The Connection Week 5 Term 2

The Magic Of Thinking Big

There is a famous quote by Henry Ford “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you are right”. I often think about this when I walk around classes and see children who either exude confidence and will give anything a go, and those who shy away with a fear of failure.

As I watched the junior athletics on Tuesday, I was so excited to see the obstacles children overcame when initially scared to give things a go. The best part of it all, was the encouragement I noticed from other children cheering those less confident on, and seeing the look of accomplishment on faces when they actually gave their all to something they initially thought they were unable to do.

The determination of getting across the finish line - the little tongues poking out of the sides of mouths, and the stares across at teammates as children pushed through to cross the finish line.

It just goes to show in life we need to put blinders on to the obstacles that we think stand in our way and have the belief we can actually achieve something - regardless of where we come in the race - it is all about having the positive mindset to give things a go.

Keryn Annan

Deputy Principal

• Friday 3rd June - Teacher Only Day - TOMORROW
• Friday 24th June - Matariki

Friday 3rd June

Reminder that the school has a teacher only day tomorrow, Friday 3rd June. This day will be used by staff for planning and assessments.

Friday 24th June

In Māori culture, Matariki is both the name of the Pleiades star cluster and of the celebration of its first rising in late June or early July. This marked the beginning of the new year in the Māori lunar calendar.

In New Zealand, 2022 is the first year Matariki is being recognised with a public holiday. Therefore please note, the school will be closed.

It is with great heartfelt joy that we announce the welcome return of Amanda James to our Operations team!

Amanda has joined us in the Student Services (Ange's) role 3 days per week, with Emma covering the remaining 2 days.

Amanda was previously with our Operations team in the dual roles of Financial and Administrative Support (Ash's role) and Student Services, bringing her previous knowledge and experience as well as her professionalism, energy and love for HDS.

While one door closes with the departure of Ange from our HDS family, another one opens with Amanda 's return.

A huge thank you to everyone who supported our Scholastic Book Fair in school last week. As a school, we earn a percentage of the total, to be spent on books for our students. Due to the fantastic response, we are able to gain nearly $2000 worth of books that all our students can enjoy! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Our target in 2021 was the upgrade of our school Library. Our fundraising last year saw $12 000 raised. Towards the end of last year it became a possibility that we might be able to add significant aspects of this upgrade to Ministry funded projects. Rather than push on with this we have elected to slow the action around this until we can get confirmation that the library upgrade can be paid either in part or in full from these funds. The money raised has not been spent, rather held and ear marked for this project. We hope to be able to push on with this later this year.

Please see pictures below of our concept plan.

Please note - we are hoping to remove aspects of one wall separating the existing library from the resource room.

Currently we are seeing a rise again in positive cases and sickness - particularly amongst our staff. As of today, we have 2 staff absent testing positive and a steady number of staff presenting negative but sick. Our student absence is faring better but also on a rise again - currently 15 students are away testing positive. Our forward planning is based around managing things within each team / year level. If we do face circumstances where we can not manage a particular year level due to staff absence and inability to resource this with additional staff, we will shift just that year level to online. We will communicate with those parents, asking if possible to keep their children at home. We will plan to run on-site options also. We are hopeful this will not occur.

If your child(ren) are arriving at school after the 9am bell has gone, please ensure they are signing in as late at the School Office.

If your child(ren) are not going to be attending school for the day, or for a period of time, please register their absence via the HERO or SchoolApps app.

If you are interested in connecting with families who are raising neurodiverse children or are interested in learning more about neurodiversity, we would like to welcome you to come along for a casual coffee and chat:

When: Tuesday 7th June, 2022

Time: 9am

Where: HDS Staffroom

If you are wanting to better understand what the progress charts in Hero are all about, you can click ‘ABOUT THIS PAGE’ at the top of your child’s report page. This will take you to all the information you need, as well as links to help at home.

There is an initiative from Harbour Basketball to promote females playing basketball. They are keen to run a training program for our female students here in school. Students don't need to have played before, it's about giving things a go! The 6 sessions are during school lunch times, one day a week and once they have been to all the training sessions they will receive a basketball to keep. The best part is IT'S FREE! If you are keen to be in this group, please use the form linked below to submit your interest. At this stage it is only open to Years 5-8 female players. The sessions start Thursday 9th June.

Students have had this link at school, entries close tomorrow.

Maths Prototec

This website allows students to practice their basic maths facts. Suitable for years 0-8.

Next Friday 10th June, our HFN will hold a preloved uniform sale in Room 17 (located next to the front playground, Station Road end of driveway). 2:45pm - 3:15pm.

School jumpers are $5 and all other uniform items are $2. CASH ONLY.

If you have items to donate, please bring them to the School Office Friday morning. We are looking for volunteers to help with this sale. If you are able to help, please email Katie on: katie.lean@hds.school.nz

This is our new annual school fundraiser. Taupaki has the fireworks, Riverhead has the rampage, Huapai now has THE MUD RUN! (and our annual Community Quiz).

We need to find 20 helpers each day:

Wednesday 3rd August

Thursday 4th August

Friday 5th August

Please use the link below for more information and to register.

** The first class to get 4 parent entries = hot chip lunch. One class has only 1 more registration to go!

July 12th - 16th

Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster.

Skate Lessons After School

Term 2 weekly after school skate lessons.

Thursday 3:30pm - 4:30pm at Huapai District School.

Lessons are suitable for beginners to intermediate skaters.

Register at the link below.

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 2. 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

A major sponsor in this year's School Donation sponsorship prize draw. Generously donating a $600 voucher which was won by our first place prize draw winner.

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

Additional to this there are two planned Teacher only days:

• Friday 4th March

• Friday 3rd June (making Queens Birthday a 4 day option)

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