Newsletter Term 1 Week 3 - Friday 18 February 2011

Value Focus for next two Weeks: Initiative / Perseverance

From The Principal

Kia ora tatou katoa, Talofa, Malo e lelei, Bula vi naka, Kia orana Nga mihi nui ki a koutou, Namaste, Nihao, He mihi mahana ki a koutou katoa! Greetings to you all.

We are at the end of Week 3 already. The children and staff have been working hard in spite of the incredible heat we have been experiencing lately.

Thank you to all of you who attended the Parent Orientation Evenings on Wednesday and Thursday. It was wonderful to see so many parents who came to meet the teachers. We are fortunate to have such a group of highly skilled and enthusiastic teachers who are committed to providing the best possible opportunities for your children to experience. We “empower all our learners to achieve their personal best”.

Welcome to Mr Ben Coaton, who will be teaching in Room 20, Year 6. Thank you to Mrs Monica Meikle for stepping in to start the year.

At this time of the year the teachers are focussing on establishing expectations of behaviour and learning in their rooms and within the playground. We encourage children to understand and abide by Elm Park School Values: Caring, Independence, Perseverance, Respect, Tolerance, Co-operation with others, Honesty, Initiative, Quality, Responsibility, Trust and Worth of the Individual. Each week there is a focus on a value.

The New Curriculum also aims to help children to live, learn, work and contribute as active members of their community. The key competencies that develop over time and are shaped by interaction with people, places and ideas are managing self, relating to others, participating and contribution, thinking and using language, symbols and texts. Our staff will be focussing on these capabilities as part of their programme.

We have had a large number of new enrolments and it is really pleasing to see how these children have settled in so quickly to our school. They all look very smart in their new uniforms. Thank you to those parents who have purchased the correct uniform especially hats and black shoes. Please make sure that you name all the clothing clearly as it is very difficult to find when it is unnamed. Please encourage your children to look for their lost possessions in the lost property boxes as soon as possible as they are full already.

Some of our Enviro children have been involved in the Farm Cove Beach clean-up this week. It is wonderful to see our children caring for the environment so well. Cricket and Swimming are also underway.

We are looking forward to seeing you all at the Food and Family evening today at 5.00 pm. Join us with your picnic food. The staff will be here and there will be sports equipment and the pool to enjoy.

Have a great weekend

Trish Plowright

PRINCIPAL


Key Events For Your Diary

Fri 18 Feb....... ....... Food and Family Evening

Wed 23 Feb....... PTA Meeting 7pm

Thur 3 Mar....... BOT Meeting

Wed 9 Mar....... Headstart Begins

Fri 11 Mar....... Principal’s Afternoon Tea

Thur 7 April....... BOT Meeting

Fri 15 April…….. ....... Term ends


Looking Ahead

Food and Family Evening – This Friday 18th February 5.00 pm - A reminder that this Friday is our Food and Family evening!!! Bring your dinner / picnic / takeaways (the BBQ will be available for you to use). The sports equipment will be available and the pool will be open (parents are to supervise their own children). All children MUST be accompanied by an adult. Come along and have fun with your children and their teachers! Hope to see you there!

PARKING OFFICERS – We have been advised by the Council that Parking Officers will no longer be asking parents to move vehicles from illegal parking areas which include broken yellow lines, vehicle entrances, foot paths, bus stops etc, but will instead be issuing infringement notices in respect of the offence and will then be posting out tickets to the registered owner of the vehicle.

WORM TEA – What is Worm Tea? Well Worm Tea is worm pee (vermin liquid), we say YUCK, but the plants say YUM we love you. How do we get Worm Tea? Worm Tea comes from our worm farm we (Elm Park school) put our food scraps in the worm bin and then all the food scraps go in to the worm farm. The worms eat the food and then they pee it out, YUCK, well then we put it into milk bottles and it gets sold. How does Worm Tea work? What you do? Put 1 part Worm Tea and add 10 parts water. Pour that on your plants and the plants will grow nice and strong like a big tree. Order at the front office or buy at the school gate. P.S. We have enough empty milk bottles at the moment thank you.


This Week in Review

DOLLS CLOTHES - Has anyone some dolls clothes that they no longer need and would like to donate to the counselling/play room? Larger sizes would be good....

Please drop off at the office. Many thanks...Lyall Christie

KAPA HAKA - If any parents are interested in coming into to school to help with Kapa Haka please come and see Mrs Koroa in Room 1. At the moment we are practising on a Wednesday at lunchtime from 1.15-1.50.

PACIFICA - Any parents interested in tutoring a small dance group in any of the Pacific Languages please come and see Mrs Koroa in Room 1 to discuss.

BANK TELLERS - Our new bank tellers for 2011 are Mike Cui, Sydney Munro, Ailie McNaughton and Akshay Mor. On Tuesday 8th February they travelled to The Pakuranga National Bank to be fully trained so that they can serve the school as bank tellers. National Bank School banking will operate out of the school library each Wednesday morning from 8:20 until 8:45 am. We welcome new customers. Any questions can be directed to these capable people or to Mrs Kerr in Room 7.


Focus on Children

In Room 5 we have designed summer jandals. We learnt how to sketch flowers and transfer our drawing onto a jandal. We also learnt how to paint with dye using cotton buds. We think our jandals look great!




PERSONAL PRESENTATION

Congratulations to all the students who were selected this term as class winners for Personal Presentation. Students voted as the overall winner in their year level for the most neatly presented in their uniform are:

Year 1:

Gavin Chen

Year 2:

Jethro Mapusua

Year 3:

Lucas Graham

Year 4:

Cian John-Francke

Year 5:

Leiana Voukolo

Year 6:

William Kelsall

POSITIVE SOCIAL INTERACTION WINNERS

This term the following students were acknowledged for their responsible, friendly behaviour.

Room 1

Donny Aiono

Room 3

Kalin Howard

Room 4

Maia Baunton

Room 5

Cindy Zhou

Room 6

Poppy Wiltsher

Room 7

Samerah Amarasinghe

Room 8

Jusleen Kaur Singh

Room 9

Stephanie McIntyre

Room 10

Conor Wilkinson

Room 11

Alisha Ditta

Room 12

Sunny Low

Room 13

Nadia Wilson

Room 14

Caleb deCleene

Room 15

Maddison Hohneck

Room 16

Nevada Lim

Room 17

Alex McGrath

Room 18

Gordon Morris

Room 19

Jedlee Abu

Room 20

Nicholas Kochedov

Room 21

Matthew Petherick

Room 22

Kasanita To’Ofohe

Room 23

Leiana Voukolo

Room 24

Serena Ashmore

Room 25

Lavita Bokhoory

Room 26

Mattie Clarkson

Room 27

Tiraha-Ana Glover


COMMUNITY NOTICES

Girls' Brigade is back! - Girls' Brigade is an interdenominational Youth organisation working to equip girls and young women (5-17yrs old) in a range of life skills, adventures and confidence building. 1st Pakuranga Company meet each Wednesday night during term time at Trinity Methodist Church (Pakuranga Highway between McDonalds and Palmers). Cost is $100 per girl for the whole year. For more info email Shirley: trinity-church@orcon.net.nz or phone Shirley at Trinity Methodist Church Wednesday - Friday between the hours of 9:30-12:00 on 576 2407. We would love to have you join us and we have no waiting lists! 2nd Howick Company meet each Tuesday nights during term time at Howick Presbyterian Church (Cnr Ridge Road & Vincent Street, Howick). Cost is $150 per girl per year. For more info email Erin on efellet@gmail.com or call 021 374 662. We would love to have you join us and we have no waiting lists!


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