Wānaka Primary School Newsletter for Term 2  Week 3
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Newsletter Term 2  Week 3
14th May 2024

IN THIS NEWSLETTER

IMPORTANT DATES


Term 2
Week 3
Tuesday 14th May - Wednesday 15th May - Year 3&4 visiting Aquavan
Wednesday 15th May - Clued Up Kids Y6
Thursday 16th May - Mother's Day Movie - info below
Friday 17th May - Be Bright Eat Right Healthy Eating Magic Show - 2 performances
Friday 17th May - Tribe Afternoon - come dressed in tribe colours - info below
Week 4
Monday 20th May - Board of Trustees Meeting - 5pm - Staffroom
Thursday 23rd May - Upper Clutha Rippa Rugby
Thursday 23rd May - Wild Feelings Performance 
Friday 24th May - Pod 2 Assembly - 2.15pm - Hall
Week 5
Thursday 30th May - NZ Playhouse Performance of 'The Reluctant Dragon'
Friday 31st May -  MOE Teacher Only Day - SCHOOL CLOSED
Week 6
Monday 3rd June - Kings Birthday - SCHOOL CLOSED
Wednesday 5th June - World Environment Day Working Bee
Thursday 6th June - COPSSA Rippa Rugby Tournament in Queenstown
Friday 7th June - Pod 1 Assembly - 2.15pm - Hall
Week 7 
Thursday 13th June - WPS Cross Country
Friday 14th June - Tribe Bake Sale
Week 8 - Book Week
Monday 17th June - Board of Trustees Meeting - 5pm - Staffroom
Thursday 20th June - Book Week Dress Up Day
Friday 21st June - Haka Tū Haka Ora Competition Y6 Kapa Haka group
Week 9
Tuesday 25th June - Parent Deep Dive - as part of our mid year reporting process
Thursday 27th June - Upper Clutha Cross Country
Friday 28th June - Matariki Day - SCHOOL CLOSED
Week 10
Monday 1st July - Parent Teacher Conferences 3.15pm - 5.00pm
Tuesday 2nd July - Parent Teacher Conferences 3.15pm - 5.00pm
Tuesday 2nd July - Mata-au Kapa Haka Festival
Thursday 4th July - COPSSA Cross Country
Friday 5th July - Red Nose Day
Friday 5th July - Last day of term 2
Term 3
Monday 22nd July - First day of term 3
 

IMPORTANT NOTICES

 

Tribe Afternoon this Friday

This Friday our 'Tribe Afternoon' will focus on kindness.  The tribe leaders have been working hard to create activities for their tribes that are centered around following our school values.  Please dress up in tribe colours but feel free to add PINK as a acknowledgement of 'Anti Bullying Week'.


School Photo Orders

To place a school photo order and receive FREE shipping (with our school bulk order) please visit the Heritage Productions website www.heritageproductions.co.nz and click 'order photos'.  Please enter our school's access code WANPS24 (located on the front of your paper order form).

Heritage Productions website contains all the information on pack sizes and pricing.  Please select the pack/s you would like to order on their website and when prompted enter your child's name, room number and their ID number, located on the front of your paper order form (DSCF...).

Payments online are via credit card or debit card.  You will receive an order confirmation by email. 

The closing date for orders is Sunday 2nd June 2024.
 

Scholastic Book Club

Issue No. 3 is available now.  It is an 'Epic Bumper' edition.  All orders to be placed online by Thursday 16th May by 9am.
 

Lost Property

We have a pile of unnamed lost property.  Please come into the office and check if any is yours.  Love to get rid of it!

Mother's Day Movie Night
CURRICULUM COMMENT

A Near Miss in the Carpark

One of our staff members witnessed a near miss in the staff carpark by the hall yesterday with a driver, not a staff member, driving into the carpark area a bit too fast to check for impulsive kids.  Please when you are driving into the staff carpark area or the carpark down by the dental clinic slow down and check for kids. They may be walking, running, scootering or cycling but they can be unpredictable. 
 

Central Otago Chess Competition

We had nearly 40 WPS students take part in the Central Otago Chess Competition yesterday, which was hosted in our school hall.  What a fabulous day it was.  We had some laughs, concentration, tense competition, challenge, success and disappointment, but there was great camaraderie, sage advice and support given by fellow student onlookers.  The results were awesome with certificates and medals won by many.  Some competitors have even made it through to the National Chess Competition if they wish to take part.  Well done to everyone.  We are looking forward to the next Regional Chess Tournament in August, which will probably be hosted in Queenstown.

