Kia ora Waitetuna Whaanau,
PTA AGM update - Thank you firstly to Lizzie Browne, (President), Lisa Berejoni (Treasurer), and Tara Abbott (Secretary) for your hard work with the PTA over the last few years and ensuring the school PTA continued on when there was little commitment and support. You have been the mainstays for our school fundraising. Ngaa mihi nui!
Thank you also to everyone who attended the PTA AGM on Friday. It is very heartening to see additional support coming in. A number of people offered support of the PTA in different ways - from little jobs, to cooking or doing essential background jobs. Helping the PTA can be done in many ways.
Welcome to the new committee - Madeleine Rix-Trott is in the President role, Amy Bateman, the treasurer role and Abby Fisher-Smith the Secretary role. Lizzie Browne will continue with overseeing the organisation of the Waitetuna school trail run and liaise with the PTA. A PTA messenger group has been set up. Please let Madi know if you would like to be included in this group.
PTA projects 2021
The PTA have committed to supporting our school garden project, helping to bring alive our 'Community foodbowl' vision. This includes new raised garden beds, feijoa hedges and watering system. They also support Education outside the classroom, contributing $20 per
child per year to allow students to enjoy these opportunities.
New school transport
I am delighted to inform you that 'The Southern Trust' provided our school community with funding to purchase a new school van. We had to pre select this van and have purchased a 17 seater 2013 Ford Transit for school transportation.
Structured Literacy best practice - I was listening to a webinar with more on the ‘Science of Reading’. They were discussing an essential part of this. It is ‘I do, We do, You do’. The researchers emphasised how this can be used at home in many contexts - allowing for scaffolding of essential learning around the home. The parent shows, then you complete a task together and then the child will gradually be ready to be independent. The amount of practice needed to reach ‘You do’ is age, stage, task dependent. And of course this was probably not researched with toddlers in mind as they already think they can do anything!!
Waikato museum - What a great way to finish our Science learning this term. Check out the photos of the brilliant Science and Matariki learning that happened. Thanks parents for providing transport and supervision.
Waitetuna way this week - Well done to Stella-R`6+ose Dickey & Olive Maher for demonstrating Self control by managing themselves appropriately in both formal and informal situations. Thank you for supporting the Paid Union meetings this week, both teachers and principals met to discuss their work conditions. Many of the conversations were based on getting better support for our students, which in turn supports teacher workload. We look forward to having our Matariki shared kai on Thursday at 12.30pm.
Dates for next term
Netball exchange - Friday - week 1
Rippa rugby - year 5/6 and year 7/8 teams - Friday week 2
School cross country - Thursday 2nd September
Inter school cross country - Thursday 9th September
This Whakatauki resonated with me and reflects the hard work that staff, students, Board, PTA have done to continually make this school such a great place to be.
Ngaa mihi nui,
Have a great weekend.
Covid symptoms update
I emailed this out to you earlier in the week with the additional symptoms to look out for. Here it is again below. A reminder of the symptoms to look for. You or your child may have one or more of the following:
a new or worsening cough
fever (at least 38˚C)
shortness of breath
a sore throat
sneezing and runny nose
temporary loss of smell.
Some people may present with less typical symptoms such as only:
fever
diarrhoea
headache
muscle pain
nausea/vomiting
confusion/irritability.
Symptoms can take up to 14 days to show after a person has been infected. The virus can be passed onto others before they know they have it – from up to two days before symptoms develop. So the sooner you seek advice, the quicker health authorities can respond.
A face covering helps stop droplets spreading when someone speaks, laughs, coughs or sneezes. This includes someone who has COVID-19 but feels well or has no obvious symptoms. Face coverings are particularly useful when physical distancing is not possible from people you don’t know, such as in supermarkets and stores.
Face coverings are not required when at school or on school transport, however they must be worn on public transport and domestic flights for anyone aged 12 and over. Go to the
covid19.govt.nz website for more information about requirements and exemptions.
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