13 March 2009

Dear Parents

By now our first week of swimming has been completed – many thanks to all parents for having your children in their named sports gear. Also thanks to all the parents who have been able to help in the changing rooms. Having fathers able to assist means I am able to take a swimming group which has been beneficial to our group sizes.

ZONE ATHLETICS ~ These will be held at the Surrey Park grounds this Monday (cancellation date Tuesday 17th). Children 8 and above (as at 31/12/2008) will be taking part. All the children attending have been given information about the day. Please do not send your child to school with a warm up for lunch. Parents are most welcome to join us at Surrey Park.
Because of the changeable weather, please have your children bring their athletic gear and their swimming gear. If the athletics are cancelled then the children will be going swimming with the rest of the school.

ATTENDANCE DUES
You should have received your Attendance Dues from the Dunedin Diocesan recently. If you are experiencing any problems or issues paying these, please contact Fr. Vince Smith on 215-7315.

OLD SCHOOL FURNITURE ~ The desks and chairs next to the sand pit are surplus. You are welcome to help yourselves to these, on a first in first served basis.

FOR SALE ~ TV on trolley – 25”. Inquiries to office please.

SCHOLASTIC NZ
Issue 2 of bookclub given out this week, closes on Thursday 26th March. Cheques to Scholastic NZ please.

CONGRATULATIONS: To Georgia Mackie & Samuel Downing who are both trialling for the Southland U11 Touch teams this weekend. Good luck!

PTA EASTER RAFFLE
Thank you to those families who have returned their raffle cards. These need to be handed in at the office by next Friday 20 March please. Also remember to drop your Easter Egg into the office for the Hamper.



By Room 8 ~ Yey it’s Friday!!! We are all soooooo tired from our first weeks of swimming.

I have enjoyed learning to blow bubbles and breathe. I am in Mrs Leishout’s group in the big pool.
I am super cool!!!! By Eli W

I have been learning to breathe properly, and I know now that when I breathe I have to look at the wall not at the ceiling. My favourite part is swimming freestyle. By Tom H

Splash!!! The waves went wild because Georgia is kicking wildly with her feet. I enjoyed when I was doing backstroke because it was fun and I am really good at it. By Reuben B

The good things about swimming are when the teacher isn’t looking we secretly splash about in the pool. The bad thing about it is that we have a prolonged lesson. By Samuel R

Splash!!! All of the people are kicking and the water is getting in my eyes. I like breast stroke the most but I kept on bumping into other people. I disliked having to swim the whole length of the pool. This was hard. By Brenna

Splash!!! It was time to get into the pool. When we first got in it was freezing. To warm up we had to swim a length of the pool. My favourite part is back stroke. By Abby H

6 March 2009

Dear Parents

This Monday we begin our swimming programme at Splash Palace. All the teachers and support staff will be taking groups or on crowd control so we would welcome any parents assistance in the changing rooms. Could children also wear their sports uniforms when possible – it makes it easier when changing. All clothes need to be named please.

URGENT REQUEST ~ Some of the swimming groups need to use 2 litre plastic milk/juice bottles as part of our swimming activities. We would appreciate it if we could receive some next week. Thank you.

SUSPICIOUS VEHICLE – GRASMERE AREA
A reminder to be aware of a ‘white van’ police are on the look out for in relation to several incidents involving children being approached by a man (men). If you have any information, please contact the Community Policing Group 211-0400 or in emergency 111.

PALM SUNDAY MASS ~ 5th April. This is a compulsory school Mass to commemorate Palm Sunday in the lead into Easter.

ZONE ATHLETICS ~ These will be held at the Surrey Park grounds on Monday 16th March (cancellation date Tuesday 17th). Children 8 and above (as at 31/12/2008) will be taking part. We have been lucky with the weather in that we have been able to do a lot of practice. Thanks to Mr Parker for marking out a running track and throwing fans.

LIBRARY ~ From next week the children will be able to access library books. While the location of the west corridor and the back of Room 6 are not really suitable, it is more important that children can access reading material, so we will make it work until a more permanent solution can be found.

PTA ~ Congratulations to the new office bearers elected at the AGM on Monday night. It was good to see some new parents coming onto the committee.

President: Susanne Brown
Vice President: Liza Adams
Treasurer: Trish Sherriff
Secretary: Denise Sullivan


CAN YOU HELP ~ Rooms 1 & 2 are looking for talented mothers to sew small square bean bags for their rooms. We require approx 40 of these, material & beans supplies. If you could help, it would be much appreciated. Thank you ~ Mary & Vanessa.

OLD SCHOOL FURNITURE ~ The desks and chairs next to the sand pit are surplus. You are welcome to help yourselves to these, on a first in first served basis.

FRUIT ORDERS ~ The next delivery of fruit will be on Thursday 19th March. Available this time is Garlic, Plums, Cox Orange Apples & Pacific Beauty Apples. If you would like to place an order, please fill out the form in the junior corridor and have your money to the office by Tuesday 17th March. Thank you.

CONGRATULATIONS TO: Shaquila Blee who took part in an Athletics meet at Surrey Park last weekend, in 7 events, gaining a placing in every event. Shaquila has been selected to represent Southland in Dunedin 15th March for 60, 100, 200 metres, shot put and the relay. Well Done!

Central Pirates Rugby Club
Registration/Weigh in for all Primary school players Wed 11th March between 5.00pm and 6.30pm
at the Club rooms. Boot exchange will be in operation. Any queries contact Nanette 03 235 8908


SWIMMING 9TH ~ 20TH MARCH !!!
PLEASE WEAR YOUR SPORTS UNIFORM IF POSSIBLE


PTA EASTER RAFFLE
The PTA is doing an Easter Raffle Fundraiser this term. The money raised will go towards new books for the school library. Could each family please bring along an item to go into the Easter Hamper. These need to be handed in at the office by Friday 20 March. Each family has a card with 20 tickets on it to sell. Could you please sell these and have them back to the office by 20 March also. They need to be handed in whether you have sold all the tickets or not. The raffle will be drawn as soon as all tickets are back in.
Thank you very much ~ Your PTA


Room 7 Class Happenings

It’s sure been a busy time settling into our routines and generally getting back into the swing of things in Room 7. We have enjoyed our class being smaller in the mornings. What a difference it makes. We appreciate Mrs Fortune’s teaching expertise in Room 6.
Our class has been completing PA Tests this week in reading, listening and maths. Phew, all that thinking!
For our Inquiry topic we have been investigating what makes a great learning environment. We have identified things in class that make us motivated learners. We love activities, especially outside and we are making good headway keeping fit and enjoy using a range of physical activities. We sure will be ready for Athletics Day. Congratulations to the eight children who completed the AMP Tryathlon in the weekend. All these physical activities and outdoor pursuits are having a positive impact in the class.
Come in and view the wonderful painting efforts of the students’ self-portraits. They have certainly captured some of their interesting and happy facial features.
Room 7 is certainly proving to be a multi-talented and enthusiastic bunch and we are looking forward to the weeks ahead, especially the fun we will have at Splash Palace!



Well done to all the children who took part in the Kids Tryathlon last weekend. It was good to see so many children taking advantage of this opportunity.



AUSTRALIAN TESTS 2009
Please tick which tests your child wishes to sit and return with the entry fee by Friday 20th March 2009.
No late entries accepted.

CHILD’S NAME: ……………………………………………. YEAR 4 5 6 (please circle)

 Computer Skills 27th May $ 7.50
 Science 10 June $ 7.50
 Spelling 23rd June $ 9.50
 Writing 23rd June $14.00
 English 4th August $ 7.50
 Mathematics 19th August $ 7.50