 

Aquavan 

The Aquavan arrived today and is set up in the hall. Our Year 0-4s are taking part in this wonderful exhibition.  There is a community interactive session this afternoon from 3-6pm, everyone is welcome to come along.
 

Clued Up Kids

Our Year 6 students have been invited to attend the Clued Up Kids Event on the morning of Wednesday 15th May.  This programme, organised by QLDC, is being held at the Wanaka Recreation Centre and is a series of fun activities run by different emergency services (St Johns, The Coastguard, Civil Defence, etc).  This event has been running for a number of years and is always very popular with our Year 6 students.
 

Emergency Drills

Last week everyone in the school was involved in a fire evacuation drill, earthquake drill and lockdown drill.  The staff were pretty slick at getting children to follow the correct process for each drill.  We had one or two parents at school at the time and they also followed office staff or teacher direction.

I think it is timely that we share our expectations of parents for these drills so that if we ever have an actual emergency happen at school you will feel informed of the process.  Some pointers for you to remember are:
  • Do not come into the school campus if there is a drill or event underway.  Stay by the fenceline and allow us to do what we need to do to keep everyone safe. 
  • If you hear of an event at school such as a fire or a lockdown stay out of the school until you get a notification from the school office or emergency services.
  • If we have a fire at school the children will be evacuated to a safe area and the fire engines will arrive as our alarm system automatically notifies them of a fire or an alarm being activated.  We do not want extra people on the school campus.  Don't be offended if you do arrive and you are told not to come onto campus.
  • If we have an earthquake, drivers blocking the roads coming to collect their children will cause havoc. Watch out for a notification from the school or emergency services before rushing into school.  We will do our utmost to keep in contact with you, however, phone/internet communication could be disrupted.  Listen to the radio.  We will stay with the children until the all clear is given for parents to arrive and pick up children.  If we can't get hold of you or you can't get to school we will liaise with emergency services.  Just remember that every parent rushing onto the campus at once would cause issues.
  • Any child picked up from school at any time, especially in an emergency, must be signed out via the classroom teacher or office staff so we can keep track of everyone's whereabouts.
  • In the case of a lockdown, it is imperative that parents do not come onto the school campus.  We have a clear process, and the police and other emergency services would be called immediately and would lead the process.
  • We cannot be in touch with each of you in an emergency such as a fire, earthquake or lockdown but we can quickly send out a SchoolApp message and email so please keep an eye on your phone and an ear on your radio during these times.
Our Emergency Plan and Processes are currently being updated for 2024 and will appear on our WPS website.  For any policies around Health and Safety please have a look at our Schooldocs site.

Included in this newsletter is our Snow Day process.  Please note that anyone other than a parent picking up a child from school must be identified as a contact on our Edge system. If you have arranged for anyone else to pick up your child, especially in an emergency situation the school office must be notified of this, and unless known to the classroom teacher or office staff, this person should take in photographic proof of ID.  There have had incidents in schools, where a friend has picked up a child and the parent was unaware of this which causes time to be wasted searching for the child.
 

Performances Coming to School

School performances are not a core part of the curriculum but we value our children being able to see plays, hear musicians and be entertained.  Instead of collecting $5 each time there is a school performance or event that we have been able to bring to school, we budget for a certain number of performances/events and collect this amount (your school activity fee) at the beginning of the year.  This saves a lot of time and energy.   Please note the school activity fee needs to be paid so your child can attend these extras. We work hard to provide for our children, as we don't have the same access to shows that children can get if they live in a city.
 

We have two performances in the next 2 weeks


Be Bright Eat Right
Vas the magician, comedian and raconteur is performing his show Be Bright, Eat Right which will share healthy eating tips with our children on Friday this week.  He is putting on 2 shows, one at 9.30am and one at 11.30am.  
Wild Feelings
This performance is next week and it is entitled 'Wild Feelings' and combines the curriculum areas of Science and Hauora (health/wellbeing) through the characters of a jealous Tūī bird and a famous Bar-tailed Godwit (Kūaka).  Co Theatre Physical, the company performing this show, is a NZ grown company with NZ writers, actors and directors.
Hauora: They dive deep into difficult emotions with the jealous Tūī and surface with multiple ways to process and resolve uncomfortable feelings.
Science: They journey across the world with the Kūaka and learn about her adventures and environmental challenges.
‘Wild Feelings’ examines the life cycles of the Tūī and the Kūaka, their interaction with other creatures including predators, the threats to their habitats, and the impacts that humans have on these creatures.
 

