We have reached that time of year where time really starts flying. Our Year 6 students are encouraged to attend the Intermediate Open Night on 19 September at 7pm. Next term they have a visit from Mr Gray and past pupils as well as a visit to the Intermediate to look around.

Daffodil Day:  Thank you everyone for the generous support you have given to Cancer Society through this years Daffodil Day.  Our school community raised $694.61 which will go to our local Cancer Society.  Sadly, cancer has touched the lives of so many of our school community over the years.  Funds raised help support cancer research and treatment.  Thank you everyone. 

Winter Tournament: Hampstead School had two netball teams, two football teams and a rugby team compete in the Mid Canterbury Winter Tournament last week.  All our teams did us proud and I was blown away by the number of comments I received about what great sports our kids were and how they displayed all our Hampstead values on the day.  All our teams did exceptionally well and we are super proud of them all.  Our Hampstead Yellow Netball team placed 2nd overall and will now go on to represent our school at the Canterbury zone Winter Tournament on 14 September. 

Samoan Speech Contest: We are so proud of our Jubilee (Rm 15) who entered a Year 5/6 Samoan Speech competition in Christchurch.  Not only did Jubilee write and practice his speech on his own but he even won the category!  And he is only Year 3!  We were all really proud of him and we were delighted he presented the speech for the whole school in Assembly on Friday. Malo lava Jubilee!

Year 5 Ski Trip: We were so lucky to get a postponement date on Wednesday and it was a stunner of a day!  The children all learned some new skills on the slopes and had a great time.  Thank you to the adult helpers and teachers that attended and supported the children.  It is a wonderful opportunity for our children to experience the snow and learn to ski. 

Flava Festival: Our Kapa Haka will perform in Timaru at the Flava Festival on 8 September.  This is a fantastic opportunity, not only to perform but to see a range of other cultural groups perform also.  Thanks again to Sonia for all the time, effort and talent she puts into our senior Kapa Haka group. 

Updated Covid Protocols:  You will have seen in the media that the government lifted the 7 day isolation rule on 16 August.  It is recommended that if you test positive for Covid that you stay at home to recover for 5 days or until you are symptom free.  If you are unsure, please get in touch with the office. 

New Attendance measures from the Ministry of Education: As part of the governments Engagement and Attendance strategy, we are now required to monitor and follow-up if a child has five or more unjustified absence days in a term.  These are absences that are recorded on our Student Management System (Our roll) as E - Explained but unjustified, G - Holiday during term time, ? or T - No explanation given.  In this situation, you may receive a phone call, email or letter.  We appreciate your support with this. 

Do you know anyone turning 5? To help with our planning and staffing, we'd love to know if any children living within our enrolment zone are turning 5 in the next year. If they haven't already pre-enrolled, please encourage them to get in touch. Here is a link to our enrolment zone: https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/find-school/school/profile?school=3367

Students of the Week: Last week we celebrated Lochlan of Rm 14. Lochlan is a very hard working student and always completes his work on time. He is good at including others and incredibly quick at responding to instructions. He comes to school with a great attitude towards learning and even asks for extra work! His cheeky humour and friendliness help to make him an awesome student to have in Rūma tekau mā whā! This week we acknowledged Kordel of Rm 11. Kordel is a Room 11 superstar! He is attentive, hardworking, eager to please and goes above and beyond to help others. Kordel treats everyone with respect and is such a brilliant role model. His questioning skills show his deeper thinking on topics - it is wonderful to see his enthusiasm for learning. He has a fabulous sense of humour - he loves to make us laugh. Kordel can always be relied upon - he is a joy to teach. Keep up the fantastic work Kordel.

Upcoming Dates:

Life Education visit: 22-31 August
Tongan Language Week: 4-8 September
Flava Festival: 8 September
Yr 5/6 Swim Week: 11-15 September
Maori Language Week: 11-15 September
Canterbury Zone Winter Tournament: 14 September
Ashburton Intermediate Open Night: 19 September
Whole School Athletics: 21 September
Last Day Term 3: 22 September
First Day Term 4: 9 October

Kind Regards,

Claudine Campbell (Principal)