22 September

Dear Parents

The town was certainly busy with a lot of people in attendance at the Argentina vs Romania rugby game. We were fortunate the weather was so fine. The children have enjoyed supporting the underdogs as the competition has progressed.

Tomorrow we farewell our 3^rd year teachers’ college students, Whea Michelle & Miss Macdonald.

We thank them for their input and wish them all the best for their futures.

A big thank you to the netball and hockey coaches for all your work this season. This has been much appreciated by all the children involved.

I hope all the children enjoy the disco tonight. Unfortunately, I will be at a meeting in Gore and will miss my first disco.

Our prayers are with Mrs Stupples and her family.

Happy Birthday to Bishop Colin and best wishes to Sr Maria for Mercy Day on Saturday.

FIRST COMMUNION DAY

First Communion Day will be Sunday 20 November at 1.30pm in the church followed by an afternoon tea celebration in the hall.

Reports

A recommendation from our recent ERO report was in regards our school reports.

At present we indicate children’s achievements against national norms (PAT test, e-asTTle, Running Records, Numeracy project work and class observations).

Individual children’s comments relate to entry level information in regards, reading, writing & maths, and from that point (which is different for all children), we plot their next learning steps. This explains why some children within the same class have different goals at different levels, but may have the same ‘at expected level’ comment.

The ERO recommendation is that we change from this type of report to one based upon the national standards in mathematics, writing & reading. The standards are aspirational in that the Ministry of Education do not expect the majority of children to attain them. Further, because they are tied to the end of a child’s 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd year at school and the end of Year 4, 5 & 6 – most of our children should be below their expected standard at the time of our first report in April.

This will cause some anxiety amongst parents.

I ask for parents to volunteer to be part of a consultation group to discuss this. A cross section from all classes would be beneficial as this will impact on all children. Please contact me at principal@shsinv.school.nz

Southland Speech Competition

Good luck to Eli Winders and Samuel Downing who will represent the school at the next stage of this, at James Hargest on Monday. Eli’s speech is on the ‘Kepler Track’ and Sam’s is on ‘Why Homework Should be Banned’.

School Photos

All orders for school photos should now be in.

Badminton

There will be an inter-school badminton competition starting Thursday 3^rd Nov – 8^th Dec, 3.45 – 4.45 pm. 4 players per team $30 per person. Interested pupils can see Mr Forde please.

Flippa Ball will start next Friday - these teams are the same as the teams in Term 1. We have a team without a coach. If you are able to coach please let Mrs T-K know. We also have a few spaces free if your child would like to play, see Mrs T-K. This will go next term as well and is for all ages. The year 4, 5 and 6 children however will need to be confident swimmers as they will play in the big pool.

Swimming Carnival – We need 1 more swimmer to make 2 teams!!!

The Collegiate Swimming Club is holding its Annual Inter School Relay Carnival at Splash Palace, 5^th November at 6.30pm. There are 2 events for our children – 4 x 25m relay and 4 x 25m freestyle.

If your child is a competent swimmer and would like to be involved, please contact Mr Forde.

Achievements

Ben Sievwright got Player of the Year for the Blues Rugby Club Under 10's.

Whitebait for sale $60 kilo – Contact 2358132.

Book Amnesty ~ Please return any books from school that you may have at home. Ask your child to return them to their class teacher as soon as possible as we are in the process of stocktaking our books. No questions asked!!!

Southland BMX Open Day – Sunday 2 October 1.30 pm

Bring your bike and helmet down to Elizabeth Park, Lime Street and have a go!

Tap Dancing - 24/25 September @ Centre Stage 9am onwards

Come along and watch local Tap Dancing. Adults-$10 weekend pass, Children-$5 weekend pass.

Enrolments are now open for the upcoming ILT and BNZ Holiday Sports Programmes.
Sports include: Adventure, Aerobics, Athletics, Badminton, Boxing, Cricket, Dodgeball, Football, Fun Skills, Golf, Gym Sports, Hip Hop, Karate, Marching, Netball, Rugby League, Softball, Squash, Table Tennis, Tee Ball, Tennis, Touch, Volleyball and Yoga. These are running between Mon 10 to Fri 21 Oct. For more info please contact Tracy at Sport Southland on 03 2112150.

MISSING – If anyone knows the whereabouts of the Cook Island drum Mrs Tagomoa-Kaa was using for the Polyfest, would they please return it to the office. The name Winders is written on the bottom of it and it holds extreme sentimental value.

A reward is offered – No questions asked.

Last Friday the children bombarded their parents in a Hockey challenge.

I believe the parents have been secretly training!!!

This was evident in some fancy footwork by Mr Flawn and strategic play by the rest of his team. A goal was disallowed by an unbiased ref.

However the parents lacked energy in the 2^nd half, so a win was granted to the children.

PTA

We are having our FREE annual Family Car Trial on Sunday 2 Oct.

· Register your team from 12.30 – 1.00pm at the School Hall. 1^st car will leave at 1.00pm (for those of you wanting to get home for the rugby). The car trial should take approx 1.15 – 2.00 hrs (depending on how clever you are) & is approx 25kms.

· For the first time ever a trophy for 1^st place will be given!

· You will need a $1 & a camera. You will also be stopping along the way for a chance to buy a coffee/hot chocolate at a cost of $4.

· We will finish up with afternoon tea in the hall, with the results given out, so please bring a plate.

· So please come & have some fun. See you & your family there.

Disco

Tonight Thursday 22nd September - gold coin donation (per family) please.

Years 0-3 7.00pm - 8.00pm

Years 4-6 7.00pm - 8.30pm

Parents of younger children are encouraged to stay and younger siblings are welcome if parents are staying. Food and glowing merchandise for sale $0.50 - $2.00 each. Hope to see you all there.

Altar Servers

Saturday 24 September 7.00pm Caitlin & Samuel Russell

Sunday 25 September 10.30am Georgea Newell & Elsie Wallace

Children’s Liturgy Susanne Brown

Room 6’s visit to the Recycling Depot.

As part of our Integrated Unit on Reuse, Reduce and Recycle, Room 5 and 6 visited the MRF (Material Recovery Facility). Here we learnt about how our rubbish is recycled in Invercargill. Below, we have listed some of the facts we found out.

We no longer need to squash our milk bottles. If we do squash them, the machine thinks they are paper. We saw some furniture that has been made from recycled materials.

This table is made from recycled products.

Clothing or fabric of any kind is not to be put into the recycling bin as it can get tangled in the machinery and stop it from working. We no longer need to take the paper off the cans or squash them. The cans are melted down and used to make other metal products like furniture and more cans. Dirty tissues are not recyclable but should go in the rubbish. The people who work at the recycle depot stand at a conveyor belt that is called the ‘sort line’.

All these products can be recycled.

A large machine, called the ‘Hungry Monster’ crushes the white polystyrene and forms it into very large blocks. One of the main messages we received was “Wash don’t Squash” so remember this when you are sorting your rubbish to put in the new recycling bin with the yellow lid. You can read more at this website: http://www.wastenet.org.nz/

GO THE ALL BLACKS!!!