10th June 2022, Term 2, Week 6
School Newsletter
Principal's Message
Kia ora koutou katoa,
I trust that everyone enjoyed a fantastic long weekend. We have been making the most of our four days at school this week with the children engaged in learning across all classrooms. Our amazing West End School Staff are currently working hard writing Mid-Year Reports that will go home at on Friday 1 July. These reports will be provide parents and caregivers with important information about the progress and achievement of your child. It was great to see a number of parents and members of the public at our Saturday morning furniture grab. Thank you once again West End Whānau for your support.
This week we have continued to see our children engage with both our classroom learning programmes and the co-curricular learning that has been on offer. Our Senior Kapa Haka Roopu and also our Junior and Middle School Kapa learning continues to go well.
It was fantastic to have our fist West End School PTA meeting on Wednesday evening this week. Our amazing PTA spent time planning and preparing for different ways to support our school and children throughout the year. Please get in touch if you are interested in supporting our friendly PTA, this is a great way to participate in school life.
As mentioned in previous newsletters we are excitedly preparing for our planned Matariki celebrations scheduled for Week 8 (please see further details included later in this newsletter.). Building on the success of last years Whānau Day we are excited to include this event on Thursday 23 June as the culmination of our Matariki Celebrations. However, the festivities don't stop there. As many of you will be aware Mrs. Audrey Larsen who is currently our ESOL Teacher and release teacher stepped back from her role of Deputy Principal at the end of last year to have more time with family. Due to Covid 19 restrictions we were unable to celebrate Audrey's long service (14 years) and contribution to West End School as Acting Principal, Deputy Principal/SECNO, and Team Leader. We are looking forward to celebrating Audrey's work as part of whānau day (we will share more detail of these celebrations closer to the time).
Kickstart Breakfast is back on Monday! We can't wait to get underway with our Breakfast club (open at 8.15am in our School Hall). We have enjoyed a great response from our call for volunteers to support this work, thank you to everyone who has put their name forward. All are welcome to support our tamariki to have a good breakfast and a great start to their day. Volunteers please meet Mrs. Baynes at the Hall at 8am. See you there!
As you may already be aware, our very supportive Board of Trustees have hosted several rolling community consultation sessions. These sessions have been very successful with a great level of attendance, a great chance to build Kotahitanga, and a chance to hear from our West End Whānau to support our Strategic planning for the future. As part of the relaxed tone of these sessions we have hosted these in different people's living rooms. We are hosting another Community Consultation on Wednesday 29 June at 6pm at Heather Todd (Board Co-Presiding Member's house). If you are interested in attending please RSVP by clicking on the link. We would love to see you there.
Please remember if you have any questions about school events, how to get involved with school life, or your child's progress please make contact with your child's class classroom teacher in the first instance. As always, we are very keen to continue to strengthen our partnerships between home and school.
I wish you all a safe and happy weekend.
Ngā mihi nui
Matthew Kennedy
Principal
West End School
Te Kura o Urumutu
Staff Only Day 27th June
A reminder that there will be a Staff Only Day on Monday 27th June so school will be closed to our tamariki on this day. This follows our first Matariki public holiday on Friday 24th June.
Communication about after school pickup
Please remember to let your child know where you will be picking them up after school. Because of the unpredictable nature of our weather at the moment, please also make a plan with your child as to where you will pick them up if it is raining. Please refrain from sending messages or emails to teachers regarding where you will pick them up, as many emails and messages in an afternoon when teachers are busy teaching is an added challenge. Please also be aware that the office also is very busy, and having to visit different classes to let children know where parents will pick them up can be very time consuming. Letting your child know where you will pick them up when it is fine, or raining would be much appreciated. You are most welcome to come into school to pick them up outside their classroom.
If your child is absent from school.
It is really important under the current circumstances you notify the school if your child is absent.
PLEASE DO NOT TXT OR EMAIL THE CLASSROOM TEACHER.
ALL ABSENCES SHOULD BE ADVISED VIA THE OFFICE.
Please remember to advise the office by 8.30am if your child is not attending school.
You can telephone 358-2465 and leave a message or txt 021 118 0156.
ABSENCES CAN ALSO BE SENT EASILY THROUGH OUR SCHOOL APP
In both cases please give a reason for absence.
Thank you.
Kick Start Breakfast kick starts back up!
West End Kick Start Breakfast will be starting from next week - Monday 13th June. This will be held in the school hall for any West End student who would like to have breakfast to start their day of learning! Breakfast Club will start at 8.15am and finish at 8.45am.
Whānau Day
On Thursday 23rd June West End School will be holding our Whānau Day where our school community is welcome to join us for day of Matariki celebrations, adult vs student games, shared kai and finishing with our popular colour run event in the afternoon. All is welcome! Information is coming out about ways our community can help (from signing up for playing games, providing vegetables, ingredients for shared kai and help during the day as well as our Matariki weeklong celebrations).
