Kia ora koutou, Kōwhai whānau,
Wow - that week went fast! We hope you enjoyed your long weekend, and especially the warmer weather. A big welcome this week to Tate who has started school for the first time. We're so glad you've joined the Kōwhai community, Tate, and we hope you enjoy your school days. It's going to be a super busy term, with lots on, and not much time to fit it all in! Pet Day Next Friday (November 2) is Pet Day for the whole school. There have been notices about this previously, but we are aware that some of our newer parents might not have received these. If you are unsure about what is happening, or what you need to do, please check in with one of our teachers and we can explain things for you. Entries close next Tuesday - the paper form will need to be given to your child's pod teacher by this date, but the actual entry will be brought to school on Friday morning. For first time Pet Day parents, Friday morning can seem a bit confusing, but everything works out in the end! If you're not sure what is happening, please ask. Assessment / reporting to parents We're already starting to think about our end-of-year assessment, and planning for how we will gather data to report to parents on. You may notice some disruption over the next couple of weeks as we complete assessment requirements. This will most probably look like your child not bringing home a reading book every day. We appreciate your understanding of this situation, and would encourage you to find a book at home that your child might enjoy listening to, or perhaps enjoy an evening off! Library We've done a bit more thinking, and we've had another shuffle around, and we think we can just about manage to get everybody to the library on a Thursday afternoon. So - another change of plans (sorry) - feel free to bring your library books on a Thursday so they can be returned and new books can be issued! Lost, missing and traded We've had a few items of clothing go missing (especially hats!). Morgan has lost her new school sweatshirt (it is named). If you discover it at home accidentally, please send it back to school on Monday. (Feel free to add any lost and found items as comments at the bottom of this KIT notice. You can do this at any stage!) Immy's eczema cream is also missing - this was in a small pottle (Chemist pottle) and marked with her name. We've had a very good look (unsuccessfully) at school, and wonder if it has made its way home in somebody's bag. Again - if your find it, please send it back to school. And we've had a few instances this week of children trading their belongings. This week it was hot wheel cars. We have told the children that we can not trade our toys or belongings at school, and would appreciate your support here. If your child has any traded belongings at home, please encourage them to return these to school (and the right child!) after the weekend. Coming up:
Kia pai tō mutunga wiki! Thelma, Sonja, Jo, Lisa, Rachel, Christina & Esther kowhai@westmelton,school.nz
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Kia ora koutou, Kōwhai whānau, Nau mai, haere mai! Welcome to the final school term of 2018. It was lovely to catch up with you all and hear about your holiday adventures (and the odd mis-adventure!). An extra special welcome to Pippa, Olivia, Ben, Charlie, and Martin, who have started school for the first time. We are so pleased you have joined us, and hope you enjoy your time in Kōwhai. And a big Kōwhai welcome to Miss Esther Tay, a first-year student at the University of Canterbury, who will be working with us for the first four weeks of term! It's been a super busy start to the term. On Monday we held our Mihi Whakatau to welcome our new learners and new staff members, on Wednesday we celebrated Miss Allchurch's last day at school before she gets married this weekend, on Thursday we took part in Shakeout 2018, and practised our earthquake turtles, and on Friday it was Athletics Day for the big kids! Wow - luckily it's a long weekend, so we have a day to recover! There is lots happening this term, so keep an eye on the school calendar and make sure you are reading all your school notices to keep on top of things. All our notices come out electronically from the office, so if you feel like you're missing out on information, you could check at the office to make sure they have your correct email address.
Coming up:
Library Our library day this term is Thursday. We will be visiting the library fortnightly, with Mrs Herring and Mrs Beaumont's pods going on odd weeks, and Mrs Sands and Mrs Buckenham's pods going on even weeks. We realise this could be a bit confusing and muddly, but will only have a few weeks before the library is closed for an end-of-year stocktake. Children are welcome to return and change their books at lunchtime if they wish. Fab Five As part of our regular school programme, our teachers are released for two hours on a Thursday for professional development, planning and programme review. During this time, the children are taught by specialist teachers in art, drama, and PE. This term our Fab Five time is 12.00 - 2.00. Fruju Fridays As part of the Friends of West Melton (FoWM) fundraising, Frujus will be sold at the end of each Friday afternoon this term. Feel free to purchase them for your own children, or to sneak in a bit earlier and get one just for yourself! Today's a cracker day for the first sale. :o) Those children who travel by bus (and are purchasing ice blocks) are released a little earlier at the end of the day to allow them to eat their ice blocks before boarding the bus. Fruit / protein break We've been having a break for a piece of fruit and a story each day at around 10.00. Last term we extended this a bit and suggested some children might benefit from a bit of protein (slab of cheese, salami stick etc), and this term we're making one final change, and changing the time. We thought that if we bring the snack time back to 9.30ish that it would allow for a more even spread of food intake through the day. :o) A reminder that the children are allowed to eat only fruit or protein at this time - we've had some creative children suggest that their blueberry muffins would meet the criteria... Parent help Thanks to our book room fairies for returning our reading books this week! There was an absolute mountain of books, and we do appreciate your mahi. If anybody was able to make us some playdough over the long weekend it would be very much appreciated. And, as always, if you have a bit of spare time in your day, or some special skills to share, we'd love to hear from you! Have a chat with your child's pod teacher if you're keen to help. Kia pai tō mutunga wiki! Thelma, Sonja, Jo, Lisa, Rachel, Christina & Esther kowhai@westmelton,school.nz |
K.I.T. noticesK.I.T. notices are published every second Friday. They contain information that we hope will help to keep you up-to-date with what is happening in our learning community as well as the wider school. Please feel free to comment on each week's post with any news items or community notices of your own, or to ask any questions you may have! Archives
December 2020
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