Kia ora koutou, Kōwhai whānau,
And just like that, it's the end of Week Seven! Just two full weeks of school left, and only two more KIT notices to go (in case you are collecting the set!) It's been another action-packed week in Kōwhai, and we were super lucky to squeeze in our Athletics Fun Day today, in between rain showers. Our thanks to our Year 6 learners who came to help with running the different activities. We were all challenged to try something new and fun! Reading books Next week will be the last week for instructional reading. Please have a good look at home and hunt out any school readers that may be lurking behind beds or sofas, or hiding on bookcases. We would love to have all readers back at school by Monday of Week Nine (December 10). We're also looking for some parent helpers to help sort and return these books! Hopefully you won't find a parent helper lurking behind your bed or sofa (that would just be weird), but if you have some time to spare and help out in Week Nine, we would really appreciate the help! Bus vests It's also time to wash and return your bus vest! These will be collected on Monday 10 December from all learners who have been issued with one over the year. Any lost or damaged vests will incur a $15 replacement fee, which will be charged to school accounts. Please email Rita Spadoni ([email protected]) with any questions about bus vests. Preparation for 2019 On Thursday December 6, all learners across the school will spend some time in their Learning Communities for 2019. Next year's Mānuka children (and teacher!) will visit upstairs, and Kōwhai will host the ten new children who are starting school on day one of the 2019 school year. Help required We wonder if there are any parents available to help with taking a small group of learners for a Christmas activity in Week 9? You can even choose your own activity! If you are interested, please see your child's pod teacher. (If you're not interested, but could be convinced, please also see your child's pod teacher!) We'd love some play dough (please) for the last two weeks of school! If you're able to whip some up over the weekend, please leave a comment below (otherwise we may be drowning in play dough by Monday!) A big 'thank you' to all our parents who have helped in some way over the year - returning books, working with our learners, listening to reading, making play dough, finding resources for play. Your help has been appreciated, and we couldn't have run our programme without your valued input! End of year celebration of learning (prize-giving) Next Thursday at 11.30 in the Wharenui we will host our Kōwhai end of year celebration of learning and prize-giving. All whanau are warmly invited to join us at this time. All Kōwhai learners are invited to wear a Santa hat (or other Christmas-themed headband or headgear) for this assembly. Have a great weekend! We look forward to seeing you at next week's end of year celebration of learning. Kia pai tō mutunga wiki! Thelma, Sonja, Jo, Lisa, Rachel, Christina kowhai@westmelton,school.nz
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Kia ora koutou, Kōwhai whānau,
The weeks are just rocketing by - it's hard to believe we are this close to the end of the year. There will be lots of extra events over the next few weeks. You will find details of these in the school newsletter, in our KIT notices, on the school calendar and on the school Facebook page. If you are unsure about how to access any of these information sources, please check with one of our Kōwhai teachers. As always, if you have any questions, please ask, or feel free to leave a comment / question on a KIT notice so we can respond to you that way! Disco Tonight is the last Friends of West Melton Disco for the year. Tickets are able to be purchased as you arrive if you haven't pre-purchased. The Kōwhai and Mānuka disco starts at 5.00 in the Wharenui (finishing at 6.15). Tickets are $5 per person, and this cost includes a packet of chips, unlimited water, and as much dancing and fun as you can handle. 2019 organisation Our teachers spent time on Monday planning and preparing for 2019. It looks like it will be an exciting year for all! We're going to start the year with a school-wide focus on (good) manners and respect, as part of our theme for the year 'Be the best you can be'. If you have any thoughts about what manners you would like to see included, or specifically taught to our children, please leave a comment below, or send us an email. (There will be lots more information about this learning throughout this year!) We're also beginning to organise community and pod groupings for 2019, and need your help with this. A few children have told us that they won't be returning to West Melton School next year. If you know that your child will not be at West Melton School in 2019, please email Thelma ([email protected]), or talk to your child's pod teacher. Obviously this information is quite important when it comes to making up pod groupings! Kōwhai / Mānuka Athletics fun day We were really disappointed to have to postpone today's fun. However, we'll try again next Friday! Details will be similar to what was intended for today, and any decision to postpone will be made by 7am on the day, and communicated via the school Facebook page, and an email to parents. Children will come to school in their school uniform, and will need to wear appropriate footwear for participating in athletics. If it is cold, they may need extra layers. Please ensure your child also has their sunhat, sunscreen, a drink bottle, and a slightly larger-than-usual morning tea and lunch. We will begin at the slightly earlier time of 9.45, as this allows a little more 'breathing' time between rotations. Parents and whanau are welcome to watch any of the events, and are invited to join us for a bring-your-own picnic lunch at 12.30. You will find details of events and rotations here (and this link will be updated to reflect the slightly changed times!) Welcome Next week we will welcome Mrs Rebecca McPhail to Kōwhai. Mrs McPhail is known to most of the children already, as a Fab Five specialist teacher of drama, and as Asher's mum. (Asher is due to start school in Kōwhai in Term 1 next year!) Mrs McPhail usually teaches in Tī Kōuka, but next week the Tī Kōuka community are on school camp from Monday - Wednesday. So we're doing a swap! We're sending Mrs Sands on camp with Tī Kōuka for three days, and Mrs McPhail will cover her Kōwhai teaching responsibilities. Things will be back to normal on Thursday! Library All school library books are due back now, and the library will be closed for issuing from this week to enable an end-of-year stock take. Please hunt out and return any overdue or 'lost' library books. Coming up Friday 23 November - School disco Friday 30 November - Kōwhai / Manuka Athletics fun day Thursday 6 December - Orientation visit to 2019 communities Thursday 6 December - End-of-year Kōwhai prize-giving Friday 7 December - Reports home for those children receiving them Tuesday 18 December - Last day of school for 2018. School closes at 12.00 Have a great weekend - see you all next week! Kia pai tō mutunga wiki! Thelma, Sonja, Jo, Lisa, Rachel, Christina kowhai@westmelton,school.nz Kia ora koutou, Kōwhai whānau,
