Kia ora whānau. The end of term is rapidly approaching, with only two weeks left to go. It has been so good to have a whole term of uninterrupted learning, with no lockdowns. Hopefully I am not speaking too soon!! Last year’s lockdowns have certainly had an impact on our students. Aside from extra learning being required by some students, we have also noticed that overall there are more emotional responses being displayed. While we are working through these with the students, it is important that now, more than ever, you also talk with your children about their feelings and how to manage them. The photo above is from Room 21 and is of the collaborative art they have been working on as a class. Well done Room21, it is looking amazing!

We will be holding a parent/teacher/student meeting on Wednesday, 13 April. Bookings are to be made through Skool Loop. We are looking forward to meeting with you to have a conversation about how your child has been progressing this term.

sKids are offering after school care on the afternoon of 13 March for those parents who are unable to collect their child/ren at 12.30pm. Please contact them directly to book in.

Individual and Class photos will be taken on Friday 8 April. Please send your child/ren to school in the correct uniform, with tidy hair and clean socks and shoes. If would like to have a sibling photo taken, please come and fill out a form at the office before photo day.

This year's Scholastic Book Fair will be on from next Friday, 8 April, in Room 4 and will be open every day before school from 8.30-9.00am, and after school from 3.00-3.30pm, as well as all afternoon during the parent-teacher meetings. Come and have a look at the amazing books on offer. A portion of all the books sold will go towards buying new books for the school library. Eftpos is available.

Last week Monday, during Auckland’s record rainfall, the Year 6’s were arriving at school with their luggage ready to head off on their Year 6 camp at Carey Park. Loading the buses was a challenge and added to the excitement. Once we arrived the weather settled and we were able to get started with the activities.

As part of our Unit of Inquiry on "How we organise ourselves", we've been observing the tadpoles in the tank in Room 16, and noticing what they need so they can grow and develop into frogs. One of the lines of inquiry into the unit is "Decisions and actions that humans take have an impact on (native) animals and their environment."

Room 17 has been learning to count in 5s. When our visitors came on Wednesday morning, we created colourful paper chains in 5s, and linked everyone's chains together. Our curious minds wondered "How many rings are in this long chain altogether?". To investigate the question, we counted in 5s and found out that there were 145 rings in the paper chain. We are proud of our beautiful creation and our fantastic skip counting skills. Ka pai Room 17!

The Learner Profile Attribute for this week was being a Thinker. This means that we use our Thinking skills to solve problems and make good decisions. This week the recipients are Emily and Bella (Room 14), Lucas and Minna (Room 15), Layla and Devin (Room 16), Ian and Aylar (Room 17). Congratulations to these wonderful students and also to Ian (Room 14) who celebrates his birthday today.

To end our Who We Are unit, the students in Room 11 used the Learner Profile Attribute of Reflective to reflect on their habits and their identity. We first discussed how our habits play an important role in forming who we are and that reflecting on our habits can help us better understand ourselves, and our identity. We also spoke about how having positive habits can help us reach our goals.

In Year 1 and 2 puoro (music) we have been learning 'How to Organise Ourselves' into groups. We each had a turn at being the kaitohutohu (conductor) and communicated what we wanted with the 'conducting baton'. Did you know that in an orchestra, the musicians are grouped by the instruments they play. The sections are strings, woodwind, brass and percussion. In puoro (music) lessons we divided into claves, maracas, boomwhackers and bells. We are great risk-takers, communicators and we are developing such great leadership skills too! Ka Pai Year 1 and 2!

This term in STEM we have been focussing on what makes us ‘Who We Are’ - our amazing human bodies! So far, we have learnt about bones, blood, the brain and this week we looked at health and nutrition.

While the Year 6 children were away at camp last week, the Gardening Club children harvested a GIANT pumpkin. The children were fascinated by how long the pumpkin plant had crawled, it even grew into our lemon tree. This week was busy as usual, the children are making the most of the spring season by planting many different kinds of veggies. Carrots, Silverbeets, lettuces... The pea seeds we planted a few weeks ago had germinated and been planted into the garden beds. The older boys cleared the weeds in their 'big boys' garden bed and planted two nasturtiums and helped the younger members to refill the gardens with fresh compost.

Our music specialist, Eugenie Middleton, is offering after school xylophone lessons on a Thursday afternoon.

Shelley Bryce is once again running her Tennis Holiday programme from the Milford Tennis Club on Dodson Avenue these coming school holidays.

Not all workouts are created equal - Suna Pilates brings you a unique and very effective exercise style that gets results faster, by focusing on great posture and breathing technique. If you are keen to add to your fitness repertoire, or start integrating fitness that really works into your lifestyle, Suna has two VIP offers for Milford School Parents (and yes, you can bring your bestie).

Ethos has you sorted for the school holidays, running a 3-day programme, involving some of the following,

Need a safe and fun holiday programme for the kids over the school holidays? Our before and after school care team, SKIDS, are running their holiday programme filled with fun activities and trips.

Xabilities is putting on an Autistic expression art event, where autistic people are coming together to display their creations, to show what autism really is. The event is being held at the Estuary Art Centre in Orewa. Opening Night is this coming Monday 4th April from 4pm-6pm. Free Entry. Come and experience a beautiful night out, or night in! The event will be live-streamed. Click the link below to go to the event page. The exhibition will run for the whole of April.

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