2023 Newsletter - Week 8, Term 3
Greenmeadows School, 6th September, Newsletter #14: 2023
PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
Tēnā koutou kātoa,
What a fabulous day we had last week for our school cross country. For the last few years we have held the cross country on our school grounds out of necessity and we chose to keep going with that plan this year. It's so neat for parents to be able to see their child over the whole course and the PTA are able to plan and deliver their part of the programme much easier. Not only that, but children don't tire themselves out walking to and from Anderson Park like they may have done in the past!
While cross country is not everybody's favourite activity, a selection of our quickest kids are off to Park Island next week to participate in the Napier inter school event. Best of luck to you all, we are super proud of you.
Speaking of pride, how about those Jump Jam teams? Every year we do so well in this competition and this year has been no exception. Thank you to all those children who got involved and special thanks to the adults in our school who give so much time to help make Jump Jam happen, especially as we are on the back end of a major production.
Please check the information below about upcoming emergency drills. Our little earthquake back in Term 2 is a timely reminder of how important it is to be prepared, even if the emergency that you are preparing for seems unlikely.
Ka kite anō,
Darren Holloway
Acting Principal
WELCOME TO GREENMEADOWS SCHOOL
We have had four new students start with us since the last newsletter - a very warm welcome to
Kaide Moore, Greyson Birnie, Sofia Borisova-Haskell and Emily Carson.
Our roll at present is 464.
BOARD OF TRUSTEE ELECTIONS COMING UP
The Greenmeadows School Board of Trustees mid term elections are coming up again, with a confirmed date for election being Wednesday the 15th November. Our board has an election every 18 months, with three of the six parent representative spots coming up at each election. By holding elections every eighteen months, this ensures that we have continuity on our board.
We are an open and friendly board who meet two to three times each school term. The role of the Board is to set the school’s overall strategic direction. It is important the board members reflect the overall diversity of the school to ensure a bright future for all our students.
If you are thinking about becoming involved in our BoT now is the time to put your name forward.
Nomination forms will be sent out no later than Friday 22nd September and need to be returned by Wednesday 11th October. Under the new legislation we will be emailing out nomination forms again this year. If there is only one email address held on our database, only one email with the nomination form will be received. If your email address is out of date or incorrect, please contact the school office to update it.
DAFFODIL DAY
Daffodil Day was well supported here at GMS with donations raised amounting to $640.80.
Well done GMS community!
TRAFFIC CONCERNS
Thank you to those parents who respected the Funeral Parking Only sign that was up in the church car park earlier this week. While it can be inconvenient to park further away and walk, I'm sure that those who were grieving appreciated it. When we know that a funeral is on we do our best to notify our parents via the school app in order to give you time to plan ahead.
Unfortunately some of our community have not endeared themselves to our neighbours, who have recently complained of people parking over their driveways (this was not on a day when there was a funeral). Let's show some Greenmeadows Respect.
Finally, some of our families who walk to school have mentioned the speed that vehicles are travelling at in the school zones on Gloucester Street and Guppy Road. This is likely to be commuter traffic and I am aware that speed cameras are being deployed in the area at key times.
SENIOR CAMPS - WELLINGTON & GUTHRIE SMITH
Please keep that camp money rolling in, it will be time to go camping before you know it!
EMERGENCY DRILLS
This week we conducted a fire drill, as we do every term. While most of us have been through this many times before, it's worth remembering that we have children who start school at various times throughout the year and it's important that they become familiar with our routines in an emergency.
Next week we will be conducting a lockdown drill. If you think this may potentially cause anxiety for your child, please try to reassure them that this is something that we do just to be prepared in an emergency, the same as we do for earthquake and fire drills. The drill is scheduled for 10:30 am on Monday 11 September and will affect anyone who is onsite at that time.
In Term 4 we will conduct our tsunami hīkoi, currently scheduled for Thursday 19 October to coincide with the national Shakeout initiative. This will involve an earthquake drill in the morning, and the hīkoi in the afternoon. I will include further details in our next newsletter and provide reminders on our school app and the first newsletter in Term 4.
YUMMY APPLE STICKERS PROMOTION
It's the last big push before we submit our stickers!
We are again collecting the Yummy cut-out labels from bags (each cut-out label is worth 10 stickers) and individual Yummy apple stickers. With the apple stickers we can claim for our school’s share of free sports gear. Your child can bring in the stickers and/or cut-out labels and teachers will have a chart in their class to stick them onto. If you are returning sheets please remember to include your child's name and class so that we can identify the top collectors and class.
The final date for returning stickers will be 15 September.
