Ngaio School Newsletter Term 1 Week 11 16 April 2021
Community Calendar http://www.ngaio.school.nz/welcome ABSENCES: Please remember to advise the office of your child’s absence or lateness before 9.00am using either the App, [email protected] or ph 939 6455. Name, room number and reason for absence is required please.
KEY DATES Friday 16 April End of Term 1 at 3:00pm Monday 3 May Beginning of Term 2 at 9:00am Wednesday 5 May Performance - Kōwhai & Pōhutukawa Thursday 6 May, midday Kiwi Competitions Entry Close Tuesday 11 May Cross Country Day (postponement -13th) PTA Sausage Sizzle Friday 14 May, 9:10am - 9:40am Kākāpo Hui - Room 6 Monday 17 May, 9:00am - 1:00pm Year 6 at Raroa Normal Intermediate Thursday 20 May, 6:30pm BOT Meeting, Staffroom Friday 21 May Pink Shirt Day (speak up, stand together, stop bullying) Tuesday 25 May, 9:00am Northern Zone Cross Country (postponement - 27th) Wednesday 2 June, 1:40pm New Parent Seminar, Staffroom Thursday 3 June Yr 1-3 Junior cross country invitational, Amesbury Friday 4 June Teacher Only Day - school closed Monday 7 June Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday - school closed Friday 11 June, 9:10am - 9:40am Kākāpo Hui - Room 6 Tuesday 15 June Yr4-6 Inter Zone Cross Country Thursday 17 June, 6:30pm BOT Meeting, staffroom Friday 25 June, 9:10am - 9:40am Kākāpo Hui - Room 6 Tuesday 29 June Yr5-6 Northern Zone Hockey Tuesday 6 July Yr4-6 Regional Cross Country Monday 12th July Astro Turf replacement scheduled to begin Tuesday 27th July 3 Way Conferences Thursday 29th July 3 Way Conferences Friday 27 August Teacher Only Day - school closed Friday 19 November Teacher Only Day - school closed Dear Parents and Caregivers Well done to Chantal, Sam, Chiara and Caroline for running an amazing camp experience for the year 6 students at Forest Lakes Camping and Conference Centre near Otaki this week. I managed to spend Tuesday afternoon with them and it was so great to see them already settled in and enjoying camp activities. Despite being rained on during the first activity rotation, the weather has been better than predicted which I know has been appreciated. We’re looking forward to seeing all the photos and hearing all about their exciting experiences when we get back next term. Thank you to all the parent helpers who took this time out to assist with camp. WEBSITE We’re pretty much good to go and have day one of term 2 as our launch day for the much awaited new and improved Ngaio School website. We’ll send the link and information towards the end of the holidays so you’ll be able to get in and check it out from day 1. In the transition there will still be some email traffic, but over time we’re hoping for the website to be your first port of call for information. STAFFING On Sarah Smart’s last day teaching at Ngaio School, we are all feeling a sense of loss. I’ve loved working with Sarah as a teacher, leader and Board Staff Representative. Once again we offer our congratulations for securing a position with the Ministry of Education in their Governance Team. The Ministry of Education oversees the New Zealand education system and this will be an amazing opportunity to share her considerable skills in this important area of education - we need clever people like her looking after us! We’re very excited to be welcoming Faye Taylor to teach in Rūma Mānuka (Yr 4 shared class), at the beginning of term 2. Faye is an experienced teacher who has been teaching at Karori West Normal School and is looking forward to joining our Kākāpō team along with Annabel Donnelly who starts in week 4. Thank you for supporting our ‘Staff Only Day’ last week. We joined other staff from the eleven northern suburb schools in our Kāhui Ako (Community of Learning) to learn from colleagues. Two staff from Ngaio School presented to the Kāhui Ako on different teaching and learning approaches. It can be fairly daunting presenting to a group, especially fellow professionals. Ngā mihi: Sarah Simpson and Dan Byrne. We are really looking forward to seeing the newly covered furniture when it arrives back at school next term. Thank you to the PTA and generous sponsors Ben Stevens - Real Estate, Maxey Plumbing & Gas Ltd, Charlotte Minty Interior Design, the Burt and Langford Families and Tania Raelene Brows & Lashes. Thank you to everyone who bought tickets and congratulations to the winners.
