Kia ora tatou katoa,

It has been a great start to the school year, helped in part – I believe – by our students arriving on the first day knowing who their classmates will be and having met their teachers at the end of last year.

A lot of work goes into making a classroom ready to receive a new group of students, and so I thank our awesome group of teachers and the support staff for all they have done to make the smooth transition to school possible.

Nude Food

As previously mentioned, this year we are on a mission to eliminate playground rubbish. So, we are starting a campaign to make sure lunch boxes only contain ‘nude food’, that is they are free from wrappers and glad wrap. A reminder that if students do have wrapped food items in their lunch boxes they will need to take packets and food waste home with them. The goal is to have no bins in the playground and far less rubbish as a consequence.

Meet the Teacher

We are looking forward to seeing many of our parents next Wednesday evening, 15th February. The schedule for the evening is as follows:

5.30 - 6.00 Session 1 Years 1-4 (and Mont R27)

6.10 - 6.40 Session 2 Years 5-8 (and Mont R28)

Room 22's meet the teacher will be rescheduled for a later date, as per the information sent home.

Camp Meetings

Please note that there will be meetings for the upcoming camps (Y7 and Montessori) at 6.45 - 7:15pm in the Mini Hall next Wednesday 15th February after session 2 of Meet the Teacher.

Teacher Only Day

The MOE has allowed schools to have two teacher only days during 2023. The Board agreed at their meeting last week that the first of these will be taken on Monday 24th April. We have scheduled this directly after the school holidays and the day before ANZAC Day (a public holiday), as we thought this would have less impact on parents. School will be closed to students on this day while the staff undertake professional development.

Voluntary Donations

All families are requested to make a voluntary donation to the school each year to help us to meet the shortfall between Government funding and the costs of running the school. Each year we budget on receiving funds from parents and this year the budget is a deficit one, making this contribution even more important.

The amount of the donation has remained the same since 2015 and is:

$400 for one student

$740 for two students from the same family

$950 for three students from the same family

$1,150 for four or more students from the same family

Donation payments, in full or part, can be paid online and our preferred method of payment is through Kindo. You can also pay by cash or eftpos at the school office, or direct to our bank 12-3027-0305676-00. Remember that you can claim a tax rebate of up to 1/3 of the donation made.

Kindo

Our preferred method of payment for donations, school trips and activities, and for Parents' Association events, is through your myKindo account. You can pay via POLi or bank transfer (no fees) or with Visa, Mastercard, American Express, UnionPay (fees apply). Add regular top-ups if you'd like, then allocate to payments when you're ready, or just pay as you go. Go to www.mykindo.co.nz or via the link on our school website. For more information visit support.mykindo.co.nz

Staffing

Welcome to our new staff for 2023:

Mrs Nikki Mackay - Year 4 teacher and Year 3-4 syndicate leader

Miss CJ Heard - Year 8 teacher

Miss Calista Callaghan - Year 1 teacher

Miss Amy Hewitt - Year 1 teacher

Miss Madie Freeland - Year 5 teacher

Miss Hayley Donald - Year 2 teacher

Miss Chae-Yeon Park - Year 8 teacher

Miss Louise Lynch - Learning Support Co-ordinator

Mrs Lucy Nathan - ESOL teacher

Mrs Carolyn Freeland - Learning Support Assistant

Congratulations to the following staff who have taken up senior positions this year:

Miss Brittany Buchanan - Year 1-2 syndicate leader

Mr Logan Ganley - Year 7-8 syndicate leader (acting).

Health Concerns

If your child develops a health issue and you haven't already notified the office of this, we would appreciate knowing. Please drop us a line at office@glendowie.school.nz so that we can make a note on your child's file.

Weekend Weather

Finally, with the cyclone approaching please mind your emails over the weekend in case of any disruptions to school.

Happy weekend,

Paul Crowhurst | Principal

Our school app has direct easy access to upcoming events, the latest newsletters, links including our website, Kindo and tuckshop items. Within the app you can notify us of your student’s absenteeism by filling out the email form within the app. Most importantly, you are invited to subscribe to class and sport notifications.

It is a timely reminder to ensure you have subscribed to the correct alert groups.

To access your Alert Subscriptions, select the “Menu” drop down, Alert Subscriptions, click on Sport or Classrooms and select the appropriate radio buttons. Ensure you have allowed push notifications for this app for this important feature to work.

If you haven't downloaded yet, please follow this link on your phone:

https://glendowie.apps.school.nz/install/