember if you have any questions about how your child is progressing our amazing teachers are more than happy to meet with you by appointment.
We are looking forward to hosting two “Vibe” Whole School Assemblies this term. These are planned for Thursday 26th May and Thursday 30th June both at 9am in our school hall. We have really missed the chance to be together as a school community and celebrate the learning that our children have been engaged in at school. See you there! We are also planning several other opportunities for our West End Whānau to partner in our children’s learning throughout the term so keep an eye out for future communications about these.
As communicated prior to the beginning of Term, we have welcomed parents and whānau back onto our school grounds (please click on link to view). It has been wonderful to reconnect with our school whānau and we have all really appreciated the lovely comments and conversations that have occurred this week. Please note, unfortunately (the gate behind the hall) on Botanical road has been damaged and is currently out of commission. Please use the gate by the Office/Library, The Art Shed Gate (on Botanical), or the gate beside the Wharenui (Corner of College Street/Botanical Road) at morning drop off and afternoon pick up times when entering/exiting school grounds.
Thank you to those parents who have expressed an interest in our Kickstart Breakfast Club starting again. We love our Breakfast club and really enjoyed how successful this became prior to Covid Lockdown restrictions. We would like to get this up and running again soon. If you are interested in helping to run this in the morning then please click on this link to find out more. We will be able to share further details about when we offer this awesome opportunity soon.
A very warm welcome to our two new members of our team who are joining the West End Whānau. We welcome Thomassina Harvey who joins us in the role of ORS Team Leader and also Michelle Mycroft-Bell who joins us in the role of teacher aide. Thomassina and Michelle both bring a wealth of experience and variety of different skills and expertise to our team and I’m sure you will all join us in welcoming them to West End School
This week has been a great way to start our term and has been a hive of learning and activity. I am excited by the progress our children are making and for the learning that lies ahead. I wish all of our West End Whānau a great rest of the week and a wonderful weekend.
Ngā manaakitanga,
Matt
Matthew Kennedy
Principal
West End School
Te Kura o Urumutu
West End School App
All school notices are now being sent out via our school app.
If you haven't downloaded the app, please do so. If you haven't been receiving the email link to download the app, or if you are having problems with the app, please email Dan Minchin dminchin@westend.school.nz. If you haven't set up the app on your device, there will be an easy to download process and quick set up so you can join our new communication platform. If you've downloaded the app already, please just follow the quick username/password set up and for the app users, choose Parent. Once you have set it up, you won't be asked about passwords on that device again. These links do expire, so we will continue to send them out every couple of days to those who haven't logged in.
This free mobile app allows parents to receive pop-up reminders and instant messages. These can run on smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices and are designed to help whanau keep up to date on school happenings.
SchoolApps also allows parents to report absences online, receive instant alerts, check the calendar for upcoming events, view newsletters, log into Seesaw and this will also be a way to use Kindo.
You will be able to personalise what information you wanted to subscribe to, such as notices from specific area teams, sports news, or groups such as Student Council or kapa haka.
Remember to go to Alert Subscriptions (through the main menu - the three lines at the top left hand corner of the app) so you get specific alerts to our different groups within the school. You would only receive information directly relevant to those groups, but you will however receive whole school notifications when they are sent out.
West End School Communication Platforms
West End is enhancing our communication so it is easy for our community to know what's happening at our kura. Below is a table outlining the different forms of communication we use at West End to share a variety of things ranging from classwork to whole school notices.
Contact Information
Please inform the office of any change of address or phone numbers.
It is really important that we are able to contact you at any time of the day.
Thank you.
Start and end of day procedures
It is great to have our West End community back on school grounds under Orange settings. Here is a reminder of start and end of day procedures.
- If your child is at school before the 8.30 bell, they will need to come through the wharenui gate and wait in the area next to the turf.
- Students need to wait here until the bell goes at 8.30am.
- Please remind your child to walk sensibly to class. We have had a few accidents with students running and tripping over each other in the excitement of getting to class.
- At the end of the day, students will be let go from class. Please let your child know if you are picking them up and therefore will need to wait outside the classroom or meet you in the designated spot you told them to go.
- If siblings are going home together, please make a plan of where your children will meet each other so they aren't walking around school trying to find each other.
Re-enrolment for Term 2 MusiClass lessons
If you wish to continue lessons, or if you are wanting to start lessons, please read the MusiClass poster to see what instruments and music groups are on offer at West End School and fill our the google form with the relevant details.
The Term 2 timetable will be sent out via the app and be available to classroom teachers from the start of next week.
Please note.. unfortunately it may not be possible to run an advertised class due to lack of numbers. Once lessons are scheduled, Emma will send you confirmation of the Musi - class your child is in. This will be done via an invoice.
Please do not pay before receiving an invoice (though it is thoughtful of those re-enrolling, who have the account details from last term) - as that class may not be available! So please wait for confirmation. ....
In this case, Emma will be in touch to offer an alternative option.
