November 6 2024, Week 4
Principal's Message
Term 4 Week 4
Kia ora koutou
Today's highlight of the Week of Words was the Dress Up as a Letter parade, a fun event showcasing the creativity of both students and staff. The excitement of the book swap that Erwin has organised will go ahead on Thursday. All classes have planned a variety of word games, challenges, sharing of favourite books, charades, and more.
Last Friday our school was well represented at the Western Zone Athletics and we were impressed with the way all students supported one another and gave their best. Thank you to parents who were able to attend and encourage the Northland CHAMPS. On Monday we had two teams of Year 7 and 8 students participate in the first Kāhui Ako Ki - o - Rahi competition at Wellington College. This is a new initiative to help with transition from primary to secondary school.
Next Tuesday, we hope many of you are able to come to the neurodiversity workshop that we are running in conjunction with Te Mahau, Ministry of Education, Learning Support and Neurodiversity in Education project. We have a University student coming to talk about her journey through education with an ADHD diagnosis. Further details in the newsletter.
HERO continues to be our main platform for communication. We hope you are noticing sharing learning posts that provide a glimpse of learner dispositions, perhaps a sample of work or an example of your child reflecting on how they see themselves as a learner. As we near the end of the year teachers are focused on gathering data and final assessments to inform the end of year reports in Reading, Writing and Maths. These will be uploaded on HERO in the last week of school.
In Term 4, both staff and students are expected to wear a full-brimmed sun hat when outside. We understand that the wind can sometimes make this challenging. Please encourage your child to have a named sun hat that can stay at school throughout the week. We have very few spares that we can provide.
If you would like to come and chat or have any concerns please get in touch with any of the senior leadership team, Andrea, Judith and Grant.
Ngā mihi nui
Andrea
Reunification Information
In the event of a Civil Defence emergency your child will be retained at school until they are collected by you or an adult nominated by you. Thank you for providing details to us recently so we know who the nominated collectors are. We have confirmed the date for our reunification drill on Monday 2nd December from 2:15 - 3pm.
What is a Reunification at Northland School?
Reunification is when students are required to be collected from the “school evacuation zone” by identified adults. This procedure usually occurs when there has been a significant civil emergency event (earthquake, fire, gas leak, etc).
This procedure is only initiated when the school is unable to return to the school site and this is recommended by the appropriate authorities for everyone’s safety.
Over the next 3 weeks you will receive weekly information on how the school will implement this procedure. This information will be contained in both our weekly school newsletter, via HERO and on the School webpage. Today we are including a glossary of terms that are used with this procedure.
Glossary
Collector: a nominated adult who lives close to you that can collect your children during a reunification. These names should have been given to Ann in the office. They can be your next door neighbors.
Reunification: the process where students are collected by an adult, family member or collector.
Collection Points: the two stations where collectors and students are reunified. (Information on this will be in next week’s post)
School Evacuation Zone- this is at the Tennis court on Harbour View Road. Under a reunification process this zone remains restricted to school staff only. (Information on this will be in next week’s post)
Our school practice date for the Reunification procedure will be Monday 2nd of December starting at 2.15pm - 3pm. This will provide us with an opportunity to run this procedure and then seek community feedback.
Western Zone Athletics
On Friday November 1st, about 50 Northland students went to Newtown Athletic Park to participate in the Western Zone event. We had a great day while we were there and all of the students gave it their all, participated fully and actively showed the Northland school values. For now, the Western Zone results are still getting compiled, but I'm hoping to have the results by the end of the week. The Interzone event will be on Tuesday November 19th and if your child is going, I will be contacting you with more information.
Year 8 Event Bake Sale
We are planning a lovely evening to celebrate and farewell our Year 8 Leavers on Friday 13th December. Thank you to the parents who are working with the Kākā teachers to organise this.
We are having a Bake Sale on Friday 22nd November to fundraise for this event as we will be decorating Te Kohanga, providing a light meal for students and dessert with year 8 parents.
