The Year Books were sent home this week. It takes an average of 20 hours work outside of class time to prepare these books. What did you think? Our aim for 2010 is to report to you in easy to read language. The National Standards have made us more aware of the technical language we use, this language must remain in the staff room. If your children and you do not understand our comments we will not ‘rise above and shine’. The National Standards are aspirational and placed on all schools by the Ministry of Education. Although some groups may not agree with National Standards, we are using them as a tool to achieve at high levels. So how have we done? Were our learning intentions clear to you? Were you able to see where your child is working (curriculum level) and how your child compares to the standards? Did you like having ideas to develop at home? Have we improved? What would you like? We will ask for feed back next term.

Kool Kids day is tomorrow. Congratulations to those students who received invitations. Children are able to bring rip sticks, skate boards etc. Parents are welcome to join us.

I am always worried as we head into the holidays about vandalism and inappropriate behaviour in our school grounds by people not associated with our school. Please come down to school and enjoy our wonderful environment– it is a great place to rip-stick, skate, bike and play sport. If you have any concerns about behaviour of those in the grounds, please phone the Police (863 8279 or 111). They want to hear about any issues.

Ka kite ano
Emily

The term is looking busy with our gala, Year 5/6 camp, school picnic, interviews and Beach Education (Room 1). It will be a very exciting term. We would appreciate helpers for all events. Please let us know how you would like to participate in our school. We have two new ways to communicate with the school community. Isobel Huggard has a Waihi East
facebook account for students/caregivers and Anne-Marie has a parents Facebook account for parents (Waihi East Parents Group). Check out both places. It’s a great way to meet people/get information.

I hope you are able to come to our beach picnic. It is a great way to meet others and to have a relaxing day together. I am looking forward to another positive year. Please drop in anytime for a chat.

Ka kite ano

Emily

I hope you are ready to be entertained. Tomorrow night is STARS IN OUR EYES. We have worked hard on a fun performance that we look forward to sharing with you. The doors open at 6.30pm. Please have children at the Memorial Hall at this time. The show starts promptly at 7pm. Last time we performed at the Memorial Hall, their was standing room in the foyer. Please be on time.

This is a lovely time of year for celebrating our successes. I was fortunate to attend the Junior outing. What a fabulous day. The mine pit walk was a wonderful activity and followed on to Morgan Park. I know that the seniors enjoyed a lovely day at Opoutere Beach. Thank you to our wonderful parents who transported and supervised on these days.

On Monday the Year 6 trip is on. All students will be placed in a team to take part in the AMAZING RACE. All sorts of treats are in store for parents and children! My thanks to Liz and Sharon who have worked with me planning this day. Students require their ‘team’ costume, swim wear, a change of clothes and positive attitude. Look out for the photos next week.

Prize Giving is Tuesday at 11am. This year we will present under the shade area by Room 7. Staff have nominated Year 6 children to win cups. Each class will also be awarding success. Come along to find out who is recognized for their achievement and contribution across the school. Kool Kids day follows. Parents are welcome to stay on for this afternoon. The Year will come to a quick close on Wednesday 16th of December at 1pm. BUSES ARE NOT OPERATING ON THIS DAY IN WAIHI.

Thank you for the opportunity to lead your school. It is an honour to be the Principal at Waihi East School. I look forward to seeing our school ‘shine’ in 2010.

Ka kite ano

Emily

Congratulations to Carol who spotted our intentional mistake in last weeks newsletter (start date 3rd January instead of 3rd February). A chocolate fish will be sent home to Carol. It is great to see people reading the newsletter. I must say staff did notice it too. I won’t use that trick again, there was nearly a riot in the staff room! There is another mistake in this weeks newsletter– can you spot it? A chocolate fish is up for grabs again.

Thank you for being understanding during our computer/server issue last week. All office files were not available to staff, no emails or printing from laptops. Talk about turning my hair grey. Luckily the problems have all been solved.  Maybe it was work over load!! Technician’s comment “three external back up drives to deal with just such a problem isn’t luck, it’s planning for every forseeable situation, which is what saved our bacon this time”. Our server suffered hard drive failure not only to one hard disk but to both which our IT company has never seen happen in practice before. Their back up system for all the data on the server means we have three external hard drives backing up data over three days sequentially – this data back up system meant once the hardware was replaced the data was restored as quickly as possible by the server technicians. So ‘big ups’ for the technical guys fixing the problem so fast.

This week Constable Doris visited all rooms as a general reminder of how we show respect for each other and the community. It is a very important message, especially when children have time on their hands over the Christmas break. Behaviour has been a bit ratty this week. Together we can turn the negative into a positive.

