Chelsea School Newsletter
Week 6 Term 1, 2024
Important Term Dates
Term 1, 2024
- Wed 13 Mar: Composting Workshop 6.30 - 8.30pm
- Fri 15 Mar: Y4-Y6 Swimming Sports at Northcote College
- Fri 15 Mar: New Parent/Structured Literacy/Tūrangawaewae Information Session 9-11am (repeated at 6pm for those who cannot make morning session)
- Wed 20 Mar: Curiosity Container Grand Opening 9.15am
- Thu 21 Mar "Rock Your Socks" - World Down Syndrome Day
- Thu 21 Mar: Y3 Swimming Sports at Chelsea 1.30pm
- Fri 22 Mar: School Assembly led by Pakiaka 9.15am in the Hall
- Fri 22 Mar: Y1-Y2 Swimming Sports - Kākano 11.30am and Pakiaka 1.30pm
- Mon 25 Mar: Board Meeting 5.30pm
- Thu 28 Mar: Interschool Cricket at Birkenhead Cricket Grounds
- Fri 29 Mar: Good Friday - School Closed for Instruction
- Mon 01 Apr: Easter Monday - School Closed for Instruction
- Tue 02 Apr: Easter Tuesday - School Closed for Instruction
- Fri 05 Apr: School Assembly led by Kākano 9.15am in the Hall
- Fri 05 Apr: PTA Fun Run
- Tue 09 Apr: Rito Trip to Pumphouse 12.15pm - 3.00pm
- Fri 12 Apr: Last Day of Term 1 - School finishes at 2.00pm
Kia Ora e te whānau
Now that we have hit mid-term 1 we have a really lovely, settled feeling about our kura. Our tamariki and kaiako have settled into their spaces and it really feels like our Chelsea DNA and values are shining through.
Thank you to the PTA!
On Friday we had our first Disco for 2024, sadly I couldn’t attend as I had covid but, Krystal kindly sent me through some photos and wow! It looked like such a vibe! I know that the build up to the disco was big and we had some VERY excited little people around. Thank you so much to Krystal and all of the amazing PTA helpers who created this magic and make events like this come to life.
Upcoming events
We have an exciting week ahead with our Y4-6 Swimming Sports at the Northcote College Pool this Friday. Please check out HERO for the detailed information about this. This is the time for everyone to shine - our talented swimmers can showcase their amazing swimming skills and for those who are less confident they have the opportunity to really demonstrate our ‘Up for a Challenge’ DNA. For some, getting into the pool and participating will be a challenge but, it is really important that we approach this with empathy and understanding and encourage everyone to just give it a shot - it is through these tough challenges that we experience our biggest growth. We also have our New Entrant parent morning on Friday which is an opportunity for new parents to our kura to learn more about how we operate and what to expect at Chelsea School. I will be whizzing between both events and am looking forward to seeing those who are able to attend.
World Down Syndrome Day
Celebratory days are a great way to start conversations and share information. Next week we celebrate World Down Syndrome Day. The official day is 21 March – Chelsea School will ROCK YOUR SOCKS on that day. (www.worlddownsyndromeday.org). This newsletter has some amazing information and shared stories from Charlotte’s whaanau - please take some time to read through this.
Exciting news!
Mrs Zoe de Wit who works here at Chelsea School three days a week is expecting baby number two. A huge congratulations to Zoe and her whānau from us here at Chelsea! We are excited to add another little pēpē to our Chelsea Crew!
Farewells
It is with a heavy heart that I let you know at the end of this term we say ‘see ya later’ to two of our wonderful team members. Mrs Helen Lares who covers classroom release is leaving us to focus on winding down, however, you will without a doubt see her back here relieving! Mr Shannon Mannion is also leaving us to head to Meadowbank School, which is much closer to home for him. After such a huge amount of travel each day we totally understand and support this but we will miss his smiling face around our school.
Thank you both so much for your amazing mahi at our kura. Your passion, commitment and dedication have truly shone through in your work and we wish you all the best for the future.
Looking forward to another brilliant couple of weeks at Chelsea - with hopefully some continued warmer weather!
