Our sports scene is about to change as we head into Term 2. I would like to take a moment to acknowledge our coaches and managers who have helped in the cricket and summer soccer scenes. Having people in these roles lets our children know we value their efforts and helps the children feel supported. It is also a lovely extension of the relationship between the school and our parents and whānau.

Many thanks as well to Michelle Sleep, who works in the office on the junior side of the school. She spends many hours putting together sports teams, dealing with uniforms, and ensuring communications reach everyone in plenty time. We really value her efforts.

Physical activity and sports have many benefits. We often tend to think of the reasons for being active is to get fit but there are other reasons too:

• Physical activity improves brain power. Regular exercise results in growing more brain cells.
• Physical activity boosts energy levels. Aerobic exercise increases the number of mitochondria in our cells, which are responsible for producing energy the body can use.
• Physical activity builds a health buffer for retirement. Exercise improves the quality and experience of your life post-retirement.
• Physical activity improves our mood. Being physically active helps regulate the systems affected by depression by improving sleep, boosting your mood, and increasing your energy levels.

In our senior area, we’ll be back into the interschool sports scene next term. This is a competitive sports scene and with that comes the need to select our most capable players for each sport. We realise that sometimes this can cause some children to feel upset, since there are always more players than spaces, but please understand that teachers in charge of each sport find making selections tough going, and they do their very best to ensure that this is done in a transparent and sensitive way.

Ka kite anō - see you later.

In line with the 'phones away for the day' initiative, any mobile phones or smart watches (watches that can take photos/videos and/or have a messaging or calling function) brought to school need to be delivered to the school office at the beginning of the day for safe keeping. They can then be collected at the end of the day. These are not allowed to be used on the school grounds due to privacy and internet concerns. Any communication between children and home can easily happen via the school office.

We’re super excited to share that Caitlin Amos is heading off to get married next week! A huge congratulations from all of us here at school – we’re so happy for her and can't wait to hear all about it!

We wish Caitlin and Tom an amazing wedding day and a wonderful honeymoon adventure in Fiji! We're picking that your big day will be just as special as you are.

Next week, on Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd April we are hosting parent and teacher learning conferences.

These are a valuable opportunity to hear about your child’s learning and progress, and a chance to ask questions and share your thoughts so that we can become partners in your child’s education. We strongly encourage all parents to attend - we would like to have 100% attendance of parents for all classes.

You can book your learning conference through the Skool Loop app. Simply go into the app, select Vogeltown School, Bookings, and the dates for your child's class. Please note, we have a couple of teachers are unavailable on these days so we have rescheduled their interview times. If you have trouble making your booking, please contact the school office who will be happy to book a time for you.

Since the meetings are limited in time it's worthwhile for you and your child to do some preparation in order to make the most of this opportunity:

• Think about what you have noticed about your child's work or the way they talk about learning.
• Talk to your child about how they feel about school and anything that they are really enjoying, finding too easy or too difficult.
• Ask your child if there's anything they want you to talk about with the teacher.
• Go over any recent school reports or work samples and write down any questions you have about them.
• Consider questions you might like to ask: Does my child seem settled? How well do they get along with others? Does my child participate well in class? Is my child progressing as expected? What do they do well? What do they need help with? What can I do at home to help?Are there any areas of concern?

These learning conferences replace the written report and parent/teacher meeting that has tradtionally happened at the beginning of Term 2. Our next formal reporting will be a written report at the end of Term 2.

Children in our Huatoki and Paetoki teams will be finishing class early on Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd April to allow teachers to prepare and start their meetings with parents. During this time tamariki will be offered some choices, and asked to elect into one.

Option 1: Library. Sit and read with your friends using a library book or one from home.

Option 2: Board games. Bring a board game from home to play with others.

Option 3: Mass game on the field. Bring a great attitude!

Teachers will talk to children about these choices but we would be grateful if you could check in with your child and make sure they bring whatever is needed.

Congratulations to the following tamariki who received a principal's award at our full school assembly today:

Rakibul Alam, Ariah-Jay Benton, Jack McNally, Boden Brears, Zander Hintz, Franco Viljoen, Joshua Erne, Hanna Rose, Harry Hunt, Fred Miller, Jed Nielsen, Kaahu Izett, Mylo Robinson, Rylee Darbyshire, Lacey Pitcairn, Harper Newland, Beah Schoeman, Emily Bush, Sarah Venables, Tiaan Botha, Isabella Gatenby, Aaryan Sharma, Naomi Rowe-D'Ath, Rinto Shimada, Azariyah Gear, Ryder McIntyre, Quinn Gray, Elias Ramos, Nova Leigh Nikora, Raniera Edwards, Lincoln Brears, Viviana Navas Daal.

