Newsletter T4W2
Tuesday 25 October
School Notices
Tēnā koutou katoa - Hello everyone,
Welcome to Term 4! We hope you and your children had a great holiday and are ready for an exciting term. It certainly is going to race by - it’s already week 2!
This term our whole school curriculum focus continues to be ‘Walking Backwards into the Future - Ka Mua, Ka Muri’ and we have the wonderful Taiopenga cultural festival happening this week. PE in Wairau and Taylor Hubs will be based around Athletics and the Ōpaoa Hub have Fundamental Skills in Weeks 4 and/or 5. During Weeks 7 & 8 the focus turns to dance with the whole school taking part in daily dance lessons. Over the two weeks each class will be given a couple of dances to learn and this will conclude with a performance for parents at the end of Week 8. Some classes across the school will be working on Keeping Ourselves Safe, the Taylor Hub will be doing some Dog Safety, there is a Kaipupu Point Sanctuary trip planned, and the Year 4 students will be going to camp at Pine Valley mid way through the term. Wairau will be working on preparation for Lights Over Marlborough and aspects of enterprise, as well as getting ready for transitions to Bohally. It is also very exciting to have the KEGs gardening programme back up and running in our school.
That’s just some of the learning opportunities that are happening!
As you can see, it is an extremely busy term. Please remember to check out the ‘Calendar’ section of the School App as it clearly outlines what is coming up for the rest of the term. (Android users click here and Apple users click here).
Enjoy the short week followed by Marlborough Anniversary Weekend (Mon 1 Nov).
Ngā mihi nui koutou - warm greetings to you all,
The Whitney Street School Staff
Attendance
The average whole school attendance for Term 3 was 87%. The Ministry of Education considers 90% as attending regularly. We are aware that there has been lingering Covid illness as well as the winter coughs, colds and flus.
Research shows that attendance has a huge effect on achievement so it is very important that your child is at school as much as possible. They can’t learn if they are not here! At the end of last week we sent a letter home to families of students whose attendance was showing less than 85% so that you are aware of how their attendance is tracking. Obviously many children will have genuine reasons for being absent. For whatever the reason, it is important that you are kept aware of what their percentage is. This can be viewed by logging into Hero and scrolling to the bottom. When you click on the colours in the dial, you will see the percentage. This is updated daily.
The Ministry of Education also monitors attendance as your child legally needs to be at school unless they have a justified explanation. Keeping them home without good reason is parent-assisted truancy. As a general rule we require a doctor’s certificate if your child is away for more than 3 days sick.
If at any time you have trouble transporting your child to school, please contact Cheryl or the Office as we are happy to help organise or facilitate something while assistance is needed.
Taiopenga
The Taiopenga cultural festival is a Māori festival of participation and enjoyment and is an opportunity to celebrate New Zealand’s rich Māori cultural heritage. Our Senior and Junior Kapa Haka groups will perform on Thursday 27th October at 10:15am (juniors) and 10:45am (seniors) in the Marlborough Girls' College Hall. We wish the kapa haka students all the best for their performance. We do suggest you show up early if you are planning to watch your child perform as sometimes the festival can be ahead of time.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Kuia Merehira and Whaea Connie who once again, have been wonderful helping train our kapa haka groups.
Sunsmart
Summer is just around the corner. Please remember that we are a Sunsmart School and the children need to be wearing a wide-brimmed school hat during morning tea and lunch times this term. Hats are available to purchase from the office at a cost of $9. If children do not have a hat they will be restricted as to where they can play.
Lights Over Marlborough Helpers
It’s now only 3 weeks until ‘Lights Over Marlborough’ which is our main fundraising event for the year. It’s really important that everyone helps out on the night, and that we all help the PSG prior to the event to ensure it is successful. This is especially relevant given that we had to cancel this event last year due to Covid. This year the funds are going towards a new wheels track.
Thank you to everyone who has returned their volunteer form. Cheryl will send out the Volunteer Sheet with your allocated jobs later this week. We have only just enough helpers so if you are available we would love to have a few extras to call on. Please let Cheryl know by emailing principal@whitneystreet.school.nz or texting 027 321 8022.
LOM Mufti Day Thank You
Thank you for the great support received for our LOM Mufti Days in Term 3 as well as last week's one. We have lots of chocolate and bottles of consumable items tucked away! There is one more to come.
Term 4 Week 3 Friday 4 November: Either Chocolate or a Mystery Bottle - tbc
Shakeout
Later this week we will be taking part in NZ ShakeOut. This is a great way for kids to learn the right actions to take in an earthquake and tsunami. Have a chat with your children at home and talk about the different places they might be and what they will do when an earthquake happens. Knowledge is power!
Congratulations to our Mountain Bikers!
The Marlborough Mountain Bike Madness event was held in the Awatere Valley on Friday. We had four Whitney Street students who participated in this event: Miller Hocquard, Amelie and Margot Davis, and Kobie Madsen-Clark. They all had an amazing race and Whitney Street School came third overall which we are very proud of. Special congratulations to Kobie Madsen-Clark who was first in the Y6 Boys category, Margot Davis who came second in the Y5/6 Girls, and Amelie Davis who came 4th in the Y3/4 Girls. Fantastic results!
We are proud to share...
The Kiwican Corner
Repeated (but important!) School Notices
Free Period Products for Girls
If your Whitney Street School daughter has her period, she is eligible for two packs of free period products per month. These will be available to her when you let Christee Dalzell know via email (dalzell@whitneystreet.school.nz), by leaving a wee note on her desk or by contacting the school office.
Hopefully, this initiative is utilised really well by our Whitney kōtiro/girls! We have figured out a system where the students are able to easily access these in an inconspicuous way.
This is a brilliant way to save money on the grocery bill so please take advantage of it.
If you have any questions, please feel free to pop in and talk to Christee.
Our school calendar is often filled with trips and events and sometimes the dates and details change. The BEST place to keep an eye on what is happening is on the school App in the calendar section.
11.11.22 - Eltham Road will be extra busy with buses from Bohally
Fri, Nov 11, 2022, 08:30 AM
Eltham Road, Blenhiem Central, Blenheim, New Zealand
Download our school App
We encourage all parents to download our school app from the Playstore or Apple Store, as we find this the most effective way of sending out Alerts to parents/caregivers. You can also access a wealth of information from the app as it has links to the school calendar, newsletters, etc.
Please subscribe to Alerts from the classes/groups that your child belongs to. If you want to subscribe to groups later on, you can do this via the ‘Alerts Subscriptions’ which is in the Menu (top left). Please do this to ensure you are subscribed to the classes and Teams that your child or children are in for this school year.
This is also the way we would like you to inform us of absences. This system streamlines the morning routine for Tanya and Michelle so that they can easily see who is away and why.
Please click here to download the School App.
Hero
Suggestions Box
Automatic Payment Option
The Whitney Street School BOT bank details are: 03 0599 0305934 00
Embroid a Stitch (Previously known as Pretty Things Embroidery)
Contact Us
Email: principal@whitneystreet.school.nz
Website: https://whitneystreet.school.nz
Location: Whitney Street, Blenheim, New Zealand
Phone: +64 3 578 3028
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhitneyStreetSchool/
Athletics
Want to learn how to run, jump or throw? The skills you learn in athletics are the perfect foundation
for almost any sport.
Every student can give athletics a go. Our local athletics club Marlborough Athletics is welcoming
new members now and we encourage students to get involved and get active.
Contact details for all athletics clubs nationwide are available here athletics.org.nz/FindaClub and
become a member.