Kia ora whānau. Welcome to the first edition of our weekly school newsletter. We send a newsletter out each Friday, so please look out for it. It will contain a message from either myself or one of the DP’s, plus important information on events as well as class articles and photos.

We are delighted to launch our new communication and reporting system, HERO. HERO will replace ETAP, SchoolLoop and SeeSaw. Kindo stays as our financial system.

We will be having our next 2nd Hand Uniform Sale tomorrow Saturday, 12 February from 10.30-11.30am outside the junior block, opposite the Courts.

Please contact Sara Baker on sara.baker@milford.school.nz if your child has any medical conditions that we need to be aware of, or any medication other than asthma inhalers for significant asthma, that we need to keep in school. URGENT: all students with medication such as antihistamine or Epipens - parents please check expiry dates and replace for 2022 if required.

What a great start we've had to the term. There were many excited little children skipping into their classrooms in the mornings. Today we had our first Year 1 team hui (meeting). Our Learner Profile Attribute for the next 2 weeks is "Caring". When we are caring, we use kind words and actions towards our friends and others. We are respectful of others and take care of our belongings and things in the classroom. The Year 1 teachers selected 2 students from each room to receive the certificates for this week. Congratulations to Thea and Everett in Room 14, Lucas, Indi and Sona in Room 15, Joshua and Sandra in Room 16, and Rosalind and Misha in Room 17.

We use this te reo Māori phrase to ask 'Who are you?', to which we respond with our name. In Year 3 we are discovering that we are so much more than our names. It has been a great start to the year, getting to know each other and making connections with the other children in our classes. One of the ways we did this was by playing the 'Me Too!' string game where children shout out 'Me too!' when they connect with someone else's shared interests or life experiences. Look at the photos to see how everyone is connected in some way. Through sharing our personality bags we've been getting to know each other and make even more connections as children share what they value or what they enjoy. "I like being back at school." "Me too!"

An exciting opportunity awaits! - Learn how to be an instructor for Waterwise! Children at Milford School take part in the New Zealand Waterwise Programme when they are in Year 5 & 6. We require parent instructors for every session.

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 22 February.

See attached enrolment information for Skids before and after school programme, including their weekly activity plan for Term 3.

Guitar Lessons are available at Milford school, with Dave Gatman from Musiqhub. If you would like to enrol your child to start Guitar Lessons or if you require any further information, please contact Dave on 021 2221456 or dave.gatman@musiqhub.co.nz.

For busy parents, the convenience of having instrumental lessons available at school can be really helpful. Children love the fun and creativity of making music, and at the same time can benefit from specialist music tuition in a number of ways.

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.