Newsletter T1W10
Tuesday 5 April 2022
Welcome to Week 10 of the term. This term is quite long with 11 weeks, as we finish Thursday 14 April, with Good Friday being 15 April.
As you are no doubt aware COVID, and other coughs, colds, and tummy bugs, have had quite an impact on school over the past month with approximately one-third of the students away each day (our total roll is 358 students). In case you are interested in the numbers, to date 112 students have tested positive and 75 others have been household contacts. This has made it difficult to keep our regular teaching and learning programmes operating. The teachers have been very flexible in adapting to these challenges. Although we are continuing with our academic programme as much as possible, obviously with so many away, changes have had to be made, and student wellbeing has been a priority.
We would also like to thank everyone who is helping their child(ren) learn from home. Please do not worry if this is difficult to manage. We understand that you are doing the best you can with sick family members, as well as those who have to isolate at home. It’s also difficult at school with staff members being impacted by COVID as well. We are very grateful that our school community is pulling together at this time, and despite all the disruptions, everyone is carrying on with a positive, resilient attitude. We are all hoping the worst will be over soon, and we can start with everyone back at school, and relative normality again next term.
Enjoy the short week next week, and have a happy Easter and holiday break.
Year 4 Pine Valley Camp - POSTPONED
We have had to make the difficult decision to postpone the Y4 camp this week, but luckily have been able to secure new dates from 15-18 Nov in Term 4, so that will be something for the Year 4’s to look forward to.
Community Breakfast - Thursday 14 April - CANCELLED
Unfortunately, we have also decided to cancel this term's Community Breakfast with so many families and staff impacted by COVID.
Staff News
We are happy to inform you that Mrs Jodie Lovell has been appointed to the New Entrant Teacher role beginning in Week 3 (18 May) next term. Jodie is well known to our school community and we are looking forward to her joining our team again working alongside Miss Stef Ellis in Rooms 5/6 (Team Kākano).
Whitney St Teachers Jumping out of a Plane!!
Whitney JAM are Jade, Adam, Mary-Anne, all teachers at Whitney Street School. They are Dropping for Youth Marlborough as it is an exciting and challenging way of fundraising for Kiwi Can - a really important part of our school!
See the link here if you would like to support/sponsor them which we would greatly appreciate.
All-Weather Surface
Some exciting news is that we are intending to get our new all-weather surface underway soon. We are hoping to begin with ground preparation over the April school holidays.
Congratulations to our Tennis Players
This season we had three teams playing tennis, and results for the season are as follows:
The Whitney Team in the Kiwi Division consisting of Sophie Webb, Abi Davies, Kobe Stewart Smith, and Eva Howe finished in 3rd place so a great effort from the Whitney tennis players.
Thanks and Farewell to the Hickin Family
We are going to really miss the Hickin family who are moving to Rangiora at the end of this term. Apart from their lovely girls, Georgie and Emma, we will also miss mum Loren.
Loren has been an integral part of our Parent Support Group (PSG) for several years, in particular taking charge of the Mystery Bottle stall at Lights Over Marlborough, and helping organise our annual disco. Loren has also been manager for some of our tennis teams which, under her guidance, have performed very well over the years.
Dad Dave was also a teacher at Whitney Street a few years back so the connection is strong with our school.
We wish the whole family the best of luck with their move and thank them for all their contributions to WSS over the years.
PSG (Parent Support Group) News
The PSG (Parent Support Group) do an amazing job of raising money for the school, primarily through organising our annual ‘Lights Over Marlborough’ event. They contribute funds to the school and over recent years have helped pay for such things as devices, kapa haka uniforms, Archgolas over Blocks B and C, new pathways, and scooter stands. They have recently offered to contribute to the costs of the All-Weather Surface.
The next PSG meeting will be the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday 13 April at 6pm, in the staffroom. We would love to see you there as we are on the look out for new PSG members because two of our long-standing members are moving on. Please come along by yourself, or with a friend, if you are interested or would like to join. We would love to see you there.
The Whitney Way - The Way We Learn
Automatic Payment Option
We highly recommend setting up an automatic payment to help pay for things like stationery at the beginning of the year, uniform items and camps. It's a great way to help plan your budget and spread the cost of more expensive things. $5 or $10 a week is way more manageable than a large lump sum! Use your child's first initial and last name as a reference.
The Whitney Street School BOT bank details are: 03 0599 0305934 00
Hero
If you haven't done so already, please have a go at downloading the Hero App which shows your child’s achievement, progress and learning goals. The instructions are
here or you can type
hero.linc-ed.com/parents into your browser. It really is very important that you access this information about your child so you are able to be involved in their education as much as possible.
Suggestions Box
Do you have any suggestions for us at Whitney Street School? In the school office, there is a 'Suggestion Box' that is checked regularly. Or click
here to email it.
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 the 2022 school year.
This is also the way we would like you to inform us of absences. This system streamlines the morning routine for Adele and Michelle so that they can easily see who is away and why.
Please ask the office or your class teacher to help with this if you are unsure of what to do.
Pretty Things Embroidery
Are you after a professionally stitched name on a piece of uniform? Click
here to find out more.
Ngā mihi nui kia koutou katoa (greetings to you all)
Junior Table Tennis
The Marlborough Table Tennis Association is again running junior table tennis starting Tuesday 3rd May 2022. It will run during terms 2 and 3.
4pm – 5pm Beginners and developing players.
5pm - Two player teams competition, any gender.
Blenheim Indoor Sports Centre 50 Batty’s Road.
To register phone Debbie, 0211632140, or e-mail deb_e_j@hotmail.com
or Alex 0221890995 e-mail alexkennedy545@gmail.com