We look forward to starting up our Term 2 lessons and continuing the musical journey our tamariki have started.
Puawaitanga Plant to Plate
On Wednesday 4 May Room 8 had their turn with the wonderful people from Plant to Plate.
We learnt all about preparing the soil for planting, how to plant seedlings, caring for plants and how to prepare food for a meal.
Everyone had a wonderful time and it was lovely sharing the food we had all worked hard to create together.
A big thank you to all the volunteers from Plant to Plate for helping us learn so much.
EPro8 Interschool Competition
West End School participated in the EPro8 interschool competition held at Whakarongo School. We had 2 teams - the Best End Builders and Westies. Both teams showed amazing whakamana and persevered through some challenging activities. Both teams were building for 2 and a half hours! The kotahitanga they showed as a team was great to see and one of our teams was tied for 4th and went into a sudden death round where we missed out by a split second! Well done to both teams - you represented West End School with pride.
Bike Safety
Te Wao Nui o Tāne have finished their first week of bike safety. The students have all been learning the fundamentals of bike and road safety. Below is the timetable for the following two weeks. Please remember to send the permission slips in to teachers and bring bikes in for the scheduled time your child's class will be riding.
Issue 3 brochures were sent home yesterday with children.
Online ordering is simple and safe. Here is the link:
https://mybookclub.scholastic.co.nz . The first time you go online, you will need to register but after that it is easy and you can order books for your child/children & for presents etc. All orders automatically connect to our School Page and will be sent to Scholastic on the due date.
Orders close for issue 3 on Wednesday 18th May 2022 at 9.am.
Book Club helps create readers by creating interest in books and providing an opportunity for children to choose their own books at discounted prices.
All orders earn scholastic rewards for our School.
Happy Reading Everyone!
Sports at West End School
Registrations:
All registrations for winter sport for West End are now closed.
Coaches:
We are still on the lookout for coaches and managers for our 2 Basketball teams (yr 3&4 and yr 5&6), 2 of our hockey teams (yr0-2 and yr 5&6) and our table tennis teams (yr4-6). If you are interested, or you know someone who will be interested, please get in touch with cdrummond@westend.school.nz
Practices:
Please see below the practice day and time for the following teams:
Hockey:
Wednesday – West End Goldsticks – 3pm – 4pm on West End Turf
Thursday – West End Ministicks – 3pm – 3:45pm on West End Turf
Friday – West End Funsticks – 3pm – 3:45pm on West End Turf
Netball:
West End Pulse – 3pm – 3:45pm on West End Netball Court
If you have any questions in regards to sport, please feel free to message cdrummond@westend.school.nz
The lost property will be laid out every Friday afternoon. Please make sure to come and check to see if anything might belong to you or your family.
CAR PARKING- ADMINISTRATION BLOCK CLOSED TO EVERYONE
Please do not do not be tempted to use the staff car park when dropping off and collecting your children from school. The administration block is closed for building work.
It becomes very busy and dangerous for children. We encourage parents to park on the street and use the walkways coming into school. Please remember to abide by the road markings on Botanical road and park only in designated spaces (not on the yellow lines). This is for the safety of our children and community members.
Thank you for your co-operation.
If your child is absent from school.
It is really important under the current circumstances you notify the school if your child is absent.
PLEASE DO NOT TXT OR EMAIL THE CLASSROOM TEACHER.
ALL ABSENCES SHOULD BE ADVISED VIA THE OFFICE.
Please remember to advise the office by 8.30am if your child is not attending school.
You can telephone 358-2465 and leave a message or txt 021 118 0156.
ABSENCES CAN ALSO BE SENT EASILY THROUGH OUR SCHOOL APP
In both cases please give a reason for absence.
Thank you.
Bikes and Scooters to school
For the safety of our children all children biking or scootering to school MUST wear a helmet. Please also remind your children about road safety - including the safest way to travel to school if on a bike and scooter. While students are on the footpath outside the school , we ask if they can walk their bike or scooter. This is for the safety of themselves and others sharing the footpath, as students are travelling very fast and going past 2 of our school driveways where vehicles are coming in and out of.
Masks
Parents of children who wear masks please remind your child to bring them to school.
Park Road Y-Kids Oscar Care for Term 2
Park Road Y-Kids April Term 2 Modules. Term 2 is just around the corner and are approaching quickly, so it’s time to book your tamariki into Park Road Y-Kids Oscar Care for Term 2!
Y-Kids Oscar Y-Kids Oscar offer a varied and interesting variety of activities ranging from Sports Modules, Arts and craft to Games. For calendars or to register online go to: Out of School Care – Y Central
Kindo Online Shop
It is very important that families register with Kindo, as this is now the only way to register your child for school sports, and ordering PTA lunches.
Below are the links to register.
If you require help please call the Kindo helpdesk on
0508 454 636
New users need this link
Existing users need this link
TERM DATES 2022
Location: West End School, 196 College Street, Palmerston North
Phone: 06 358 2465