Since the last newsletter it is quite remarkable what has been achieved by so many Fendalton School children and staff supporting them with all their events and initiatives.

Alison Coats and her team of four year 6 children came second in the National Finals of the Future Problem Solving Competition. We are very proud of this team Dan Flaszynski, Hannah Withers, Aidan Fitzmaurice and Ewan Mander for doing so well in such a challenging competition.

The year 6 camp to Wainui occurred last week and it was a real success. The activities at this camp offer some very challenging new experiences and the year 6 children made the most of everything that was on offer. Once again, this is not doable without the support of parents so a special thank you to all who went camping and also assisted with transport.

There has been a lot of talk in the media about school camps and whether parents should pay or not. The reality is that schools could not afford to have camps unless parents contribute financially. Schools would end up offering EOTC (Education Outside the Classroom) by just having day trips and the learning and opportunities would not be as enriching as going on camp. From the conversations with parents in our community, the feedback is the camps are highly valued and need to remain. If you have thoughts on camps in the future do come and talk to us or to our board members as we do need to consider your views as we strategically plan for the future.

We hosted the community meeting on the proposed bottle store on the corner of Memorial Ave and Clyde Road on Tuesday 22 October and it was well attended by our extended community. I can confirm that our Board of Trustees has filed an organisational submission and are prepared to attend the following hearing when the date is announced. It is wonderful to have the board support and for them to be recognising the importance of our community as a safe place for our children.

Our two choirs performed last week, our junior choir at ‘Kids for Kids’ on Monday evening and our senior choir in the Christchurch Music Festival on Tuesday night. The Music Festival celebrated its 80th year and was back in our Town Hall for the first time since the earthquakes. It was spectacular and such a significant event for so many, the acoustics are so good and so the singing was spine-tingling at times. The ‘Kids for Kids’ is always a delight. Emily Prebble was a soloist at this event and Tessa de Wit and Chloe Marfell performed in the special choir at the festival on all 4 nights. So we are extremely proud of these girls.

Yesterday, was eventful with the Rug Sale in the afternoon and the Digi-awards in the evening. The Rug Sale was a lot of fun, well supported and we appreciate our School Council for all their organisation. The money raised by the School Council is to go towards plants for the native area. The Digi-awards have grown every year and this year they had over 400 entries so we were thrilled to hear we had 3 entries through to the finals, one from year 2 and two from year 6. The year 6’s came away with both entries being runner-up in the story-telling and website categories. Congratulations to all the children involved with these entries, it really was a very exciting evening.

This afternoon our full Kapa Haka walked down to the New World and performed for the community as part of the opening of the renovations for the New World supermarket. The extended community were treated to another stunning performance.

Next Thursday is Ra Whakahiri. This is a very special day in our school calendar and it means a day of celebration. Each year we share some of the learning that has occurred throughout the year. This year we are having a traditional Māori hangi. There will be a special welcome and classes will be open for sharing of learning. You are welcome to join us at 11am and share the day with us. The children can all have a hangi meal at lunchtime and parents can also join us at a cost of $5, you will need to bring cash. If you have special dietary needs then we cannot cater for this as it is a traditional hangi and we have protocols to follow.

As I said at the start of the newsletter, it has been such an eventful week! So I hope you can all enjoy the long weekend to recharge for the rest of this very busy and rewarding term.

Ngā mihi nui Raewyn