The Connection Week 4 Term 1

“Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shovelling the sidewalk before it stops snowing.” – Phyllis Diller

I think parents can all relate to this quote. While children are in your house, there is always cleaning to be done. And the minute they’re not present, you have an extremely short moment in time of perfection before they return and lego gets spilt across the floor, paper and felts get strewn across the table, and toothpaste and water is spilt all over the bathroom vanity.

It’s a fact. We can’t have perfect houses while our kids are growing up. Or can we? What defines a perfect house to you?

My kids are at the age where doing chores around the house is an expectation. But my standard and their standard of cleaning are on opposite ends of the spectrum! I have come to realise though, regardless of standard, they try their hardest to do their best, toys do get “put away” and the dishwasher stacking is good enough.

My “perfect” is very different to theirs, and that’s OK.

I have now come to realise, a perfect home isn’t the necessity of a reflection in the kitchen bench, but the laughter coming from the people sitting around it. It isn’t the washing all folded and neatly put away (albeit that would be nice!), it’s the smiles when tales are told of how the pair of jeans that were just stuffed in a drawer got ripped on an awesome adventure.

At school our aim is for progression over perfection. It is about continuous improvement and seeing the triumphs in the small steps taken towards a goal. It’s about the effort that our kids put in every single day. Perfection sings, laughs, chatters, creates, tries, learns and makes mistakes - all unapologetically. That is perfection in our school.

I’ve decided, the washing pile can wait.

Keryn Annan

Deputy Principal

• Friday 3rd March - Non-Uniform Day
• Monday 6th March - Boys Senior Swimming Sports
• Tuesday 7th March - Girls Senior Swimming Sports

We will hold a non-uniform day tomorrow, Friday 3rd March.

We know that there are many people locally who are in need.

As a school, we are offering our support to Waimauku Primary, which has established a Muriwai Emergency Fund. All monies raised in this fund will be used for the direct support of families in need locally. Please encourage your children to wear brightly coloured clothing on this day. If you are in a position to do so, please send a gold coin or donation to school with your child on Friday. This will be collected from their classroom.

If you are in need of assistance yourself due to the recent weather event, we continue to encourage you to reach out to the school or to the Muriwai Emergency Fund directly.

Tony (Year 6) says:

My favourite thing about Huapai is that everyone here is really nice. I enjoy lunchtime the most as that’s when I can play soccer with my friends. My teacher is really good at explaining things in class and I like to do writing.

Our HFN will be selling iceblocks and drinks for $1 each at the school gates after school tomorrow (Friday). The funds raised through this ongoing project will go towards camp fees for students who are unable to otherwise attend.

Thank you to all those who have paid their school donations this year. This is such a key element to the success of our school. Your donation is what moves our school from good to great!

As a means of thanking you, every family who has paid their school donation in full by Thursday 6th April will automatically go into our Term 1 annual draw. Families with more than 1 child who have paid the family donation will have 2 entries.

Please note your donation attracts an IRD 30% tax rebate which is claimable for this tax year if paid by 31st March 2023.

Details of prize packs will be sent out closer to the draw as we finalise this year's sponsorship.

You can pay your school donations through HERO, if paid in full. Alternatively for part or full payments, you can pay via direct deposit to the school bank account to:

Huapai District School

ASB 12-3659-0025306-00

Every dollar received through school donations will be used for resources that will touch the hands of your children.

Make Every School Donation Go A Little Further:

Did you know that you can re-donate your donation tax rebates directly to our school? Our partner, Fund a Future, helps you to do exactly that.

Fund a Future is a Kiwi social enterprise helping to make claiming donation tax rebates easy and offering customers the option to re-gift their rebates to schools just like ours.

What do you need to do? Sign up at the link below, it only takes two minutes. Once signed up, you just need to select the re-gift to your school option. Fund a Future does the rest. Link: https://www.supergenerous.co.nz/

We are focussing on setting the children up properly for the year with the correct uniform. A reminder that footwear must be plain black, flat-heeled school shoes or sandals. Boots, jandals, ballerina shoes, slides, crocs and high heels are not permitted. The colour of socks, stockings or tights must be plain black or navy. Footwear must be worn to and from school. Tights may not be worn in isolation without the school skort / shorts on top.

Need to order new uniform? The link to our School Uniform shop has been linked below. We have also linked our School Uniform Policy.

Should you be in a position where ordering uniform is not possible, please contact the School Office.

Do you have access to diggers / bob cats etc?

We are wanting to upgrade our bike track. This will involve building up the “humps” with sandstone. This requires machinery and could be organised for an evening or on a weekend - dependent on parent availability. This is not a general working bee, more so an ask to see if we have the resources and availability to develop the track.

Please email John.petrie@hds.school.nz if you can help with this and a plan will be hatched.

This year, our senior swimming sports will be held at school - next week. Year 5-8 boys will swim on Monday and Year 5-8 girls will swim on Tuesday. Year 5-8 students are strongly encouraged to wear house coloured mufti on the day they swim. The swimming will start at 9:15am and approx time for finish is 12:30pm

This year our junior swimming champs will be held Thursday 16th March. This event is only for our top swimmers in years 1-4. All participants will be notified through a HERO notification early next week.

It’s fabulous to see the Bristow and Avard families making great use of their school car parking spaces on school grounds. These families put in a successful bid at our annual quiz last year to beat the rush each day. If you are keen to be the next owner of these spaces, our quiz and auction will be held in the first week of Term 3.

If your son or daughter is interested in playing netball this season, please use the link below to register them. Games are played on a Saturday at Helensville Rugby and Netball Club. Registrations close Friday 24th March.

If your son or daughter is interested in playing netball this season, please use the link below to register them. Games are played on a Monday or Tuesday afternoon at the National Hockey Centre on Busy Road. Registrations close Friday 24th March.

Good luck to all our teams playing in the finals today at Riverhead. Our Year 0-2 and Year 3&4 teams are both playing for 1st place in their grade. They’d love your support at the game if you are able. A reminder to bring a spare top to be able to return your playing singlet today.

We have a limited number of small sized rugby / soccer boots available for students to own for the season. The sizes are most suited to years 1-4 students. If you would like to try a pair for your child, please contact Maree Lloyd maree.lloyd@hds.school.nz to make arrangements.

Book Club, Edition 1, 2023 Scholastic New Zealand is out now!

Please download the app and place your orders via LOOP.

Aroha Skate are back for 2023. Skate lessons are after school on Thursday, 3:30pm - 4:30pm. Please use the link below to book.

Creative Matters are back for the 2023 year. With classes on Mondays, 3pm - 5pm in Room 17. Please book at the link below.

MusiqHub are looking forward to another awesome year of music in 2023 at Huapai School! They will have a bunch of slots available for Guitar, Drums, Piano and Ukulele lessons. If you're interested, be sure to get in touch to reserve your spot or ask any questions you may have. Contact details below:

Drums - paul.barry@musiqhub.co.nz

Guitar, Keyboard and Ukulele - scott.wotherspoon@musiqhub.co.nz

These are the Term Dates for 2023:

Term 1: Tuesday 7th February - Thursday 6th April

Term 2: Wednesday 26th April - Friday 30th June

Term 3: Monday 17th July - Friday 22nd September

Term 4: Monday 9th October - Tuesday 19th December

Teacher Only Days:

Monday 24th April (the day before Anzac Day)

Tuesday 6th June (King's Birthday weekend)

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:

1. Click on your profile image

2. Select EDIT PROFILE

3. Scroll down to My Devices and select your preferences.
   

Or please see the full instructions linked below.

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