2023 Newsletter - Week 8, Term 4
Greenmeadows School, 30th November Newsletter #18: 2023
PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
Tēnā koutou kātoa,
What a busy week it was in Wellingon last week for our Year 6 learners. It was a whirlwind of engaging activities and offered experiences that I'm sure will be with those children for years to come. I would like to extend my thanks to the parents that helped out on the camp, and our teachers who spend a week away from their own families to ensure that our learners get this very special opportunity.
On Monday I spent the morning with a small number of children at the HB Primary Schools Triathlon Champs, held at the Sports Park in Hastings. While all of our athletes worked really hard and did their best, I'd like to give a special shout out to the team "Your Worst Nightmare". Cooper Whaanga, Charlie Bott and Emmett Roux combined their talents to swim, cycle and run the course in a time of 17:20, just 20 seconds behind the winning team in the Y5/6 category! Due to an administrative error, their achievement was not acknowledged on the day. Well done to you boys on placing second in the teams event!
Our Kowhai syndicate finished their swim sessions this week. I hope that some of you were able to make it down for the final lesson to see what children have learned over these past few weeks. It is really a great programme that is run with quality instruction.
As we are getting closer to the end of the term, I have included a few updates and reminders for the next few weeks and the new year.
Ka kite anō,
Darren Holloway
Acting Principal
WELCOME TO GREENMEADOWS SCHOOL
We have several new faces around school since our last newsletter - a very warm welcome to Sanuki and Venuka Bodiya Baduge and Senali Herath.
Our roll at present is 495.
LIBRARY BOOKS & READING BOOKS
The library is closing for the year on Friday 15th December. Can we please have all books - library and school reading books returned to school by Monday 11th December.
SCHOOL PHOTOS
Photolife Phototographers emailed out the unique key codes directly to parents email addresses last Friday. Below is a link to their website where you can go online and view and order your child/childrens photos:-
If you didnt receive your keycode flick the school office an email and we can email you back the code.
PARENT CONSULTATION
Our parent survey will remain open for contributions until Friday 8 December. We encourage you to contribute and thank all of you who have already submitted a response.
REPORTS
End of year reports will be sent home on the afternoon of Monday 18th December. Our teachers have put an incredible amount of time and care into the preparation of these reports. We hope these will give you a clear summary of how each child has progressed over the 2023 year.
On the same day, the children will be given a stationery list for next year. Stationery packs are available at Hawkes Bay Office Products in Wakefield Street, Onekawa. If your child's stationery list gets mislaid or doesn't find its way home, there are copies of these on the school website www.gms.school.nz
PREPARING FOR 2024 - MEET THE NEW TEACHER
During the afternoon of Monday 18th December all the children will get the opportunity to meet their new teacher for the 2024 year and visit their new classroom. We do this to give them a chance to settle in and get used to who their teacher will be prior to the holidays.
The role of the parent is critical on this day, as well as leading up to this time. This is especially so if the classroom that the child ends up in, may not be the one they have imagined that they want. For some students it can be a stressful time at the thought of leaving one classroom or teacher.
SCHOOL ORGANISATION 2024
Kōwhai Syndicate
Room 1a – Shari Mackay New Entrants
Room 1b – Anna Murphy New Entrants
Room 2a – Helen Harvey Year 2 students
Room 2b – Lily Kay Year 2 students
Room 5 – Hayley Collinson Year 1 and 2 students
Room 16 – Paula Kinsey Year 1 students
Room 18 – Ali de Lange and Nicole Johnson Year 1 students
Pohutukawa Syndicate
Room 3 - Kimberley Somerville Year 2 and 3 students
Room 6 – Monique Cowie Year 3 and 4 students
Room 7 – Jane McCosh Year 3 students
Room 8 – Shona Millner Year 3 students
Room 9 – Ceirwyn Ware Year 4 students
Room 12 – Toni Smith Year 4 students
Room 13 – Sarah Groenveld Year 4 students
Tōtara Syndicate
Room 10 – Dan Ball Year 6 students
Room 11 – Jane Carter Year 5 students
Room 14 - Chris Sullivan Year 5 students
Room 15 – Amy Tonks Year 5 and 6 students
Room 17 – Marty Gibbs Year 6 students
LAST DAY OF SCHOOL - EARLY CLOSE
Our last day of school for the year is Wednesday 20th December. The last day of school is always a half day, with school closing at 12pm, after our final assembly.
PRIZE GIVING REMINDER
Our Prize Giving will be held on the evening of Monday 18th December at 6:30 pm, under He Kapua.
All children are expected to attend and need to be in their full school uniform (hats not required). Children need to be lined up on the school field before 6:20 pm in their class groups.
If you are a first time attendee, it is worth noting that parking can get difficult around the school with large numbers of vehicles arriving. So allow yourselves plenty of time to get settled.
If the weather doesn’t allow the prize giving to go ahead as planned, we will communicate with whānau in the following ways:-
❖ via the GMS Facebook page
❖ send out an alert via the GMS App
Due to Taradale Intermediate School holding their prize giving the following night, there will be no opportunity for postponement. In the event of very wet weather, we would need to hold the event in our hall, as we did last year.
Finally be aware that the school day will start later at 9.30am (and not 9.00am) on Tuesday 19th December.
TERM DATES 2024
Term 1: 31 January - 12 April (Easter holidays span weeks 9 and 10)
Term 2: 29 April - 5 July
Term 3: 22 July - 27 September
Term 4: 14 October - 17 December
WORM FOOD PLEASE!
Our worms are still hungry .... Do you have any food scraps you can bring in? In particular they love vegetable greens e.g. lettuce leaves, cabbage leaves, carrot and potato peelings. Send along your food scraps in a bag, any donations would be helpful.
STAYING SAFE ONLINE
We have recently been made aware of young children inadvertently accessing inappropriate material online while at home. Although this has occurred outside of school hours, children sometimes talk with friends about their online experiences, which can then lead to inappropriate discourse at school.
At school, our content is filtered, which reduces the chance that children can access inappropriate material online. At home, parents often need to activate such filters. Alternatively, you may have other monitoring systems in place, such as sitting alongside your child while they are online.
YouTube Shorts is the equivalent of Tik Tok or Instagram Reels and presents users with "randomly" generated videos; you do not need to actively search out videos. Over time, an algorithm works to present you with more of the types of videos that you like. This presents a risk to young users in that they can inadvertently be exposed to undesirable material. YouTube Kids is a safer option for young users.
Check out this Staying Safe Online Guide if you need advice.
PTA RAFFLE TICKETS
Please check your child’s bags if you haven’t received the Christmas raffle sheet which came home on Monday. If you are unable to sell the sheet please return to the school office asap.
We are still accepting donations to add to the prizes.
GMS SCHOOL APP
This is how we communicate with the school community any importmant messages or reminders.
Contact Us
Email: admin@gms.school.nz
Website: http://www.gms.school.nz/
Location: Greenmeadows School 45 Osier Road, Greenmeadows, Napier, New Zealand
Phone: +64 06-844 7024
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gmsnapier