30 June 2023

Week 10 Term 2

Greetings, Kia Ora, Tālofa lava, Mālō e lelei, Kia Orāna, Mauri,

Dear Parents / Caregivers,

Congratulations to our children for the way they have embraced Matariki Day on the last day of term and a special thanks to all the Mums, Dads, Grandparents and extended whanaū who came along today to share in the children learning about Matariki. Our children loved having you there. Ask your children to share with you what they have learned from their Matariki studies over the last couple of weeks.

Thank you for the way you have supported us this term and for the way you have prepared the children each day so that they can take advantage of the many exciting learning experiences that our teachers work hard to provide. Keep on talking at home about our three core values of being respectful, responsible, and resolute and what these look like at home and at school. It is important that we continue to ' sing from the same page ' here.

Canterbury Cross Country

On Wednesday, June 21st,16 of our top runners (Yr 5-8) travelled to Ngā Puna Wai for The Canterbury Cross Country Champs. 

Although the weather was average and the ground conditions were muddy our athletes really stepped up. Congratulations to all those who qualified as this, in itself, is a huge achievement. 

This is a huge event with up to 180 competitors in each race from all over Canterbury and The West Coast.. Special mention must be made of Kobe Smith (19th out of 162) and Libby Overend (6th out of 176). Well done on some amazing results.

Year 7/8 Korfball Tournament:

On Monday 37 students from Year 7/8 attended the Term 3 Korfball Tournament at Hagley Park. 

These are always tournaments our students look forward to attending and as usual our tamariki stepped up and represented our school admirably. They showed tremendous resilience as the skies opened up and the rain came down. 

Thank you to Mrs Willis, Mrs Boyte and the parent helpers for braving the conditions and taking our athletes to the competition. A special mention to Braith who was selected for the Tournament Team. 

Life Education comes to QPS:

During the last week of term, the Life Education Trust visited our school to work with our Year 6 - 8 ākonga. 

The theme was been about the detrimental health effects of vaping and smoking. This is a topical theme at the moment and our students have learnt some valuable lessons about the effect of vaping and smoking can have on your personal health.

And.... It is always nice to see Harold the Giraffe!

House Assembly:

Last Tuesday our House Leaders ran a House Assembly for our Year 0 - 6 students. These assemblies are always fun and engaging and it is great to see that interhouse rivalry is still alive and well at Queenspark School, Te Hua Mānuka

Year 7/8 Basketball Tournament:

Last Thursday 2 teams of Year 7/8 competed in an Eastern Zone basketball competition. This is always a tightly contested event and the winning teams go through to represent the Eastern Zone at the Canterbury Indoor Tournament. Basketball is a sport that is exploding in New Zealand. Playing numbers are continuing to go up. We currently have four Year 5/6 and four Year 7/8 teams registered to play weekly basketball at Cowles Stadium as well as a number of teams playing in the Term 1 and Term 4 Miniball Competitions for Year 3/4.

Our Year 7/8 Girls team: Sienna S, Ruby W, Lily W, Gratia L, Niyati G, Bailee S, Bella D

Our Year 7/8 Boys team: Liam H, Ferghus W, Matthew C, Braith P, Micah T, Mason L, Levi C.

It will be the Year 5/6 teams turn to participate in the Zone Basketball Tournament early in Term 3..

Canterbury Rams:

For the past 5 weeks members of the Canterbury Rams and Canterbury Wildcats have been coming to Queenspark School on Friday afternoons to share their knowledge with our Year 5/6 Weekly Basketball Teams. 

Our students have thoroughly enjoyed working alongside these athletes and learning news skills they can use in their weekly games. Thank you to Mrs Guard our Sports Coordinator for facilitating this opportunity for students.

Matariki:

Matariki is New Zealand’s newest public holiday and students from Queenspark School, Te Hua Mānuka have been learning about this important day and the significance it plays for Māori and all New Zealanders.

Matariki represents the Māori New Year and is indicated by the arrival of a cluster of stars seen in the night sky. This was also a sign to harvest crops and celebrate with whānau.

Students have been learning about the nine stars in the star cluster and their significance to different parts of our lives. For further information about Matariki please watch the attached child friendly explanation.

The story of Matariki

Matariki Celebration 2023 at QPS:

On the last day of Term 2 we held a Matariki Celebration. This was an opportunity to invite whānau into school to see some of the learning that has taken place around Matariki. It was also a great opportunity to get the school together for some waiata.

Our amazing Senior Kapa Haka group got a chance to perform and as always they blew us away. It was also wonderful to see our Junior Kapa Haka students step up and perform. A special thank you to Miss Howie for getting this group back together.

It was a packed out school hall on Friday and we were overwhelmed with how many families joined us! Thank you to those whānau members who were able to come along and join in the celebration and stay on for some shared kai with us too.

