Tena koutou katoa. It has been another lovely week having the children back at school. While we would really love to have them all back at once, we know that having the lower numbers is the good way to mitigate risk. I know a few of you have been wondering if school will return to full-time before the end of the year and we received the answer to that question from the Ministry this week, no it won’t. The part-time nature of school will be in place for the remainder of this school year.

If you borrowed a school Chromebook during the lockdown, and your child has now returned to school, can you please return it now as they are needed for class learning. Please ask your child to bring it to the office in the coloured bag you were given, and make sure to include the charger. Thank you to those who already have.

We are looking forward to meeting with you to have a conversation about how your child has been progressing over the past two terms. We know that this learning has been mainly via distance learning, and you have spent more time with your child than we have, but we think it is important that we connect with you about this before the year ends. We are holding these parent-teacher meetings next Friday, 3 December. While we can’t meet in person, we are organising for all meetings to be zoom meetings, held during the day.

Way back in July the Year 3 students celebrated Matariki by participating in a range of activities across the four classrooms. One activity was to decorate a feather to create our very own Year 3 Korowai. Each feather is the unique expression of the individual who decorated it. A korowai is the name for a Māori cloak. It is worn as a mantle of prestige and honor. Everyone has different reasons for wearing a korowai. For us, it is a collaborative artwork, celebrating our unity as a Year 3 community.

One of the things we've been learning about in the Resilience Project is practising gratitude. Gratitude means thinking about and being thankful for what we have. Practising gratitude can help us persevere during challenging times. This week one of Room 16's Seesaw activities was to make a Gratitude tree. These Gratitude trees were made by Sissi, Dasha, Irene, Olivia, Maia and Stefan.

This week at school, the Room 17 children started working in the school garden. We are going to remove all the weeds that had grown during the lockdown. When the garden beds are tidy again, we are going to plant some new veggies. Room 17 also tried on their bee costumes, even though production is cancelled this year, they loved dancing and gardening in their costumes.

The students in Room 11 have been working hard on their paintings inspired by the work of South African artist Esther Mahlangu. Her work is known for having geometric shapes, bright colours, symmetry, and strong black outlines.

ESOL ZOOM classes for all Year 3 to 6 students have been running smoothly since the beginning of distance learning. Students are motivated and engaged and enjoy learning. Our Year 3 students are inquiring into How we Organise Ourselves with the central idea: A range of jobs and services are needed for society to function. They have learnt new words, phrases and are now using them in written and spoken language.

"E hara taku toa I te takitahi, He toa taki tini" “My strength is not as an individual, but as a collective”

This week in STEM the Year 5 and 6 have been learning about biomimicry. Biomimicry is when people use ideas from nature to solve problems. We have learned about some pretty fascinating examples of biomimicry, such as the kingfisher that inspired the design of a train and shark skin that sparked the invention of a new material.

Just before lockdown, the Year 3 children explored creative expression during our unit of inquiry, How We Express Ourselves. They made clay bowls using a pinch pot technique. These were fired off-site and the children were finally able to decorate their pots and other creations on their return to school. We love their unique and individual style.

The Hive children enjoyed doing some gardening this week. They planted seeds and potted some plants in preparation for transferring them to our Butterfly House. We can't wait to see the flowers as the plants grow. We hope the butterflies will love them.

Our very own Rose, from Room 3, recently appeared as a Kea Kids reporter. Click on the link below to the article and the video to see what an amazing job she did. Well done Rose!

Janice from Room 9 was inspired to write a poem about Gilderoy Lockhart after reading about him in a Harry Potter book. See below.

See the article below from Kidz Therapy. There are 6 easy tips to help your children come back to school and enjoy the last few weeks of the 2021 school year.

Catalogues were sent home this week, BUT if you didn’t get one, don’t despair! Please check with your classroom teacher or the office to get your copy. Orders need to be placed by 12pm, Wednesday 1 December.

All netball uniforms MUST be returned to school by 30 November 2021. Please wash the full uniform, and return in a named plastic bag so I can check your child's name off the list. Your child can drop the bag into the pink tub outside the office in the morning. If your child is not returning to school, please just hand the uniform to one of the teachers at the gates in the morning and I will collect it from them. Thanking you for your cooperation. Mrs Beverley Smith (Netball Coordinator)

These books need to be returned to school please. This is especially important for the Year 6 students leaving our School this year. In case you can't remember what your child had out, I will be providing teachers with a list of what their students still have. There is a box outside the school office for returns. Thank you very much for your help with this. Susan Jury, Librarian.

Charlie and Dustin Henderson (past students) of Milford School have christmas trees for sale at 10 Inga Road, Milford again this year. (Opposite Milford Marina)