Witherlea School Newsletter: Week 6
Monday / Rāhina: 8th March 2020
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
New Look Newsletter
Week 6 - Wiki Tuaono
Principal Message
Kia ora koutou Witherlea whānau,
We are halfway through this term and as usual time seems to fly within our school gates especially when we are in and out of Alert Levels. Thank you for all your support through these last couple of weeks.
We are heading towards our first inter-school events for the year; Tackle Sevens and Swimming. Our Year 5-6 students are preparing for these with practices held at lunchtimes.
As Witherlea is a SunSmart school we do need to ensure all our students are wearing our bucket hats (named) and due to the beautiful summer weather, our classes swim most days of the week so togs, towel and goggles are important items to pack each day. It is an essential skill for a child to be able to change themselves in and out of togs so please practice this at home.
We have our Parent-Teacher Interviews on Monday 22nd-Wednesday 24th March. We will be having an Early Finish at 1pm on Tuesday 23rd March so that we can hold interviews from 1:30pm-7pm. The code to book via the SchoolInterviews site is in this newsletter. See below.
These interviews are considered compulsory as we will be collecting information from all parents and caregivers about the type of goals and target areas we can focus on, together, to support all our learners to make progress. This will be the first time we create the Initial Reports together with our families / whānau and we are excited about this development.
Please ensure you book only one interview per child as this is all the allocation we have and it is important that all family members are on the same page and hear the same message.
Ngā manaakitanga,
Andrea Harnett - Tumuaki
Drama Specialist
Learning Portal
2021 Charter
Nau mai ki te kura o Witherlea
We wish to welcome these new students and their families and whānau to our school and community;
Sam B, Amelia-Rose C, Freddie M, Charlotte M, Itay 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.
Term 1 Events - Wahanga Tuatahi
Week 6 - Wiki Tuaono
Monday 8th March- Friday 12th March
Monday 8th March
Flag Raising
Tuesday 9th March
Witherlea School Parent Community Group Meeting 7:30pm Staffroom
Wednesday 10th March
Kowhai 'Whites Bay' Learning Trip; Room 15 and Room 17
Thursday 11th March
Kowhai 'Whites Bay' Learning Trip; Room 16 and Room 18
Friday 12th March
Assembly: Introducing Kowhai 2021 @2:15pm
Week 7 - Wiki Tuawhitu
Monday 15th March- Friday 19th March
Monday 15th March
Flag Raising
Week 8 - Wiki Tuawaru
Monday 22nd March- Friday 26th March
Monday 22nd March
Flag Raising
Monday 22nd March-Wednesday 24th March
Parent-Teacher Interviews
Tuesday 23rd March
SCHOOL CLOSED @ 1pm
Early Finish for Interviews 1:30pm-7pm
Thursday 25th March
Marlborough Swimming Champs
Friday 26th March
Assembly: Introducing Punga @ 2:15pm
Week 9 - Wiki Tuaiwa
Monday 29th March- Wednesday 31st March
Wednesday 31st March
Marlborough Tackle Sevens Tourney - Lansdowne Park
Thursday 1st April
TEACHER ONLY DAY - SCHOOL CLOSED
Friday 2nd April - Tuesday 6th April
EASTER HOLIDAYS - SCHOOL CLOSED
Week 10 - Wiki Tekau
Wednesday 7th April - Friday 9th April
Wednesday 7th April
School Photos
Friday 9th April
Assembly: Introducing Punga Hub 1 @ 2:15pm
Week 11 - Wiki Tekau Ma Tahi
Monday 12th April - Friday 16th April
Monday 12th April
Flag Raising
Friday 16th April - Last day of Term
Whānau Open Day @ 11:30am-1pm
Resilience in Children
We know in the school setting that missing out on teams, or coming last, or not being good at something straight away can be difficult, especially when it looks easy for others or they get in and/or win. This difficulty is essential for children to discuss, understand and know that they can get through it. Their parents and teachers model the 'growth mindset' language to work through difficult situations.
We also see children who are not getting on with peers, others in the playground or even adults in the school. They go home and seek support and often our first reaction is to fight for the child. Our belief and that of the research is to acknowledge the emotions the child is feeling, support them to see the positives in every situation and then talk to them about how you often find things difficult too when you misunderstand someone or a situation or vice versa.
Saving our children from being angry, hurt and frustrated seems like the right thing to do but supporting them to work through these situations and come out stronger, braver and with a positive mindset sets them up for the challenges of adulthood and ultimately builds their resilience.
See the attached PDF tips from the Sparklers website for parents and teachers which is designed to support 'Wellbeing' in children.
Be Kind, Be Safe, Be Fair Shoutouts
Theo S - Consistently working to his personal best in all classroom activities.
Jack T - Being a kind friend and role model to the new children in our class.
Punga Team
Sophie C - Always showing respect to all, being kind and consistently doing the right thing.
Charlie M - Being kind to new students and showing them how to be kind to others.
Kowhai Team
George D - Consistently making positive choices in the classroom and being an independent learner.
Charlotte M - Sensible, kind, caring and modelling our school values.
Kauri Team
Xanthia A - Always showing integrity and honesty in the classroom
Sam M - Leading Road Patrol, filling in for others and supporting students to turn up.
These students have been using their kind, safe and fair qualities within our school, towards other students and supporting our culture at Witherlea.
Early Words Recognition
Hazel B, Blake B, Madelyn T-K, Tobias W
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.