Next week we require transport to our Stars in Your Eyes practices at the Memorial Hall. On Wednesday classes will go up individually from 9.30am starting with Room 5 and going up in age. On Thursday we have full dress rehearsal for the whole school from noon till 3pm. Transport from 11.40am on Thursday would be appreciated.

My thanks to Kookie, Clarke and Paul for coaching our mini ball teams this year. We had a great competition. Check out our donations for the 2010 Gala. Leona, Anne Marie and Denise are doing an awesome job. Each class will also be running a stall on the day. It is going to be amazing.

Congratulations to Travis Morton who placed 5th in New Zealand at the Primary schools surf champs.

Ka kite ano
Emily

Phil organized an excellent athletics day on Friday for the whole school. This was a fun day where children were able to compete against each other. Phil and Robbie have also selected an athletic team to compete against other Waihi Schools. Congratulations to this team who made excellent placings. Results are noted in our Kids Page.

Last term I had the opportunity to observe a school chaplain at Katikati Primary School. This person visited classes, spoke to children and gave a helping hand to staff. Religion was not discussed, just the care of others. I would like the school community to consider having a school Chaplin/Amorangi. The BoT would like to know your opinion. If you have any concerns about a person supporting children and staff in this role, please let the Leadership Team know. Your opinion will be appreciated.

As you are aware, Phil has signed his contract to return to East School next year. This has been made possible by fund raising, donations/grants from the community and savings from previous years. We have the money we require for Phil however $8000 needs to be raised next year to remain within budget. Fundraising therefore will remain a priority for next year.

I am getting concerned about some ‘loose’ behaviour in the playground. As a team we are referring children to the Wheel of Choice. Staff are also intervening and helping children problem solve. Lunch time detentions are a very popular hang out spot for a few children however most children are meeting our expectations. The next Kool Kids Day follows prize giving on the 15th of December. The junior and senior teams are planning end of term trips. If a child has 3 detentions between the 16th of November and the trip, then they will not be invited to attend. Strong consequences need to be in place.

Ka kite ano
Emily

We have an exciting week planned for students. Today we celebrated Grandparents at a special Duffy Assembly, tomorrow all children are participating in athletics and Kool Kids afternoon to round off a great day. Over 95% of students received an invite to Kool Kids afternoon. We aim to have 100%  participation at the end of the year.

Information on the National Standards arrived at school this week. The National standards are the achievement expectation in reading, writing and math’s that the government has placed on schools from next year. Their aim is to improve student achievement. How are we addressing National Standards?Students are to be more aware of how they are achieving against the standards and set goals towards these. Year Book reflections will have a stronger ‘child voice’.

• Staff will use Year Books to report on student achievement against the standards in easy to read language e.g. working below/at or above the national standard. Next learning steps will be part of this feed back in Year Books.

• We aim to have a closer relationship between home and school to support children’s learning. In our Year Book samples we will include a tip that you may like to develop at home and interviews will become more regular.

In the table is an example of the National Standard in reading. The standard will be a reading target for children and will be celebrated once achieved. I will send out more information about how we will be developing the National Standards as I  develop them with staff.

Ka kite ano
Emily

What a week of celebrations at Waihi East School. We are a very proud school. Congratulations to Connor, Keely, Jodi and Tia for their awesome efforts at the Waimata Calf Club Day. Talk about clean up all the prizes, what a delight. Getting an animal ready for showing takes many hours of work. I am very proud of our children for the huge efforts they put in, you deserve the many cups and ribbons you won on the day.

This week staff have been testing children on their numeracy knowledge. We are very pleased to note a number of children have improved in their skills. This will be celebrated in the next few weeks. Please feel free to ask your child’s teacher how they are going and what their next learning steps are. We are a team, together everyone achieves more.

Next week is our very special Duffy Assembly at 1.30pm where we will celebrate our grandparents and significant older friends and relations. Children are sending out invitations to their ‘special’ person inviting them to come to assembly, visit their class and have afternoon tea together. Look out for these invitations and like always, we would love to see youthere too. We ask families to bring along a plate to share for afternoon tea.

Bonnie is now running after school T-ball/softball every Thursday until 4.30pm. All welcome. It is great to see after school activities on offer for our children. Thanks Bonnie.

The Breakfast Club requires a parent helper Thursday mornings. We have a lovely team of students who organize breakfast, we are looking for a parent to help supervise. Let Anne Marie know if you can help.

