Thursday 2 April 2015  – Term 1 - Week 9

From The Principal

Kia ora tatou katoa, Annyong Haseyo, Talofa, Malo e lelei, Bula vi naka, Kia orana Nga mihi nui ki a koutou, Namaste, Nihao, Greetings to you all.    

It is hard to believe we are at the end of Term 1 2015. Thank you to all those parents, caregivers and whanau that attended our 3 Way Conferences last week. We hope you found them valuable. Research indicates that the co-operation, which has the greatest influence on improving educational outcomes for students, is the relationship between home and school. Parental involvement has a significant difference to educational achievement, therefore we strive to work together in a constructive and meaningful way.

MUTUKAROA:

As you may already be aware, the school is involved in a Ministry of Education contract this year entitled Mutukaroa. This contract designed by Sylvia Park School, aims to engage parents, family and whanau in a learning conversation about their child’s assessment data to help raise achievement in Literacy and Numeracy.  Mrs Karen Allen is the school co-ordinator for this programme and Room 27 has been set up specifically for the purpose of meeting with the parents etc to engage them in the programme. Our school is one of 7 schools involved in this project this year.

KIDS KORNER:

Kids Korner will be operating out of Rooms 12 and 13 due to the fact that we are having some repairs done to the Library and it will be out of bounds during the holidays. Sorry for the inconvenience, but it is a safety issue and you will be able to drive up the main driveway and park easily.

COUNCILLORS and HOUSE CAPTAINS:

These student positions were announced in Assembly on Wednesday.  Names will appear in the Newsletter next Term.

Have a lovely holiday

Trish Plowright

Principal

This Week In Review

Last week we received a lovely white zebra crossing on our driveway.  Please encourage your children to walk on the new footpath and use the crossing by the toilet block to cross directly into the playground.  Let’s all work together to keep your children safe.

Interschool Swimming - On Wednesday 18th March Elm Park School took a swimming team of 24 students to the Interschool Swimming Competition. It was held at Lloyd Elsmore Pool and 10 schools were represented. It was really intense.  

The races started with 25m and 50m Freestyle. Our students raced really well, with Nadia (rm28) and Adam (rm23) competing in the Championship event. Many of the schools had club swimmers but we didn’t let this bother us. Mrs Walker gave us swim caps and off we went.

We had students from years 4, 5 and 6 taking part in all the freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke events. A number of students made it through to the finals  in their individual events: Adam, Nadia, Xavier and Andre.

The highlight of the day was the relays. We entered 2 relays in the 9 and unders and 2 in the over 9s. All of the teams performed well and showed support for each other.

Mrs Walker would like to say a big thank you to all the swimmers for their commitment to the team, turning up for all the practices and showing team spirit on the day. We may not have one the most golds but we certainly cheered and supported the best!

     2015 Elm Park Swimming Team

Nadia (28)                                Zavier (23)                                Jeffrey (21)

Schapelle (25)                        George (25)                                Oliver (21)

Emma (28)                                Aaron (29)                                Andrei (21)

Charlotte (24)                        Hannah (22)                                Adam (24)        

Erik (14)                                Eden (20)                                Atharv (22)

Will (13)                                Selina (22)                                Zoe (24)        

Ty (23)                                Gabrielle (22)                        Seth (21)

Erin (24)                                Esther (22)                                Shreya (24)        

Polyfest - On Friday the 16th of March a group of Year 6 students, Mrs Melville and Mrs Howard went to PolyFest in Manukau. We watched a lot of High School students performing at the PolyFest.

There were lots of different stages to choose from such as Māori,  Niuean, Samoan, Tongan and much more.  When we got there, we went to the first stage which was the  Samoan stage.  They had amazing uniforms on and they also sang really loud.  Next we went to the Māori stage where we saw Kelston Boy’s and Girl’s High Schools perform.  Their performance was amazing.  They were the best there.  Next we watched Edgewater College.  They did a good job too.

We got to have a look around the festival.  There was rock climbing, Spin the wheel, lots of mouthwatering food and heaps of activities. We also got lots of free stuff including balloons, Tattoos, water, a bag and fans.  It was so much fun!

We also learnt a few thing while we were there:    

• if you drop your poi while performing, leave it and carry on
• always sing your loudest
• try your best
• always smile on stage, unless it’s a pukana or a haka!
• never be scared of the crowd because they will think that you are great

By Jade, Tanekar and Hannah!!!

Looking Ahead

GALA SURVEY - We would appreciate all your comments and suggestions on our wonderful gala.  Please fill in our survey here: Gala Survey Link 

Award Winners

PRINCIPAL'S AWARDS

Congratulations to the following students who were selected and acknowledged this term as Principal’s Award Winners.

POSITIVE SOCIAL INTERACTION

Congratulations to the following students who were selected and acknowledged this term for their responsible, friendly behaviour.

ersonal Presentation Winners - The following students were voted as the overall term winner in their year level for the most neatly presented in their uniform.

Dear School Community,

As part of our ongoing fundraising, we’re trying something a little different with a fantastic ecostore ‘Good Soap’ Fundraiser.

 Selling for $2.50 each, the 80g ecostore soaps are excellent value and $1 from each soap will go to Elm Park School

If you haven’t tried ecostore soaps before, they’re beautiful to use, free of nasty chemicals and have a lovely fragrance.  

You’ll be able to buy your Good Soap from the office from Monday 9 March 2015.

Fundraising activities like this make an important contribution towards Elm Park School for the benefit of our school community. We’re looking forward to a successful fundraising drive.

Thank you for your support.

Community Notices

FOCUS ON CHILDREN

In Room 18 this term we have been focussing on the way that we learn best. For art we made profile collages. We cut out pictures from magazines that we thought represented us best. We had to think about what we liked to do and eat and some of our favourite things. Here is some of our amazing work.