Our Year 3-6 Amesbury School Athletics day is coming up very early in Term 4 on Thursday 21 October (Week 1) at Newtown Park. Please note that this will still go ahead at Alert Level 2.

Information

We will be leaving school by bus as close to 9:00am as possible and returning just before 3:00pm. As this is part of our school sports programme, all students are expected to participate unless they have a specific reason not to.

On the day, students do not need to wear school uniform - they can wear clothing appropriate for athletics events. They will need:

• plenty of food and water
• sunblock
• school sunhat and polar fleece (as it is a summer term, students need sunhats to participate in outside activities)
• appropriate running clothes and footwear (bare feet are also fine)
• warm clothing and wet weather gear (just in case it is blowing a gale or the rain sets in)

Students will be competing in a number of events between 10:00am and 2:00pm.

If we are at Level 1 or below, we welcome family and friends to come and support their children. We do need parent help to ensure the safety of all students and the smooth running of each event. In previous years, we have found that parents like to move around with their child and help out with the event their child is competing in. If you are coming for the day or even part of the day, and you are happy to help out, please e-mail Eilís Ní Chaiside (eilis@amesbury.school.nz). This just helps with our organisation.

Please note that parents will not be able to attend if we are in Level 2. If this is the case, we will organise the day differently to ensure the safety of all students and the smooth running of each event. We will let you know of any significant changes, if necessary.

For Year 4-6 students we use our athletics day to help us select the team to compete in Northern Zone Athletics. For the throwing and jumping events, there are qualifying marks that students must reach in order to be considered. Selection in running races will be based on whether students will be competitive at the Northern Zone event. Harakeke and Pōhutukawa Hub have been regularly practising athletics during Term 3, so we look forward to seeing everyone demonstrate their skills on the day.

We are unable to have a postponement date at Newtown Park as it is in such high demand during this time. Therefore, we will likely run our athletics day whatever the weather. However, if there is any need to cancel it, we will email you the morning of the event to let you know.