Our school pool looks fantastic with its recent upgrades; I am sure that it has made our students better… but has it made them faster at a competition? It seems to be the case at recent swimming events! It was wonderful to see so many families at our swimming events across the school.

Today the Year 4, 5 and 6 students showed off their skills and confidence at our Northcote swimming event. Special thanks to Sandie Corlett Room 17, for the precision organisation and a successful event, ably supported by our team of Year 4/5/6 teachers and SLT. We have been proud of all students across the school and the teams of teachers who make these events happen.  Thank you to Francine Cameron for some of these amazing photos.

It is a fantastic opportunity for parents to celebrate their children whatever their age. It also offers us all chances to have conversations which include themes about; commitment, competition and participation, the concept of ‘not yet’ (growth mindset), persistence and how to bounce back from disappointment. These areas are ones which all learners experience in their life. Talking about these concepts with your children is an important conversation to have on a regular basis about life examples.

Have your say about the future of education in New Zealand!

The National Education Conversation is a review about ‘Tomorrow’s Schools’ a reform that dramatically changed the governance, management and administration of schools from 30 years ago. An online survey is now open for you to provide feedback on key issues and recommendations. Click here to have your say. Taskforce-led consultation meetings will take place in March. Click here for more information. The consultation closes on 7th April.

Our Legacy Project will soon be realised in the implementation of the landscape design which we will incorporate the legacy bricks which have been sold to make our legacy pathway. Part of this project aims to create garden spaces which recognise and remember our past heritage at Grey Lynn School. We are looking to begin, by creating spaces which celebrate plantings connected to our cultures of Maori, Pasifika and Chinese. There will be further gardens in response to future cultures. We believe that each of these gardens should include art or sculpture, music and learning for all. Contact me if you would like to take an active part in these projects or if you have great ideas or people to connect us with.

GLS Hibiscus Project
So that we can spread that colourful Pasifika vibe around our school gardens, we are looking to take cuttings from hibiscus shrubs in Grey Lynn, and nurture them into plants to put in the soil in our school. We are especially keen to find hibiscus from old Grey Lynn gardens and the gardens of our Pasifika families. We are looking for all colours!

The plan is to collect softwood cuttings and bring them to Grey Lynn School. Our keen gardener children will prepare the cuttings and plant them into pots. The children will then look after the plants in a sunny corner of the school (with watering rosters over the holidays). We’ll do this at school on Friday 22 March, at lunchtime. Please contact parent Elke Chilwell if:

- you have a hibiscus that you would like to donate some softwood cuttings

- you would like to help with this project in any way at all

Elke’s contact details are: text or call: 0272445935 email: elke.chilwell@gmail.com Elke can come and take the softwood cuttings, and take a photo of the flower so that we can keep a track of what colours we have (and where they came from).

If you would like to drop any softwood cuttings you can either drop off to Elke at 23 Prime Road or drop into the office at Grey Lynn School where Shelley will store them in a bucket of water. Please bundle them together with a note as to what colour they are (and send us a photo of the flower). Ideally, we would like at least 8 softwood cuttings from each bush to ensure we have a good success rate.

Let’s focus on keeping our momentum of keeping Grey Lynn growing and stretching forward to the future.

Nga mihi

Alicia Whata