Kia ora e te Whanau. It is hard to believe it is almost the end of Term 2. A reminder that we have a Pyjama dress up day on Thursday 27 June (No donation required) followed by Matariki public holiday on Friday 28 June. Please bring along any coins to support the Coins for Kids coin trail on Tuesday (25 June).
Heartland Music Festival: Our choir made us so unbelievably proud on Thursday 13 June at the Music Festival. They sang beautifully and absolutely shone on stage. They have shown so much commitment to learning all the massed songs and their own items over the last two terms. A huge thank you and well done must also go to Mrs Williams, whose talent and hard work has got them to performing at such a high standard. A special well done also goes to our seven Representative Choir children who were outstanding on all three nights. We have had so many words of congratulations from so many people and we really appreciated all the cheers from the audience as well. The Ashburton Guardian review by Libby Higson says it all: "Hampstead School led by Jennifer Williams really lived out the name Happy Hampstead. These kids just radiated happiness. Singing A Friend Like You and a very touching, some may even say tear jerking Chosen Family."
Coins for Kids: On Tuesday 25 June, Kai for Kids are fundraising. They will chalk out some stars on our courts for a coin trail. Please send along any coins you can spare for the children make this coin trail a big success. We are incredibly grateful to Kai for Kids. They not only feed our children healthy morning tea and lunches, but the go above and beyond for all our community events such as Matariki Night, Cross Country, Athletics days and more. We are lucky enough to have Anna from Sport Canterbury along with the YMCA joining us in the afternoon to lead is into some fun games. These will be taken in two lots, we will have the Juniors first followed by the Seniors. This all connects to our school being part of a healthy, active, learning environment.
Communication with Staff: A reminder that our staff email contacts are published on our website and all follow the same format, e.g claudine.c@hampsteadschool.co.nz. As we no longer have Dojo messaging, this is a quick and easy way to get in touch with teachers remotely. Teachers check emails regularly throughout the day. This information is located under the "Our People" tab on our school website or by following this link. https://hampsteadschool.co.nz/a/11GgShc
Matariki Celebration Night: We have a very special evening planned at school on Thursday 4 July from 5-7:30pm. Kai for Kids are kindly making soup from the vegetables we collect. Please remember to bring a vegetable along to school 1-2 July. Some of the fun activities at our Matariki Celebration include poi, face painting, glow in the dark activities, story telling, kite arts and crafts and a performance from our Junior Kapa Haka. All welcome.
Learning Conferences: Our student reports will be available to caregivers on Hero on Friday 5 July. Learning Conferences will be held 23-25 July and these can be booked through Hero. If you wish to make an alternative time with a teacher, please email them to arrange a time that suits.
Last week the Senior classes all visited the Art Gallery where we saw some Pasifika art called Tivaevae. Many of the art works were very old. A couple of them were 100 years old or more. We were told how each piece of art was made and that every piece was hand stitched. After viewing the amazing art work and hearing about how the Tivaevae were made we then got a chance to create our own Tivaevae art with paper. These have all been collected to make our own art creation in our hall.
Because of the weather we couldn’t go to the Ashburton Domain for our scavenger hunts. Some classes were able to go to our new library Te Whare Whakatere. We discovered what a wonderful space this is and just how much the library has to offer - Lego, coding and Minecraft clubs after school, various games to play (both board and electronic), and a huge range of books. What a great place to visit on a winter’s day!
Keely from the South Canterbury museum came and shared her knowledge with us last week. She talked to us about insects in and about our rivers and also about eels. She also had lots of pieces from the museum to view, some we were allowed to touch and some we weren’t.
Sport Canterbury: This week our school were very fortunate to have Anna and Kayla from Sport Canterbury model and deliver some quick fire 20 minute PE lessons that were valuable to us. There were a variation of games such as Pirates Treasure, Inchworm and Pattern Ball just to name a few. The activities were based around teamwork, co-operation, resilience, participation and sportsmanship. The children all had a lot of fun in the team games and all having an equal role to play.
Holiday Programme: Please see the attached flyer for details of Hit Play's July school holiday programme.
Library Colouring Competition Winners: Miss Peterson ran a fun colouring competition to celebrate World Book Week. Congratulations to the following winners: Junior school: 1st Hadia, 2nd Grayson, 3rd Mackenzie. Middle school: 1st Aylah-Jade, 2nd Oliver, 3rd Malaaika\. Senior School: 1st Ruby, 2nd Tua, 3rd Jaxson L
Student of the Week: Grayson of Rm 16. Grayson is a kind, caring and valued member of our class. She always tries her very best and will help others anytime she is needed. Grayson is a wonderful role model to others in our class and at school. We are so lucky to have Grayson in Room 16. Keep up the amazing deliciousness Grayson we are so proud of you!
Upcoming Dates:
Coins for Kids Coin Trail: 25 June (please bring any coins you can spare)
Board of Trustees Meeting: 26 June, 6pm in Puawai space
PJ Dress up Day: 27 June
Matariki Public Holiday: 28 June
Matariki Celebration: 4 July, 5-7:30pm at School
Last day of Term 2: 5 July (Student Mid Year reports published in Hero)
First day of Term 3: 22 July
Learning Conferences: 23-25 July
Nga mihi nui,
Claudine Campbell (Principal)