Kia ora e te whānau o te kura o Parakawhara (hello friends & family of Gladstone School). Today has been the most amazing day for 5 key reasons.

#1 The response to our flood relief call has been incredible. Thanks so much to those who have donated requested good and/or made a donation to the Red Cross Relief fund. The photo doesn't really do it justice but there were boxes and 6 large bags of goods packaged up. So many much needed item going to communities in need.

#2 Toby & Hannah Blundell and the team at ARAMEX have very kindly and generously donated the cost of freight to get bags/boxes up to Gisborne and organised for the equally awesome Rural Delivery driver to take the Tinui bags/boxes out there. Local heroes at their best.

#3 Our school whānau who have baked up a storm for the upcoming FoGS catering fundraiser. Thank you so much - every item and monetary donation has been gratefully received by the group. Thanks also to Pinehaven Orchard who have donated the most beautiful summer fruit for the packed lunches.

#4 FoGS Helpers who have given up their Friday evening to band together and be at school prepping and packing over 240 boxed lunches. You are all awesome, thank you.

#5 Our Kids. They are the most amazing bunch of interactive, caring, creative young people and this is why we do what we do.

Reminder - 150th Celebration Committee - If you or anyone you know is willing and able to join us in organising this all important community event, please reach out - principal@gladstone1.school.nz. Thanks to those of you who have put your names down already.

Our 'Whetu o te Wiki' are: Nicky Orsborn (thanks 'mini-me-Hugo') for super behind the scenes help with the latest FoGS fundraiser; Abel Porter for showing amazing manaakitanga towards Mrs Bunny at the pool & Riley France for giving 100% to his writing.

Congratulations to the following tamariki (children) who were awarded certificates by their classroom teachers today - our focus this week has been on Manaakitanga (Welcoming people into our spaces, taking care of others, showing compassion to those around us). Students are also awarded certificates for other fabulous things: Roczen Nolan; Cyrus Field; Alex Wenger; Oscar Nicol; Lachie Macdougall; Patrick Hanson; Koby Klue; Abel Porter; Sam Beetham; George Mason; Isla Dick; Edith Mason & Hannah Douglas.

At our recent BoT meeting we approved the 2023 Annual Plan; 2023 Budget & the 2022 Progress and Achievement Summary. Links to each of these documents are below. Our main strategic focuses this year are:

Manaakitanga - Establish ways of giving back to our community, including garden to table initiatives; Fine-tune mihi whakatau process and procedure; Increase the profile of FoGS (Friends of Gladstone School) and share the tasks more evenly.

Ako - Review and implement effective school wide literacy practice with a targeted focus on the explicit teaching of writing. Complete our review of the science curriculum.

Kaitiakitanga - Further develop te aō Māori understandings and kawa across the school.

Focus on further enhancing our Enviroschools commitment and use of outdoor classrooms.

The finance committee along with our accountant have worked hard to reduce our deficit. The committee have plans in place to review progress mid way through the year and by way of the monthly accountants reports.

FoGs are committed to continued fundraising efforts during the year and the BoT will be actively pursuing grants. At Thursday night's FoGS meeting the group approved payment of $20K to the school to cover: Hall insurance (the hall is 50% community owned); Matific subscription (classroom learning programme for students); Nessy (Structured Literacy learning programme for students) and a $15k contribution towards learning support. For 2023, Rachel Nicol & Christ Ashby are co-charing the FoGS committee; Jo McKay is staying on as Treasurer and Nadia Wither is our Secretary - lovely to have you all in those roles.

The payment of school donations is one way families can really help us out.

The BoT and staff are pleased with the progress most groups are making. We still have work to do in literacy. In 2020 we researched best-practice models and worked with a facilitator (Sarah Sharp) to establish programmes and procedures. In 2021 staff learned about the new programmes and trialled their implementation. In 2022 we implemented the full Structured Literacy Programme across the school, backed up by adequate resourcing and professional development.

Despite constant set backs with COVID; staff and student absences we are still seeing a positive impact and expect that this will continue. You will notice that we changed our junior literacy assessment tool in 2022 from PaCT to LLLL (Little Learners Love Literacy) as PaCT doesn't have the option for students to be anything but met in the early years. We now have a comprehensive formal assessment procedure for our junior students and have established target groups and interventions to get those who need it really moving along. Families can help at home by revising heart words, books read in class and letter sound knowledge. If you would like further information on how you can help with this, please contact your child's teacher.

PaCT will remain in place for all students who have moved from the LLLL programme (typically Y4 up) until such time as the Ministry of Education release new assessment tools that align with the newly developed Progress Outcomes for English and Maths. Please note, curriculum levels have been phased out.

Ko ngā rangatahi, ngā rangatira o āpōpō, our children are the leaders of tomorrow.

It is time for our ākonga to learn, understand and share our country’s kōrero tuku iho, historical stories that can be passed on through generations.

We are busy organising a list of jobs for the upcoming 'Super Bee'. Please look out for a link to this early next week. It would be wonderful if each whānau could put their names against a job/project to help with. Kids are welcome in the school grounds ie. by the sandpit/pool area - not by the firewood or top field. Mrs Bunny will be about to help with supervision.

We wish you a lovely weekend.

Ngā manaakitanga,

Belinda

1st March at 7 p.m. at the Church - Everyone welcome.

World Day of Prayer - 3rd March at 11 am - at the Gladstone Church - Everyone welcome

Each Monday our wonderful FoGS committee organise school lunches for our tamariki. Can an adult in your whānau help one Monday this year with school lunches @ 12:40 pm for approximately ½ hour?

Parent Helpers get the food ready for handing out at eating time. Please contact Liz Mason (lizarthan@hotmail.com) if you can be a parent help.

Thank you to the following fabulous families who have offered help to start the year off. A roster for the remainder of the year will follow once we have volunteers:

Tues 7/2 Paula Dick
Mon 13/2 Bron Wood
Mon 20/2 Liz Mason
Mon 27/2 Paula Dick

Week 5

Wed 1/3 - Carterton Cluster Swimming Event

Fri 3/3 - Kourarau (Y1-3) Tent City

Week 6

Fri 10/3 - Y7&8 Design Tech Starts

Fri 10/3 - South Wairarapa Swimming Sports @ the Trust House Pool in Masterton

Fri 10/3 - Carterton Residents Picnic @ Carrington Park incl. Kourarau Food Fundraiser