Welcome back to what promises to be a very busy final term for 2021. I would like to start by welcoming Brooklyn and Lolita to the school whanau, we are so pleased to have you both with us.

Unfortunately during the holiday period, the West Harbour Principals had to make the tough choice to cancel this years West Harbour Sports Day. It was not an easy decision, but we simply could not keep all of our children safe, meet COVID requirements, attract volunteer helpers and still run a good day. We will be working on a mini version for the school and will keep you posted.

Last term we did run a Mini-Olympic Day which was a huge success and a whole lot of fun. The children all took part in a range of events and learning about different countries. We particularly enjoyed the chants and comradery within their groups.

Something very exciting this week is that our School Photos are ready for viewing. We are so thrilled with the photos and hope that you enjoy them too. Thank you to Edith and Jannah for their amazing work.

Term 4 swimming will begin on November the 8th. A separate notice will come home with further details and seeking your permission for bus travel. Again, a massive thank you to Port Otago for once again supporting this years swimming lessons.

You should have received another flyer this week for a new afterschool sports initiative run by our very own Kelly Sport. If not, this is a great programme and you can find all the information below in our Community notices section.

Finally I am very pleased to introduce to all (virtually) to our new Office Administrator, Kyla Mason. Kyla has joined the team this week. Kyla has had two of her own children attend the school in the 2000's, served on the Board of Trustees for 6 years, the PTA for 9, and even went to the school herself a little earlier than that. We are really happy to have you on the team Kyla.

Nga mihi,

Gareth Swete

https://livestream.com/accounts/15197514/otagopolyfest2021?fbclid=IwAR1pOxf3WEYbxnXyJ_6UcZvIWgezngMJMEYPHhnkb4H6eG1AcCsyx2Ny6ok

Our group is performing at 12pm on Friday and the SB Playcentre are just before this as well!

It’s hard to believe that we are now in the last term of the year! We have an action packed calendar ahead of us. Our topic this term has been chosen by the class - Space Dinosaurs. We have decided we will begin by learning about dinosaurs and then see how it evolves to include Space. We have shared what we already know and what we want to learn, and have discussed Joan Wiffen (NZ’s very own palaeontologist who Mr Fisher has met!) are now ready to launch into some research and art. Our Maths this term also has a dino theme - we are creating our own dinosaur parks. We will be using skills such as budgeting, measurement, area, time, addition and subtraction and much more to ensure our parks are well thought out and run smoothly. We had a very fun Kelly Sport session on Tuesday focusing on our sprinting skills. We learnt that we needed light, quick feet, strong arms and laser focus. I have added in a small video of one of our races to be the first to get the cone. Many of us are really looking forward to our performance at PolyFest tomorrow. Be sure to check us out on the live feed!

Report by Mrs Swete

Hello and welcome back

It’s been nice to catch up on the children's holiday adventures and meet and greet you at the school gate again. We welcomed Brooklyn into Ranginui and I am so proud of how the children have helped her settle into the Ranginui routine. We have begun the term writing descriptions of our favourite animals, people and we will include places over the next few days. A review on what we know about fractions, multiplication and division and will continue to further our knowledge and application of these for the next 3-4 weeks. We all wish the Kapa Haka group the best for their stage performance at Polyfest on Friday.

We are excited to welcome a first year student. Molly begins next week and is here for 3 weeks.

Please check with your child about sunhats- some are seeming very small and may need replacing.

You contact me via email if you have any questions. joslynr@sawyersbay.school.nz

See you all again soon

Welcome back to our last term for the year! (Where did that time go?) This term we welcome a new student to Hinemoana, Lolita. It is great to have you with us! The children have dived into their learning, recapping recount writing and writing in paragraphs. We are exploring money and financial capability and learning about decimals. The children are doing a great job on understanding their decimal place value and adding decimal numbers together. I have been thoroughly impressed! We are also busy preparing for our Polyfest performance that is on Friday at 12pm. If you want to watch us on stage there is a livestream link you can tune into via Otago Polyfest’s Facebook page, or click the link in this newsletter. Our performance will also be able to be accessed later on Otago Polyfest’s YouTube channel. We are so excited to share with everyone what we have been preparing.

Report From Miss Laing

We have now have two Touch Rugby and four Futsal teams ready to go! Thank you to all of our wonderful parents for helping out in the coaching and management roles, transporting, and cheering from the sidelines!

A notice with team details should have come home in your child's bag on Tuesday. If you did not receive it, please let us know asap.

We do still have space for one or two junior touch players too if you happen to have changed your mind.