Welcome to Term 4 2014!

Dear Parents and Caregivers, 
Kia ora Koutou - Welcome to Term 4 and a warm welcome to new families who have joined us since the last newsletter! I do hope you have all had a lovely holiday with your children and that they are well rested and excited to return to school. They achieved many goals last term and should be very proud of their learning. We were very pleased of how they performed so confidently on stage in our Production and how they thoroughly enjoyed the experience. We also saw lots of very proud family members watching the performances. Thank you to those of you who helped out in any way either prior or during the week of performances. It was much appreciated. We also were delighted with the progress the students had made in skipping with a rope and were amazed at how well they did in the "Jump Rope for Heart Jump Off." Thank you to those parents and caregivers that came along to support the event and who sent along donations to the Heart Foundation. The moveMprove programme was also a great success. The coaches noted great improvements both in the students' fine and large motor skills along with an increase in their balance over the eight week course. Thank you very much to those parents who have purchased the calendars and/or diaries featuring your child's art work. They will be great Christmas presents for friends and family members or proudly displayed in your home. The children were very pleased with their efforts.

We have made some changes to some staff this term in the Junior School. In week 3, Mrs Liz Sullivan, who has been doing a fantastic job teaching in room 3 on Thursdays and Fridays will be working full-time until the end of the term. She will be team teaching in room 1 along with Mrs Ryan until the new library is finished. Once this happens, the year 5 and 6 class currently in room 16 will move out and the next New Entrant class will move in with Mrs Sullivan being the teacher. Room 3 will then be taught by Mrs Sally Ingram, who left our Junior School to have a family, on Thursdays and Fridays. Mrs Hilary Beadle will be doing her teacher aide work on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays in room 3 and Ms Imogen Wallace will be teacher aiding in room 3 on Thursdays and Fridays as Mrs Diane McRae wanted to reduce her hours. We thank her very much for all the time and effort she put into working in our Junior School. We also have Nina, who has come from Germany working in our Junior School this term. All other staffing remains the same. 

The term ahead - 
A myriad of wonderful learning experiences has been planned for your children for the next ten weeks. 
Oral Language underpins all learning and it is imperative that each child speaks competently and confidently. A range of different learning situations occur on a daily basis in each classroom to help ensure that your child develops their skills both orally and in listening. They are encouraged to take part in a wide range of discussions speaking clearly and succinctly as well as listening to the opinions of others by waiting their turn and without interrupting. You can support your child at home by discussing the reading book that they bring home or ask them what the best thing that they learnt at school was. If you have any concerns regarding your child please do not hesitate to contact your child's teacher. 
In Te Reo students will continue to build their confidence and learn some more vocabulary as part of the Te Kupu o Te Wiki programme. They will also learn some more waiata and visit the marae at Te Papa later in the term. 
Our focus in writing throughout this term will be poetry and some letter writing. The students will be learning how to enhance their writing using more interesting adjectives (or WOW words) nouns and verbs. They will also work on the structure of their writing which involves an interesting beginning, a middle and an ending to their story. 
Letterland and Smartphonics will continue as part of our Literacy programmes. Students will continue with reading and to read widely in a variety of ways throughout the school day. They will bring home a book to practice their skills on each Monday to Thursday. Poems will come home on Fridays as usual. Please support your child's efforts in learning to read and continue to read aloud to them on a daily basis. Reading walls for year 1 children will also continue. Students will also bring home their spelling words to learn. This is a tricky process and children may take quite a few weeks to move to the next level so please do not stress if that is the case. The focus is on learning the word and then transferring it correctly into their daily writing. Some children may write the word correctly during the testing but are not using it correctly in other contexts which means they need to continue to stay on that level to practice it until it becomes automatic. Handwriting is also a big focus in the first two years of schooling. It is very important that your child holds the pencil correctly so that they can learn to form both the upper and lower case letters accurately and with ease. 
Throughout the term, the students will continue to extend their knowledge in
Numeracy. They will be practicing a range of strategies to solve problems along with building an understanding of mass and volume. Basic facts carriages continue to be part of the homework programme for both year 1 and 2 as well as Mathletics for everyone. For more of a challenge your child could participate in live mathletics. This encourages them to answer the problems at a faster rate. 
Our major Inquiry is entitled "Healthy Eating - Food for Energy". The big idea for this is that we need a balanced diet to give us lots of energy. Food gives us energy when we eat it. The students will be learning about the food pyramid, packing a healthy lunch box and describing the relationship between digestion and energy for the body for example. 
Our Physical Education programme will focus on athletics and aquatics as well as daily fitness. The children will continue to do jumpjam on Monday to Thursday mornings at 8.40 a.m. Adults are encouraged to join in with the routines alongside your child too. We will have an athletics day later in the term for families to come along and join us for. Swimming will also start when the Eastbourne Pool reopens and if the weather stays fine and warm.
The Visual Art programme this term will involve your child creating in 3D and making items using clay and plasticene. Classes will also continue to have Performing Arts lessons and they will be an audience to two shows - one at school and one in Lower Hutt. Each class also has access to ipads each day to support students' learning. Please have a look and feel free to make a comment on your child's classroom blog. This is a snapshot of what is happening at school. 

