School Newsletter Term 1, Week 1
Thursday 2nd February 2023
Principal's Message
Kia ora koutou katoa,
Happy New Year West End Whānau.
I trust that everyone has enjoyed a relaxing and safe summer break and time with family and friends. It has been wonderful to welcome all of our children and families back to school this morning. We are enjoying a lovely start to the school year and there is a very settled feel at West End School already. Thank you to all the parents, caregivers and whānau who were able to attend our “Meet the Whānau” session yesterday afternoon. We have already received a lot of positive feedback about this event already. We are always keen to develop and improve our school so we have created a short survey (please click on the link) for any feedback that you may have to offer about what worked well for you and your child(ren) and what could be better for next time. Thank you in advance for taking the time to provide us with feedback, it is appreciated.
You will have no doubt have noticed that once again we have been busy over the summer break developing our grounds and buildings. We have 3 brand new ramps to support all children to access B-Block (Rm 1-5) and Room 16 and 17 safely. We are thrilled with these developments to compliment the work undertaken to our concrete ramps in the quad during Term 3/4 last year. It is great to see the school continuing to develop into the best environment for our children to learn and develop.
All classes have made a successful start to learning today. It is great to see our brand new Senior Bi-lingual Class (Room 4) up and running with Matua Rhys. This class will work closely with Whaea Karen and our Junior Bi-lingual Class (Room 5). Whaea Karen, Whaea Vicky, and Matua Rhys will be running whānau hui early in the term. Over the past few years we have been very grateful to work with two passionate and expert Kapa Haka Tutors Whaea Tūrehu and Pa Anaru with our Senior Kapa Haka Rōpu who participate at Pae Tamariki. I would like to thank them both for their fantastic mahi with our children and the amazing progress achieved in their time here at Te Kura O Urumutu. We are in a strong position as a school now for Kapa Haka in no small part due to their work. During this time we have grown Kapa Haka practices across our whole kura and this year we are excited to provide Whaea Karen, Whaea Vicky, and Matua Rhys the opportunity to run Kapa Haka at West End School.
Our staff have spent time over the summer break and several Staff Only Days preparing for the school year ahead. These Staff only days included staff learning about up to date processes for our school, the newly introduced ANZHC (Aotearoa New Zealand's histories curriculum), GROW Coaching development for all teachers, and cultural responsitivity with Rangitāne and a visit for all staff to Te Rangimarie Marae to work with Wiremu and Trieste Te Awe Awe and Nuwynne Te Awe Awe- Mohi. This was a very valuable opportunity for our staff to connect with Rangitāne and to experience Te Rangimarie Marae. All of our children will have the opportunity to visit this Marae later in Term 1.
Unfortunately this morning there was a traffic incident on Botanical Road outside of school involving two members of the public. Although the incident didn’t place any of our children directly in the way of harm, it was a timely reminder for all at the beginning of the year to please speak with children about traveling to and from school safely. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to make contact with me via email principal@westend.school.nz. As always, our tamariki’s safety and wellbeing is a top priority for us, and it is by continuing to work together that we can ensure our children are safe and happy and able to enjoy their learning at West End School.
Once again, thank you West End Whānau for your ongoing support of your child and our school. We continue to strengthen our Kotahitanga (Togetherness) and value the connection we have with each child’s whānau. Please remember if you ever have any questions our fantastic teachers are available to meet with you by appointment at any time throughout the year (emails are located on the school website).
I am looking forward to another great year of learning at West End School. I wish you all a great rest of the week and a safe and relaxing Waitangi Day Weekend.
Ngā mihi nui
Matthew Kennedy
Principal
West End School
Te Kura o Urumutu
Contact Information
Does the office have your correct contact details? And do we have an alternate contact number in case of an emergency? If you have moved or changed phone numbers or have a different/alternate email address, please let the office know as soon as possible. It is very important that we are able to contact you if there is an accident or emergency. We are also sending out a lot of information through our school app, which are connected to the email address the office has on file. If you would like to add additional email addresses onto contact information, please give these details to the office.
Waitangi Day on Monday 6 February School closed on this day
We look forward to seeing you back at school on Tuesday 7th February.
Swimming starts next week
Swimming starts next week for all students. This timetable will be running until Week 5 (until 1st March). Due to Waitangi Day, those Monday classes who will miss out will be rescheduled and you will be notified in advance. A reminder to bring goggles, a towel and a hair tie if your child has long hair that needs to be tied up. We look forward to another successful and enjoyable year of swimming at West End.
West End School App
All school notices are 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 whānau 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.
Sports at West End School
Reminder
Prompt registration is due! If you would like your child to play an extra curricular sport in Term 1. The following sports are available:
Netball Years 1 - 4
Flippaball Years 4 - 6
Hockey Years 1 - 6
Football Years 3 - 6
We also have a one day extra curricular activity of Tough Guy + Gal at Massey University. This is for the first 45 students ( Years 3 - 6) to sign up. There has been a cap put on for this event due the capacity to staff such an event.
If your child is interested in any of the above sports please head along to KINDO to register, without doing so they will miss out.
If you have any questions relating to sport, please feel free to contact Georgia Black gblack@westend.school.nz
E-Learning Agreement and student images on our school newsletter
Tomorrow we will be sending home an E-learning agreement with all students. When we use digital technologies, we need to learn how to keep ourselves safe, and make good choices in ways we behave when we are online. At West End School we call this being a ‘digital citizen’. Good digital citizens help to make our school a safe and positive place for everyone.
Parents please read this e-learning agreement carefully, and to your child as necessary. Please sign and return to your classroom teacher. Access to E-Learning technology will be allowed once this form has been signed and returned to school. We have also provided a Student Home Digital Citizenship Agreement, that you can talk about at home to support your child with staying safe online.
We are also asking caregivers if you give permission for your child’s image being displayed in our School Newsletter. Our newsletter is posted on our school website which is an unsecured public page. If you do not wish for your child's image to be on our school newsletter, please email dminchin@westend.school.nz so we are aware.
TERM DATES 2023
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.
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.
Start and end of day procedures
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.
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