Newsletter T1W7

Namaste (a greeting from India),

It is hard to believe that we are in Week 7 already! We have lots of learning happening with the curriculum including some Education Outside the Classroom, involving trips for the Omaka and Wairau Hubs in the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for notices about these.

Also make sure you read the section on the building upgrade below for exciting news, and we hope you are all enjoying the beautiful autumn weather.

A reminder that school will be closed this Thursday.

We all want the best for our kids.

But our schools and kindergartens are understaffed, and teachers and principals over-stretched.

Industrial action is a last resort. We are striking on 16 March to press the government to improve conditions, and to show the government we are serious about needing change.

We need:

• Improved support for tamariki

• More staff to support learning

• Better recognition for the work primary teachers and principals do

• Value and respect for our kindergarten teachers

The Board has deemed it necessary to close the school for safety reasons as we will not be able to provide any supervision. Here is a link to a Stuff article explaining why teachers are striking.

Our first Community Breakfast is scheduled to be held on the last day of term, Thursday 6 April. If you are new to the school it is a great opportunity to meet other families in a relaxed atmosphere.

We are asking for our Whitney families, with children who are aged under 5, to take the time to check with the office that they are pre-enrolled at school. This allows for us to plan the classes more effectively and to ensure that we have spaces available. Also if you know of other families wanting to enrol with us please advise them to complete an enrolment form online via our school website, or contact Cheryl if they would like to have a tour of the school or are interested in an out-of-zone placement.

With the weather becoming cooler in the mornings and still relatively hot during the days, polar fleeces are being misplaced as the children take them off. We encourage students as much as possible to respect their belongings and put their fleeces in their bags when they take them off. However this doesn’t always happen and polar fleeces are left on the field, playground, etc. Children then sometimes pick up the wrong polar fleece and take it home by mistake, as they are not clearly named.

To ensure easy identification of your child’s polar fleece we recommend naming it in more than one place e.g. the two tabs (one by the collar, and one on the inside seam), as well as in vivid in large letters on the inside of the polar fleece. The office has vivids you can use. Alternatively, we have a lovely mum, Karen Benade, who will embroider a name on the back of your child’s polar fleece for a minimal cost. Her contact phone number is 021 1001 228. See the ‘Embroid A Stich’ section further in the newsletter

Please also check your child(ren)’s polar fleece to see they have the correct one, and haven’t mistakenly brought someone else’s home. Thank you.

As always, the full meeting minutes of each Board of Trustees meeting can be found in the Board folder in the school office and on our school website. The Board meets twice a term at 7pm and anyone is welcome to attend with meetings ending at 9pm. After each meeting one member of the Board of Trustees will update the school via the newsletter and website, with a brief summary of these meetings.

Standing left to right: Marcello Pinheiro, Donna Stewart (Staff Representative), Tracy van der Velden, Felicity Spencer, Leah Fairgrieve, Kate McEntee (Presiding Member), Cheryl Wadworth (Principal)

We are always on the lookout for new PSG members. The PSG is a great bunch of people who meet a couple of times a term (and a few more nearer Lights Over Marlborough time) to organise fundraising events for the school.

Our first meeting for the year is being held tonight at 6pm in the staffroom, and our Annual General Meeting (AGM) is being held on Tuesday 4 April at 6pm. Please come along to either or both meetings by yourself, or with a friend, if you are interested or would like to join. We would love to see you there.

Finally, the time is near for the upgrade of the Wairau Hub classrooms to begin. The builders arrive on Monday 20 March and the project will probably take two terms to complete so we should be back in Rooms 1-4 in Term 4. In the meantime Rooms 3 and 4 are moving to Rooms 5 and 6; Room 1 to Room 8; and Room 2 to Room 18. In order for Room 2 to be in Room 18 the Room 18 students are going to move into the middle section of Rooms 17/18 and use that as a classroom. Thanks for helping us out and being so flexible Rooms 17 and 18!

We can't wait to use our new all-weather turf, however it is important for the surrounding ground to harden up and the grass to be strong enough to play on. Consequently, we can’t use the turf for another week or two. In the meantime we have ordered some hockey goals to be used on the turf when it is ready.

Congratulations to Molly Holtrop and Herbie Hodson who have both been selected to represent Whitney Street School at the upcoming Primary Schools’ Swimming Sports being held at Stadium 2000 this Friday 17 March. We wish you both the best of luck.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

The Whitney Street School Staff

If your Whitney Street School daughter has her period, she is eligible for two packs of free period products per month. These will be available to her when you let Christee Dalzell know via email (dalzell@whitneystreet.school.nz), by leaving a wee note on her desk or by contacting the school office.

Hopefully, this initiative is utilised really well by our Whitney kōtiro/girls! We have figured out a system where the students are able to easily access these in an inconspicuous way.

This is a brilliant way to save money on the grocery bill so please take advantage of it.

If you have any questions, please feel free to pop in and talk to Christee.

Our school calendar is often filled with trips and events and sometimes the dates and details change. The BEST place to keep an eye on what is happening is on the school App in the calendar section.

We encourage all parents to download our school app from the Playstore or Apple Store, as we find this the most effective way of sending out Alerts to parents/caregivers. You can also access a wealth of information from the app as it has links to the school calendar, newsletters, etc.

Please subscribe to Alerts from the classes/groups that your child belongs to. If you want to subscribe to groups later on, you can do this via the ‘Alerts Subscriptions’ which is in the Menu (top left). Please do this to ensure you are subscribed to the classes and Teams that your child or children are in for this school year.

This is also the way we would like you to inform us of absences. This system streamlines the morning routine for Tanya and Michelle so that they can easily see who is away and why.

Please click here to download the School App.

If you haven't done so already, please have a go at downloading the Hero App which shows your child’s achievement, progress and learning goals. The instructions are here or you can type hero.linc-ed.com/parents into your browser. It really is very important that you access this information about your child so you are able to be involved in their education as much as possible.

Do you have any suggestions for us at Whitney Street School? In the school office, there is a 'Suggestion Box' that is checked regularly. Or click here to email it.

We highly recommend setting up an automatic payment to help pay for things like stationery at the beginning of the year, uniform items and camps. It's a great way to help plan your budget and spread the cost of more expensive things. $5 or $10 a week is way more manageable than a large lump sum! Use your child's first initial and last name as a reference.

The Whitney Street School BOT bank details are: 03 0599 0305934 00

Are you after a professionally stitched name on a piece of uniform? Click here to find out more or text/phone 0211001228, or email embroidastitch@gmail.com

Email: principal@whitneystreet.school.nz
Website: https://whitneystreet.school.nz
Location: Whitney Street, Blenheim, New Zealand
Phone: +64 3 578 3028
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhitneyStreetSchool/