Nau mai, hoki mai ki te kura. Welcome back to school for Term 3, and a huge welcome to our new students and families. We hope you enjoy being part of the Milford School community! We have a dynamic and exciting term ahead, with the major events being our junior and senior school productions in Week 7. It has been wonderful listening to the students talking about their holidays, time spent with family and friends, trying new things, having fun and recharging for the term ahead.

In production news, the students are learning the songs, their acting parts and lines, and their dances, ready for two amazing productions, ‘Sucked In’ and ‘The Bee Musical’. We anticipate tickets going on sale on Friday 13 August, via a ticketing website (details to come). Students in Years 4-6 only, need to have purchased their production T-shirt from Kindo, under the ‘Trips and Activities’ tab.

The Productions rely on all students attending all of their performances as each child has a specific role in the production - it is a very inclusive and rewarding experience for them. Performance times are as follows:

The Bee Musical (Years 0-3)

Tuesday 7 September at 1.30pm

Wednesday 8 September at 6.30pm

Thursday 9 September at 1.30pm

Sucked In (Years 4-6)

Tuesday 7 September at 6.30pm

Wednesday 8 September at 1.00pm

Thursday 9 September at 6.30pm

If, after an evening show, your child is tired, they can come to school a little later the following morning, preferably arriving by 10am.

In other news, I am happy to congratulate Alayna in Year 6 who has had an exceptional gymnastics win during the holidays. Alayna competed in the New Zealand Gymnastic Championships, held at the Trust Arena in Waitakere. This was her first ever National Competition, and Alayna won a gold medal for her floor routine. Check out her photos in this newsletter. We are so proud of you Alayna, not only of your ability but of your work ethic, number of training hours, and your commitment to your sport!

As a parent myself, I sometimes find myself second guessing my decisions in the way I parent my own children, in terms of their resilience. During these holidays, my family faced a difficult and sad situation, which has prompted me to refocus on our resilience and how best to keep us developing this (even though one of my children is now an adult!). Something helpful for me is to read up on research, and I found Judith Locke’s article ‘How to Raise a Resilient Child’ both easy to read and helpful. If you would like to read the article, you can find it here.

The Auckland Transport Safer School Gates project in Otakau Road is partially complete this week. We hope to have it all finished and working smoothly very soon. Just to note that the yellow lines around the Otakau Road cul de sac cannot be parked on, even for a minute or two. At the moment, there are still drop-off car parks. The Kea crossing in Fenwick Avenue is just awaiting the signs, then there will be training for our staff and students to operate it safely. Please consider parking further away from school and walking in to meet your children, and please pack a waterproof raincoat into your child’s school bag each day as it often rains in Term 3. Monday was exceptionally wet and many of the children were not equipped to stay dry and warm at home time. If you would like to give feedback about the roading project, please go to this link in order to do so. Auckland Transport are seeking feedback from all stakeholders.

Our Principal Mrs Sue Cattell is now off on her sabbatical leave for the term but has left the school in a fantastic position to keep progressing and growing. Please don’t hesitate to contact myself or Nicola Hewitt If you need to, we are happy to hear from you.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Sara Baker

Acting Principal