The Connection Week 7 Term 3

Three things have come across our plate in recent days. On Wednesday we hosted Marja Lubeck (Labour MP), Jan Tinetti (Associate Minister of Education) and Ministry of Education officials. The purpose was to hear our story and our challenges. It was great to highlight the engagement and support we have had from our community through these COVID days. We did highlight the challenges we are facing in seeking to build momentum through times of sickness, absence (staff) and building capacity in these post COVID times. On Tuesday we hosted an outside educationalist reviewing my performance as Principal - again it's good to hear reflected back about the tone, calibre of our staff, our school wide leadership and the manner in which our children present. Thirdly, our latest report from ERO (Education Review Office) has just been published. This report highlights the strengths of our school and some next steps. The report highlights the leadership (both our senior leadership team and the wider leadership we see across the school), the positive culture in our school, the community support and engagement we have, and our focus on continuous improvement. You can see the report on the ERO site or by clicking on the link below.

Outside of getting this type of feedback, what really makes my heart sing is seeing the type of opportunity and learning that brings the sparkle in a child’s eye. The noise of happy learning and the willingness of staff (and parents) to get behind to make things happen. We have our Year 6’s away on camp this week - it is so good to have these back and happening. Love what we have here.

Have a great week.

John Petrie

Principal

• Monday 12th September - Calendar Art Orders Close
• Monday 19th September - Board Meeting
• Friday 30th September - Last Day Of Term 3
• Monday 17th October - First Day Of Term 4
• Monday 17th October - School Photos
• Friday 11th November - Quiz Night

Ethan (Year 2) says: “Huapai is the BEST school ever!! I love that everyone here has smiles. My favourite thing to do is play on the climbing frame. I enjoy spelling, the stamp game, writing and reading. I like it that everyone takes turns and shares. I love Huapai School.”

Friday 11th November

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are changing the date of our annual quiz to Friday November 11th. This is week 4 of term 4. Please use the same KINDO booking system to secure your table or pop into the office to discuss.

It’s that time again!. Your children have been working hard this term creating masterpieces for their calendar artwork.

Orders are made online directly through Kids Artworks. Ordering closes on Monday 12 September at 9am.

Keep an eye out for the order forms that will be sent home with your child/ren over the next few days.

Thank you so much for all you have done in supporting us through the Athin. We are expecting to close this out tomorrow for those final returns. We will exceed $15,000 raised through this ‘athon. Thank you for your support. We have a couple of students who have excelled in raising funds so far beyond anything we have experienced before. Thank you for your generous support. We will confirm the final amount raised and recognise all those students (and families) who have participated and supported the school.

Each year we have the opportunity to collect Apple stickers in order to “cash them in” for Sports gear through the Yummy Apple Sticker Promotion.

Below is a link to the website for more information.

The stickers are found on the Yummy branded apples and there are also cut out labels on the bags of apples. Each classroom has a sticker chart for the apple stickers if the children bring them to school. A copy of the sticker chart for home use is also available online or by popping into the School Office.

Please return full sticker sheets to the front office by the end of NEXT WEEK.

Friday 23rd September

Next week we will send home a pie order form and this will also be available for purchase on Kindo. We will be selling a hot pie and cookie combo for $5, to be distributed on Friday 23rd September. These will need to be pre-ordered. No on the day sales. This will be a Year 3 / 4 camp fundraiser.

Orders will close on Friday 16th for the following week. PIE-TASTIC!

After school ice blocks will be for sale at the school gate on Tuesdays and Fridays until the end of term, starting next week. The ice-blocks will be $1 each. Proceeds go towards school camp costs.

Last year we raised funds for our Library upgrade. This we delayed to resolve some options around Ministry funding possibilities in covering what we would like to do. We were not able to secure funds from the Ministry of Education for this and so now will push on with the upgrade ourselves using the funds raised last year to seed this. Over the break we will start the process with the wall covering being replaced and some holes in walls cut.

If you are in a position to help us (we need to pack away all the books) we would really value this support on Monday 26th September (last week of the school term). If you can assist please contact Cathy Gray cathy.gray@hds.school.nz or mention you can help to the School Office or Cathy directly. It should take a morning to pack away the books.

As mentioned above, we are planning to pack up our school library in the last week of this term, as we head to upgrading this space over the school break. If there is a family that has recently shifted and still has all those shifting boxes hanging around that we could use, please bring them into the School Office.

Last week we took a group of 30 students to the NW zone cross country. There are up to 80 children in each race. Our students raced incredibly hard in the heat and gained excellent results.

Congratulations to these students who placed in the top 5 of their races:

Olivia Travers

Elliot Chan Chui

Antonio Zaknich

Andre Lister

Our school offers a daily breakfast club for those children who need a breakfast at school. Next term we are looking to bring in more support from our community. If you are able to offer your time from 8:30am-9am any day on a weekly basis next term, please contact: Stephanie Wales: stephanie.wales@hds.school.nz

If your child would like to play summer hockey next term, please use the google form linked below to register interest. Summer hockey is a great way to keep fitness for all sports up over summer. There is no need to have played hockey before. Registrations close at the end of next week.

Summer is coming!

If your child is keen to play for a school team in a weekly competition, please click the link below to find out more details. Games are played at Riverhead on a Thursday.

Registrations opened on August 1st. Please click the link below if you would like to register your child(ren) to play summer cricket.

MusiqHub are looking forward to another awesome year of music in 2022 at Huapai School! They will have some slots available for Guitar, Drums, Piano and Ukulele lessons in Term 3. 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: Thursday 2nd February - Thursday 6th April

Term 2: Monday 24th April - Friday 30th June

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

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

There will be one Teacher only day and this will be held on Friday 2nd June (Queens Birthday weekend). This day will be for a combined schools teacher only day.

Our 2022 Term dates are:

Term 1 - Thursday 3rd February - Thursday 14th April

Term 2 - Monday 2nd May - Friday 8th July

Term 3 - Monday 25th July - Friday 30th September

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