Ka mau te wehi!

Our wonderful Home and School team have organised a pizza lunch day on Wednesday 9th April.

Kindo is all set up and ready for you to place an order.

If you do not have a Kindo account set up yet, please use the following link for first time users. https://www.vogeltown.school.nz/school-information/kindo-shop/

Orders close on Sunday 6th April at 9:00pm.

The New Plymouth Infrastructure Partnership will be completing upgrades to Huatoki Street, at the intersection of Carrington Street, from Monday 7 April to improve safety for all road users including school students, cyclists and pedestrians.

To complete the work as safely and efficiently as possible, the work will be completed under two stages of road closures.

Using a road closure allows crews to complete the work as safely and quickly as possible, reducing the overall construction period by 2-3 weeks. We have scheduled this work to coincide with the April school holidays, to minimise disruption on this busy road.

Here is what you need to know:

• From Monday 7 to Saturday 19 April Huatoki Street between Hursthouse and Carrington streets will be closed to all traffic 24/7. This stage of work will take approximately 2 weeks to complete (weather permitting). Please note Monday 7th April to Friday 11th April is the last week of Term 1. The remainder of this closure will be in the school holidays.
• From Saturday 19 April to Saturday 10 May Huatoki Street between Hursthouse and Carrington Streets will be under a single lane closure for three weeks (weather permitting). This means: Access to Huatoki Street from Carrington Street will be closed, and traffic on Huatoki Street will be able to exit onto Carrington Street. Please note Monday 28th April to Friday 9th May is the first two weeks of Term 2.

During all stages of construction:

• Alternative routes will be available and clearly signposted for the duration of the closure.
• Carrington Street will remain open to both directions of traffic at all times.
• Pedestrian, property, and business access will be maintained at all times. If access to your property is limited during the works and you need to travel, please speak with one of our onsite crew and they will assist you.
• Road users are asked to be patient, follow all instructions of our crews, and comply with all temporary signs.
• In the event of unsuitable weather, the road will remain closed and work postponed to the next suitable day.

On behalf of the New Plymouth Infrastructure Partnership, thank you in advance for your patience and understanding while we do this important work in your community.

If you have any queries regarding these works, please contact NPDC on 06-759 6060. You can also receive important updates from NPDC via the Antenno app.

Kind regards,

The team at New Plymouth Infrastructure Partnership

Registrations for winter sports remain open on our Kindo Shop. For details on each sport and to register, please sign in to your Kindo account and head to our sports section.

Options available are:

• Miniball (Yr 0-2) - registrations closed (team is full)

• Miniball (Yr 3/4) - Monday-Wednesday - $55
• Basketball (Yr 5/6) - Monday nights - $70

Netball and hockey registrations have now closed, however we can still fit in a few more players if you wish to join.

• Netball (Yr 5/6) - Tuesday after school - $46 (2 spots)
• Netball (Yr 3/4) - Thursday after school - $Free!!! (1 spot)
• Hockey (Yr 5/6) - Saturday morning - $78 (2 spots)
• Hockey (Yr 3/4) - Saturday morning - $65 (2 spots)

Fun Sticks Hockey is available for our Year 0-2 children. Please use the following link to sign your child up directly with Taranaki Hockey. https://www.playhq.com/hockey-new-zealand/register/cf7d77

If you do not have a Kindo account set up yet, please use the following link for first time users. https://www.vogeltown.school.nz/school-information/kindo-shop/

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.

michelle.sleep@vogeltown.school.nz

It is important that we know if you have a child starting school sometime in the remainder of this year. This will allow us to put organisation in place for new students - especially those starting school, and to understand our predicted roll throughout the year.

You can do this by contacting the office to confirm that we have your child on our records, or by completing an enrolment form (which can be collected from the school or downloaded off our website).

If you know of anyone else living in zone that may be looking to enrol then please share this message with them.

The awesome team at GameChanger have Vogeltown School Hoodies available to order. You can try a sample on for size at their store, which is on the corner of Huatoki and Carrington Street. The link to order is below:

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

31 March - Room 13 Learning Conferences

1 and 2 April - Room 15 Learning Conferences

2 and 3 April - Learning Conferences - all other classes

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

9 April - Home and School Pizza Day (order on Kindo)

9 April - Starting School the VS Way, 5pm to 6pm, junior staff room

11 April - Last Day of Term 1

TERM 2 2025

Monday 28th April - First Day of Term 2

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! Have a great weekend!

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.