November 20 2024, Week 6

Principal's Message

Term 4 Week 6

Kia ora koutou

It is hard to believe we are over half way through the term. For some children it is the very beginning of their primary school days and for our Year 8s, the last few weeks is a time for reflecting on what they will remember and how they have contributed to the school.

This Friday, we are looking forward to the Bake Sale that the Year 8 students are preparing to raise funds for the leavers' dinner and celebration. This year we are going to have this event in Te Kōhanga instead of the community centre and appreciate the group of parents who are involved in the organisation with the teachers.  

We have been looking at a way to provide music within the school day next year. We are really pleased to provide all parents with the opportunity to have students learn drums, keyboard, ukulele, or guitar. These programmes are run by professional musicians and we can accommodate this by nominating one day a week that the music bus will be parked outside the school. We have heard great things from other schools in the area who have the Goodtime Music Academy and feel it may support our community in a positive way. Further details are on HERO and in the Goodtime Music section.  

We appreciate that calendars are busy going into December. We want to give you a heads up for the last day of the year, Wednesday 18th December. 

We will have our final school assembly on Wednesday 18th December from 9:30-10:30 at the Northland Community Centre. We will celebrate all the mahi from 2024, farewell our leavers and enjoy a final performance from the Kapa Haka and the Music performance group. School finishes midday on Wednesday 18th December. 

Thank you to the 50 families who have completed the parent survey. We will keep the survey open until Tuesday 26th November in the hope we can increase the responses. During the next few weeks we are also meeting with some Year 9 students to gather feedback from them about their first year at college and how this has gone for them. 

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

Problem Solving Challenge

During the year, our senior students participate in a Problem Solving Challenge, whereby children attempt to solve 5 questions in 30 minutes with progressing difficulty. There are 5 challenges throughout the year and then based on results a Final Challenge for those who meet the criteria. The criteria for the final challenge is to have an overall score of 21/25. We had two students Oliver and Isaac who were eligible for the final challenge which was an hour of difficult maths problems. 

We had 82 students participate with the following overall results; Participation 63, Merit 18 and Excellence 3. To attain excellence the total accuracy across all 5 challenges was over 95%. Congratulations to the following students who have received Excellence; Oliver H, Reuben S and Isaac B. Merit; Alfie Mc, Oscar H, Ruben, B Alexis M, Alice M, George S, Matthew P, Harriet S, Johannes L, Noah S, Matilda S, Leo T, Theo C, Sam O, Monty O, Aiden C and Marnie O. Congratulations to everyone who persisted to have a go and complete each challenge. We will continue to compete next year and there is a challenge for each student to improve their performance during 2025. 

Northland School Parent Survey

Each year Northland School (in conjunction with its Board of Trustees) sends out a survey to seek feedback on our initiatives to help us make improvements and is an opportunity for you to tell us how we are doing. The purpose of this survey is to collect your views on our 3 pou; Learning - Ako, Relationships- Whanaungatanga, Wellbeing - Oranga. 

During 2024 we have focused on Structured Literacy approach, an increase in Science, developing the Northland CHAMPs, Physical activity and increasing the functions on the HERO platform to name a few.

In 2025 we will implement the new Maths curriculum and the updated English curriculum as required by the Government. The key areas for National focus are; Attendance, Achievement and Assessment.

We ask you to spend 5-10 minutes to respond to this survey, and in doing so, ensure that your views are represented in our planning efforts on behalf of your children.

We value your feedback and would appreciate it if you could fill in the survey.  The survey will close on Tuesday 26th November.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/X2G83WD

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. We have confirmed the date for our reunification drill on Monday 2nd December from 2:15 - 3pm. 

This is only a drill and we are carrying this out so we all understand how this process will work. We would like as many collectors as possible arriving at the collection points so this exercise can be as authentic as possible. 

If your children have activities after school on the day we do our drill, we will be dismissing children as usual at 3pm and they will return to the school site with staff. For example if your child goes to Kelly sport or Jan, this will continue to be provided as usual. 

Week 6- What can I do to help with a reunification process?

1. Ensure that I have a collector for my children, and that name has been given to the school office.
2. If I am traveling to Northland School to collect my children, consider what route may look like during a civil emergency. 
3. Do you have a home civil defence kit?

During the Northland School Reunification process, it is important that all of the adults model calm for the students. It will take some time to reunify all of the school, therefore we ask for a little patience at the stations.

Our staff in the evacuation zone will care for the students whilst we complete the reunification.

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)

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 Kōhanga, 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. 

HERO

We would like to provide you with a brief outline of all the functions that we are now using on HERO. Please make sure that you are signed up and have notifications on so you can access all the information.

As we progress in our upgrades with HERO we are adding new features to streamline communications.

• Attendance
• Enrolment
• Sharing of Learning
• Community notices
• Group, Class, Team notices
• Trips and request for parent help
• School event reminders and parent information evenings
• Finance 

In the financial section you will notice we have added  Before School Care (BSC), Pizza payments and all our Western Zone Bus payments.   You can check your school account at any time through the App and we  will send statements at the beginning and end of each term.

Please come and talk to us if you need help navigating the  HERO App.

Pack the Bus - LAST WEEK

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 be picking up donations from Northland School on Wednesday 27th November. 

Do you have a metal detector we can borrow?

Do you have a metal detector that we could borrow for a few weeks?  During playtime on Monday there was a man metal detecting at the park and he found various bits of treasure.  We have a group of tamariki who would love the opportunity to have a go at this themselves to see what they could find.  If you have a metal detector we could borrow please contact Jane Finlayson - janef@northland.school.nz

Goodtime Music Academy

Get ready to ignite your child's musical passion! Exciting News! Goodtime Music Academy is coming to Northland School in 2025, offering award-winning in-school music lessons. Say goodbye to post-school commutes! Dive into the world of music in a vibrant group setting with the following instrument lesson: Drums, Guitar, Keyboard, Ukulele, or our 'Intro to Music' course. But the excitement doesn't stop there! Your child will have the chance to shine in our thrilling concerts!

Act fast, as spots are limited. Enrol now at www.goodtimemusicacademy.co.nz/learn-at-school or call us at 04 568 2237. Your child's moment in the limelight awaits!

Michael Brown

General Manager

04 568 2237

www.goodtimemusicacademy.co.nz

50 Victoria Street, Lower Hutt 

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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. 

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

Community Notices