SHOUT OUTS ★ A huge thank you to Caroline Dinniss who stepped into the class for term 1 while we recruited a replacement teacher for James McMullan. We also appreciate Sandra Traut who worked in the class on Fridays. They are great teachers so our tamariki were in good hands during this transition time. ★ Thank you, thank you, thank you, for the incredible morning tea provided for the staff last week. These ‘Staff Appreciation’ morning teas are a hit with the staff and the generosity of this always blows us away. So much deliciousness! ★ As we conclude the swimming season, a huge thank you to everyone involved in both the class lessons and after hours pool use. From Nicki in the office who organises and oversees the organisation of everything from pool testing to allocating keys, to Todd Morton, manager of Easyswim swim school, who supports the care of the pool and provides the lessons for our classes and Charlene Mitchell who is invaluable in supporting the pool care and testing during the holidays and weekends. We really appreciate having the pool and without this input we wouldn’t be able to open it for families. ★ Well done and thank you to Dan Byrne who organised for children to participate in the year 1-4 Futsal Tournament at the ASB Sports Centre this week. Congratulations to all the players and thank you to everyone who transported and supervised the players. ★ Thanks to Diana Price who has been incredibly helpful getting our new website ready for our launch at the beginning of term 2. ★ Well done to the Kōwhai and Pōhutukawa teachers and children for the fabulous assembly this week. They really appreciated the massive turnout of parents and family to share in this end of term celebration. ★ Thank you to the Kākāpō team (teachers and students) who prepared Sarah Smart’s farewell hui and to everyone who attended. ★ Well done to all the year 5 students who took over patrol duties this week while the year 6’s were on camp. This is such an important responsibility so we appreciate them stepping up. Thank you also for the extra supervision from parents during the week. ★ Last but not least, a shout out to all our teachers and support staff (office and library staff, teachers aides, cleaners and caretaker) who have worked super hard this term. We thank them for their mahi. All the very best for the holidays. See you all next term. Ngā mihi nui Raewyn Watson Te Tumuaki
Whizzing about on Wheels
Year 4’s and 5’s have had a great week with wheels! The year 5’s have been on bikes working with Pedal Ready and the year 4’s have had sessions on scooters.
FUTSAL TOURNAMENT
Many thanks to Nicola, Mike, Heather, Wei, Rebecca, Mark, Amy, Julie, Ann, Kate, Emma and Jo for driving, managing teams and making the futsal trip possible. It was a tiring and hectic day at ASB but the children had an amazing experience and represented the school wonderfully. “On Tuesday 13th April I got to go to a futsal tournament. Although it was my first time I kinda knew I was going to have a blast. It was at ASB Sports Centre and we had two managers. They were called Nicola and Jo. I was in the very back of the car. Our best game was a 19-0 win. There were six games in total and in between each game there was a 30 or 40 minute break. As each game started I felt a lot more confident. We won 5 out of our 6 games. I had the best time ever and I really want to go again. The managers were really nice. THANK YOU!”
By Ashwyn
ENVIRO GROUP - Upcycle your waste We have some exciting propagating projects for Term 2 and need help collecting equipment. During the holidays we would love families to save and send back to school the following: - newspaper - paper towel rolls - old plastic plant containers/pots - all sizes - clean tin cans, yoghurt containers, plastic bottles
SECURITY Thank you to everyone for keeping an eye out on the school property over the weekends and evenings. We’d appreciate this ongoing support over the holiday break.
If you become aware of any suspicious or unusual activity while you are in the school grounds please call the police. Please do not engage with anyone causing mischief or damage. If you believe you have important information regarding vandalism, please report this on 105 (the non-emergency number) and follow up with an email to the principal or board property member. [email protected] or [email protected]
A huge thank you to Greg Price who has given us advice about security cameras and to Andrew Sos who has been organising security cameras for us. We are very grateful for this time and advice, and the generous donations Andy has been able to source for us. We’re looking forward to this extra layer of security to keep our school safe.
YUMMY FRUIT STICKERS are reappearing in the supermarkets. Please hang onto them using the official sticker collecting sheet.Click here to get your own collecting sheet and bring it to your child's teacher when completed. https://www.yummyfruit.co.nz/schools/ You can also send the stickers and bag labels to school as each class will have a sticker collection sheet on the wall. You can collect the Yummy cut-out labels from bags (each cut-out label is worth 10 stickers) and individual Yummy stickers. We use the stickers to buy more sports equipment for our tamariki to use in P.E. lessons and playtime, so please join in. Thank you!
