Howick Primary School
Newsletter 2 Term 2
PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
When I reflect on the busy term we have almost completed, I realise how much we are able to achieve when we are not locked down. I am sure you are as happy as we are that you have not had your work pattern disturbed by school being closed. I am most delighted that our students have been able to have uninterrupted learning over the entire term and included some excellent excursions to supplement our learning programmes.
I have been awarded a sabbatical to complete a study about the attendance service pilot that I head up. I will be away for all of term 3 and Mrs Leanne Hurley will be the very able Acting Principal in my absence. Mrs Kristen Oliphant will be Acting Deputy Principal to support Mrs Hurley.
Have a well earned and restful holiday. Thank you for your continued support. Join with me in wishing our amazing staff - teachers, teacher aides, support staff a relaxing break in appreciation of all they do to make our school great and our students the greatest!
See you all back here in term 4.
Leyette Callister
Principal.
Just for your information, here are many of the things that happened this term:
Fundraising For Good Causes
Pink Shirt Day
Raising funds for bullying awareness: $366 was raised to aid in programmes to raise awareness and encourage bullying prevention.
Pink Ribbon Breakfast
Raising funds for breast cancer research - The PTA organised this lovely event and raised over $200 for this very worthy cause.
Shave For A Cure
Raising funds for Blood cancer research and supporting families. Our Executive Officer, Mr Wilbyn Mitchell braved the cold and shaved his lovely locks off. He reached his goal of $500.
Class Visits Outside School
The Auckland Maritime Museum - The classes who missed in term one were able to go and enjoy the fascinating history of sailing and boating in New Zealand.
Fo Guang Shan Temple - The focus for the temple trip was to learn about the message of goodness and generosity through the 3G4G Festival. 3G - Three acts of Goodness: Do Good Deeds, Good Words and Think Good Thoughts. 4G - Four givings - Giving others confidence, joy, hope and convenience.
This opportunity gave an interesting alternative cultural perspective and a whole new experience for many of our students.
Te Tuhi - Arts centre in Pakuranga, which was just for Rooms, 17,1, 2 and 3, and the focus was on expressing our own individual culture through being creative with visual art.
Rocket Challenge
During term two, Rooms 1,2,3,4 and 17 participated in a rocket challenge which was delivered by the Wonder Project. The Wonder project is Engineering New Zealand's free programme for schools, designed to get young Kiwis excited about science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). The classes involved were all assigned ambassadors, which were people from STEM careers, who came in and helped them deliver the programme. Room 17 had Helen and Erin who were engineers from Fisher and Paykel Health Care, Room 1 had Edwin Khor from NZ Earthquake commission, Room 2 and 3 had Ali Siamwala - a chemical engineer and Room 4 had Aline Floss Weber who was also from Fisher and Paykel Health Care.
Students learnt about Newton's Laws, forces, and the engineering process, plus had lots of FUN.
- Tyla Silva
They were able to keep their rocket in the air the longest!!!
Kidpower Confident Kids Programme
The children learnt to use their “Super Powers” to keep safe. We had a very successful parent night where the presenter, Meriddy, from Empowerment Trust, shared the programme that she was teaching in classes. If you want any of the resources available on the website, you can go here Empowerment Trust
Garden To Table
Garden to Table has been embedded with some very interesting dishes cooked from our school-grown produce and some new tastes conquered - silver beet, basil, pumpkin etc. Amazing volunteers are coming every Wednesday to assist Miss Long and keep our children safe and fed.
Hosting Local Howick Enviroschools
We had over 150 people from the Eastern Enviroschools Zone and we celebrated ridding our area of tens of thousands of moth plant pods. Our students won a monetary award for their efforts and our Eco Warriors presented very capably to the large audience. We showcased our heroic efforts to reduce waste across the school.
Trees For Survival
Community Working Bee
Matariki Soup
Building And Ground Work Over Term 2
New Junior Turf - this has been finished and has made such a difference to the junior school.
