Kia ora koutou Kowhai parents and caregivers!
This week we welcomed James to school. We hope you enjoy your time in the Kowhai Community, learn lots and have fun with your friends. Final Celebration of Learning We’d like to invite you to attend our final Celebration of Learning for the year. This will be held in the Wharenui and run from 11.30am - 12.30pm on Thursday 14th December. Pre-entry Visit for 2018 New Entrants All New Entrant children starting in the Kowhai Community at the beginning of 2018 are invited to join us on the afternoon of Tuesday 5th December to PLAY with our current learners. ‘Have a Go’ Morning On Wednesday 6th December the Kowhai Community will participate in a ‘Have a Go’ morning, based on the foundation athletics principles of ‘run, jump, throw’. This will run from 10.00am - 12.20pm and be followed by a family picnic lunch. We will follow our regular school programme before and after this event. Please see the notice that went home today for more details on this event. House of Bricks Trip A reminder that our House of Bricks trip is happening next Wednesday 29th November. Thank you to all of the parents who have offered to help out on the day. Please note that the payment of $6 per child needs to be made by Monday 27th November. This can be made online via the school shop or at the office. That’s all for this week. Have a great weekend. Thelma, Nicole, Jo, Christina, Louise, Natalie & Pam kowhai@westmelton,school.nz
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Kia ora koutou Kowhai parents and caregivers, Hard to believe, but we are more than half-way through Term 4! We are very grateful for the long weekend - there are still loads of tired children and teachers! We do hope you have something restful planned for the weekend, with a few long sleep-ins and afternoon naps. ;o) This week we welcomed Hayden to the Kowhai Community - we hope you enjoy your time at school, Hayden! This week we also farewell Louise Garside as she heads back to the University of Canterbury. Miss Garside has been in the Kowhai Community for the last seven weeks, and has been working with Mrs Sands. Over the last few weeks Miss Garside has spent some time supporting literacy and music programmes across the whole school, and we are very grateful for her help and enthusiasm. We wish Miss Garside all the best as she returns to her studies. Class photos Class photos were distributed earlier this week. One of our Community parents has inadvertently ordered two class photos for Kowhai HSS (Herring, Simons, Stuart). If your children is in this area of our community and you missed ordering a photo (or you want another copy!), please leave a comment below and we will help you make contact with the seller. Photos originally cost $18, but this one is for sale for $15 (a bargain!) Toys at school A gentle reminder that we prefer all toys and valuables to be left at home. We have had a few incidents lately where toys and jewellery items have been taken or damaged by other children, or in some cases 'swapped' with other items. These incidents have been time-consuming to resolve, and have involved many tears and headaches (and that's just the teachers!) We would ask you as parents to keep an eye on what is coming home with your child - particularly any new toys that magically 'appear'! We appreciate this isn't always easy, and thank you for your support with this. Library books All library books are due back at school next week. Please return these on your library day. You might want to have a wee hunt around the house for any library books that have snuck into hiding places. If you find some, feel free to return them - no questions asked! If you're not sure what library books are currently issued to your child, we can let you know this next week after our library sessions. Kowhai 'have a go' We are really excited to announce that on Wednesday 6th December the Kowhai Community will be taking part in a 'have a go' morning, based on the foundation Athletics principles of 'run, jump, throw'. The children will be based in their whanau groups, and can wear an appropriately coloured t-shirt (school 'bottoms', and whanau t-shirt) for the day. Our focus is very firmly on co-operation and teamwork, and all 'events' will be non-competitive. We don't require any designated parent helpers and would love you all to come along and support your child or children! We've planned six twenty-minute activities, starting at 10.00, with morning tea from 11.00 - 11.20, and finishing with a family picnic from 12.20 - 1.20. (We'll be following our normal programme in the afternoon). There will be more information about this fun event coming home next week, or you can ask any questions below and we'll do our best to answer them! A reminder that school is closed on Monday for Teacher-only day. This allows all our teachers to have some Professional Development for 2018, and to begin planning for next year. We thank those of you who have been in touch with class placement requests for 2018. Have a fantastic weekend - we especially wish Mrs Buckenham and Miss Stuart a fantastic time in Queenstown, and all the very best for their 'big run' adventure! We look forward to admiring your medals next week! Update 18/11: Congratulations Mrs B and Miss Stuart! We hear you both ran amazing run times. We're really proud of your effort and perseverance in achieving your goals. Kia pai to ra whakata, Thelma, Nicole, Pam, Jo, Christina, Louise & Natalie kowhai@westmelton,school.nz Here's Sia looking very pleased after her run!
