In this week's newsletter:

School Life

• This Week

  • Kāhui Ako

  • Coloured Sand

• Cones on Garnet Road

• Police Vetting

• Lost Property

• School's (Nearly) Out for Summer - Save the Date

Other Opportunities

• The Wizard of Oz - Starring Westmere Students

• TAPAC December Holiday Programmes

• Support Auckland FC and Westmere School

• Zero Waste Christmas

• Fill the Blues Bus

School Life

This Week

This week our tamariki have been out on more adventures exploring the Auckland area. The Juniors have been down at the mangroves, learning about this important ecosystem and the job of mangroves filtering seawater into fresh water. The first of our Senior student classes travelled further afield to Tiritiri Matangi to explore this unique ecosystem and the influence humans can have. We have repeatedly heard, "This is the best day of my life," throughout this week. It's been a joy to see how much happiness these trips bring to our tamariki.

Kāhui Ako

Today, I met with the other principals in our Kāhui Ako to wrap up a series of projects we have been working on over the past six months. One of the projects was back-mapping the data from the Common Assessment Activities (the NCEA co-requisite assessments) back to our students in each of our schools. We were pleased to see that our students who travel through our pathway are highly successful. We were able to see how our students tracked from Westmere through to the two Intermediates and on to Western Springs/Waiorea. We found strong alignment between the schools and students' preparedness for each level of schooling.

Although Kāhui Ako are coming to an end, we will continue to work alongside our network of schools to support the success of our tamariki throughout their journey.

Kinetic Sand

You may have seen the recent recall of some batches of some brands of coloured kinetic sand due to traces of asbestos. We had some kinetic sand in a few studios in the school. All but one studio hadn't used it recently. We had all of the sand tested and it was negative for asbestos. We have disposed of all kinetic sand anyway, and will keep it out of our studios for the foreseeable future.

Cones on Garnet Road

You will have noticed parking is at a premium this week. We've been advised that Watercare are doing some work on Garnet Road, hence the road cones. We do not know when this will be and for how long so we ask for patience around drop-off and pick-up times as we know it's difficult to find a park.

Police Vetting

Our middle school and NUONI tamariki have marae trips next year that we require all parent help to be police vetted. If your child is currently Year 2, this will be your child next year, so we ask that you come to the office to get a police vetting form. You will need to fill it in and bring 2x forms of ID (passport/licence) to the office for Anita to sight. Please note - these cannot be sent to us electronically and you must present in person. Police vets can take some time so please get these underway as soon as possible to avoid the new year rush. Ngā mihi.

Lost Property

Please visit our lost property racks in the office as it's growing again as well as a lot left over from Skids. These will be donated at the end of the year so please have a look through before the end of the Term.

School's (Nearly) Out for Summer - Save the Date

Other Opportunities

The Wizard of Oz - Starring Westmere Students

ABOUT THE SHOW:  Follow the Yellow Brick Road to The Wizard of Oz!

This November, the National Youth Theatre brings the beloved MGM classic to life on stage! Join Dorothy, Toto, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion on a magical journey through Oz, with favourite songs like Somewhere Over the Rainbow and We’re Off to See the Wizard.

With 250+ talented young performers, dazzling costumes and spectacular choreography, this is a show the whole family will love!

28–30 November | Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre
Limited season — book your tickets now!

Tickets from Ticketmaster, click here.

TAPAC December Holiday Programmes

Deck the halls with giggles and goofiness — TAPAC’s December Holiday Programmes are now OPEN for booking!
This season’s line-up includes Drama Games, Circus Arts, and Christmas-themed workshops designed to get little ones in the festive spirit.

Book now at https://www.tapac.org.nz/holiday-programmes to get ahead of the December rush!

Dates: 15–19 December
Cost: $70 per day
Hours: 9am–3pm each day

Support Auckland FC and Westmere School

Do you want to go to either of the next home matches of Auckland FC?

• Vs Brisbane Roar | November 23rd 

• Vs Newcastle Jets | November 30th

Auckland FC has given us access to Spinzo, a 'group ticketing' platform that makes it super easy for friends and family to buy individual tickets to Auckland FC matches and sit together, rather than one person having to pay for all the tickets upfront. You can tell you who from your school is going to the match and where they are sitting!

If you purchase tickets through Spinzo, Auckland FC will donate $5 to Westmere School for every ticket sold.

Purchase your tickets here!

Zero Waste Christmas

Fill the Blues Bus

Last year, Westmere School contributed to the Blues effort to collect food for families in need.  We are doing this again this year and ask for your help.  Please drop off non-perishable food items to the boxes in the office by the end of November.  We will make sure it gets to the Blues to distribute before the Christmas and summer holidays.  Your kindness is appreciated.