Ngā Mihi
Chrissy Wakeman
Tumuaki of Chelsea Primary School
DNA and Values Awards Week 5, Term 1
PTA Updates
Our Fun Run Fundraiser has begun!
We are fundraising for a new (and much-needed!) sound system for the hall. On Friday students were sent home with a notice explaining how to sign up for our Fun Run on Friday 5th April (see Hero for the letter). We are using the online fundraising company 'Go Raise It' which allows each child to sign up for their own fundraising web page and so can send out to collect online sponsorship from anyone, anywhere! All students who sign up before 15th March go in the draw to win a Karaoke Microphone.
It is amazing to see we already have $2.202 on the board.
Team Updates
Kākano
The students in Kākano have reached the halfway point in the first term of school. How it has flown by! Kākano has been working hard during math lessons, focusing on numbers up to 20. We use a range of activities to say the numbers, to order them correctly, and to find numbers that come before or after. We’ve also enjoyed learning songs that help us to count forwards and backwards to 20.
Ally the Alligator (the puppet) has been helping us during literacy lessons to learn letter sounds in words. She says “d-o-g” and then Kākano quickly works out she is trying to say “dog”! Here you can see us singing the ally alligator song. With all the letters we have learned so far, we are beginning to put some together to create words. We even sound words out carefully to help us spell them!
For the rest of the term, the ākonga in Kākano will be learning their pepeha. Hub 2 has started to practice saying our pepeha/mihi to buddies and with kaiako and then we made some artwork to show everyone that we knew how to introduce ourselves. We can’t wait to share our pepeha with you all once we know them by heart! Hub 1 will be learning their pepeha soon.
Pakiaka
Wow, the term is flying by! We are very excited about our Swimming Sports next Friday, the 22nd of March. We are exploring tūrangawaewae this week by reading the book ‘Child of Aotearoa’ , writing pepeha, drawing self-portraits, and discussing what our ‘special place’ means to us. Pakiaka Hub 2 is hosting the school assembly next Friday, 22 March at 9: 15 am - we’d love to see you there. Just a reminder there are no toys at school, please. We wish Mrs Hooker a speedy recovery and can’t wait to see her when she is back on board with us.
Rito
On Friday we will see our Year 4s taking part in their first "big" Swimming Sports at Northcote College. We know many are excited and others a little nervous, but we know they will all do their best and support one another. Next week Thursday, 21st March, our Year 3s will have their Swim Sport at school, starting at 1.30 pm. This event is all about participation and fun, and parents are welcome to come and support. Details will be sent out at the end of the week.
Māhuri
Māhuri students have really begun to dive into their learning, breaking up into Reading, Spelling and Maths groups. They have also demonstrated their ‘up for a challenge’ attitude by taking part in various PAT assessments over the last few weeks.
We hope to see this positive attitude, along with all of our Chelsea DNA and values, on Friday at our Senior School Swim Sports. Finally, it is wonderful to see our Māhuri students getting involved in various activities and roles of responsibility around the school.
World Down Syndrome Day - Written by Harriet
Having a sister like mine is very different from other sisters. Charlotte has Down Syndrome. She will always be different, because kids and adults with Down Syndrome look, act, and learn things differently.
Charlotte is seven years old, and is in year three. She has made lots of friends at school, but prefers to sit and eat her morning tea with my friends and I. At lunchtime, she sometimes stays inside in the quiet room, because the playground is often too noisy for her to cope with.
Charlotte has a couple of after-school activities. On Wednesday, she has swimming lessons, and on Thursday she plays football in a team for kids with Down Syndrome at Western Springs. On other days after school, she sometimes accompanies me in my after-school activities, which is always fun, and on completely free days, we sometimes play Minecraft together, or Barbies.
On some days, we are allowed to watch TV. Charlotte likes watching Sofia the First, and Elena of Avalor. She recently got into watching Harry Potter, and her three favourite characters are Bellatrix Lestrange, Hermione Granger, and Luna Lovegood. She sometimes likes to be called these characters.
She has pink, rectangular glasses, an adorable, round face. Charlotte often wears her hair tied up in two pony/pigtails, two plaits, or occasionally one ponytail.
In my opinion, she is the absolute best sister I could ever have, partly because she does the best hugs,(we call them Charlotte Hugs) and she is just sooo sweet.