Kia ora koutou Kowhai parents and caregivers,
Welcome to our week four K.I.T. notice! A big 'welcome' to Johnny who started school this week and to Evie H who has moved to West Melton Primary - we hope you both have a fantastic time at school. DVD - Power of the Dream (school production) The office has asked us to let you know, that if you would like to purchase a DVD of the production, they are available through the "online" shop at a cost of $15. The office has re-opened the shop until 16 November but need to have the order under way by then or parents won't get it in time to mail away for Christmas! Kowhai Visit to the Christmas Grotto at the House of Bricks (Wednesday 29 November) As mentioned in the letter that was sent home today, the House of Bricks in Rolleston is organising a fundraising week for Honor, a student from our Community who has Cerebral Palsy. The money raised will go towards her therapy and the purchase of equipment. We need parent helpers to attend/come on the trip with us, if you are available to help, please contact your child’s pod teacher or email Jeanette directly ([email protected]).. The trip will cost $6 per child, please pay this via the school shop before Monday 27 November. This covers $4 for the bus and a $2 donation to this fundraiser. Found - A brand new size "S" polar fleece (un-named), if you think this belongs to your child please collect it from Mrs Herring, at the office end of the Kowhai building. School Photos If ordered, these were sent home today with your child(ren). Also sent home today was a fundraiser notice from the FoWMS (Friends of West Melton School), giving people the opportunity to buy tins of cookies and also a notice about our trip to the House of Bricks (as mentioned above) with all the details. Lunch Orders Just a reminder that if you wish to purchase Subway or a Four Square lunch for your child(ren), you need to do this through the school "online" shop. If you have any queries please contact the office. Inquiry The children are really enjoying our current inquiry "Transformation makes things different". We continue to look at all sorts of things that change and talking about what causes change. As mentioned last week, if you have some time in an afternoon to help a group with some baking or similar kitchen chemistry, please either comment below or email your child's pod teacher. For next week, we need approximately 20 glass jars (eg, jam jars) complete with lids for a experiment/transformation that we hope to complete (and eat). Similarly we'd love another couple of batches of play dough to see us through to the end of the year. This links to our inquiry as well as many other learning areas. Reminders
Have an lovely relaxing weekend - timely after all the happenings of the last few weeks and especially as we have some very tired children. Extra sleep for everyone will be beneficial (including teachers, parents and whanau). Take care and see you all in week five. Thelma, Nicole, Pam, Jo, Christina, Louise & Natalie kowhai@westmelton,school.nz Kia ora koutou Kowhai parents and caregivers,
The week has rocketed by, and here we are at another K.I.T. notice! There is lots going on at school at the moment, and lots of tired children (and teachers)! A big 'welcome' to Morgan who started school this week - we hope you have a fantastic time at school. No-wrap-vember Each November our whole school participates in a competition with other schools in the Selwyn area to reduce the amount of rubbish brought to school in lunchboxes. As an Enviroschool this is a big part of our West Melton focus, and we appreciate your support with this! Each morning in November the teachers in Kowhai count each piece of rubbish (plastic wrap, plastic pottles, food wrapping etc) and keep track of the total amount of rubbish brought to school. We are hopeful that over the month of November the amount of rubbish brought to school will decrease. You might want to have a look at this website for more information about making lunches 'rubbish free'! https://www.sustaintrust.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/litterless-lunches-info-sheet.pdf Inquiry Our current inquiry topic is "Transformation makes things different". We are looking at all sorts of things that change, and talking about what causes change. We've talked briefly about plants, cooking, the weather, Transformers (of course), and even schools! Some of us even thought that people change, and we'd really like each member of the Kowhai Community to bring a baby photo of themselves to school on Monday of next week. Please name the back of the photo (so it doesn't get lost or mixed-up), and please be aware that the photo will be 'handled' (so you may want to send a spare, not the best or only copy!) If you have some time in an afternoon to help a group with some baking or similar kitchen chemistry, please either comment below or email your child's pod teacher. Kea crossing Hooray! After months of waiting, construction of the Kea crossing is set to begin on Monday. There is more information in the newsletter about this, but today the Kowhai children have been shown where the bus stops will be located from next week. Please check with your child's pod teacher if you are not sure. Reminders
Celebration of Learning This morning we held our school-wide Celebration of Learning, including a bus-ticket draw with some fantastic prizes. The Kowhai teachers were absolutely delighted (and all other teachers marvelled at the odds) - all ten prizes went to Kowhai learners! Congratulations to all those lucky Kowhai winners - we know you've all been working super hard! Have an awesome weekend - perfect for a spot of Saturday morning cricket, t-ball, tennis, swimming or a sleep-in. ;o) Thelma, Nicole, Jo, Christina, Louise & Natalie 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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