Welcome back to everyone after the recent school holidays. I hope you all had a great break from the usual weekday routines and had some time to relax with your children. I was able to get away and spend some time in Japan, such an amazing place to visit, with such respectful and polite people.

A warm welcome to those students who are new to us this term, we hope you and your families enjoy being part of our school community. Also, a special welcome back to Ms Danelle Patching who has been on parental leave and now rejoins the staff, teaching our latest New Entrant class. Welcome back Danelle!

Some of our students were very busy in this holiday time, competing in various events. Firstly, a huge congratulations to our chess team who competed in the Nationals in Palmerston North and won!! This is a wonderful achievement to be NZ Champions, so congratulations to Jack Chen, Bevis Jiang, Emily Gan, Peter Zhou and Isaac Wang, and to Mrs Loren Morris who leads this group.

During the holidays Jake Macken (Year 6) competed in the Trampoline Nationals where he picked up three medals, a silver medal for the synchronised trampoline event, a bronze medal for the individual trampoline event, and a silver medal in the double mini trampoline event. This is amazing Jake, well done!

Alayna Wright Rawle (Year 4) was also very busy in the holidays, competing in a Gymstar Competition in Australia that involved gymnasts from both NZ and Australia. She did exceptionally well, placing first in vault and bars, second in rings and parallel bars, and third in floor, giving her first individual overall and first team. WOW!

As previously indicated, this term we are holding the Student-Led Conferences on Friday 8 November. This year we are trialling something different and having the conferences as the sole focus for the day to really celebrate each child’s learning (no regular classes that day). An information page and booking number is being emailed home today so you can book your 30-minute time slot in the classroom. You do not need to book times for PE and Performing Arts, just turn up to those. We will be seeking feedback after this day to gauge whether we continue this format next year or change in some way, so please look out for that. We do value your thoughts.

The Keeping Ourselves Safe programme for schools runs over the next few weeks. Some activities may come home to be talked through as a family, please look out for those. If you have any questions about the programme, please ask your child’s teacher.

We carry out regular safety drills as part of our Health and Safety planning, and yesterday was our earthquake drill. The children did really well, and know to drop, cover and hold.

Our Year 5 children had a great time at their camp at MERC earlier this week. In spite of the weather, they managed to get out on the water and do most of the usual activities. I popped out to be with them on Tuesday and their smiles and excitement was obvious. Thank you to the Year 5 team, Michelle Clark, Grace Osborne, Nicole Brown and John Smallfield, for their time and energy in organising this for the children.

The Challenge service station in Milford runs a My Challenge promotion where customers can join the programme and choose a partner organisation they wish to donate to. The discount earned is pledged to that partner. We are a partner available for choice at Challenge Milford, and over the past year have received about $2000 in funds from this. If you are one of these people, thank you, and if you didn’t know about it, I encourage you to consider it.

Next year we are trialling a group entry policy for our New Entrant children from the start of the year. This is where children start school in groups, on the Monday of Week 1, Week 4 or Week 7, whichever follows their fifth birthday. To know more about this, please see the information here.

A reminder that the PTA run Halloween themed disco is happening in two weeks time, on Friday 1 November. Please ensure your child has their ticket ahead of time as there are no door sales. This is always a fun event – see you there!

Ngā mihi nui