Welcome back to term 3 to all our families from the Board of Trustees.

A warm welcome to all our new families. We hope you are settling in well and if you have any queries, feel free to call in to the office, or pop in to see Raewyn Saunders our principal. Raewyn was new to Fendalton School last year so she appreciates how much there is to learn about the way the school operates.

Thank you once again for all your efforts in the many different ways you contribute at school. We all have different skills, and time constraints, and as a Board of Trustees we very much appreciate the parent help, driving, supervision, baking, listening and support that you give the school, amongst many other things.

All of these together build the spirit of Fendalton School, and we feel very proud of the community we have.

A brief update of Board of Trustee focus areas:

PTA - Thank you for supporting the PTA spell-a-thon. This was a real success and raised over $9500 that will all be focused on literacy spending for the children. Thank you again to our amazing PTA who worked hard on this event and all the teachers who ran the tests and collated results. The “spelling bee” assembly was lots of fun and hopefully the increased focus on spelling will have long lasting effects.

Our next fundraising event for the school is SPACE NIGHT on Friday 15 September. This is a night for all the family, friends from other schools and anyone that has an interest in science and space in particular. There will be things to watch, do, and eat. Come along and enjoy a night that was hugely successful last year.

PARENT EDUCATION - The school and PTA are arranging and offering a variety of presentations and workshops this year. These are aimed at parents: helping you understand the NZ curriculum, methods of teaching and learning, and understanding how our children develop as they grow. Last term we had Nathan Wallis speak on the development of children, a World Cafe night focused on Homework and Education Outside the Classroom, and a Literacy workshop. This term there is a Cyber Safety talk by John Parsons, a workshop on Anxiety, and another on Parenting the Strong Willed Child.

We are really fortunate to have these opportunities and we encourage you to attend. Everyone is busy with life and children, but there is so much to be gained by increasing our knowledge of how to help our children.

POOL - Regrettably, it has now been confirmed that we will not be able to repair or replace the school pool. Despite our efforts, we were unable to meet the Ministry of Education requirements. The pool site will be cleared and we will be considering other alternatives for the space.

PROPERTY & GROUNDS - We are thrilled with the new fencing along Clyde Road, this has been delayed with the wet weather but it is nearly finished and is looking very smart. This will provide a much safer environment for the children at school.

The new artificial grass under the Big Tree has also provided a mud-free and much tidier space for lunch time eating and playing.

The redevelopment of rooms 1-6 is still in the planning progress, and we hope to have more news to share with you by the end of term 3.

ERO - ERO will be visiting our school later this year for our routine assessment. A report will be published and we will have this on our school website for your perusal once this has been completed.

UNIFORM - Mainland Uniforms will have new style winter shirts available for girls next year. This shirt has a collar stand which is easier and neater for neckties. We will also keep you updated of when the navy merino jersey is available.

If you need to check any school policies, log on to http://www.schooldocs.co.nz/ Fendalton School. Username Fendalton password fosdocs

The Board welcome any feedback, and can always be contacted directly by emailing bot@fendalton.school.nz