This is the final newsletter for the year, and contains some important messages.

Please check the lost property boxes located outside of the office, if you suspect your child has lost an item of clothing. While we try to return any named items, we are unable to match items to a child if they are not named clearly, or the names have not been changed when bought second hand.

Yesterday we had our Year 6 Market Day. As part of the Year 6 unit of inquiry How We Organise Ourselves, students designed products that went through a process of change to create something new. Students had to keep in mind their target market - the Year 0 - 5 students - and tried their best to upcycle where possible. It was a great success! We would like to thank parents and the community for supporting this event. In particular, we would like to express our gratitude to the amazing group of parents who helped in the kitchen making and selling the famous Market Day pikelets.

Auckland Transport would love to get feedback from parents/caregivers on the recent Play Street events and road closures held on Otakau Road on Wednesday 4th and 11th December – whether or not you attended! Auckland Transport and Mackie Research have set up a short, anonymous survey to find out about your perceptions and experience of the events. Your responses will help with planning future improvements to the safety of the streets around Milford School. If you have five minutes to spare, please follow the link to respond to the survey:

This week was our last Gardening Club session for the year. We celebrated by giving out tool belts to all those children who attended every week, or those who'd only missed a session for good reason. We have had fantastic attendance to Gardening Club this term. Those children who had already received gardening tool belts in the past were given a packet of seeds - we hope you enjoy your sunflowers.

Last night saw the end of Touch Rugby for 2019, with many teams making big improvements both individually and collectively. Huge congratulations to the Power Year 3-4 girls, who yesterday won gold in the competition! The Year 1 & 2 Milford Machines also played well, gaining a runner up medal. Here are some photos.

On Tuesday 3rd December, 36 of our Milford School athletes that were selected from Year 4-6, attended the Pupuke Cluster Athletics event at Takapuna Athletics Club. It was a day of spectacular sportsmanship, competition, skill, and we missed the downpour of rain by about 20 minutes. Here are the placings that were gained from our Milford School students:

Our lovely walking school bus children ended the year with a nice cool swim and an ice block to celebrate being involved in our walking school buses. Sincere thanks to our amazing parent helpers/bus drivers who not only ensure our children arrive safely but teach them road safety skills on the way. Looking forward to 2020 and another year of being a successful Travelwise School.

Our Milford School Kapa Haka rōpu attended the Onepoto Festival at the end of November. There had been a lot of preparation in the lead up to it with practices during the children's breaks and additional uniforms being stitched behind the scenes as kindly coordinated by Tracey Smith. The morning of the performance saw many wonderful parents offer their time to come in to assist with face stenciling, hair clips, handing out headbands and necklaces, pinning of uniforms, taking photos and calming the nerves of so many.

On behalf of Milford School students, I would like to thank each and every parent that has been able to contribute to the student's extra-curricular activities and learning by giving up your time to coach or manage the multitude of sporting teams that we have. Without your commitment and patience, these opportunities wouldn't be possible. Well done to the families for playing taxi throughout the year to get your children to trainings and their games too! Feeling connected and part of a group is important for children's growth so thank you for your investment in their sporting future!

Thank you to our amazing PE monitors from Room 1 that supplied teachers with their classroom PE orders and assisted Mrs Lavulo throughout the year with equipment. Thank you also to the many monitors that gave up some time each week to enable the students at Milford School to issue sports equipment from the Sports Shed. It was so popular and has enabled the students to gain more confidence with equipment and skills in their playtime.

Last Friday the Year 3's enjoyed a fantastic Fun Day, including a walk to Sylvan Park where we enjoyed an ice-block before getting into our games rotation. On our return to school, we celebrated our cultural heritage with a shared lunch. What an awesome day!

Next year your child will be participating in many exciting S.T.E.M. engineering projects that will get them involved with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. These projects are hands-on, engaging, and relevant to the real world. Students will have access to a “Makerspace” in the Pouaka Room during their timetabled S.T.E.M. sessions. A makerspace is a place where students can gather to create, invent, tinker, explore, and discover using a variety of tools and materials.

Pform.nz would like to congratulate our Milford Primary School students who took to the Bruce Mason Theatre stage to perform various pieces in the Pform.nz Once Upon a Time show. We had Cows, Wolves and Alice and Wonderland characters taking over the stage. These students have been working so hard to create magic on stage and they certainly achieved that this weekend! They were phenomenal. Below are some pictures of their awesome performances

One of the great things that happens during the week at Milford School is the opportunity for students to have one-on-one private lessons with music teachers on piano, violin, and guitar, during school hours. On Monday, over 30 students who learn an instrument from the teachers at the Music Education Centre, performed in a concert which showcased the hard work of these students throughout the year. There were some excellent performances on piano, violin and guitar.

At Milford School, we have a variety of sports available for our students as they progress through the school. At times, there are limited spaces or team entries, which may result in trials being held, though where possible, we like to include every interested person.

Love ice cream? Please hold on to your empty 2 litre ice-cream tubs over the summer break and bring them to Mrs von Collas in Room 19 so they can be re-used for our new Enviro recycling initiative. T-shirts too small? Please send t-shirts that no longer fit to Room 19 also, so they can be repurposed. Many thanks.

Next year we will be holding a school fair. Mark this date on your calendar now. More information will be coming out in the new year.

This school holiday programme is the perfect way for your child to spend the last few days before Christmas. Each day has been carefully planned so that the children are engaged in a variety of creative activities throughout the day. The course is multi-leveled so is perfect for primary aged children.

Kelly Sports New Zealand has joined forces with the Auckland Tuatara Baseball team to offer your school an exclusive deal!

Linku2 School Holidays have lots of great local and across NZ, holiday programmes and fun family activities.

sKids Milford | m: 021 02230 650 (site phone) | m: 022 3661415 |w: www.skids.co.nz

Please note that the following advertisements are from external sources / businesses and are intended to be informative for the reader. This does not imply that they are endorsed by Milford School.