Future Problem Solving, Term 4 Hats, Masked Parade, Girls Cricket, Year 6 Contributing School Tours, Cyber Safety Evening.

Kia ora e ngā whānau,

Future Problem Solving: We wish our FPS Team all the very best for their trip to Auckland and for representing the school at the Future Problem Solving Nationals. As I said in a previous newsletter it is a challenge to be selected to compete at this high level and there are only eight other teams who have been selected to compete. Future Problem Solving is a very difficult programme which pushes our students to think creatively and futuristically. It is very demanding and to be selected to attend the national finals is very prestigious, as it features only the top schools in New Zealand. For WIS to be competing with many top and private schools is a great achievement and reflects well on the school’s academic programmes and student ability. All the best to; Daniel Culverwell, Jared Shelling, Gabby Scott, Chloe Dunn and of course Ms Pritchard who is their trainer.

Term 4 Hats: It’s that time of year again when we are strongly encouraging students to bring a sun hat to school. Staff will start encouraging the wearing of hats for all outside activities. Please encourage your child to self-manage their sun safe behaviour and teach them about the benefits of doing so as this will reinforce what we are doing here at school. We also provide sunscreen in classrooms and students are welcome to bring their own if they would like to.

Masked Parade: Well done to the team of staff and students who combined with Nelson Intermediate School last Friday evening to participate in the annual masked parade. I hope you get to check out the photos of this event in the dedicated section of this newsletter.

Girls Cricket: Earlier this week our girls cricket team headed to Christchurch to compete in the South Island cricket tournament. Unfortunately, the games were rained off on Wednesday and at the time of writing this newsletter they were hoping to play three games on Thursday before heading home. We hope to share some photos and news from this tournament next week.

Year 6 Contributing School Tours: This week we welcomed Year 6 students from Wakefield and a small group of students from other schools who will be attending WIS next year as Year 7’s. It was a great opportunity for the Year 6 students to tour the school and ask their questions and also for our current student leaders to share their experiences around their time at WIS. Next week our other contributing schools will be visiting.

Cyber Safety Evening for parents with John Parsons Thursday 10 November 7 pm: We have invited John Parsons to present to our parent community on the topic of Cyber Safety and how to support our children in this huge arena. I am aware that some of you may have already attended a session of John’s and would like to encourage those who have not done so as yet to take up this opportunity. John will also be working with our students during the day prior to the parent evening. John works alongside Police, Children Young Persons and their Families (CYF) and various Health Professionals delivering training in child protection to attendees who come from a wide range of professions. As an Internet Safety and Risk Assessment Consultant John delivers cyber security training workshops to New Zealand Police and government sector organisations. John was named and awarded a "Paul Harris Fellow" by Rotary International for his work in child protection online and in the community. You can learn more about John by visiting this link http://www.johnparsons.nz/?q=bio

Have a great week

Justine McDonald