Kia ora koutou parents and whānau,
Sharing a book with your child is a great opportunity to strengthen relationships and enjoy the reading experience together.
Reading is such an important skill to have and something that has strong positive effects. Some would even say that there are few skills more important to acquire in today’s world than the ability to read. Reading (and writing too) is a gateway to academic achievement and a significant influence on outcomes as diverse as earning potential, health, and wellbeing.
What are the benefits of reading?
- Reading is essential for educational success and underpins a student’s ability to access the wider curriculum and achieve highly across it. This becomes even more critical as children move through to higher levels of schooling.
- Reading encourages brain activity. Unlike watching television or streamed entertainment, reading requires focus. This engages the mind and stimulates more brain regions than passive forms of entertainment.
- Reading improves vocabulary. By exposing children to new words, reading can expand vocabulary.
- Reading develops critical thinking. Reading widely allows students to encounter different ideas and ways of understanding the world, compelling them to consider what they believe and why.
- Reading can enhance mental and emotional wellbeing. The therapeutic effect of reading is proven and the health benefits of reading include: stress reduction, management of depression, and reducing memory loss.
Children learn in different ways and at different speeds but what they all need is a supportive environment to nurture a love of reading and learning. Feel free to talk to your child's teacher if there is any support you might need with reading at home.
Mā te wā! See you later!
Ryves
With the Olympics having started we were fortunate to have a visit by Zac Reid.
Zac is an Olympic swimmer, representing New Zealand at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021. At the games Zac won his heat in the Men’s 800m free, breaking his own New Zealand record in the process and finishing 18th out of 34. He also competed in the 400m free, where he placed 23 out of 36.
After surgery and a tough battle with long COVID he feared his career might be over. Getting back to form, he unfortunately missed out on qualifying for the Paris Olympics.
He shared messages with the children around overcoming challenges and being your best through being resilient, building connections and friendships, taking steps towards goals, and remaining open to feedback from others.
We really appreciate the time he took with our children to share these messages and am sure he has given them all plenty to think about!
Congratulations to the following tamariki who received a principal's award at our full school assembly today:
Henry Southgate, Tim Haskell, Thomasin Coates, Lola Pymar-Harris, Emma Johnson, Drikus van der Linde, Harper Lowl, Eli Jones, Jovi Newland, Bodhi Cleaver, Archie Brewer, Jack McNally, Angus Webling, Ebony Repia, Taya Ransfield, Tetabo Nakaoti, Ocean-Pearl Ardianta, Manav Kumar, Rainah Evans-Gallie, Ariyah McGrath, Kevin Tolledo, Jahk Davey, Cruz Bumbesevic, Willow Walker, Lily Flay, TJ van den Berg, Chloe McClelland, Iwan van der Linde, Keiran Dalleg, Arata Takahashi, Isla Fox, Lucas Roger.
Kei runga noa atu koe!!
Big thumbs up to Ryder (Year 2 student in Room 5) for the brilliant writing he has just done...
The moment I woke up I knew something wasn't right because I heard my door and wardrobe creak. I was so scared but my body felt confident and brave. I stomped over for a closer look. I opened the door and to my surprise I found a ghost ready to pounce. I ducked just in time. Now it was a wild ghost chase but I knew their weakness...water...but it didn't work. I tried jumping out of the window but forgot I was on the top of a ten story building. I almost jumped but remembered my Nerf gun. I shot a bullet but it bounced back. I thought I wouldn't get this terror out, but it came to me. My staff! I hit the ghost but he just floated. I kicked my Pump water Mum got me and it hit the ghost. He fell and crashed and the creaking stopped. Everything returned to normal.
It is important that we know if you have a child starting school sometime in the remainder of this year or next year. This will allow us to put organisation in place for new students - especially those starting school, and to understand our predicted roll throughout the year.
You can do this by contacting the office to confirm that we have your child on our records, or by completing an enrolment form (which can be collected from the school or downloaded off our website).
If you know of anyone else living in zone that may be looking to enrol then please share this message with them.
