Kia ora koutou katoa. It doesn’t take long for the students to settle back into their learning at school and this week has seen just that. The classrooms are abuzz and the excited voices tell their own story. The Year 6 students are in full swing with their PYP Exhibition and the groups are inquiring into really rich questions, with both local and global perspectives. Teachers across the school are mentors to these groups, a role I am really enjoying. It is so great to see the passion and skills the students have. We are hopeful that we will be able to share their Exhibition displays with our community in Week 10 (Covid-19 levels permitting).

It is so exciting to see so many students using bicycles and scooters to get to school. 🚲🛴 In fact, we have so many bikes and scooters in the bike park now, we might need to ask Mrs Cattell to help us find space for more bike racks!! If you are cycling or using a scooter to get to school please make sure you have completed a Bike and Scooter declaration form and return it to school to get your free fluoro vest.

During distance learning, Year 1 and 2 children came up with designs for a caterpillar/butterfly house to keep the wasps from eating the caterpillars and chrysalis. This was done through a Seesaw activity. These are some of the designs from students in Room 14

It was great to get back to Gardening Club after lockdown. Last week we created a potato garden. These potatoes will hopefully be ready for harvesting before the end of the year. This week we planted flower seedlings in our butterfly garden and bee garden. These flowers will feed the bees and butterflies with their nectar, while the bees and butterflies work hard to pollinate our plants. A few children painted rocks for the Forrest Hill Community Garden stall. We are all looking forward to some warmer weather so our spring vegetables can thrive.

21 August was the unofficial National Poetry Day in New Zealand. Since we were all in Lockdown, Room 19 children were invited to share a favourite poem or write their own. Here are some original works:

The Enviro Group will be back to toiling the soil next Friday 18th September. We would love some parent helpers for this exciting project. We will meet in Room 19 at 1pm and then head down to the garden below the hall to continue digging the pathway for our new native garden.

This term, we are one of two teams competing in the EPro8 challenge - an engineering competition that runs nationwide with regionals taking place later this year. Our team - the Milford Maniacs - have been working on our robotic kiwi this week, complete with a crank to move the head so the flightless native can collect “food” with its magnetic beak sensors! We can’t wait to submit our build - keep a lookout for our video coming at the end of the term where you’ll see our kiwi in action!

The Graduation Social Committee is holding a Jesters Pie Day to help fundraise for the year 6 Graduation social.

As we have had some beautifully sunny weather the last few days, we decided to make some bird feeders for our flighty friends to enjoy in the sunshine. We used peanut butter, cardboard rolls and some delicious seeds. Let us know if you spot a critter snacking!

We are planning on having a 2nd Hand Uniform Sale on Friday, 18 September at 2.45pm, should the Prime Minister announce a drop in levels on Wednesday. However, if we stay at level 2.5, we will unfortunately have to postpone the planned sale. We will send out an app notice to advise on Wednesday or Thursday next week.

This week we did the paper chain challenge in Year 3. We had to work together to create the longest chain possible with limited time and resources. This team in Room 21 - Reuben, Jonas, Wayne and Ryan - managed to make one that was almost the length of the Pouaka Room at 805cm! They credited their success to great ideas and awesome teamwork - ka pai boys!

Thank you so much to all the parents and school supporters who have saved Yummy Stickers and sent them into school. While this promotion goes all year, we do have to send our present collection in by the end of this term.

We will be holding a ballot for out of zone students in October this year, for entry to school in 2021. This ballot includes out of zone siblings of students already attending Milford School. The final day to get a ballot application into school is Wednesday 14 October. The ballot will be drawn by our Police Education Officer on Wednesday 21 October.

Tap into your child’s potential by encouraging their creativity with Bricks 4 Kidz® Holiday Programme, a fresh and fun way for kids aged 5-12 to spend their school holiday! Students will show off their engineering skills, problem solving, creativity and imagination, explore the world of Science, Engineering and Architecture using STEM principles. Your only limitation is your imagination!

We are excited to be able to confirm the new Shore to Shore date as SUNDAY 8TH NOVEMBER 2020! Online registrations are now open.

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