We would appreciate any baking donations of slices, cakes, sweet or savoury items to be delivered to either the office or Kākā 7 on the morning of Friday 22nd November. Further details will follow closer to the time. We will have different times for each team to avoid congestion
Neurodiversity Workshop
Come and join us for an evening workshop to explore neurodiversity: Tuesday 12th November 7-9pm (Coffee from 6.45)
We have a University student coming to talk about her journey through education with an ADHD diagnosis. We will explore the different characteristics of different neurodiversities, hear about how we support students with different needs at Northland School and beyond. This will run in conjunction with Te Mahau (Ministry of Education, Learning Support), Nga hau e wha (RTLB) and Neurodiversity in Education Project.
We will have books and resources to look at and there will be opportunities to ask questions.
All are welcome, please ring or email the office if you would like to attend by Friday 8th November.
Pack the Bus
It's time to jump ‘onboard’ with Pack The Bus 2024 Wellington! We all know that Christmas can be a tough time of the year for many, and The Breeze Wellington is on a mission to make it much better for local children and families around our region!
From NOW until November 22nd we will be collecting donations at the school office.
DONATION REQUESTS:
- Can you please ensure that any toy donations that are made to the bus are new toys, these will be going to children and families in need to celebrate the spirit of Christmas. This is not a campaign to get rid of old toys within the household.
- We do request that all donations remain UNWRAPPED. As much as we appreciate the thought that goes into a gift presentation, any wrapped gifts will be unwrapped before being distributed out to families.
- If there are any food items being donated, can you please ensure that these are still within their expiration date, we will not be able to donate any items that have expired.
The Breeze will travel around the region during the week of 25th November, packing their bus with new, unwrapped toys, and non-perishable food items, to deliver some holiday magic to those who need it the most via the Wellington City Mission.
Red Bin is back!
The red bin is coming back! It will be parked at the Tiger Turf entrance to school from Thursday 7 November - Thursday 14 November. All clean, good condition clothing and shoes are welcome. This time we are especially looking for clothes for spring and summer including sun hats.
The red bin is available one week each term and items collected are donated to our partner school in the Wellington area. If you have any questions or have a large donation, give Deborah a text or call on 021709467. Thank you!
Civil Defence Emergency Contact Form
We have planned our drill for Monday 2nd December 2.15pm to 3pm. We are still outstanding around 30 families returning their Civil Defence Emergency contact details. Further details regarding the process and organisation will be sent closer to the time.
Library News
Book Swap Day
This year, one of the activities during Book Week will be Book Swap Day. Students can bring a book(s) from home that has been read and is sitting idle. The book(s) need to be in good condition (i.e. no drawings, no mould, no missing pages, etc..). Give the book(s) to the librarian who will mark on her list the name and number of books given. Books have to be given no later than 1 Nov.
On Book Swap Day, students, who brought books in, will have the opportunity to choose the same number (or less) of books they brought in. Please note that books given for book swapping will not be returned back to the original owner, this is an optional activity.
Sport Shirts - Cleaned and Returned
Can we PLEASE have all sports shirts returned to the school office. Can you please check bags, draws and under the bed - we are missing many many shirts, thank you.
School Lunch Options
Subway - Every Monday - order online through www.lunchonline.co.nz
Sushi - Every Tuesday - order online through www.ezlunch.co.nz
Pizza - Once a month - available the 1st Friday of each month, $6 per pizza order forms available on the school website or in the school office.
Apps available for Subway and Sushi through the school website.
Term Dates
2024 Dates
Term 4 Monday 14 October - Wednesday 18 Dec
2025 Dates
We have confirmed the dates for 2025. We will have an open afternoon for families on January 29th to help the transition back into school, see the class space and meet the teachers in the learning space. This is prior to the first day of school on 30th January. We are yet to confirm Teacher Only Days and once these have been decided we will let you know.
Term 1 - 30 January - 11 April
Public Holiday- Thurs 6th Feb- Waitangi
Please note Easter and ANZAC day are within the Term holiday in 2025
Good Friday - 18th April
Easter Monday - 21st and Easter Tuesday 22.
ANZAC Friday 25th April
Term 2 - Mon 28 April - 27 June
Kings Birthday - Monday 2nd June
Matariki - Friday 20th June
Term 3 - 14 July - 19 September
Term 4 - 6 October - 17 December Labour Day- Monday 27th October