News from the Principal - Week 3
It is absolutely wonderful to be well enough to be back at school and be so warmly welcomed back by staff, students and parents. I certainly have had a challenging few months of health issues and it is great to have that all behind me now. I wish to especially thank Robbie and the Whītau Board for their compassion and care. However, the biggest shout-out must go to Amy Collins who has made a sterling effort as Acting Principal in my absence. This term despite her having COVID-19, she has had to take on three roles with Mr Turner having left. Sincere thanks Amy for all your mahi, care and dedication to Whītau School. I welcome Meredith Cassidy and Darrin Mitchell to their shared Acting Associate Principal roles for Term 4.
It is a busy time of the year for the School Senior Leadership team
- We have commenced the appointment process for our new Associate Principal to start at Whītau School in Term 1, 2024
- The Board will shortly commence the draft budget process for our School Finances for 2024. They have again opted into the Ministry of Education School Donation, scheme so the only cost to parents for school for 2024 will be the school uniform and school stationery. Daily school lunches will again be provided by the Ministry of Education.
- Please consider starting weekly or fortnightly payments so your child's stationery - likely to be $45.00 - will be paid for by the start of Term 1.
- We are thrilled that Samantha Dalton is taking parental leave for 2024 to welcome the arrival of her baby at the end of February.
- We congratulate Bryony Bruce who has been appointed a permanent teaching position at Heathcote Valley School, starting in Term 1, 2024. Bryony has commenced her teaching career with us and she has developed into a wonderful class teacher. She has capably led our Kapahaka group for the last two years and has been the Staff Representative on the School Board.
- We have several Scale A teaching positions to fill and we have to also organise how we are going to staff and implement the increased Classroom Release Time for teachers in 2024.
- If you have any special requests for your child's class placement for 2024 could you please email me your request - sandra@whitau.school.nz - by Monday 20 November at the latest
Road Patrol
On Tuesday Constable Jeff came to train our 2024 Road Patrollers. We had 25 applications from Year 5 students and were only able to select 16 students. These students were selected based on their application, attendance and punctuality. We need our road patrollers to be at school and on time for their duty. These students start this term so if you are crossing please be kind and support them with this new learning. Constable Jeff was very impressed with his new Road Patrollers!
Our 2024 Road Patrollers are:
1. Kawhia
2. Malachi
3. Annabel
4. Priyanjali
5. Katie
6. Garaad
7. Jax
8. Mataatua
9. Lily
10. Charlotte
11. Sammy
12. Karley
13. Jayden
14. Clay
15. Eli
16. Blake
Book Week
Our tamariki have loved the lunchtime activities as part of Book Week. We've had Where's Wally Hunts, Bookwork Lolly Guesses together with mask and book mark-making activities. A special thank you to Miss Diedrichs, Ms Gold and the School Librarians who have helped to make this week such a huge success!
It was lovely to come together as a school for our Book Week parade this morning. We appreciated all of the efforts that whānau went into creating costumes for their tamaiti. A huge thank you to the whānau who came along to watch our Book Parade.
Here are the winners who were selected by the judges today:
Kākano
1st: Paige Hammond - The Easter Bunny
2nd: Harper Maguire - Matilda
3rd: Hazel Dower - The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Kehakai
1st: Leo Geraghty - Ash, a Pokemon Trainer from the Pokemon Books
2nd: Maxwell Smith - Dad from Why I Love My Daddy
3rd: Arlo Thian - How to Hide A Lion
Karawhā
1st: Savannah Christian - Barbie, You Can Be Anything
2nd: Lennon Blake - Sam from Lord of the Rings
3rd: Billie Elsworth - Garfield
Kōrari
1st: Lily Wilton - Violet Beauregard from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
2nd: Amelia Lee - Amelia from Amelia Bedelia
3rd: Emily McGrath - Karen from The Baby Sitter's Little Sister
Congratulations to these tamariki! Ka mau te wehi!
Gifted and Talented
This term our Gifted and Talented group are working with Mrs Cassidy. We are working on personal research projects using the website Something Happened Here. It is a fantastic resource that we are using for exploring local and national histories. The Gifted and Talented students are excited to hone in on their own topic of interest and they will present their findings at the end of term. It is wonderful to see their excitement and curiosity develop.
We will keep you posted on our progress!
The Tamai Cultural Festival
Last week we had the Tamai Cultural Festival and Miss Collins and Mrs Cassidy went along and represented the Senior Leadership Team. They were both so proud of how our students performed and their tutors. Mrs Bruce has written more about the experience in this newsletter and I encourage you to read her article. It was such a wonderful occasion coming together to celebrate the cultures that make up the Tamai Kāhui Āko. Our Head Girl and Head Boy did a wonderful job of introducing the performances on the night. A special thank you to whānau who came along to support their tamariki. We know tickets were limited and that was a bit tricky. It was a fabulous night!
Ngā mihi nui
Sandra Dentice
Principal | Tumuaki
sandra@whitau.school.nz
