Willow Park School Newsletter
07 April 2024
Contact us:
Email: office@willowpark.school.nz
Website: http://www.willowpark.school.nz/
Location: Willow Park School 13 Compton Street, Hillcrest, Auckland, New Zealand
Phone: 09 480 9236
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/willowparkschoolhillcrest/
Colour Run
Another fabulous Willow Park community event on Friday with the Colour Run. Over 500 students and whānau took part, running around the field and school, getting drenched with water and covered in coloured powder. It was a fun event, with lots of laughter, a definite highlight of our school year so far.
A huge thank you to the staff who stayed behind to organise the event, and to Emma Batey and the Freinds of Willow Park for organising the sausage sizzle and juice boxes.
So far the Go Raise It fundraising site has $13,910, a fantastic effort. The site will close tomorrow so you can still get the last few donations in.
https://willowparkcolourrun.raiseit.co.nz/
We will announce the winners on Wednesday.
Thanks to Mrs Simson for taking some fantastic photos at the event. We have placed these in a Google Photos folder below for you to look through.
Whanaungatanga photo booth
During Term 1, a dedicated group of talented artists worked alongside Mr. Murphy to bring to life the vibrant and welcoming WPS Whanaungatanga selfie booth!
We're thrilled to share that last week marked its highly anticipated premiere! The booth served as a hub of connection, fostering solid and nurturing relationships among students, parents, teachers, and our extended community.
Make sure to keep an eye out for the selfie booth at our future events! It's the perfect opportunity to snap a picture with someone special and create lasting memories.
Holiday Building Work
With the disappointment losing our two storey, 10 classroom block for now, there is a bit of good news on the building front. Our Ministry-led 10 Year Property Plan project to revamp the area at the back of Rooms 1 to 4, to add to the learning environment and replace the toilet spaces is happening over the term break and into Term 2.
This work will start at the end of this coming week as the property team seal off this area behind Rooms 1 to 4. Demolition and building work won't start until the holidays start, however it will include the removal of some materials containing asbestos so this will be be completed by a team of specialists, Property Services Unlimited.
The classrooms 1 to 4 won't be impacted too much at all, with a small opening between Rooms 1 and 2, and 3 and 4 providing some better access to our Hub area, and the soon to be created break out spaces.
Work will go on for a few weeks into Term 2, however this will not stop Rooms 1 to 4 functioning as classrooms, they will just have a different place to hang their bags and go the toilet for the next few weeks. This short term disruption will lead to some huge, long term benefits for these classrooms.
The other shift that will happen over the holidays is that Rooms 14 and 15 which have been temporarily in Rooms 28 and 29, will move back to the original Rooms 14 and 15, now that the new build is not happening. Room 29 will be our next new entrant class which opens at the beginning of Term 2, and Room 28 will be the following New Entrant classroom. Year 2 will be altogether between Rooms 9, 10, 13, 14 and 15, and all of these classrooms will then remain in place for the remainder of the year. We are working with the Ministry to do some remediation work to revitalise these classrooms. An update on this will be given when more information is gained.
Working Bee - May 19th
Working Bee - Nature Area, Sandpit and Enviro Garden
At the recent Friends of Willow Park Meeting we discussed having a working bee to help tidy up and beautify some areas of the school. Our first targets are the Enviro Area, Nature Area and Sandpit. We are looking for some volunteers that can provide some time and energy to help with some gardening work and more. If you can't help on the day we will be looking for donations of plants, seeds and more!
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 09:00 AM
Willow Park School
Sports News
Shore to Shore:
Thank you to all those families who registered for today's Shore to Shore fun run / walk. Your support is very much appreciated and we had 280 official entries which is amazing. This will guarantee us a worthwhile monetary grant to purchase sports gear for all the children to use. We will add some photos and a write up on the event in our last newsletter for the term on Friday.
Sports registrations
Registrations are open for term 2 for :
- Table tennis - yr 5 and 6
- Flippaball - yr 4 , 5 and 6
We are still in need of year 3 - 6 hockey players.
Please let me know if you need any more information about the hockey. We have two teams but each need one or two more players so we have enough subs for the games.
Triathlon:
We have our annual triathlon scheduled for the last day of term. Friday 12th April. This is for year 4 - 6 children who have a road worthy bike and helmet. We also offer a duathlon for those children who would like to participate but do not have a bike.
The triathlon will be in Block 2 - 11am - 12:30pm and the duathlon is 1:30pm - 2:30pm.
If your child is in Year 4 to 6, and are entering the triathlon please complete the form below.
Dates and Events
EVENTS:
2024 Term dates (Staff only days confirmed as they are decided)
- Term 1 starts Thursday 1 Feb, last day is Friday 12 April
- Term 2 starts Monday 29 April, last day is Friday 5 Jul
- School closed for King's Birthday Monday 3 June
- School closed for Matariki Friday 28 June
- Term 3 starts Monday 22 July , last day is Friday 27 September
- Term 4 starts Monday 14 October , last day is Tuesday 17 December (1pm finish)