Good afternoon, Tēnā koutou, Talofa lava, Mālō e lelei, Konnichiwa, Namaste, Bula Vinaka, Selamat Petang

A warm welcome to Sophie, who joined Yaldhurst School Tōtara Tūkaha last week in Te Kākano class.

Have you seen the amazing work Phil our Groundskeeper has done in front of our school? The area is looking very neat and tidy! Phil has worked wonders cleaning up around the signage, water race, and along the front of the administration block and is making his way across the school to the Poplars at the end of the field. Thank you to a parent in our school community Kate Ward, who has kindly donated some gardening tools to the school.

It was great to have 9 of our Year 4 - 8 tamariki giving it their best at the West Zone Swimming Sports at Jellie Park last week and representing Yaldhurst Tōtara Tūkaha. All of our swimmers did well in their heats. Congratulations to Indi, who came third overall in both Freestyle and Backstroke. Thank you to those parents who drove students to Jellie Park and supported them during their races, and to Gabrielle Lange for her organisation also.

This week, our Year 5-6 students are participating in the Cycle Safe Programme run by the Christchurch City Council. The programme includes cycle maintenance, helmet fitting, cycling skills, road rules, and some on road cycling for our Year 6 students. Christchurch's Cycle Safe Programme is considered one of the best in New Zealand, and is used as a leading delivery model. We hope our senior students are enjoying this active learning and have learnt some new cycling and road skills.

Easter Raffle

A huge thank you to our community for supporting our Easter raffle that is being run by the PTA. We really appreciate this and it benefits our school greatly. The PTA have arranged 3 beautiful Easter baskets ready for lucky winners to be drawn in the coming days. Fingers crossed.

Learning Conferences

Do remember to book an appointment slot for the Week 9 Learning Conferences (Tuesday 3 April and Thursday 5 April) with your child/ren's teacher/s. These are valuable opportunities for you to find out more about your child's progress and assessment data, as well as their social and emotional development within the school context.

Preparations

Mrs. Lange and Mr. Yang are hard at work organising exciting events for us. Today, Mrs. Lange has been putting together our school Tryathlon happening this afternoon, which we are looking forward to. It is a fun-filled event where kids can bike, run, and swim either as a team or individually.

Mr. Yang is getting ready for the Rimu Year 5-6 Camp at Hamner Springs in Week 10. The camp is packed with outdoor activities. School camps are great opportunities for our students to learn, participate, and have fun outside the classroom. Students are able to develop new skills and challenge themselves in different ways, form friendships, and become more independent.

Ngā manaakitanga,

Gretchen