Sunhats, sunblock and sunglasses
We operate a 'no hat no play' policy. This means that throughout terms 1 and 4 all children need to wear a sunhat when outside. If they do not have a hat they have to stay on the verandah at morning tea and lunchtimes while their friends play elsewhere. Please make sure your child has a named hat (not a cap) at school every day. Please administer sunblock on your child before they come to school. Your child is also able to bring along sunblock but please make sure it is named. If they do bring sunblock it will not be shared with other children. Please also name any sunglasses that your child brings. 

Reporting to Parents
This term we will be sending home a written report of your child's progress towards meeting the National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics. There will be an opportunity for you to meet with teachers regarding your child's progress at the parent and teacher conferences on Monday November 24th and Tuesday November 25th. You will also be invited to the 'Celebration of Learning' on Thursday December 4th where your child will discuss their learning with you. Our Year 0 children in room 16 will have six week conferences and no written report and some of the younger children in room 1 will also have parent conferences and no written report. All other children in years 1 and 2 will have both a written report and a conference. Learning journeys will also be coming home this term so that you can see the progress that your child has made over the year. 

Looking towards 2015
Very soon the arduous and difficult process for making up classes for next year will begin. If you have a child who's birthday is in March or April and you are considering them staying longer in the Junior School could you please email me as soon as possible so I can arrange a time to discuss this with you?

Diary dates
October 
13 - School for term 4 begins at 8.40 a.m. 
17 - Full School Assembly and Sustainable Coastlines and Beach Clean up 
24 - Teacher only day - School closed
27 - Labour Day - School closed
31 - Full School Assembly
November
4 - School photos for rooms 1,3 and 16
6 - Trip to Musical Stars in Lower Hutt
14 - Full School Assembly 
23 - Eastbourne Carnival 
24 - Parent conferences, Swimming starts
25 - Parent conferences
26 - Starting School at Five Information Evening
28 - Full School Assembly 
December
1 - 5 - Junior School "Education outside the Classroom' Week
3 - Junior School Athletics
4 - 'Celebration of Learning'
11 - Junior School Christmas concert and afternoon tea
12 - Class lists go home
15 - Meet the teacher for 2015 
18 - Last day of term - Leaver's assembly 

If you have any questions relating to your child or the Junior School please do not hesitate to contact either your child's teacher or myself. 

Yours in partnership
Maureen Buckley 
Deputy Principal 
on behalf of the Junior School team - Mrs Ryan, Mrs Mills, Mrs Sullivan, Mrs Cody, Mrs Heath, Mrs Steele, Mrs Roberts, Mrs Salisbury, Mrs Theobald, Mrs Blair, Mrs Murphy, Mrs Alderson, Mrs Beadle, Mrs Anderson, Ms Wallace, Mrs Ferrier, Mrs Lane, Mrs Davies, Mrs Lamb, Mrs Ingram and Nina.