SCHOOL APP Click on this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qync2BFaHCA&feature=youtu.be for instructions to accept the invitation to our school app. If you would like your User ID and password resent please contact the office [email protected]
GREAT KIWI ENGLISH, MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE COMPETITIONS - Year 5 and 6
The University of Canterbury is offering Great Kiwi English, Mathematics and Science competitions to all Year 5 and 6 students. The supervised online tests will take place in the last 3 weeks of Term 2 and the first week in Term 3. The assessments are $9.50 each.
Registrations and payment must be made by 12pm on Thursday 6 May. If you have any questions, please email Sarah Simpson [email protected]
Please click on the link below to register. https://forms.gle/merQK997Vw6NLJhH7
UPSTART LOUD & PROUD SCHOOL COMPETITION
Alice thinks Ngaio School is amazing! So much so, she entered this competition and WON!
Alice has won an Upstart magazine for everyone in the school - they will be coming home today.
Here’s what Alice had to say
“I love Ngaio School!
Hi Upstart, I like my school because we have two playgrounds which are really fun to play on. We also have a swimming pool, so we get to go swimming in summer and get to have swimming lessons there too. A really special area is the arb because it has lots of native trees in it. We like going there and mixing water and dirt to make mud pies!
At Ngaio School, we also get to go on really cool trips, like to the Parliament buildings and to the Governor General's house” ALICE, 7, Ngaio School, Wellington
Congratulations Alice, well done!
FROM THE PTA Wonderful to meet so many new parents at our PTA AGM on Tuesday night. Our next meeting will be in Term 2 (date TBC) - everyone is always welcome. We also thanked our departing committee member Melissa Curry for all her hard work since 2015 (before her kids were even in school) for Ngaio. We acknowledged the huge contribution from Sarah Gardner - who remains on the PTA - but has completed her three year term as Treasurer. Absolute stars ! The executive committee as confirmed are: President: Jessie Williams-Shigeeda Vice President: Roslyn McMahon Secretary: Lisa Julian Treasurer: to be confirmed Clinic: Catherine Taylor Community Events: Sarah Laidler We are still looking for a Treasurer. If you are interested in finding out more about this role please get in touch [email protected] Sarah will still be on the PTA to provide mentoring.
Meeting and AGM meetings can be read here.
For our latest news and events, check out our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ngaioschoolpta
E N T E R T A I N M E N T M E M B E R S H I P S Ngaio School is fundraising again using Entertainment Memberships. These are now 100% digital and you can purchase them for multiple cities over New Zealand. Purchase one now and get a free Gift Card. Ngaio School also benefits from every membership purchased. https://nz.entdigital.net/orderbooks/10420o2
COMMUNITY NOTICES
Athletics Wellington Junior Committee invites Primary School athletes in Years 3 – 8 to take part in a fun cross-country race.
Date: Sunday 9 May - Venue: Trentham Memorial Park
Entry Fee: $3 if you Pre-register Online. Payment via Credit or Debit card. (link to Pre-Register https://kidsxcmay2021.eventdesq.com) $5 on the Day. Cash ONLY – Sorry NO EFTPOS Available.
NOTE: Cut-off for Pre-Registration is strictly 5pm Friday 7 May.
Race Distances:
Year 3 & 4: approx. 1km
Year 5 & 6: approx. 1.5km
Year 7 & 8: approx. 2km
“Kia ora primary caregivers
My name is Zara Molijn and I am a Masters student in Public Policy at the Victoria University of Wellington. The Wellington City Council wants to better understand what is holding years 0 through 8 children back from walking, biking, scootering and/or skating to and from school. To be able to gain this type of insight, we need your help!
We are asking that just one primary caregiver per household fills out an anonymous 5 - 10 minute survey.
The survey will be open for 2 weeks. Thus, from midnight on the 27th of April we will no longer be accepting responses.
Follow this link to the Survey: http://vuw.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9N1SndqcjyIMNiC
Your response will provide us with valuable insights that will help inform how we can make active school travel safe and easy.
Your response is anonymous therefore we will not be able to identify you. Additionally, all results will be presented at an aggregate level meaning schools will not be individually identifiable.
As a thank you for your participation, completed surveys that state a child's school will be entered into a prize draw where the school can win 1 of the 3 sports equipment prize packs. The more parents from the school that complete the survey, the more chances the school will have to win. The equipment in these prize packs has been kindly donated by the Wellington Community Sports Bank. The winners for these prize packs will be drawn by a random number generator in mid-May, 2021.
If you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected]
We appreciate your time and thank you in advance.
Zara Molijn”