Board Meeting

The first meeting for term 2 is being held in the staffroom on Monday 20th May at 5pm.  Everyone is welcome.

Snow Day Procedure

If snow occurs overnight, a decision regarding school closure, or a delayed start, will be made in the morning – we will notify you by the following methods:
  • Radio Wanaka – 92.2FM
  • Our school website – home page
  • Bulk email
  • Via SchoolApp
If the school closes during the day due to snow, we will notify you via the methods above – please refrain from phoning the office.  Buses will not run.  Children can be collected and signed out from their classrooms where they will remain under the supervision of a teacher.  If you are personally unable to collect your child, then other arrangements should be made for collection.

If a parent wishes to have someone that is recorded as an emergency contact collect their child, the pick up person should go to the classroom, provide identification (if not known to the teacher) and sign the child out.

Now is a good time to consider your emergency contacts – and ensure that the office has recorded the details of at least two people, living locally, who you trust to collect your child if the school closes due to snow.
SCHOOL NOTICES

Aquavan Visiting WPS

2024 Wānaka Primary Snow Sports - Term 3


The snow sports programme for 2024 went live last week via the newsletter.  All information about this programme, including links to enrol, is on our school website at the link below.  Please look carefully at the dates for booking, and information about the programme.  Any queries to [email protected]
 

Teacher Only Day May 31st
PB4L SCHOOL-WIDE GOAL

Positive Behaviour For Learning - PB4L

PB4L School-Wide looks at behaviour and learning from a whole-of-school as well as an individual child perspective.  The framework is based on international evidence and is helping New Zealand schools build a culture where positive behaviour and learning is a way of life.

Each fortnight we focus on a school wide goal to encourage positive behaviours.  The current goal is:  'we understand, accept and celebrate differences'.
ENVIRO SCHOOLS

Enviro Guardians

The children in the Year 3-4 Enviro Guardian group have been helping our younger children to look after the environment. They have been joining the children behind Pod 1 and 2 during lunchtimes - encouraging them to put their food scraps in the compost bin and pick up any litter they find on the ground. What super role models these Y3-4 children are!
LIBRARY NEWS

Library News

 

Book Week - 5 Weeks To Go

Book Week will be celebrated at Wānaka Primary School in Week 8
It is going to be BIGGER and BETTER than before!
 

Library Webapp

 Click the image below to view our wonderful Library Webapp.

Feel free to email Melissa at any time if you have any questions.
 

Parents this Book is for You

I recently read this fantastic book and thought I would share with you
an excerpt of this important piece of writing
 



Digital and Audio Resources

Borrow box is an amazing resource which you can have free access to for digital reading and audio resources for your children.  Click on the image below to look at the amazing range.  You need a QLDC library membership (which is free) to borrow. 
 

 

BookHub

BookHub is an relatively new NZ based website where you can search for books you want to buy online from NZ based booksellers rather than from overseas sites.

Obviously I support local booksellers as well but if you are an online shopper I fully support supporting NZ businesses before the likes of Amazon who charge exorbitant shipping fees.  Click on the icon or this link : https://bookhub.co.nz/
 
HEALTH SNIPPETS

Health Snippet - Change of Season Change of Toothbrush!
SPORT NOTICES

Upper Clutha Hockey Club Fun Sticks

Local School Child Season Passes
OUT OF SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

After School Care

After School Art Play

Beginners Coding

Lego Club
COMMUNITY NOTICES

Firewood Raffle for Food for Love

Introduction to Spanish

Free Car Seat Checks

Pink Ribbon Morning Tea

Community Concert and Vocal Mechanics Workshop

RAD Skate Day

Ski, Snowboard and Snowgear Sale
HOLIDAY PROGRAMMES

Kids Club July Holidays
Delicious, nutritious and popular with kids, Subway delivers school lunches every Friday.  Order online at subwayexpress.co.nz by 9am.
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Wānaka, Otago 9350
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