We have had a fantastic start to the term and we are especially excited about our focus on The Arts.

Kia orana! Last week was Cook Islands Language Week | Te epetoma o te reo Māori Kuki Airani. As part of the celebration, we enjoyed watching an amazing performance from Drums of the Pacific last Friday. Try these introductory phrases at home to practise:

• Kia orana koe - Greetings to you
  
• Kia orana kōrua - Greetings to you two
  
• Kia orana kōtou - Greetings to three or more people
  
• Kia orana te au manu’iri - Greetings to guest/visitors
  
• E no’o rā - Goodbye (to someone who is staying)
  
• ‘Aere rā - Goodbye (to someone who is going) or safe travels
  
• Meitaki ‘ua au - Thank you very much/Very good
  
• Pākau - Awesome
  
• E tana ei - That’s great
  
• Mako rai - Well done

We warmly welcome Sarah Coughlan to our team who is teaching in Studio 6 for the first four weeks of this term before taking up her new position as our school's SENCo (Special Education Needs Co-Ordinator). At this point, we'll welcome Sarah Richardson to our team who will be teaching in Studio 6 for the remainder of the year.

Conceptual Curriculum - “We Create, We Innovate, We Explore”

This term the theme across the school is “we create, we innovate, we explore” through The Arts. In our team we will investigate this through the context of ‘The Future: The Year 2037’. We have begun by creating workshops based on dance, drama, visual art, music, costume design and movie-making. We have also begun to delve into some of the issues Auckland may face in the future, such as transport and housing. Everyone is enjoying the opportunity to get creative. Clare Battersby is also working alongside the children for the first four weeks of this term. She is running three workshops with each class to explore drama and dance conventions.

Oral Language

We have just begun our focus into oral language through our conceptual curriculum theme of ‘The Future’. This not only connects with our performing arts conceptual curriculum, but also with our annual school speech competition which is fast approaching. At the beginning of the week, the children had the option to opt into one of the four following options:

• Speech Writing: Children can only enter the school speech competition through this option.
  
• Presenting with visual aids, ie. a TED-style talk: Visual aids, such as props or digital presentations, cannot be used if children choose the speech writing option.
  
• Poetry
  
• Written Drama
  

For children to be considered for the school speech competition, they must select the first option. If children choose one of the other three options, they cannot be considered as speeches must meet strict criteria shared with the children on Monday. A copy of the speech criteria is attached to this update.

Please discuss with your child the option they have chosen and ensure that their topic aligns with our theme of ‘The Future’. In Week 5, all children will present to their class.

We extend a warm invitation to attend our School Speech Competition Final in the Hall on Tuesday 29th August starting at 11am.

Interschool Sports

It is a very busy term with a whole load of different tournaments happening!

Training has already started for the Soccer tournament coming up later in August. Our Westmere Ski team has been selected and will head to the North Island Champs at Mt Ruapehu in a couple of weeks. The Term 3 Flippaball season is also in action on Sundays. Next up, we will be taking entries for the Kids Marathon in October and registrations will be open for the Galaxy Touch module at Cox’s Bay in Term 4.

Once again, a huge thank you to all our parent volunteers who dedicate their time to helping out in a wide range of roles with all these events. Your valuable contributions ensure these sporting activities continue to be available to our students.

Sport Auckland Dance

Physical Education this term is linked to our concept with a focus on dance. We are lucky enough to have Sport Auckland deliver four dance lessons over the next few weeks. It has been great seeing all of our children giving it a go and expressing their creativity through movement.

Leadership Update

We have been extremely impressed with the number of children who have shown an interest in becoming a leader this term. These leaders have now been selected and will be a member of one our leadership groups: Enviro-Warriors, Digi Team, Culture and Performance, Transition, Health and Safety, PE and Sport, and Communications. These new leaders have been enthusiastic and eager to take on these new responsibilities. We are looking forward to seeing what they can achieve this term!

Parent Help Wanted

Are there any Studio 6 parents who would be available to come into the studio next week to prepare children's art work for Calendar Art? If you are available, could you please email Jason with the times you are free to come in - jmorgan@westmere.school.nz
We would really appreciate your support with this task!

More Poetry Success

Congratulations to Deacon, Layla, Jimmy, Bailey, Renee, Kate J, Nina, Amelia W, Jackson C, Flynn W, Jamie G, and Boh. Their "extremely inventive poems" were published on author Paula Green's site. Read them here!

Ngā mihi,
Jason, Marcela, Mike, Sarah, Sophie and Terry