Newsletter 11, Week 1 Term 3
Waiau School ⎪ 28th July 2022
PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
Kia ora e te whānau,
Welcome back to Term 3
It is lovely to see our tamariki back healthy and ready for a variety of learning experiences.
Thank you for supporting the wearing of masks for our Year 4-6 students. We are very fortunate to have such great support from our school community. Other colleagues in different locations across NZ have not been so fortunate.
It is good to know that we are taking precautions to avoid spreading anymore dreaded lurgies this winter, and I’m sure you’ll agree that we have had quite enough of the Winter bugs this year!
This week we are learning about the Firewise programme. This is an invaluable teaching resource that educates our students about the dangers of fire and what to do in the case of a house fire. Thank you to those families who worked through the designing of their household Fire Escape Plan. Great discussions around the topic happened when we had our initial lesson with local Firefighter Pam. Yesterday we had a visit from Emma and Mitch from Fire and Emergency New Zealand. These extra curricular opportunities are so important for our tamariki, especially when learning about everyday dangers.
I would say from the interest shown, that the Waiau Volunteer Fire Brigade could have a few potential members join in about 6 years time.
Last term’s student-led conferences were a wonderful opportunity for our tamariki to share and talk about their learning. Explaining next steps and goals with their whānau is a very powerful process for our students and I would like to thank all of you that attended, for supporting your child/ren. Thank you to the staff for the preparation put into these important home/school connections.
I realise that we had a couple of families that were unable to attend due to Covid and we will be in touch to reschedule a suitable time for you to catch up with the class teachers. The online bookings worked well and we will continue with this system in the future.
Teachers have been working hard planning and organising the learning for this term. The school-wide learning inquiry theme continues with a focus on Matariki/Stars and from Week 4 onwards we will begin our new Inquiry - The Circle of Life. This will be delving into life cycles and for our older students will encompass changes at puberty in term 4.
Learning takes place within our community, as demonstrated this week with the Working Bees Garden Club. This group was a recent recipient of an Amuri Irrigation grant and they have decided what equipment they would like to purchase for their group. After researching and compiling a list they then approached Waiau Hardware for a quote. Henry was the spokesperson for the group and he dropped our list into the shop. Shortly after we received an email from Michelle.
Thanks Michelle for personalising the quote and for your speedy service. Our spokesperson will be in contact soon!
Our fortnightly Hui/Assembly will be held in the library at 2:30 on Friday. Our first hui for term 3 will be next Friday 5th August. You are most welcome to come along.
Have a great fortnight and keep your fingers crossed for some dry weather.
Noho ora mai,
Megan
Firewise Programme
Class times
We have made a couple of wee changes to our timetable for the morning session. We begin at 9am and work through until 10:30. Morning tea break is now 10:30-10:45. We then continue literacy learning until 11:30. A quick brain break before beginning our maths lessons. We won’t be having our fruit break, as our Morning Tea break has been brought forward and is a good time to recharge, replenish and rehydrate.
Library Day is Friday. Please remind your child/ren to bring their Library Books to school each Friday. We have a well resourced Library and it is important that our students utilise this resource to support their reading development. We will be purchasing new library books later on this year.
Board Elections
Takahanga Marae Visit
Our Noho Marae visit is all booked for Thursday 29th and Friday 30th September. During the July break I went and visited Savannah, Courtney and Miriama at Takahanga Marae. We have a programme organised and we are so lucky to have such an experience literally on our doorstep. Plans are in the pipeline to visit Hapuka Kura Kaupapa and a possible visit to the Paua Hatchery on Friday.
Police Vetting - Marae Trip
Kapa Haka
Book Week
2023 Room 2 Camp
It seems like we have only just had our Room 2 camp - but we need to let you know about our 2023 camp as we will need to action Police vetting forms later on this term to ensure we have parents that are eligible to come along as Camp Parents. Next year we are having a summer camp at Wainui (Banks Peninsula) 7-10 February and the approx cost at this stage will be around $280 per pupil. It will be a 3 night, 4 day catered camp at Wainui YMCA. Finalised costings and options for fundraising towards camps costs will be available in term 4.
Community reading support in Room 1
We are looking for community members that might like to volunteer an hour on a weekly or fortnightly basis and come into Room 1 to listen to our enthusiastic readers share their learning. We do our reading lessons Monday-Thursday from 9:30-10:30 and if you are keen to join us please contact us on 315 6027 or email Megan@waiau.school.nz
Inquiry
Room 2 Inquiry- over the next three weeks students are completing individual inquiries into something related to Matariki that they want to learn more about. From mid week 3 until mid week 4 each student will present their new learning to the class. This information can be in the form of a speech, comic strip, animation, google slides, poster or in any other format that the student has chosen. We will mark against a co-constructed rubric, looking at depth of research, visual presentation, clarity of ideas, clear voice and engaging with the audience. This is a great opportunity to create a response to learning in an individualised way.
Room 1 Inquiry- is 'Way Out in Space'. We are continuing learning about the sun, stars and the milky way galaxy. Our big question is - "What are stars and how do they effect us?". We will be learning about what makes a day and a year and how the earth rotates and revolves around the sun.
Room 1 Art
Wet weather activites
Ice cream containers
Parent Drop In times
You will be able to find Jenni in our staffroom. If you wish to contact her directly please email her on jenni.mana.ake@wellbeingnc.org.nz
Upcoming Events
- Board Elections - Nomination Close - Wednesday, August 3
- Board Meeting -Wednesday, August 10⋅7:30pm
- Ski Day Mt Lyford - Friday, August 19 (pp August 22)
- 2nd Ski Day Mt Lyford - Friday, August 26 (pp September 5)
- 7 Aside Tournament Yr 4-6 - Wednesday, August 31 (pp September 2)
- Kiwi Sports Y1-8 - Wednesday, September 21
- Scholastic - Book Week - September 19 – 22
- Board Meeting - Wednesday, September 14⋅7:30pm
Contact Us
Email: office@waiau.school.nz
Website: https://waiau.school.nz/
Location: Waiau School 11 Montrose Street, Waiau 7332, New Zealand
Phone: +64 3 315 6027
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Waiau-School/100057444370147/