New PE Shed - is finished and just waiting for the holidays when Mr Jackson can get the lat shelving installed to make the space perfect. Students will be able to have sports gear issued directly from the room each lunch time when it is fine.
Classrooms having new walls of flooring installed - floors were upgraded in Rooms 1-4, the foyer and admin area and the staffroom. Rooms 5-7 had new wall coverings installed to freshen up their look and this will be completed these holidays in Rooms 8, 13, 14 and 17.
The new meeting room at the end of Room 9 has been refurbished from the old uniform shop and this will be a rentable space as well as being our Board meeting room and used for any and all kinds of meetings.
PTA
We have the hardest working bunch of parents I know. All the events they organise and improvements we have enjoyed because of the hard work of Franchelle and her committee are many to mention.
We now have much more robust and modern chairs for the hall, which can click together if we want, or be separated if we need. They stack neatly and will make a tremendous difference when we hold events.
The Disco last week was a wild success - lots of delighted children in the hall having a good boogie and more delighted parents enjoying the quiet of the staffrooom.
Bake sales - always a favourite
The PTA can always do with more volunteers - many hands make light work so if you can spare some time and want to get to know some really nice people, come along to their next meeting and join in the fun. There are plenty of great events coming up in term 3. The next meeting is on 11 August.
Parent Conferences
I hope you have all managed to find the time to meet with your child’s teacher. This means so much to your child and to their teacher, who have been busily gathering assessment information about your child to show you. Conferences are an opportunity for children to proudly share their achievements and to give you a chance to see how we can all work together to help your child reach their potential.
A disturbing trend is happening in which parents are taking it upon themselves to remonstrate with children they believe have had negative interactions with their own child. It is never acceptable, under any circumstances, to approach another child and threaten them to correct what you believe to be a wrong action. When teachers complete a full investigation, the story can be quite different to the one that your child has given you. However, we also have the challenge of children not telling their teacher if they have a problem. If teachers know about bad behaviours occurring, they deal with them. It is difficult when an angry parent confronts a teacher about something that the child never told an adult about or had no adverse demeanour (upset, angry etc) for the teacher to notice in the classroom. Please give the benefit of the doubt to the teacher and be a good role model to your children showing the appropriate respect before making judgement and assuming what has happened. We all want to have a harmonious environment, which is fed by healthy, respectful interactions. You all want to know that your child is safe from another parent on the warpath so please observe these expectations and always feel free to talk to the teacher in the first instance, if you have any concerns.
Coming Up In Term 3
Zoning discussions between ourselves and Owairoa and McLeans Primary Schools are currently underway. The Ministry of Education now handles all the public meetings and negotiations. If you are interested in the proposed zones, Mrs Hurley will have the latest proposed zones early in the term. The Ministry of Education will let us know when the meetings will be held so you can come along if you are interested. We have not been advised when to expect the zone will be in place but imagine it will be in by the start of 2022.
Book Fair will be held in the library from 9-13 August and we will make an exception to allow parents to come into the grounds before school to browse and purchase books for the duration of the festival. Its a great way to get those secret Christmas presents while your children are not there.
SKIDs holiday programme bookings are now open but you will need to book in early. They make a point of having a lot of fun in their varied programme.
Howick Intermediate has a show “The Young Aladdin” coming from 18-20 August. Please support some of our ex-pupils and our neighbouring school.
Howick Dance Festival - 16/17 August - featuring one of our groups of dancers, being coached and their dance choreographed by an ex-pupil Asher Saunders, and assisted by Miss Shao and Miss Taylor. This is always a beautiful event - tickets will be available closer to the event.
Scholastic Book Fair
Aladdin Jr - Howick Intermediate School
sKids Holiday Programme
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Contact Us
Email: office@howickprimary.school.nz
Website: https://www.howickprimary.school.nz
Location: Howick Primary School 40 Willoughby Avenue, Howick, Auckland 2014, New Zealand
Phone: 09 534 6082