PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
“Oh, I just know it.”
I was chatting with a 5 year old about what her routine is when she comes to school. We were talking about how she walks in by herself, where she puts her lunch box, what she does for calendar maths and how she knows what to do when she’s finished with her alphabet work pages. She knew how to set up her work book, how to manage her reading folder, what was expected when the class was ready to line up and most importantly (in her view), was the rule that ‘the playdough stays in the wet area’.
When I asked her how she knew all this, she said “Oh, I just know it”. The truth is, her teacher has set up her environment in a way that helps her to be successful. The classroom is designed with learning and creativity in mind, the students are encouraged to be independent with their belongings and the expected behaviour is role modelled in class. Her parents have supported the school with the routines being created and her teacher has spent hours and hours reinforcing the routines and expectations every day.
While we sometimes assume our children will learn by osmosis; simply learning because they are in a space, the truth is that it takes a lot of effort by everyone involved in the child’s life to support this learning. What we think is obvious as an adult, often isn’t for a child.
We can all play our part by setting up the little things to help our children’s learning - talking with our Huapai School children about what they are learning about at school, taking an interest in the routines of school life and supporting the growth of independence at home through tasks that the child can learn to complete themselves. We often speak with out seniors about their screen time and how there is a need to switch off at night and rest. It is all these things that set up an environment for success.
Our hope is that when we ask our children as teens leaving Huapai District School how they know what the right thing to do is, is that they can say “Oh, I just know it”.
Maree Lloyd
Deputy Principal
Student Of The Week
Metellus (Year 6) says: “Huapai is the best school because we get to do a lot of stuff that other schools don’t. We can climb trees, ride bikes and scooters and there aren’t too many rules. My teacher is Matua G and he is really kind. I like doing maths at school and we have a great view from our classroom.”
COVID Update
Online is now operating. In each team we respond slightly differently as numbers become apparent. Some teams have hardly any away, whilst others have a reasonable number.
This graph shows the number of children currently off-site.
Currently, we have 32 children identified as positive. We have 11 students and 3 staff who have now returned, having completed their isolation. We have 1 staff member off-site testing positive.
School Donations
Thank you for your support in paying your school donations. This is so critical for our school - this year more than any other. To date we have received $18,600 - you can also see from the graph we are ahead compared with the previous two years. You can also see the impact COVID had in 2020. It’s nice to have a sense we are starting to turn the corner. We are still a long way from where we are aiming, but we are on our way to making a huge difference in our school - Thank you!
Congratulations To Cameron Travers!!
Cameron entered a competition to have Multiple NZ champions and former world No. 2 Motocross rider Josh Coppins visit his class. Josh will visit the school and speak with our Year 3&4 team on Tuesday 15th March (next Tuesday) about his career. He will then speak with our Year 5&6 team separately.
We have balanced the risk of having Josh on site (fully vaccinated, healthy and outside) with the benefits of providing an exciting opportunity for our students during this difficult time.
Year 7&8 Science Start Right Workbooks
As a strongly encouraged and highly beneficial supplementary resource to our Year 7&8 science programme, a Start Right Science Workbook is available, payable through HERO ($17.50) with collection from your child's teacher.
The units in these workbooks cover the New Zealand Science curriculum in preparation for Year 9&10 science and fit in nicely with the topics covered in science at school as a pre or post-learning revision/consolidation. Though not compulsory, we will reference, mark and use this resource to supplement the school-based programme. As this book is an optional resource, it is, however, encouraged for our Year 7&8 students to have a copy.
Is Your Child Keen To Play Netball This Winter?
Registrations are now open for Huapai winter netball teams. Each year we have several teams in the Kaipaira Netball Competition. The games are held on a Saturday morning at Helensville Netball centre.
This year, Kaipara has opened registrations DIRECTLY with them. Parents, please use the link below to register your child. Registrations close Friday 1st April. The club will then send the school a spreadsheet with names and teams are created from this. Games begin Saturday 7th May.
Fees are set at $45 by the club. The club also sets a fee of $140 per team for Years 5&6 teams and Year 7&8 teams. This is to pay a club umpire if needed.
A $5 uniform levy will be added to the account of all Huapai District School players.
A breakdown of cost is illustrated below for clarity.
HERO Notifications
We use HERO to send classroom updates, to share regular learning posts and now for payment on all in-school costs. HERO sends push notifications or emails. You can now choose how you receive HERO notifications as well as manage devices that receive them.
To set your own notification preferences:
Click on your profile image
Select EDIT PROFILE
Scroll down to My Devices and select your preferences.
Or please see the full instructions linked below.
Contact Us
Email: office@hds.school.nz
Website: https://www.huapaidistrict.school.nz/
Location: Huapai District School 40 Station Rd, Kumeū, New Zealand
Phone: +64 09 412 5042
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/huapaidistrictschool