Wow - that was a crazy short week! At this rate it will be the end of the year before we know it. This week's K.I.T. notice is short and sweet - just like the week! 2019 organisation On Monday our teachers will be meeting in their 2019 teaching groups to start planning and preparing for 2019. You will find details about school organisation for 2019 in the whole school K.I.T. notice that was emailed out today. We can confirm that the 2019 Kōwhai teaching team will be Mrs Herring, Mrs Beaumont, Mrs Buckenham, Mrs Cider and Mrs Neal (job share with Mrs Cider). Mrs Sands will be moving to Mānuka with most of this year's Kōwhai children - it will be lovely for her (and them!) to have some familiar faces, and some continuity of programme. We have begun to talk about next year with the children, reinforcing the idea that they have all grown and learnt a lot this year, and that they are ready for new challenges with new teachers. Later in the term there will be an opportunity for all children to visit their 2019 learning community. A reminder that children are not expected at school on Monday as it is Teacher's Only Day. Lost property Earlier this week we 'displayed' lost property from our classroom bin for children / parents to collect. After a good airing this was gathered again, and has been placed in the school lost property bin. If you are missing any clothing please check the green bin in the Tī Kōuka block (the red brick building in front of Kōwhai). New Entrant parent meeting Next Thursday morning we are hosting our New Entrant parent information meeting. This will be held first thing in the morning, and the Kōwhai children will have Fab Five during this time. The Kōwhai teachers will be unavailable before school, as they will be preparing for the meeting. If you have, or know of, any children who are due to start at West Melton school at the beginning of 2019, or in the first term of school, who have not received any information about this meeting, please contact Mrs Herring - thelma. [email protected] Kōwhai / Mānuka Athletics fun day On Friday 23 November we will be hosting a team from Sport Canterbury who will be leading an extra special Athletics day for the Kōwhai and Mānuka teams. Any decision to postpone will be made by 7am on the day, and communicated via the school Facebook page, and an email to parents. Children will come to school in their school uniform, and will need to wear appropriate footwear for participating in athletics. If it is cold, they may need extra layers. Please ensure your child also has their sunhat, sunscreen, a drink bottle, and a slightly larger-than-usual morning tea and lunch. Parents and whanau are welcome to watch any of the events, and are invited to join us for a bring-your-own picnic lunch at 12.30. You will find details of events and rotations here. Enjoy your long weekend. See you all Tuesday! Kia pai tō mutunga wiki! Thelma, Sonja, Jo, Lisa, Rachel, Christina kowhai@westmelton,school.nz Kia ora koutou, Kōwhai whānau,
There was no KIT notice last week due to the excitement of Pet Day - we do hope you didn't miss us too much! Today's notice has information from the last two weeks, as well as information about important events coming up. A big Kōwhai welcome to Hamish, who started school last week for the first time - we hope you enjoy your time in the Kōwhai Community. Pet Day We hope you all enjoyed the Pet Day experience (at least half as much as the children did!) There were some very creative craft entries and floral arrangements, and some delicious cupcakes and fruit and vegetable animals! Thank you for your support of the children as they created their crafts and prepared their pets. Lost property We've started a new 'lost property' box to cope with all the abandoned sweatshirts, hats and polar fleeces. We're encouraging children to check this box when they can't find things, and we've let them know that the teachers are no longer picking up their clothing after them. We're hoping for an improvement in self-management, but this might be a 'work in progress'. To help your child out, please ensure that any clothing (including mufti items) is named clearly with their own name. We have some items in our lost property box that are named with previous owners' names, or are not named at all! New Entrant visits and parent meeting This afternoon we hosted a group of pre-schoolers from our local preschools who will all be turning 5 in the next few months. We look forward to welcoming these children and their whanau to school. In a couple of weeks we will be holding our next NE parent meeting, to inform parents about what happens at school, and to answer any questions they may have. If you know of any NE children starting at West Melton school in the next six months, please check they have received their invitation to this meeting, or email Mrs Herring ([email protected]) for more information. Discovery Friday Today was a mega Discovery Friday. In fact - it was so amazing, that we wrote a blog post about it. Have a look here to find out more, and have a chat to your child to see what they learnt! Athletics fun day On the morning of Friday November 23, a team from Sport Canterbury will be leading an extra special Athletics day for the Kōwhai and Mānuka teams. We will not require any parent help for this event, but do invite you to come and watch if you would like to. There will be more information about specific timing in next week's K.I.T. notice. Farewell and thank you to Miss Tay Today was Miss Tay's last day of placement. We have thoroughly enjoyed hosting Esther in our Learning Community. Esther was patient, kind, gentle, took the time to get to know our learners and our routines, and shows great promise as a future teacher. We wish you well, Esther, as you return to University, and hope you will come back and visit us! Coming up:
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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