Kia ora Vogeltown Whānau,

Sharing a book with your child is a wonderful opportunity to strengthen relationships and enjoy the reading experience together. Research has shown that reading with your child is a powerful way to help them develop a love for reading.

When you share books, you support your child’s reading and vocabulary development while also stimulating curiosity, imagination, and enthusiasm for learning. Take time to talk about the text as well because making connections between the text and personal experiences helps readers better understand and engage with what they read.

Children learn in different ways and at different speeds, but they all benefit from an environment that nurtures a love for reading. Taking just a small amount of time each day to read together makes a significant impact.

Kia pai tō koutou rā-have a nice day.

I am pleased to inform you that Debbie Wrigley has been appointed as the new teacher for Room 12. Debbie is currently completing her notice period and is set to join us on Monday 17th March.

Debbie is an experienced teacher, currently teaching at Manukorihi Intermediate and has previously worked in a variety of educational settings, including the New Zealand secondary system, international schools, and Montessori environments. We are excited to have her as part of our Paetoki team and look forward to the knowledge and experience she will bring to our school.

Please join me in warmly welcoming Debbie to our Vogeltown whānau.

Hello from Debbie:

Hi, I’m Debbie, and I’m excited to be part of the Vogeltown School community. Originally from Perth, Australia, I’ve been lucky enough to live and teach in five different countries, including Singapore and Malta. These incredible experiences have been made possible by my husband’s job, giving our family the chance to immerse ourselves in different cultures and education systems.

After studying my teaching degree, I taught, travelled, and returned to Perth to pursue a lifelong dream — becoming a mounted police officer. I spent seven years in the Western Australian Police and another seven years as a paramedic in Perth, both roles that I found incredibly rewarding.

Sport has always been a big part of our family. Hockey, tennis and biking for me and rugby for our boys. My sons, Ike and Mack, are currently following their rugby dreams—one studying and playing in the United States and the other recently joining the Western Force in Perth.

Outside of work, family time is everything, and our British bulldog, Maizie, is at the centre of it all! I’m looking forward to getting to know the students, staff, and wider school community surrounding Vogeltown and contributing to the success of our learners.

Homework is a topic that people have varying opinions on, and at school this year, we’re trying to create a more consistent and aligned approach across the school. That means you’ll notice some changes.

Reading Nights Initiative...

The only required home learning at Vogeltown School will be reading. To support this, we are introducing Reading Nights - a recognition system that celebrates children’s efforts in reading outside of school hours.

Students will receive certificates to acknowledge different reading milestones, awarded for every 25 nights of reading completed. These certificates will be presented at syndicate assemblies. A reading night is defined as:

Taranaki syndicate: A minimum of 10 minutes

Huatoki syndicate: A minimum of 15 minutes

Paetoki syndicate: A minimum of 20 minutes

All teachers will have a weekly homework sheet that includes some communication about the week ahead and a space to record the books read each night. We ask that a significant household member signs off each reading night to confirm this has been done. Students may also record reading nights over weekends and holidays if they wish to accumulate more.

In addition, teachers may assign targeted homework to individual children, but this should be discussed with parents beforehand to ensure there is support.

Why this approach? Our decision for this is guided by several considerations:

• Busy family lives-many families juggle work commitments and after-school activities.
• Research on the impact of homework show that homework has different effects on primary and secondary students, largely due to older students’ more advanced study skills.
• Parental involvement: homework designed to engage parents works best, but direct instruction by parents can sometimes be counterproductive, particularly if it contradicts classroom practices.
• A large amount of homework or lack of monitoring can harm student achievement. For some students homework reinforces the fact that they cannot learn by themselves and cannot do schoolwork.
• Teacher workload-effective homework requires follow-up, which can impact teachers’ ability to complete other elements of their job.

We do have plans to expand home learning in the future. Potential additions include spelling once we have introduced a school wide programme, and opt-in challenges/tasks connected to students' everyday lives, interests, and whānau activities.

Thank you for your support with this and for helping us in fostering a love for reading.

The Vogeltown suburb was named after Sir Julius Vogel, Prime Minister of New Zealand in the 1870s.

The Māori word Huatoki can be translated in a number of ways. Some suggest that a literal translation of "many or plentiful adzes" could refer to the availability of suitable stones for adzes in the stream. Alternatively others suggest it is a corruption of Hua tītoki, referring to the many tītoki trees that are abundant in the valley.

We are keen to make sure that all children are safe. To help us out we ask that the earliest that children arrive at school is 8:15 am. This provides time for teachers to prepare for the day, it is a time when we are sure most staff are onsite, and it is also when our road patrollers start duty for those children needing to cross the road.

The dry weather has meant we have had to replace some of our activities at Vertical Horizons camp. Kayaks, raft building and the inflatable have been swapped for air rifles, orienteering and the climbing wall.

Our school tryathlon week is coming up very soon! We have events on two separate days.

The syndicate tryathlons are being held on Wednesday 26th February. The Paetoki team will have their tryathlon first up, followed by the Huatoki team and then the Taranaki team. You are more than welcome to come and support your child. The approximate timings for the day are below:

Paetoki Team - the tryathlon starts and finishes on the back field.

Year 5 Girls: 9:30am

Year 5 Boys: 9:45am

Year 6 Girls: 10:00am

Year 6 Boys: 10:15am

Huatoki Team - the tryathlon starts and finishes on the back field.