Our Whānau Day will be starting off with a VIBE assembly where we will talk about our values and Matariki.
We will also be celebrating the time Audrey Larsen has spent at our kura over the many years at West End.
Our Tipuranga, Puawaitanga and Te Wao Nui o Tāne kapa haka roopu will be performing waiata, then all whānau is invited into classes to help prepare kai and work with our tamariki on Matariki activities.
At 11.15 our school will gather together for some jump jam and then we will be competing and watching some student vs adult games.
After our shared kai, we will all meet on the field for our exciting colour run which all students will be completing the set course and covered in colour run powder at different stations. Information will be sent out via our school app.
Matariki/Puanga Week 20-23rd June
This year Te Kura O Urumutu (West End School) will be celebrating Matariki/Puanga throughout week 8. We have a few things planned that we would love some parent help with.
On the Wednesday (22nd June) we will need some volunteers to prepare and cook Matariki/Puanga Soup. We are intending this to be made on Wednesday 22 June, ready for Whānau Day the next day. Soup will be prepared, refrigerated and then put into crock-pots (in classrooms) on Thursday.
If you have a crockpot that you could loan to your classroom teacher, please let them know.
Could you please send a vegetable with each of your children next week, for making soup with. Preferably a root vegetable e.g. potato, kumara, carrot, parsnip or pumpkin. If you are sending vegetables on Wednesday (22nd June), can you please peel and cut it into 2cm chunks. This would make our helpers job much easier.
On Whānau Day (Thursday 23rd June), each class will be making fried bread. If you would like to help in your child’s classroom, please let the teacher know. The more hands (and eyes) during this process, the better.
Children will be having their fried bread with the Matariki/Puanga Soup. You are welcome to join them, whilst the kai lasts.
If you have flour, cooking oil, noodles or any other ingredients for making soup or fried bread that you would like to donate, please leave this with your classroom teacher. Everything/anything is greatly appreciated.
If you have anything that you would like to share throughout the week, read to a class, waiata, weaving, kite making . . . please let your classroom teacher know asap and they will arrange a time and day with you.
We LOVE having whānau in our classes and there is never a better time than over Matariki/Puanga time. Coming together to share this special time in the Māori calendar, playing games, sharing stories, learning new skills, singing waiata and sharing kai, is precious. We look forward to seeing you there! Please fill out the google form to let us know if you are able to help us out throughout the week.
VIBE ASSEMBLY FEEDBACK
Tuna in Ten!
Room 10 has been doing a mini study on tuna (eels) and their life cycles. We have done lots of different art mediums (dyeing, zentangles, charcoal shading, painting and stamping). This takes lots of learning, listening and helping each other.
Here are 5 fast facts about eels.
- In Aotearoa we have short finned and long finned eels.
- Did you know that eels swim all the way near Tonga to lay eggs?
- Eels change the shape of their head from rounded to pointy so they are more aerodynamic when they swim their long journey.
- They make this journey once, then die after they have laid their eggs.
- Eels environment is threatened because they cannot move up and down streams or rivers to complete their life cycle because of dams and rivers changing.
Manaakitanga Shield
For the rest of the term West End School will be working on our manaakitanga by thinking about ways we can look after ourselves, our school, and other people. We have introduced the Manaakitanga Shield which will be awarded to the team who shows amazing manaakitanga by showing kindness to ourselves, our school and others. Our focus this term is looking after our belongings, and taking pride in our kura. Our shield will be awarded at the end of each week to the team consistently showing all the attributes of manaakitanga.
Congratuations to our Manaakitanga Shield winners for this week - Tipuranga!
Help needed! Can we borrow a mulcher for our school gardens please?
HELP! We have a lot of branches that have come down during our wild weather that we would love to mulch. Does anyone in our school community have a commercial mulcher that would be willing to lend, or even better help us to put this resource back into our school gardens? Please contact me: Ms Louise Ellis or email me at lellis@westend.school.nz
This Week's Enviro Hint:
June is a great time to plant fruit trees and winter veges for a continuous supply. In the vege patch it's garlic planting time, with garlic traditionally planted on the shortest day for harvest on the longest day in December. Keep planting winter staples including brassicas, beetroot, leafy greens and herbs. Bok choi, cabbage, garlic, kale, lettuce, meslun, onion, peas, radish, silverbeet, spinach, rosemary, thyme.