An anonymous family has come forward offering to pay for the sign writing on our new rugby jerseys. Thank you very much for this generous donation. Congratulations to the Ripper Teams who competed at the College. Excellent results again, must be your coach and efforts at training!

Another lovely week at school. Thank you for your contribution to making our school Rise Above and Shine.

Ka kite ano.
Emily

Congratulations to Kalem and Sophie-Lee who were selected to attend a Gifted and Talented art workshop at Waihi Beach School. Blake, Kailala and Reid also attended this day as our camera/filming crew. It is great to see staff recognizing students strengths and finding new opportunities to develop their skills.

The fundraising team have been at it again. Our thanks to Leona Moore who organized Mike Hill to take family portraits in his studio and at the beach. Approximately $840 has been raised. Mike is donating his time and materials to our school-all money received goes straight to the Bring Back Phil account.

Next week you can get a sneak preview of these photos on Mike’s website– www.mikehill.co.nz Check out the gallery-our password is East School. Anne-Marie and Denise have started organizing our school gala for March 2010. I appreciate the fundraising teams enthusiasm and dedication to our school.

Last week Mini Ball kicked off at Waihi Beach. It was great to see our children in action. My thanks to Paul, Kookie and Clarke for coaching our teams. It is great to have your skills and expertise supporting our children.

Its hard to believe Ross Cooper, Year 7 Dean from Waihi College was at school this week to talk to our year 6 students about College next year. Some acted with ‘wonderment and awe’, others with nervous smiles. A number of important dates are coming up for these students. I recommend that a family member accompanies students on the tour of the College. This way you get to ask questions and see the College in action for yourself. A note will go home next week seeking help with transport on this day.

Bring on the sunshine, and thanks for your help making sure your child has a school hat.

Ka kite ano
Emily

The sun is shining, long may it last. With the weather changing we are reminding children about taking care of their uniform. Sweat shirts are being left out on the field. These are collected daily by the senior school and placed in lost property. If you are missing a uniform item, please check out this place.

Congratulations to Regan, Monique, Travis M, Reid, Tegan P, Beau, Blake and Hamish P who have been selected to compete in the BP Technology Challenge at Beach School this Friday. We look forward to hearing about your creative thinking with the challenges on your return.

My thanks to Sharon who successfully applied and received financial support from Pub Charities to purchase new sports uniforms. Our children are going to look amazing next year. The rugby uniforms that have been donated are now on order. We would love someone to donate the screen printing of these shirts. All fundraising money for 2009/2010 has been set aside for the bring back Phil campaign. Any financial support would be appreciated.

At our Board of Trustees meeting we resolved to pursue the Newmont Gold drilling proposal. Newmont will be on site from the 21st of November until early next year. A significant contribution will be received from Newmont in recognition for using school grounds in school time.

Robbie is in the process of organizing school camp for 2010. Camp will be for Year 5 and 6 students, at Papamoa between the 15-19th of February (week 3). The cost is $100 per child. Next year camp fees must be paid in full before children can attend. With this in mind, you may like to start paying it off from now. Some camp fees for 2009 are still outstanding, sadly this is being paid for out of school fundraising. Robbie and Phil’s classes will attend camp together next year with 6 adults supporting them in a supervisory role. Its going to be great.

Term four is going to be very busy. Check out our term date overview!! Before you know it, it will be Christmas. We hope your children enjoy the activities on offer.

Ka kite ano
Emily

During the holidays, Bianca co-ordinated our On and On BBQ fundraiser outside the Memorial Hall. My thanks to Bianca, Annette, Shona and Sandra for running the fundraiser. Shona and Sandra continued fundraising over the holidays at an auction. Our Team raised approximately $500, a mighty effort.

Newmont Gold has approached Waihi East School about the possibility of having a drilling rig at school from mid term four to early February. The Board of Trustees are meeting next Tuesday and this will be an item on our agenda. Nicola McNeil, our Chairperson will not take part in discussions as it is a conflict of interest (Nicola is employed by Newmont). The rig was last on site in 2004/2005. If you have any concerns please give me a call or drop into the office. If this opportunity goes ahead, the Newmont donation will go towards our ‘bring back Phil’ campaign.

This term to encourage positive choices at school, we are running two Cool Kids days-week five and the final week of term. Children who follow school rules and show respectful, caring relationships to others will be invited to take part. Our Cool Kids day last term was fantastic. Children enjoyed having bike ramps, and the opportunity to bike out at the beach.Thank you for your continued support. The staff look forward to an exciting term of teaching and learning.

Ka kite ano
Emily