Week 5 Update

Today we took time to remember Feb 22nd 2011. After 2 minutes of silence, Henry played 'Amazing Grace' on his bagpipes, a lovely (and very moving) way to send us off down to the river, to drop our flowers in remembrance of those who died 2 years ago. It was great to have so many parents and members of the community with us. Many thanks to Henry and to the parents who provided extra flowers.

Mathletics is go! In the last couple of days your child should have come home with their password and a parent information sheet, if they signed up for Mathletics home learning. If this hasn't happened, ask them to check in with their maths teacher. Any problems or queries, please email your child's maths teacher.

ICAS: Notices went home this week with children interested in sitting ICAS tests. If you didn't see this notice, class teachers have a supply. Please return filled in reply slips to the office ASAP, closing date is March 28.

Elwing Voyages: Last year we offered our Year 7 students the opportunity to be selected to go on a leadership voyage with Elwing Discoveries, a sailing ship  based in Bluff. Jess Lange took up the opportunity and had a fabulous time, during the first week of this term. We received glowing feedback from Elwing about Jess's contribution to the voyage. The school partially subsided this trip and we plan to do the same next year. Watch out for details in term 4.

Swimming Sports: This event takes place on Friday at Jelly Park. Children have opted to take part. Please make sure permission forms are returned to class teachers on Monday.

Sharpen the Saw: We have finished our Life Education visits and the children have gained valuable knowledge on how the food choices they make impact their well being. Next we move on to look at physical exercise choices and how we can improve our fitness. Please make sure your child brings shoes suitable for running on Thursday.

Library: This coming week it is the turn of Room 18 and 19 to visit the South Library on Thursday. Please make sure your child packs their library card.

Check out the photo gallery for pics of today's 'River of Flowers'

Week 4 Update

Home Learning: It was wonderful to see the huge number of children who remembered to hand in home learning books and maths home learning today. If your child is one of the few who forgot, please make sure they pack it to hand in on Monday. The last Science Badges Sheets and Action English books arrived today. I have just rung the Mathletics people, they are about to process our school, so we should be up and running with this in a few days.  If your child is missing something for home learning, please contact their teacher. We would love to hear some feedback on how our new home learning system is working for your child, please click on the comment tab below.

Leadership: We have now allocated all leadership positions and training is underway. Badges for Student Council, House Captain and Pride Ambassadors will be presented in PRIDE assembly later this term.
Our Student Council Exec for 2013 is:

• Chairperson: Leni Frampton
• Secretary: Niamh Menzies
• Treasurer: Andrew Proud

Our House Captains for 2013 are:

• Fisher: Thomas Flynn & Justine Bennett 
• Heathcote: Jack McMecking & Sabine Grey
• Waimea: Jimmy King & Teille Gaines
• Tennyson: Jacob Budgen & Briana Steven

Library: Room 18 and 19 had a successful trip to the South Library on Wednesday. Room 16 and 17 need to remember their library cards this coming Wednesday, 20th.

Reading and Maths Tutor: If your child needs some extra help with reading or maths and you are looking for a tutor, contact Kay Harris 3323912 or 0273800050. Kaye is a primary teacher who is taking a year away from the classroom. I know Kaye and highly recommend her.

Life Education: We started our Life Education visits this week. Try asking your child how many servings of: vegetables, fruit, rice - cereal - pasta, meat /or meat replacement and milk products we should be eating each day. The first visit was information and activity packed, we are looking forward to the next two sessions.

 

Week 3 Update

Passion Friday got underway today. The Enviro-Busters checked out the school gardens and dreamt of what could be, Around the World shared their personal travel experiences and explored their NZ mapping knowledge, Drama Workshop ... I'm not sure, but it was bound to be creative and full of laughs(!) and ICT Workshop became members of Edmodo, learnt about Sweet Home via video tutorials and designed homes of the future.



ICT Workshop designing houses using 'sweet home' software.

 

Library: As our school library builds it's resources up we are going to visit the Christchurch South Library once a fortnight. In our first visit a librarian will talk with the children about what their service offers, then the children will be able to browse and borrow books. Children need to remember to bring their library cards to school on Wednesdays. This week (Feb 13) rooms 18 and 19 will visit and next week will be the turn of rooms 16 and 17 (Feb 20).

If your child is not a member of the library, you can join them up at your nearest library. The library in our school community is South Library on Colombo Street and the opening hours are 9am-7pm on weekdays and 10am-4pm on Sundays. You can locate your nearest library at www.christchurchcitylibraries.com. To join up your child, you will need to take two forms of identification with you and a letter you have received within the last month, for example, a bank statement or power bill. If you have any questions before you go, you can phone 941-7923.

Our maths interchange classes are underway for the year. We will be observing the children closely over the next week and expect there will be some reshuffling by week 4, to ensure children's needs are being well targeted.

Life Education visits start for our team this week. The focus is 'WOF', looking at nutrients in foods and how they help the body, 'energy in - energy out' and body image. This ties in nicely with our 'Sharpen the Saw' theme for the term which most classes are about to launch into.

Technology is underway, check out the tab above for a message from South Intermediate.

Leadership positions were announced today, Friday. We were impressed by the number of positions children applied for. Most children got 2 or 3 positions, a few got 4. There will also be points given for choir, te whanau and band. Every term there will be bonus jobs that children can do to earn extra points.

Week 2 Update

We have had a great start to the year in Year 7 & 8. I think learning conferences played a big part in this. Thank you for prioritising these meetings and for the contributions you made.

Home Learning: This afternoon I have ordered maths and science badges, literacy workbooks and started the Mathletics enrolment ball rolling. It will take a few days for these things to arrive at school. If your child has opted for one of these programmes, they should be ready to go by the start of week 3. Home learning books with contracts inside and maths home learning clear-files should come home on Monday. The first day the home learning books are due back at school by Friday Feb 15.

Technology: This gets underway on Tuesday.Children need to take; pencil cases, sun-hats and morning tea. They can bring money to spend at the tuck shop.

Languages: These start on Monday of week 3. Cashmere has just contacted us to say that Japanese will be replaced by Spanish this year. The other language is French.

Sun-hats: These are compulsory from Monday. They are available for purchase at the school office before or after school.

Leadership Positions: We have been flooded with applications. Children will know positions by the end of week 2.

Books for the library: Barrington Paper plus is the place to visit if you would like to purchase a book to donate to our library, at 30% off the full price.