Sports at West End School
Draw:
Basketball:
9th June – West End Bulls vs Te Kura o Wairau, 3:45pm at CET Arena court 4
9th June – West End Lakers vs Takaro Kea, 5:15pm at CET Arena court 9
Hockey:
12th June – West End Funsticks vs Central Normal Hustle, 8:30am on Turf 2E
12th June – West End Ministicks vs Taonui Blue, 10:45am on Turf 2C
12th June – West End Goldsticks vs Riverdale Black Sticks, 10:45am on Turf 1A
Netball:
11th June – West End Pulse vs Central Normal Comets, 10:30am on court 7
Table Tennis:
14th June – West End A&B, 3:45 – 4:45/5pm at Waldegrave Hall
Practices:
Please see below the practice day/time for sports teams:
Basketball:
West End Bulls – Wednesday 3-3:30pm at West End Court
West End Lakers – Monday 3-3:30pm at West End Court
Hockey:
West End Funsticks – Friday 3-3:30pm at West End Turf
West End Ministicks – Thursday 3-3:30pm at West End Turf
West End Goldsticks – Wednesday 3-3:45pm at West End Turf
Netball:
West End Pulse – Friday 3-3:45 at West End Court
Table Tennis:
West End A&B – Monday 3-3:30 at Room 5
If you have any questions relating to sport, please feel free to contact cdrummond@westend.school.nz
West End School App
All school notices are now being sent out via our school app.
If you haven't downloaded the app, please do so. If you haven't been receiving the email link to download the app, or if you are having problems with the app, please email Dan Minchin dminchin@westend.school.nz. If you haven't set up the app on your device, there will be an easy to download process and quick set up so you can join our new communication platform. If you've downloaded the app already, please just follow the quick username/password set up and for the app users, choose Parent. Once you have set it up, you won't be asked about passwords on that device again. These links do expire, so we will continue to send them out every couple of days to those who haven't logged in.
This free mobile app allows parents to receive pop-up reminders and instant messages. These can run on smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices and are designed to help whanau keep up to date on school happenings.
SchoolApps also allows parents to report absences online, receive instant alerts, check the calendar for upcoming events, view newsletters, log into Seesaw and this will also be a way to use Kindo.
You will be able to personalise what information you wanted to subscribe to, such as notices from specific area teams, sports news, or groups such as Student Council or kapa haka.
Remember to go to Alert Subscriptions (through the main menu - the three lines at the top left hand corner of the app) so you get specific alerts to our different groups within the school. You would only receive information directly relevant to those groups, but you will however receive whole school notifications when they are sent out.
Contact Information
Please inform the office of any change of address or phone numbers.
It is really important that we are able to contact you at any time of the day.
Thank you.
West End School Communication Platforms
West End is enhancing our communication so it is easy for our community to know what's happening at our kura. Below is a table outlining the different forms of communication we use at West End to share a variety of things ranging from classwork to whole school notices.
Bikes and Scooters to school
For the safety of our children all children biking or scootering to school MUST wear a helmet. Please also remind your children about road safety - including the safest way to travel to school if on a bike and scooter. While students are on the footpath outside the school , we ask if they can walk their bike or scooter. This is for the safety of themselves and others sharing the footpath, as students are travelling very fast and going past 2 of our school driveways where vehicles are coming in and out of.
West End School Home Learning Hub and team slides
Start and end of day procedures
It is great to have our West End community back on school grounds under Orange settings. Here is a reminder of start and end of day procedures.
- If your child is at school before the 8.30 bell, they will need to come through the wharenui gate and wait in the area next to the turf.
- Students need to wait here until the bell goes at 8.30am.
- Please remind your child to walk sensibly to class. We have had a few accidents with students running and tripping over each other in the excitement of getting to class.
- At the end of the day, students will be let go from class. Please let your child know if you are picking them up and therefore will need to wait outside the classroom or meet you in the designated spot you told them to go.
- If siblings are going home together, please make a plan of where your children will meet each other so they aren't walking around school trying to find each other.
DRINK BOTTLES & SPARE CLOTHES
As there are no drinking fountains at school please make sure your child brings a drink bottle to school.
With Winter approaching and the grounds getting wet please put a spare set of clothes in your child's bag. This includes all West End students - as we'v
Thank you.
The lost property will be laid out every Friday afternoon. Please make sure to come and check to see if anything might belong to you or your family.
CAR PARKING- ADMINISTRATION BLOCK CLOSED TO EVERYONE
Please do not do not be tempted to use the staff car park when dropping off and collecting your children from school. The administration block is closed for building work.
It becomes very busy and dangerous for children. We encourage parents to park on the street and use the walkways coming into school. Please remember to abide by the road markings on Botanical road and park only in designated spaces (not on the yellow lines). This is for the safety of our children and community members.
Thank you for your co-operation.
Upcoming Events
- Whanau Day - Thursday 23rd June
- Matariki Public Holiday - Friday 24th June
- Staff Only Day - Monday 27th June
- VIBE Assembly - Thursday 30th June
TERM DATES 2022
Masks
Parents of children who wear masks please remind your child to bring them to school.
Kindo Online Shop
It is very important that families register with Kindo, as this is now the only way to register your child for school sports, and ordering PTA lunches.
Below are the links to register.
If you require help please call the Kindo helpdesk on
0508 454 636
New users need this link
Existing users need this link
Location: West End School, 196 College Street, Palmerston North
Phone: 06 358 2465