Year 3 Girls: 11:40am

Year 3 Boys: 11:55am

Year 4 Girls: 12:10pm

Year 4 Boys: 12:25pm

Taranaki Team: 1:55pm - 3:00pm. The tryathlon starts at the pool and finishes on the back field.

Your child will need to bring their bike, helmet, togs/towel, hat, drink bottle and be wearing sunblock and appropriate clothing - we suggest t-shirts rather than singlets as children will be outside for most of the morning.

Taranaki children - bikes can be left on the grass area of the junior driveway on Wednesday morning.

Huatoki/Paetoki children - bikes can be left on the back field at the senior school on Wednesday morning, there will be an area marked out where you can put them.

Your child can still participate if they do not have a bike or do not wish to bike.

Our second event is the whānau tryathlon on Friday 28th February. This tryathlon is a really fun event as the children participate in their whānau groups - so we have our Paetoki, Huatoki and Taranaki syndicates all taking part together. It will be held at the senior school and follow the same course as the syndicate tryathlons.

You are more than welcome to come and support your child. Every parent/caregiver who participates gets an extra whānau point! Here is the order of events for the day:

11:30am: All children go to the back field at the senior school. Welcome and run through the course.

11:45am Tryathlon starts - first, the Paetoki (senior) kids will complete 3 laps of the soccer field on their bikes. They will hand over to the Huatoki kids, who will complete one length of the pool. Then the Paetoki, Huatoki and Taranaki kids will come together to run/walk a lap of the cross country course. They will finish running together underneath the rugby posts and into the middle of the back field.

Paetoki children are the only ones that will need to bring their bikes and helmets (these can be left on the back field or in the bike racks). Huatoki children will need their togs, and Taranaki children just need comfortable shoes to run/walk in.

All children will need a hat, drink bottle and need to be wearing sunblock and appropriate clothing - we suggest t-shirts rather than singlets as children will be outside in the middle of the day. This is the perfect day for your child to dress up in their whānau colours - in their Vogeltown whānau t-shirt or any other clothing (headbands, wigs, fairy wings etc) that is their whānau colour.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Planning for this is underway and we are really looking forward to an evening of great food and fun together. Get organised nice and early and block out from 5pm - 7pm on Wednesday 5th March on your calendars to connect with teachers and other Vogeltown whānau.

Many thanks to the Home and School Committee for their efforts in this space. If you are someone who has some time on your hands and can help out on the night then please contact the office so we can pass on your details.

The 2025 Weet-Bix Kids Tryathlon is being held in New Plymouth on Tuesday 25th March 2025 at Ngamotu Beach.

If you wish to enter your child and register them under the Vogeltown School group, here is the link to do this:

http://raceroster.com/events/2025/93896/new-plymouth-weet-bix-kids-tryathlon/register?team=714836

We will have a Vogeltown tent up for children to meet but parents are responsible for their children on the day.

Attendance at school is an important ingredient for success with learning and also maintaining a positive attitude towards school.

We ask that all parents ensure children attend school regularly, inform the school of any absence (and communicate the reason for this), and have children at school in plenty of time to get settled for the start of the day.

You can let us know of any absence by texting us on 021 753 680, using the Skool Loop app to register an absence, leaving a message on 06 753 6843 or emailing office@vogeltown.school.nz

It's that time of year when our tamariki need protection from the sun's harmful rays - bucket hats must be worn every day during Term 4. We have the famous Vogeltown School bucket hats for sale at the senior office for $20 each, but any bucket hat can be worn. Children not wearing a hat will need to remain in a shaded area during break times. Thank you for your cooperation with this.

TERM CALENDAR

Put all these dates in your diary or your phone! Remember we will put all updates on Facebook, Skool Loop and Seesaw.

TERM 1 2025

18 February - BOT meeting, 6pm

19-21 February - Paetoki Camp at Vertical Horizon, Inglewood

21 February - Four Year Old Friday, 9:00am to 11:00am, junior school

26 February - Syndicate Tryathlons

28 February - Whānau Tryathlon

5 March - Whānau Fiesta

7 March - Four Year Old Friday, 9:00am to 11:00am, junior school

10 March - Taranaki Anniversary Day - SCHOOL CLOSED

11 March - Cohort 2 entry

11 March - Paetoki swimming sports TBC

21 March - Four Year Old Friday, 9:00am to 11:00am, junior school

25 March - Weet-Bix Kids Tryathlon, Ngāmotu Beach

2-3 April - Learning Conferences

4 April - Four Year Old Friday, 9:00am to 11:00am, junior school

9 April - Starting School the VS Way

11 April - Last Day of Term 1

Thank you for the ongoing support of Vogeltown School, we really appreciate the efforts everyone makes to ensure our kura is such a great place to learn and work!

On behalf of the Vogeltown team, ka kite ano!

Ryves Hunt and the VS team

Email: office@vogeltown.school.nz
Website: www.vogeltown.school.nz
Location: Vogeltown School Huatoki Street, Vogeltown, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Phone: (06) 753 6843

Our school policies, like many schools, are now in an online system through a portal called 'Schooldocs'. Any time you want to bring up a school policy, just log in to schooldocs and you can access the policies.

The login is: vogeltown

The password: huatoki

The website link to Schooldocs is below.