Willow Park School Newsletter

Email: office@willowpark.school.nz
Website: http://www.willowpark.school.nz/
Location: Willow Park School 13 Compton Street, Hillcrest, Auckland, New Zealand
Phone: 09 480 9236
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/willowparkschoolhillcrest/

There is a lot in the news about education at the moment, particularly in regards to the Maths. In the last week the Ministry of Education has released the new, refreshed Maths Curriculum with an emphasis on a structured approach to Maths. Willow Park staff were spending time today, looking through the refreshed curriculum, the scope and sequence of what is required for students at each year level, and become more familiar with this leading into 2025.

I can assure you that the quality of Maths teaching at Willow Park is already very high, and we welcome the structure that is provided by the Ministry of Education. The success that we have seen as a leading school in Structured Literacy means that our teaching staff and leaders have a wealth of knowledge in the science of learning and the necessary skills and knowledge required for explicit teaching.

Willow Park has also taken advantage of the Ministry of Education's provision of maths resources for use in classrooms. The school has researched the four sets of resources that were offered, in consultation with the other schools in our Kāhui Ako. The school will be utilising the Maths No Problem resourcing, which will provide supplementary resources to the Maths programme across the school.

Our focus as a school will be continuing the high quality teaching, the use of manipulatives and hands on tasks in the classroom, and ensuring the children are having a positive experience with Maths. Our children are already achieving well above the National norm across the year groups, and we are looking to maintain high standards for our students with the new curriculum.

Now that summer is here, the school swimming pool is ready to be opened. Mr Kelsey and Mr Murphy have been working hard to get the pool and the area around it ready for use. Classes will start to swim from next week, so look out for the Hero notice from your class to know the day and time for the class swim. Junior classes will need parent support so please come and help if you are able to.

Community Pool Keys

Mrs Bowerman has organised the pool key system for parents. Starting Monday, pool keys will be available to purchase for the season, opening from 11 November 2024 until 6 April 2025. Families can then utilise the pool after school and during the weekends and holidays. Keys will cost $100.00. per family and are not to be shared with other families.

You can purcase the keys from the office, using Eftpos or credit card only - no cash or internet transfers will be accepted. You will need to complete an application form and will be given a set of rules and procedures which you are expected to abide by. Keys are issued at same time. There is no urgency to rush in on Monday, there are plenty of keys!

Guess what? The bike shed is open for the first time this year! If your child is in year 0-2 then they can get bikes out on Mondays. If they are in year 3-4 then they can borrow a bike on Wednesdays and year 5-6 can get a bike out on Friday. A small group of year 5 children have been trained to become the bike kaitiaki to help your child find the right size helmet and bike so they can ride a bike safely. We are all ecstatic to start riding at school again!

This was one of the initiatives that our tamariki identified as an area of our school that needed fixing to improve health and wellbeing. The ‘Mitey’ student leaders continue to look for ways they can keep the playground a safe and inclusive place for everyone.

A reminder that the final Friends of Willow Park meeting will be held on Tuesday 12 November at 6.30pm in the staffroom. Emma Batey is finishing off as the coordinator, so we are looking to farewell her, and to make sure everything is organised for our final event of the school year, Christmas in the Park. Another major part is to discuss the School Gala 2025. We are excited to be having the gala back and we need more volunteers to help.

Hope to see you on Tuesday at 6.30pm.

Thank you to those families who have already donated goods for this very worthy cause. There is a container in the Office reception awaiting your generosity. Hopefully we will see this and many more containers overflowing.

As mentioned previously we have a very busy few weeks coming up.

This week it was the year 5 and 6 girls playing in a cricket tournament.

Next week we have the year 4 athletics on Monday followed by the year 5 and 6 on Wednesday.

(WE ARE STILL IN NEED OF MORE ADULT HELP FOR THE YEAR 5 AND 6. IT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GO AHEAD IF WE DON’T HAVE ENOUGH HELP. THIS IS TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF YOUR CHILDREN).

The following week we have the Inter School Athletics. A select group of year 4, 5 and 6 children will attend.

Then a week later we have the year 5 and 6 girls participating in a 3 x3 basketball tournament,

Our last major event will then be the triathlon for year 4 , 5 and 6 on Monday 9th December.

Congratulations to Zoey from Room 8 who participated this week in the North Shore Primary Schools Gymnastic Competition. She was our one and only competitor and did Willow Park proud. Especially as she was up against teams of 30+ from a number of other schools entered.

2024 Term dates (Staff only days Friday 8 November)

• Term 4 starts Monday 14 October, last day is Tuesday 17 December (1pm finish)

2025 - School Term dates

Term 1 - Monday 3rd February. - Friday 11 April

Term 2 - Monday 28 April - Friday 27 June

Term 3 - Monday 14 July - Friday 19 September

Term 4 - Monday 6 October - Tuesday 16 December

2025 - School is closed for :

Staff only days will be advised once decided.

• Waitangi Day - Thursday February 6
• King's Birthday - Monday 2 June
• Matariki - Friday 20 June
• Labour Day - Monday 27 October