Nau mai, haere mai ki tēnei korero, welcome to this newsletter.

Welcome

A special welcome to our new tamariki; Pia and ShreeJay who have started at HVS this week. We hope that you and your whānau enjoy your time here. 

Celebrating Auaha

Over the past two weeks, we have been learning more about our value of auaha. Auaha (Oh - wa - ha) means to be creative or innovative. This is seen as the product of being inquiring and curious or igniting a passion for learning. Auaha involves adapting and improvising, an ability to solve problems and be inventive, as well as fixing and creating solutions.

We focus on developing these key understandings or actions associated with auaha:

• I feel excited by my learning

• I use my imagination to create new or improved ideas

• I want to know more about the world around me

• I think about a problem and explore different ways to solve it

We have noticed many tamariki showing auaha. At our team learning celebrations; Annabelle M, Archie D, Baxter R, Carter A, Hunter S, Jack L, Kaia L, Lottie O, Maya S, Miro D, Penelope D, Sam F, and Sienna R were acknowledged for their great examples of auaha.

Christchurch Schools Music Festival

What an amazing spectacle our choir was a part of at the recent Christchurch Schools Music Festival. It was clear to see the joy that singing was giving our tamariki and the joy that the audience was receiving as they listened. Our tamariki were specially mentioned by the festival organisers during their day rehearsal for their commitment and behaviour. They are a real credit to their whānau and our kura. A special thanks to Matt Grenfell for leading the choir, Hannah Lumsden and Liz Calvert for their support, and all the families that came along to watch.

During the night Zia KB and Lauren M performed as part of the Christchurch Representative Choir, and Maia M and Franklin C performed as part of the Christchurch Representative Orchestra. Congratulations to these talented young musicians, this is a great achievement and recognition for them ... and the performances were amazing!

South East Zone Athletics Competition

Last week 45 of our Year 5 - 8 tamariki travelled to Hansens Park to compete against ten other kura. This is a great achievement for all who qualified and our tamariki represented themselves, your whānau and our whole kura with pride and distinction. A special congratulations to Luke (high jump), Andy (discuss), Macy (shot put and long distance), Finn (high jump) and Sienna (high jump) who have qualified for the Canterbury Athletics Competition on the 29th of November at Ngā Puna Wai Sports Centre. Best of luck.

Gardening Club

Every Thursday at lunchtime Karen V and keen tamariki put their green fingers to work by weeding different areas of our school. Last week they weeded around our fruit trees and the raised garden beds in the Community Gardens @ Heathcote Valley School. It's great to see so many tamariki learning about plants and how to care for them. Thank you to Karen V and John Marks for their support and guidance.

Each Thursday after school we will be hosting a working bee from 3pm - 4.30pm, for any parents or students who would like to help maintain the Community Gardens and the surrounding areas. Feel free to pop in anytime during this period.

Junior Athletics

Seeing our younger tamariki enjoying their athletics day was a real highlight last week. The effort and smiles were clear for everyone to see. Thank you to everyone who came down to support and encourage our young tamariki, and to Leona Starkey, the Junior Teaching Team and Teacher Aides for their organisation and running of events on the day.

Thank you

Heath and Maka from Bohemian Bakery have recently donated coffee beans and cups to our coffee cart. Thank you very much.

The HVS PTA 'Where We Connect' organised a successful after-school play date and second-hand uniform sale. Thank you to everyone who helped make it happen.

Teacher Only Day 

School is closed on Monday 20th November for a Staff Only Day. Hopefully, you have seen this in our regular 'upcoming events' section of the newsletter.

Our teachers will be participating in professional development on the refreshed curriculum 'Te Mātaiaho' and teacher aides are participating in role-specific professional development as well. Thank you in advance for your support in finding alternative childcare arrangements. It is very important that our staff are continuously upskilled so they can deliver the best learning for all our tamariki.

HVS Updates on Facebook

If you are on Facebook and want to keep up with different events in and around school then feel free to follow the HVS Updates page.