24th March 2022 Term 1, Week 8
School Newsletter
Principal's Message
Kia ora koutou katoa,
Week 8 has finally brought with it some wet weather which has been a quite welcome relief to learning in the warm weather. The children continue to do a wonderful job with their learning at school and we are thrilled with the progress we are seeing with children's learning across the school.
We continue to experience many children and whānau joining our West End School Whānau and we will be opening our latest New Entrants Pick Up class in Room 17 at the end of Term 1. This class will be taught by Wendy Blithe who is an experienced teacher coming to West End School from James Cook School in Marton. Welcome to West End School Wendy.
At this time, we continue to see a number of positive covid cases at our school. Today we have, 26 positive cases of Covid including several staff. Additionally we have a significant number of children at home in isolation as household contacts. Thank you again to our amazing West End Whānau for following the advice from the Ministry of Health and keeping a close eye on your whānau for symptoms. Again, to those families who are isolating, I hope that everyone is keeping well in your household. Please remember you have access to the Hard Copy Learning Packs we sent home earlier in the term. Additionally, there is also the online learning options we have also sent home previously (please click on this link to view/this was also shared via seesaw). Please remember our priority is the well being of your child and your whānau and therefore the amount of distance learning your child completes while isolating should be dictated by what you feel is appropriate for your child and your household.
You will have no doubt seen the latest information being shared from the government about changes to Covid 19 Guidelines. We are working through what these changes will mean for our school and we will be in touch soon.
As always, I wish you a safe and happy weekend with your whānau.
Ngā manaakitanga,
Matt,
Matt Kennedy
Principal
West End School
Te Kura o Urumutu
West End School App
All school notices are being sent sent out through our West End School App, so it would be great if you could download it onto your mobile device so you have all West End related information at your fingertips! If you could also remind fellow whanau at West End School who aren't on the app yet to sign up! This free mobile app allows parents to receive pop-up reminders and instant messages. These can run on smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices and are designed to help whanau keep up to date on school happenings.
SchoolApps also allows parents to report absences online, receive instant alerts, check the calendar for upcoming events, view newsletters, log into Seesaw and this will also be a way to use Kindo.
You will be able to personalise what information you wanted to subscribe to, such as notices from specific area teams, sports news, or groups such as Student Council or kapa haka. You would only receive information directly relevant to those groups, but you will however receive whole school notifications when they are sent out.
West End School Communication Platforms
West End is enhancing our communication so it is easy for our community to know what's happening at our kura. Below is a table outlining the different forms of communication we use at West End to share a variety of things ranging from classwork to whole school notices.
Contact Information
Please inform the office of any change of address or phone numbers.
It is really important that we are able to contact you at any time of the day.
Thank you.
EPro8 Interclass Competition
Last Wednesday we had 28 students from Te Wao Nui o Tāne participate in an interclass competition. We had 7 teams constructing a zipline that could hold and carry a weight. A pulley system also needed to be set up to bring the object back up to the original starting point. The groups worked in the library all day and showed amazing kotahitanga by listening to each other's ideas, and using whakamana to solve problems that arose in the construction of their ziplines. Two teams have been chosen to represent West End School in the inter-school competition in May.
Tamsyn Le, Marnix Simpson, Lochlann Beech, Amber Deng
Jackson Bleakley, Bethan Mackay, Sylvia Battley, Emily Allan
Well done to these teams, and to all students who gave these EPro8 activities a go, learned a lot and had fun during the 8 days of engineering.
Student Council Elections 2022
We have had Student Council elections over the last few weeks. We had a large turnout of students from Te Wao Nui o Tāne and Puawaitanga who performed wonderful speeches to their classmates explaining why they would be a great classroom representative. Well done to everyone who showed whakamana by speaking in front of the class - you showed amazing courage. And congratulations to our 2022 Student Council representatives.
Tamsyn Le
Amon Reid
Ethan Mortensen
Jasmine Plazuelo
Jessica Byres-Adair
Danyelle Hayes-McEwen
Paige Mortensen
Agam Singh
Omar Qarmash
Samuel Ward
Sulieti Vaipulu
The whole school has also voted for our Student Council President and Vice President. Congratulations to Paige Mortensen - our 2022 Student Council President and our Vice President Amon Reid.
CAR PARKING- ADMINISTRATION BLOCK CLOSED TO EVERYONE
Please do not do not be tempted to use the staff car park when dropping off and collecting your children from school. The administration block is closed for building work.
It becomes very busy and dangerous for children. We encourage parents to park on the street and use the walkways coming into school. Please remember to abide by the road markings on Botanical road and park only in designated spaces (not on the yellow lines). This is for the safety of our children and community members.
Thank you for your co-operation.
If your child is absent from school.
It is really important under the current circumstances you notify the school if your child is absent.
PLEASE DO NOT TXT OR EMAIL THE CLASSROOM TEACHER.
ALL ABSENCES SHOULD BE ADVISED VIA THE OFFICE.
Please remember to advise the office by 8.30am if your child is not attending school.
You can telephone 358-2465 and leave a message or txt 021 118 0156.
ABSENCES CAN ALSO BE SENT EASILY THROUGH OUR SCHOOL APP
In both cases please give a reason for absence.
Thank you.
Sunhats
Board policy requires children to wear sunhats during outside play during Terms 1 and 4. So make sure your children have their sunhats at school every day this term. Caps are not suitable as the hat must cover the ears, neck and front of the face.
Children who do not have an appropriate hat will have to remain in the shaded areas during break times
Masks
Parents of children who wear masks please remind your child to bring them to school.
Bikes and Scooters to school
For the safety of our children all children biking or scootering to school MUST wear a helmet. Please also remind your children about road safety - including the safest way to travel to school if on a bike and scooter.
Y-Kids April Holiday Programme: 18-29 April 2022
The Holidays are just around the corner. Bookings are now open for our Y Kids programme, with a 10% Early Bird discount for every child registered before 27th March. (Note this discount does not apply to Holiday Camp) Y-Kids Holiday Programmes offer a variety of fun activities ranging from trips, craft as well as sports and games. We hope to see you there!
Kindo Online Shop
It is very important that families register with Kindo, as this is now the only way to register your child for school sports, and ordering PTA lunches.
Below are the links to register.
If you require help please call the Kindo helpdesk on
0508 454 636
New users need this link
Existing users need this link
Sports Draw
HOCKEY
30th March – West End Funsticks vs Te Kawau Twisters, 5pm on Turf 2Ca
30th March – West End Gnats vs Riverdale Tigers, 5pm on Turf 1B
31st March – West End Silversticks vs Parkland Piranhas, 4:45pm on Turf 2A
31st March – West End Goldsticks vs Bainesse Bullets, 4pm on Turf 1A
NETBALL
28th March – West End Juniors TBC, Sports Coordinator will message
29th March – West End/Hokowhitu TBC, Coach will message
If you have any questions about sport, please feel free to contact Connor Drummond – cdrummond@westend.school.nz
Swimming Timetable
Upcoming Events
- Sci-Fri - Friday 25th March
- MusiClass Lessons - Starts again tomorrow Friday 25th March
- Ripper Rugby Tournament (Y5/6) - Tuesday 5th April
- Te Wao Nui o Tāne Swimming Sports - Thursday 7th April from 12.30
TERM DATES 2022
Location: West End School, 196 College Street, Palmerston North
Phone: 06 358 2465