Whatawhata School News

Kia ora e hoa. A very happy Valentine's day to you!

What a scorcher it's been at school this week. Topping 30 degrees all week and just as hot tomorrow. The pool has been a pretty popular option, and the shade of the nature trail too. I recommend sending a frozen drink bottle in with your child during this weather to keep them cool and hydrated.

I've started collecting some cool new lunchtime activities and soon the children can enjoy everything from unicycles and stilts to a mini lullaby swing and surfboard trainer! I've also been collecting sticks for the creative zone but could really use some more. We want to go natural this year so If you have any branches or big bamboo please drop over the fence into the creative zone - it will be greatly appreciated by all. 

We held our biggest ever mihi whakatau last week,welcoming 30 children and their families. It was held under the trees which was such a nice venue.  Great to have so many families join us. 

Over the next couple of weeks all teams will be holding meet the parents - meet the teachers sessions. Te Kaho held theirs yesterday with a BBQ and pool party! Look out for information from your child's class. We really hope you can come along. 

Aroha nui, Matt Stockton

Tomorrow sees us begin our para kore (zero waste) mission. Mr X, Whaea Kate and the Enviro Leaders will go around collecting all the waste around school and putting it in piles before each class looks at it to see just how much we produce and of what kind. We plan to hold an assembly at the end of the day and we invite you all to see what a day's waste looks like at school. Then it's down to us to focus on doing all we can to reduce this over the coming weeks and months. For para kore to lead to real change needs commitment from everyone in our community so we really hope you can get behind this life-long learning with us. 

Mr X will teach us how humans are the only species on the planet that don't live by zero waste principles. The natural world does not create waste. Everything at the end of its life, whether it's a plant or animal, becomes part of another system. Para kore  is a call to action that aims to play our part in ending the current take, make, and dispose mentality of human society. It is a process, a new way of thinking for us. We look forward to sharing our journeym 

As part of improving our ways of working we've introduced a new daily "huddle" in our teams. This mini standing meeting is from 7.50 to 8am every morning. The teachers will go over the plan of the day, talk about priorities, share any important information or ideas, speak about particular children for support or "noticing", confirm duties and anything else that is important. Relief teachers will go along to these to to make sure everyone is on the same page. It's all part of making sure we are working as well together as we can for the benefit of all the children. 

To make this possible children and whaanau will be unable to access classrooms or teachers before 8am - classrooms will be kept locked so there are no interruptions. This is in line with our official "duty of care" for children, which is from 8am to 2.45pm. 

If you want to see a teacher before school we ask to only do so for a "two minute talk." A short message or question is fine in that time but if it's longer use the 2 minutes to arrange an after-school appointment. This gives teachers maximum time to get ready, check on individual children, meet with colleagues and all those other things. We strongly encourage you to email your child's team leader whenever you can as the first step.

Thanks in advance for your support. 

I'm very excited to announce that the Ministry of Education has recently confirmed $866,000 of improvement funding for our school! While its use is limited (e.g. we can't build new buildings with it), it will allow us to complete our dream upgrades on our older learning spaces and upgrade much of our infrastructure. We will be consulting you and the children in the near future on what you see as most important as well as visiting some of the best collaborative learning spaces to seek ideas. 

I continue to push the Ministry of Ed for additional classrooms and for much needed non-learning space too. Considering the learning centre is again a classroom and the container is full to the roof with our library books we really need it! I've been assured we're right up there on the list so fingers crossed for good news there too sometime soon. 

Our final area of property will be very much community driven. We want to create a magical mini library and quiet garden in the little "paddock" next to Te Mahuri. We want it to be full of funky ideas, colour and creativity. All our school donations this year will be going towards this. If you are a creative soul and would like to be part of the team bringing this idea to life please let Matt know.

The hot weather is pushing our water supply to the limit and we will soon be installing a second tank to increase our capacity - our bore is struggling to keep up with all the drinking, pool filling and watering!

Thank you to the army of parents that have volunteered to be part of our four different school camps. With all the plans well underway, lots of you will have received requests for police vetting. To make sure our children are as safe as possible, we police check anyone who volunteers to be part of an overnight camp or other activity where they are working alone with children. 

The great news is that the police vet lasts for three years so once you're vetted we can keep calling on you! Thanks again everyone.

Hi everyone, Mad Cow Drums will be back in schools the second week of 2019, so our future “ROCKSTARS” have your books and sheets ready to start off into the new term “WITH A BANG”!!! If you are interested in your child getting drum lessons please contact us on 0212020269 or via email at madcowlessons@gmail.com to register your child. We look forward to hearing from you!!! Glenn.