Week 8 Term 3 Panui
Monday/Rāhina - 12th September 2022
Contact Us
Email: office@witherlea.school.nz
Website: https://witherlea.school.nz
Location: 214-216 Weld Street, Witherlea, Blenheim 7201, New Zealand
Phone: 64 (03) 578 5568
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/witherleablenheim
Bank Account Details: Witherlea School Board of Trustees
12-3167-0133327-00 Eftpos available at school office
Principal Message
Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Greetings to you all.
Congratulations to our current board on being reelected for another term, an endorsement of the dedication and hard work you have given to this role to date.
The teaching team spent yesterday developing school wide expectations for behaviour and lessons to explicitly teach these. We have also agreed on definitions of minor and major behaviour with consistent processes to respond to these. Between now and the end of the year we hope to have a school wide system for acknowledging positive behaviour which will be highly visible in the school. Parents can expect to be informed if your child is receiving an award or involved in repeated minor or major incidents that are considered unacceptable.
I attended the MET Gala Ball in Nelson on Saturday night to raise funds for ‘I am hope’, a charity which provides free counselling services to students. Mike King spoke on navigating the challenges and nuances of parenting. As parents we want our kids to be happy but at the same time resilient. To achieve both, we have to provide our children with opportunities to experience disappointment, rejection and failure and strategies to overcome these. We must model vulnerability, showing them that we all have an ‘inner critic’ responsible for self doubt and overthinking. These were the take home messages for me which I hope may be of value for you to consider in the difficult and complex task we share as parents.
Learning has been significantly disrupted with lockdowns and isolation periods over the last couple of years and we are keen to keep further disruption to a minimum. It is great that household contacts will no longer be required to self isolate with the Traffic Light system being scrapped this week. To further enhance continuity for learning, we have decided to cancel the scheduled Teacher Only Day for Term 4 and not schedule any during term time in 2023. This means:
- School closes for 2022 on Friday 16 December (earlier than previously advised)
- School opens for 2023 on Tuesday 31 January
- School closes for 2023 on Friday 15 December
The ballot is now open for 25 out of zone enrolments. If you know anyone wishing to enrol their child/children at Witherlea, please encourage them to email board@witherlea.school.nz before Friday 30 September.
We are reviewing our communication strategy and will be making a few tweaks to streamline and simplify information to ensure we strike the right balance between efficiency and effectiveness. Each term we will provide an A4 sized term events calendar which will be sent home with your eldest child at Witherlea on yellow paper. This will provide a quick and easy reference to ensure you know what's happening and when. Any changes to this document will be advised with at least two weeks notice via the fortnightly newsletter. A digital version of this calendar can be accessed here.
Ngā manaakitanga,
Symon Beattie
Principal
Welcome to Witherlea School
We wish to welcome these new students and their families and whānau to our school and community;
Callum M, Vincent C, Khloe-Rose F
Welcome to School Certificates are given out at our Flag Raising on a Monday morning at 9am.
Athletics Day
Witherlea School Athletics day - Tuesday 25th October (Week 2 - Term 4)
Postponement date - Thursday 27th October.
Parent Help Needed
Do you have a spare hour a week to help in our resource room putting away books?
If this sounds like something that you could help with please contact Amber at the office.
Daffodil Day
Thank you for all your support and donations for our daffodil day we raised almost $600.00.
Year 5 & 6 Hockey Team
The Team had a great season and won most of their games. They're an awesome bunch of kids and definitely lived up to Witherlea School's motto of Be Kind, Be Fair, Be Safe :)
Term 3 Events
Week 8 - Wiki Tuawaru (Maori Language Week)
Monday 12th September - Friday 16th September
Monday 12th September
Teacher Only Day - School Closed
Wednesday 14th September
Kiwi Spelling Bee Comp
Friday 16th September
Subway School Lunches
Week 9 - Wiki Tuaiwa
Monday 19th September - Friday 23rd September
Monday 19th September
Flag raising Assembly = Welcome to School, Early Words, Shoutouts, Merit Certificates
No coffee Kart available
Thursday 22nd September
The Festival of Hockey 2022
Friday 23rd September
Subway School Lunches
Week 10 - Wiki Tekau
Monday 26th September - Friday 30th September
Monday 26th September
Queen's Memorial - School Closed
Thursday 29th September
Dance festival at Stadium 2000
Friday 30th September
Subway School Lunches
Be Kind, Be Safe, Be Fair Shoutouts
Congratulations to these students who have displayed one or all of our school behaviour expectations and are a model to others;
Sofie P - Always being being kind and caring to our visitors and for being an excellent role model.
PONGA TEAM
Yaduveer - Kindness! Yaduveer you are always so happy to celebrate everyone else's achievements, we love how genuine and kind you are.
KAURI TEAM
Emily H - Taking good care of your friends and always showing kindness.
Early Words Recognition
Finn L, Arlo K
We are very proud of the effort towards learning that our youngest students put in as the Early Words is the start of mastery at Witherlea School.