I wouldn’t trade her for anything else on the planet!!
Celebrating Diversity: About Down Syndrome
This article is written by Paula Beguely, mum of Charlotte (Year 3, Rito Hub 1)
Charlotte started Chelsea in July 2021, and over the last few years she has thrived at Chelsea school. She has a great sense of belonging and pride in her school. She is a persistent eager learner, a lovely classmate, and a great performer. She has always loved her teachers and other caring adults around her.
It’s a great leap from Pakiaka to Rito. The level of learning, the size of the classroom, the more complex interactions of other kids, and more abstract learning concepts being introduced. Everyone is a bit bigger, louder and faster! It’s a lot to adjust to every day, especially when your senses are easily overwhelmed.
Charlotte has Trisomy 21 Down syndrome – which impacts her by causing physical and learning differences. I encourage you to read the Kids Guide to Down Syndrome, and watch this video. What is Down Syndrome?. The video is 5 minutes – and is a great one to share with your kids. These remind us that things that are important to all kids are important to people with Down Syndrome: having fun, having friends, feeling good about yourself and being included.
Charlotte has low muscle tone. Everything takes more effort because of this, including talking and just sitting still! She is very tired by 3pm. She has poor vision, and often has hearing issues as her ear canals are super small. The biggest impact for Charlotte however is cognitive impairments (how her brain works).
Her auditory short-term memory is poor! What goes in one ear goes out the other. In the classroom, at sports and recreation activities etc 80% of instructions are verbal which can make following rules, instructions, and conversations really hard – and Charlotte may not be aware that she hasn’t understood or remembered. She does much better with short simple instructions, and being told what she CAN or SHOULD do. She needs to know what you DO WANT, not what you DON’T WANT. And she needs more time to process what you say.
Luckily, she has an AMAZING visual memory, and ability to use visual resources (this means using sign language, a gesture, a picture, a drawing, simple words written down). MANY other children learn well from visual instructions too, so some supports in the classroom for Charlotte will benefit all children. She also learns well from music, movement and repeated actions – this is why she shines in the Kapa Haka group, and Christmas performances! She is very capable of learning any new activity – given the right coaching and learning tools.
Charlotte needs lots of motivation and praise to keep going, and sometimes even to start a task. She wants to know what she is in for, and that it will be fun along the way, or something fun will happen afterwards! Grand gestures are not needed. A happy smile, high 5, big tick or fist bump are all great motivation. Its not being needy – its just how she is wired.
The complexities of friendships can be hard to understand and conversations difficult to follow – and she just loves it when she is included in a nice way. Often Charlotte will gravitate to older kids or adults because they take more time to communicate with her. Preferred games are simple and predictable. She loves running races from A to B, loves kicking goals at football, and her favourite card game is Dobble (a Harry Potter Spot It style game).
Our family shares a lot of information about Down syndrome. This is to help you be an understanding and inclusive community – who are not afraid of difference. We hope this also helps you to see her the amazing girl called CHARLOTTE. Not just the girl with Down syndrome.
You can email Tom or myself on beguelys@gmail.com if you’d like more information on Down syndrome, and how to be a good friend to someone with Down syndrome.
Curiosity Container Grand Opening - Written by Phoebe
On Wednesday 20th March we are having the grand opening of the Curiosity Container. It is down on the field in between the portable classrooms and the bush.
It will be at 9:15 and any parents, PTA, or BOT members are welcome to attend. At the opening, the Student Council will introduce some of the equipment and how it should be used. It is exciting to have equipment like ramps, tunnels and items to build that all students will be able to explore during class time and later on in some lunch breaks.
We would like to say thank you to everyone who helped create the Curiosity Container, especially the PTA.
Second Hand Uniform Shop
There are a number of items for $1 from the uniform shop. These are items that might have some marks, small tears or limited wear left. The items are listed below. First in first served, and I will get them ready for you next Tuesday morning. Thanks! Claire. 021683117
Short sleeve polo size 4, 6, 8
Long sleeve polo size 6, 8
Shorts size 6, 8, 9, 10
Jersey (no zip/broken zip) size 10, 12
Skivvy size 8
Trackpants size 8