KTS Newsletter
Term 4, Week 9, Tuesday 13 December 2022
Coming up...
And so we come to the last newsletter of the year. It has been another busy year and although we did not have to go into lockdown, learning from home was indeed a challenge for us all. It has certainly been nice to come together as a community over the last few weeks with International Night, Year 6 Moving On Up, prizegiving, and Year 8 graduation tonight. We certainly have a lot to be thankful for.
Thank you all for your support over the year, for taking our health and safety precautions in response to COVID seriously, and most importantly engaging with your child about their learning.
We had our last Board meeting for the year last night. Our end-of-year student achievement review was discussed at length. For those of you who are interested, here is that review. End of year student achievement review. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Board for their support and service to the school. Their focus is always on what is best for our students, and also the staff.
We hope you can join us for our final assembly on Friday starting at 12.45, with the ringing out parade at 1.15pm (ish). The final bell for the year will go at 1.30pm.
I wish you all a safe and restful holiday period. For those families who leave KTS at the end of the week, we wish you every success. For those of you returning, we look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday 31st January – Alison
Class placements
Yesterday your children found out what class they will be in for 2023; you can check HERO to find this information.
There is a great deal of effort that goes into class placements, and the students themselves have given their current teacher the names of 3 children they would like to be with; teachers have ensured your child is with at least one of their preferred buddies. As there is a lot of juggling to ensure gender balance, ethnicity, learning abilities, proficiency in English, etc., we do not make changes to class lists.
2023 Teaching Team
We are delighted to confirm our teaching team for 2023 is as follows:
Library News
Library Stocktake
There are still many books out with students. We do charge the replacement cost for lost or unreturned books and invoices are starting to be sent out. I would appreciate it if students could return their books if they have them as this is creating an extra job at a busy time of year. Thank you. – Jane
Prizegiving 2022
Congratulations to all students for their commitment to their learning this year. As a school we celebrate our learner competencies with the presentation of a badge along with special awards. The following students were celebrated on Friday.
Junior Awards
Year 6 Awards
Senior Awards
Sports Awards
Cornerstone Plaques
As we come to the end of another school year, some families are preparing to leave the school for the last time. You may want to consider purchasing a cornerstone plaque, which will be placed on the pillars outside the intermediate classrooms. In years to come, they are a great record of your involvement with the school. The order forms can be found on the front page of the website. http://www.kts.school.nz/
Back to school stationery – order now!
We’ve teamed up with OfficeMax to make your back to school shop super easy. And if you order in December, you’ll go in the draw to WIN 1 of 5 $1000 cash prizes — plus, you’ll get a FREE A4 Magnetic Whiteboard Family Organiser*.
Your child’s class list is already loaded. Just go to myschool.co.nz. Simply add your details, check that you want everything on the list, then click and confirm — and OfficeMax will get your delivery underway with free delivery on orders over $60*.
You can pay by internet banking, credit card or debit card. Laybuy* is also available, so you can pay in 6 weekly, interest-free payments and still get your order right away. Plus you’ll be helping our school earn school rewards* that we use to purchase much needed extra resources for our school.
We encourage you to order early to ensure your child has all their stationery requirements ready to go in plenty of time for the start of Term 1.
So go ahead and beat the back to school rush, order today and give them the best start possible.
* Terms & Conditions apply, see myschool.co.nz for details.
December Holiday Programme
Monday 19th: We'll get active with a KKZ favourite game – Sour Santa. Later we'll paint mugs for the kids to gift. Later we'll have party games like pass the parcel and pin the nose on Rudolph.
Tuesday 20th: Mini gingerbread houses to take home. then we'll make beautiful Christmas decor candles
Wednesday 21st: Pom Pom wreaths and painting Christmas posters
Thursday 22nd: Giant cardboard gingerbread men, tree ornaments & a candy cane hunt!
Early bird discount ends 15th December
Multiple booking discount is for 3 or more identical bookings, not sessions.
We are trialling a new start time of 8am and end time of 5.30pm (full day). Half days still end at 3pm.
Book Now!
https://enrolmy.com/kts/book-now/14-Christmas-Holiday-Programme-2022
January Holiday Programme Coming Soon
Birds of a Feather Reading Challenge
Bringing together feathery friends and exciting new books, the Birds of a Feather Reading Challenge launched on December 12 and will run until January 13.
Read NZ Te Pou Muramura’s annual reading challenge is native bird-themed this year to send the message: birds of a feather read together!
The Reading Challenge is an interactive website. Children aged five and up are invited to register for free and choose a bird team to play for, each named for a native bird including Forest & Bird’s Bird of the Year 2022, the pīwauwau rock wren.
Players log the books they read over the summer, along with a star rating and short review. A ‘readerboard’ keeps track of the teams as they move up and down the rankings accordingly.
There’s also an analogue option this year, with the addition of a downloadable reading bingo card for summer reading fun away from the computer.
This year, there are multiple ways for children to win prizes, and only one is related to reading a large volume of books. Among the prizes on offer are five memberships to KCC (Kiwi Conservation Club Hakuturi Toa), thanks to support from Forest & Bird. There are lots of books to be won too, including bundles of books about native birds and wildlife as well as chapter books for older readers.
To win a specially-curated set of new books, children can send in a picture of their favourite book or summer reading spot. The top readers in each team will also win Booksellers tokens at the end of the competition.
Sign up for the Birds of a Feather Reading Challenge by registering at reading-challenge.org.nz.
School Leavers – Notice re ezlunch / Kindo School Shop
If your family is leaving our school and has been using ezlunch or Kindo, please make sure to stop any regular automatic payments that have been set up before the school year finishes. You may also need to transfer or close your account which can be done as follows:
Not sure if your new school is using Kindo? If you’re not sure if your new school is using Kindo, you can either ask them directly or go to “My Details” in your Kindo account and click on the list of schools to see if your new school is listed.
New school IS using Kindo. If your new school is using Kindo, simply click on the new school from the list in “My Details” of your Kindo account and you’ll be attached to the new school’s menu. Any balance on your Kindo account will remain available to spend with the new school.
New school is NOT using Kindo, or you no longer need Kindo. If you need to close your Kindo account, use the “Close Account” button within the “My Details” section of your Kindo account. You can either withdraw your account balance or choose to donate your balance to the school. Please note that all withdrawals will be made via electronic payment to your New Zealand bank account. Kindo is unable to process cash withdrawals.
If you are wanting to withdraw your Kindo account balance or make a donation that exceeds Kindo’s threshold (currently more than $10,000 total within one year), Kindo may need to undertake some identity checks on you to comply with its obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Act 2009. Please action the withdrawal or donation in your Kindo account as outlined above and if these AML checks are necessary Kindo will advise of the next steps required in this regard. Kindo has endeavoured to make this process as pain-free as possible and appreciates your patience.
Community Notices
Epsom Community Library
Beanstack summer reading challenges have a lot of cool prizes to get in the draw to win, and 10 badges to collect!
It is free to sign up. Lot of activities and challenges to complete for the children to keep up their reading and literacy during this 6-week break.
There are also lots of holiday crafts and activities on - something for everyone! Pop along to Epsom Community Library to check them out.
Contact Us
Email: office@kts.school.nz
Website: https://www.kts.school.nz/
Location: 3 Kohia Terrace, Epsom, Auckland 1023, New Zealand
Phone: 09 630 4525