Kia ora Vogeltown whānau, welcome to the first newsletter for Term 4 - our last term of 2023! I hope everyone had a wonderful Term 3 holiday break and enjoyed the opportunity to spend some time with your whānau!
Term 4 is our 'final learning push' for the year. It is also the final term of the year for our Year 6 learners and for some of our whānau, their last term with us. We have a lot of activities planned and we make use of the more settled weather as we move through the term - have a look at the calendar below and make sure you have these dates locked in.
The highlights for this term include:
* Highlands visit and orientation for our Yr 6 tamariki
* Keeping Ourselves Safe unit of work
* Puanga comp in Waitara for our Kapahaka
* School Photos
* Our annual whānau Hangi
* Vogeltown annual Talent quest
* Our 400 day (see details about this event below)
* Vogeltowner Award day
* Whānau events - Athletics, Sing off and Tabloids
* Yr 6 Water safety skills
* Bi-annual 'Cultural night'
* Year 6 Leavers assembly and whānau night
Phew, that is a busy term! As always, we want this term to be a positive experience for all our learners, but particularly for our Year 6 learners and whānau as they finish their education with Vogeltown School.
Our Kapa Haka group, Te Roopu ō Huatoki, are busy preparing for their performance in our local Puanga festival in Waitara during Week 3. We acknowledge the hard mahi of all of our group and their tutors Whaea Raewyn and Mr Ransfield. A newsletter came home today outlining the festival arrangements for the trip and uniform requirements. We know we have two early mornings coming up - one to return the trophies from last year and the 2nd for the actual performance - we thank you for your support with this.
You will have noticed the fencing at the senior school side and the containers on the junior side of the road. This is in readiness for the next phase of property works at Vogeltown as we replace the entire Junior school roof and the admin block roof at the senior side. This is going to be a major piece of work, however we hope it will not impact our access to and from the school too much. This work should be completed by the beginning of 2024.
As we begin this term, we move back into school routines. One of the routines we have to get back into is school pick up and drop offs. Please can I ask that you respect our neighbouring houses and their driveways - especially in the mornings.
Mr O and the VS Team
Today we welcomed our new whānau and tamariki to Vogeltown School. We welcome our whānau with a Powhiri to formally introduce them to our school, our teachers and our learners.
Today we welcomed 21 new learners to Vogeltown. Some of these learners started last term in the 2nd cohort of New Entrants, however we formally welcome them today.
Our school roll has crept up to 402 learners, this is growth of close to 100 extra learners from the end of 2015!
Haere mai to these learners and their whānau:
Harrison Hunt, Frankie McLean, Max Gatenby, Trevor Daming, Katie Xu, Tiaan Botha, Ivan Botha, Simone Northcott-Hill Reid, Arlee Zehnder, Edie Selby-Dunford, Sarah Martins Saotome, Billy Praat, Theo Morton, Hanna Rose, Annie Haupokia, Tyler Rosser, Jai Koha, Henry Southgate, Anoushka Anu.
Welcome whānau, we know you will enjoy your time with us!
Vogeltown School has just reached 400 learners! This is the first time Vogeltown School has ever had this many learners at the school - a massive milestone.
This also means the school is becoming an even busier place than usual, as we have more kids, staff and whānau in our Vogeltown family!
To acknowledge this milestone, we want to have a '400 day' to celebrate. We are going to have this day on Wednesday 8th November. The day will be a celebration of the number 400. All the kids can dress up in their PJ's for this day. Each Vogeltown learner will be designing a 'hat' that represents their whānau and the number 400 - we will then be having a school parade on the turf at the senior school at 2pm, followed by a photo of all of our learners from a drone on the back field and then some celebration kai to finish (ice cream/ice block cake!)
All whānau are welcome to come and join us on this day at 2pm to be part of this celebration!
Vogeltown School is open on Saturday 14th October for voting in the New Zealand General Election. Voting is available from 9am to 7pm in the school hall.
We do ask that you please park on the road on this day, as we have roped off the grass areas and there is no parking available in the school grounds.
A reminder to our whānau that all of our Vogeltown learners must wear a bucket hat in Term 4. The sun becomes more intense over the term, so the bucket hat is the best way to protect faces and necks.
You can purchase a school hat from the senior office for $17 but any bucket hat is fine to wear.
We also have sunscreen in the classrooms.
Calendar art - information about how to order personalised calendars, notebooks and cards from KidsArtWorks was given out to tamariki this week - these forms have all the details about how to order the products which show the amazing artwork your child created! It is really easy to order online - if you need a copy of the form please contact the senior office.
Our next Home and School meeting is next Wednesday night at 6.30pm in the Senior Staffroom - see you all there whanau!
VOGELTOWN SCHOOL CONTACTS
Email: office@vogeltown.school.nz
Website: www.vogeltown.school.nz
Location: Vogeltown School Huatoki Street, Vogeltown, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Phone: (06) 753 6843