Disco fever:

What a fantastic time that was had by all at the disco! It was great to see so many children there and all the wonderful costumes they were wearing. 

 A massive thanks to the Student Council for helping with the disco, you all did an amazing job. It has been a tradition for many years at Queenspark that the Student Council help organise the mid-year disco, and what a great tradition it is. They chose the Outer Space theme and I think everyone would agree it was an epic theme! 

Also, a big thank you all those that volunteered to help, we really appreciate this and it's what makes it possible to hold these great events for our children. 

Lastly, a big shout out to all the wonderful teachers that helped on the night.

Year 2/3 visit the Wetlands:

The Year 2/3 team visited Travis Wetlands/Ōruapaeroa. The children learned about the importance of the Wetlands/Kūkūwai. They discovered some underwater species and saw a huge variety of bird life.

Weekly Sport:

During the second half of the term Year 5-8 students have been taking part in a weekly sports programme here at school. The Year 7/8 students have been broken into teams and circulate through a range of sports including - kiorahi, football, indoor hockey, rippa rugby, basketball and netball. The Year 5/6 students have been rotating through Korfball, Capture the Flag, Football, Netball and Tapu Ae. The students have benefited from being exposed to a range of sporting activities that they might not normally have an opportunity to experience.

Some of our students have said:

JJ (Year 6) - I like getting outside for fresh air. I like being part of a team.

Lucy (Year 5) - I like how everyone gets involved and we have different options to try.

Ashton (Year 8) - I like the way my teammates encourage me.

Aurora (Year 8) - I like a chance to play different sports. My favorite is Netball.

Zoe (Year 7) - I like every Friday we get an opportunity to try a new sport. I have enjoyed learning Ki O'Rahi.

QPS Library

Kia ora e te whānau,

What a term! It is hard to believe that half of the school year has now finished.

We have had a very busy term in Te Pua Wānanga. We have introduced around 300 new titles into the library collection. These a vibrant mix of genre fiction, manga, graphic novels, interesting non-fiction and classic titles re-presented in new formats. These have been flying off the new books display and have been ferreted away by students to cozy reading nooks across our community. It makes my heart sing to see their enthusiasm and love of books. Keep those books coming back and we can share the love!

This term we have had lunchtime craft sessions. We are offering lessons in knitting, crochet, and hand sewing, moving into embroidery. Our goal is to create blankets one square at a time.

These lessons, and others, will be offered in Term 3 also. We invite any parents or grandparents to join us for this special time (Monday, Tuesday and Fridays at 12:40).

We are on the lookout for more yarn, needles (4, 5, 6mm), hooks (4, 4.5, 5 & 5.5 mm) or materials for these lessons to continue. If you have any spare or remnants, we would very happily make use of them.Hoping you have a safe and happy holiday, lost in books and adventures!

Mrs Nichols

Kindo App:

A reminder that the Kindo app is a really great app to have. You can order school lunches, sausage sizzles, disco combos and more! If you don't have this, download it today!

Kindo & ezlunch are excited to share the arrival of a fresh new look in Term 3!

With it's improved layout and enhanced features, the interface is now easier than ever to navigate, further simplifying school life and saving you time.

So what can you expect from the new and improved versions of Kindo & ezlunch?

• A fresh, new look with better navigation and clear student selection
• Clearer cart layout showing what has been purchased for each person
• Faster and easier checkout flow for a better shopping experience
• Better visibility of which items are available and which aren't
• New item search & sort function e.g. sort lunch by dietary requirement
• Easier process for ordering lunches for 'multiple days'

Click here for More info

ALL Queenspark parents must have the school Hero app. This is our schools student management system and the way school communicates with parents. We notify parents of cancellations and reminders + you can check the event calendar, print your child's school report or your school account all via Hero.

Once you download Hero, Kindo will sit on the Hero app so everything is in one place. Then you just need to set up an account on Kindo and it will all be on the same app in one place on your device.

Please contact the office staff if you need assistance setting these up.

Walking, Scootering, Biking to school:

During the holiday break please take the opportunity to discuss with your children how to safely walk, scooter and bike to school.

When scootering on a pavement please be mindful of pedestrians coming towards you. In this case stay to the left.

The T-intersection of Pinaster Place and Radiata Ave is a particular area where both parent drivers and student pedestrians are vulnerable. We strongly encourage students not to cross Radiata Ave right opposite the Pinaster Place entrance. It is much safer to cross Radiata Ave before this T-intersection. This can be done on both sides of this intersection. 

A reminder that all scooters and bikes must be locked while at school.

Watch out for excessive screen time by your children over the holiday break. Try and keep a balance between screen time and outdoor fresh air time. Let's hope that the weather is kind to us here.

Have fun with your children over the couple of few weeks.

Ngā mihi

Ross Willocks

Principal

Queenspark School - Te Hua Mānuka