We wish all our families a happy Easter holiday break. School resumes for our students on Wednesday 26 April. This is due to Staff Only day on Monday 24 April and Anzac day holiday on 25 April.

Healthy Tamariki Expo: Our Rakau team really enjoyed their morning at EA Networks on 29 March.  They engaged in a whole lot of activities that promoted healthy living.  We are grateful to Sport Canterbury for inviting us to this amazing free event and they even organised free buses to get the children there and back. Special thanks to our PALs Taite, Jacob, Krystal and Lavinia for helping Miss Wise run our Hampstead School activity station.  You were excellent role models.  

Thank you to Gundry Plumbing for donating $600 to our school to purchase some new PE equipment.  Our children love having extra equipment to play with at break times. Having lots of physical activity on offer keeps our kids happy and healthy at school.

From Jo at Kai for Kids: How Do We Talk About Food?

Getting children to try a new food is tough! It can take up to 20 times before some children will accept a new food and eat it as part of their daily diet. Offering and asking children to try a new food is part of developing their taste buds for a life of eating foods that will nourish their bodies and brain.

As parents, caregivers, teachers and the wider community it is important to think about how we talk about food and how we model eating food with, or in front of, our tamariki.

Let’s make one point clear – food is not good or bad. It is not that black and white. All food provides energy and our bodies all need energy every day to allow us to move, think, grow and sleep.

It is valuable for our bodies and brains that we eat food that will, not only provide energy, but will provide a broad spectrum of nutrients – carbohydrates, proteins and fats as well as the micronutrients – the vitamins and minerals that impact on the way our body functions. Our body can only get these micronutrients via the food we eat. A good example is Vitamin C. Vitamin C does not get stored in our body so we need to eat foods containing Vitamin C every day. Vitamin C plays a huge role in our bodies – it helps our immune system to fight off infection, it helps build muscle and skin, it helps our bodies to absorb iron which is needed to maintain healthy red blood cells and it helps our body to repair wounds.

So thinking about Vitamin C it is really important to eat food containing this vitamin. Foods that contain Vitamin C are – oranges (all citrus fruits), kiwifruit, strawberries, broccoli, tomatoes, banana and potato just to name a few.

So the important question to ask is what foods are we, and our children, eating today that can provide a broad range of nutrients that will keep us full of energy and help our body to stay healthy.

Kai for Kids aims to include as many fruits and vegetables as possible in each meal we provide to the children at Hampstead School – we try and disguise them in the muffins and chocolate brownie at morning tea and in the meals like nachos – all whilst trying to ensure that the food tastes good. We also provide a range of fruit each day – oranges, apples, bananas – to ensure a good range of foods filled with these micro nutrients are part of the daily menu. 

Reminder of Staff Only Day: Monday 24th April is a Staff Only day and Tuesday 25th April is Anzac Day.  School resumes for students on Wednesday 26th April

Coming Up:

End of Term 1: Thursday 6 April
Staff Only Day: Monday 24 April
Anzac Day: Tuesday 25 April
First Day of Term 2: Wednesday 26 April

Kind Regards, 

Claudine Campbell (Principal)