Kia ora whānau. Welcome to the first edition of our weekly school newsletter. We send a newsletter out each Friday, so please look out for it. It will contain a message from either myself or one of the DP’s, plus important information on events as well as class articles and photos.

A very warm welcome to those who have started at Milford School this year. We do hope you have had a wonderful start to the year and that your children are settled and happy. If you ever have any questions or concerns, please do talk with your child’s teacher in the first instance, or their team leader if you prefer.

We also welcome our new staff: Mrs Lisa Lord, teaching Year 6 in Room 1, Miss Danielle Ingram, teaching Year 4 in Room 8, and Ms Nic Sao, teaching Year 4 in Room 9. They have all commented on how amazing the children are and how great it is to be here, and we are loving having them!

Our school website is a great place for information, so don’t forget to check that if you are looking for something. Our sport and music opportunities are on there, as well as frequently asked questions, curriculum information and more. There are also staff photos so you can put a face to a name you may have heard.

We do ask that you pay your school donation and activity contribution as soon as possible. The school donation remains at $235 per year and helps us fund the “extras”, such as Music, PE and STEM specialist teachers, Learning Assistants, devices such as IPads and Chromebooks, and curriculum areas such as languages (Te Reo and French) and art. We are proud to be able to offer many opportunities for your children, but it does all cost.

The activity contribution also remains the same as previous years at $95 per year. This covers all trips and speakers each year group has (excluding Year 5 EOTC/Camp and Year 6 camp), as well as the resilience books, te reo course, Life Education, a yearbook for each child, and more. The yearly fee was instigated a few years ago after parent feedback that they would rather pay once and not be continually asked for money during the year. It works well.

We are a busy school, but that’s how we like it. Providing your children with the best education we can (in all areas) is our goal, and we want our students to be “Empowered to learn and achieve” (Kia Whakamanatia, kia akotia, kia whakatutuki), which is our school motto. What guides us in this is our mission statement: "To empower inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who are active, compassionate, life-long learners, locally and globally."  This we achieve through our IB framework.

If you do have any questions, please ask.

Noho ora mai (stay well)

Sue