Spotswood College Te Waka Manaaki
November 2021 Newsletter
Kia ora koutou
He mihi nui ki te rangi mahana. It’s great to see the warm weather. The pool is open
and it is 27 degrees. The students are enjoying the opportunity to swim. Thank you Dave Fox for making this possible for us.
The end of term is coming fast and this year we farewell 4 of our students.
Dylan Goble, Joshua Jury-Thompson, Dylan Miles and Tori Marie Hana Wetere will leave our Kura to start their journeys as adults in our community. We wish them all the very best.
Because of Level 2, our school farewell morning tea will be held on the 2nd of December for students and staff only. We will provide a zoom link for those of you outside our immediate school community who wish to attend.
Staff and students are busy with many hands-on projects including gardening and making props for the end of year in-school dance party.
We are continuing to learn about interoception.
Interoception is the ability to notice and connect bodily sensations with emotions. Research states that interoception is an important factor in the development of effective self-regulation skills within children, teens, and adults. Kelly Mahler
( Occupational Therapist)
Sometimes people don’t notice these signals so need to be taught how to notice and connect them.
Many people who experience challenges with self-regulation have underlying interoception challenges. These interoceptive differences are very common in a variety of individuals including those with autism, trauma disorders, sensory processing disorder, anxiety, depression and behavioural challenges. Some clients may experience interoceptive signals that are so strong, they are immediately overwhelmed and confused. Others experience dulled or muted interoception signals, that leaves them unable to respond to emotions until they reach a fever pitch. This can lead to significant difficulties with emotional regulation and managing challenging behaviour. Kelly Mahler ( Occupational Therapist)
Link to Kelly Mahler's website Kelly Mahler Interoception
Thanks kindly
Ngā mihi nui
Leonie
Important dates for Term 4
Teacher Only Day: Monday 29th November
Students End of Year Morning Tea and Dance Party: Thursday 2nd December (able to be watched by parents on zoom).
Last day of Term 4: Friday 3rd of December
Te Waka Manaaki Staff
Trinity Lovell email: tlo@spotswoodcollege.school.nz
Jackie Molloy email: jml@spotswoodcollege.school.nz
Sarah-Lee Pheloung email: slp@spotswoodcollege.school.nz
Leonie Sole email: lso@spotswoodcollege.school.nz
Georgina Thorpe email: gth@spotswoodcollege.school.nz
Lisa White email: lwt@spotswoodcollege.school.nz
Teacher Aides
Hamish Allan
Donna Chadfield
Sharron Goodwin
Toni Kearvell
Donna Mann
Melissa McLeman
Maurice Paurini
Christine Reidy
Brooke Swannell
Kiley Waru
David West
Admin
Janet Wrighton-Lean email: jle@spotswoodcollege.school.nz
Specialist Staff
Helen Griffiths- Speech Language Therapist
Steph Henderson- Physiotherapist
Anna Carre- Psychologist
Paula Mattheson - Occupational Therapist
Staff
Principal
Whaea Nicola email: nng@spotswoodcollege.school.nz
Deputy Principal
Mr Daryn Shaw email: dsh@spotswoodcollege.school.nz
Deputy Principal
Mr Chris Lapworth email: cla@spotswoodcollege.school.nz
Senior Leadership
Mrs Paula Cast email: pca@spotswoodcollege.school.nz
Senior Leadership
Mrs Hilary Takarangi email: hta@spotswoodcollege.school.nz
Senior Leadership
Mr Darren Scott email: dsc@spotswoodcollege.school.nz
STUDENTS AT THE CENTRE OF LEARNING
STUDENTS AT THE CENTRE OF LEARNING
Flower garden Inquiry project
In our Manaaki 1 Inquiry class for the last couple of months we have been working on improving our garden area. We are working towards having pickable flowers ready for one of our new students when they start next year because they love picking flowers. It has been a lovely exercise in thinking about how all of our students felt starting at Spotswood College and what we can do to help new students to feel happy, comfortable and welcome when they start next year.
We have done research into types of flowers that would be best for us to plant. We have planted seeds and gone back to some of our inquiry work from the start of the year when we looked at what plants need to grow. The first round of seeds that we planted, we have nurtured through to being ready and have planted out into some of our garden containers and are flourishing.
In our first round of seeds we planted dwarf and giant sunflowers, marigolds and calendula.
We worked together to dig holes in the rocky soil and sink our large planters into the ground. Then we planted our seedlings into the planters and have made sure that we water them regularly.
Look how much they have all grown in just a few weeks! We even have a few strawberries starting already!
We have also planted our sunflowers along the front fence of Te Waka Manaaki - we hope they will be taller than the fence one day!
Our Feijoa trees and apple trees are flowering so we have made sure we have given them lots of plant food so that they can grow fantastic fruit for us.
Te Waka Manaaki 2
Focus on Skills
In the last few weeks Te Waka Manaaki 2 we have been focusing on gross motor and fine motor.- We have been practicing different physical skills each week which will help to build independence in common daily living activities. These skills transfer to things that we have also been doing in class time such as, cooking easy snacks and making ourselves cups of tea, and writing.
Students have been enjoying improving their fitness levels on our new exercise bike that we bought with funding from Taranaki Foundation through their Hearing and Visual Impairment Fund. Elite fitness gave us an amazing deal on the bike. Some students have already got a program for the bike set by our physiotherapist and others just use it for enjoyment.
Ty, Riki and Lewis taking some time out on our new swing seat, also purchased through the generous support of theTaranaki Foundation - Hearing and Visual
fund
COMMUNITY AT THE HEART OF WHO WE ARE
“SING” in the Community - Celebrating their 2021 ‘Widening of the Mind’ class, our senior students were ‘front row’ at the recent combined schools “Sing” concert led by the amazing Julian. The level of enthusiastic participation, smiling faces and laughter in the hall is testament to the connection and joy that singing together brings for us all !
School Terms
TERM 4 Monday 18th October – 3rd December for Te Waka Manaaki students
-10th December for all Junior Students
Year 13 Dean
Ms Tracey Laurence email: tlr@spotswoodcollege.school.nz
Year 12 Dean
Mr Wayne Cribb email: wcr@spotswoodcollege.school.nz
Year 11 Dean
Mr Carlin Kumeroa email: cku@spotswoodcollege.school.nz
Year 10 Dean
Ms Rebecca McKerchar email: rmk@spotswoodcollege.school.nz
Year 9 Dean
Mr Darren Scott email: dsc@spotswoodcollege.school.nz
Junior Dean
Ms Jana Robertson email: jrb@spotswoodcollege.school.nz
Senior Dean
Ms Stephanie Julian email: sju@spotswoodcollege.school.nz
International Director
Mrs Nicola Healy email: nhe@spotswoodcollege.school.nz
School Uniform
We also have a large accumulation of uniforms that are a part of lost property that is kept in this space, If your child has a missing school item, please encourage them to check the lost property racks.
Uniform shop hours
Uniform shop hours each week are as follows:
8.00 am to 9.00 am & Interval - Monday to Friday.
Phone 751 2416 Ext 721.