Week 5 Term 4 Panui

Kia ora te whanau,

I have just spent the last hour reading some highly persuasive letters from our Year 5 boys writing group who have been working secretly together to develop their writing skills. These letters informed me of their progress to date and put forth a persuasive request to reward their efforts. The examples quoted below showcase the use of strongly stated facts and opinions, empathy, emotive language, hyperbole and rhetorical questions which all serve as persuasive techniques.

“Kids will have so much fun and everyone will love you for it!” Jonathan

“Since you're the best Principal, and your work is so hard, we want to invite you to do something fun for a change” Henry

“Our writing has got so much faster and neater and I think we deserve a reward after all this hard work, don’t you?” Angus

“I have noticed my writing improving everyday, where I can get my ideas on paper faster.” Hamish

“Mrs Muir thinks I have got so much better at my writing, she said I was spectacular!” Benson

“As the most kind Principal in the world, I’m sure you will love to let us have a reward to celebrate all the hard work we have been doing.” Kaiden

“We have been hard working and deserve a holiday…I am not asking for a week's holiday, just a teeny tiny day out. Students will go home with smiles on their faces!” Cairo

A huge congratulations to our “Witherlea Golden Girls” Jump Jam team who placed first in the South Island competition last weekend. Thank you to Dan Stephens and Hayley Christie for the hours of work that went into coaching the team and to Rochelle WiRepa for the amazing work on costumes.

Today we had our Years 5-6 children offsite at Brayshaw Park with the Clued Up Kids Programme. Clued Up Kids is a multi-agency programme teaching primary school-aged children confidence and life skills to help them stay safe in a range of real-life scenarios. The hands-on activities included a ‘shaky house’ for practising what to do in an earthquake, a smoky fire simulation teaching children how to react during a house fire, as well as demonstrations on water safety, interacting with dogs, road safety, quad bikes, truck and cycle safety, and first aid.

Coming up next week we have a parent information workshop on literacy teaching. Teachers will provide an overview of how early literacy is taught at Witherlea and provide some guidance on how you can support this at home. The session is targeting parents with children in the Ferns Area (Y1-2) and will be held in the staffroom between 8.30-9.30am on Wednesday.

Recently we have received two staff resignations from Phil Funnell and Phoebe Quirk. Phil has made the decision to return to the UK next year and Phoebe to spend time with her growing family. Both Phil and Phoebe have made a significant contribution to Witherlea and we wish them well going forward. Kelsie Brown has had a year's leave approved for an adventure abroad which will be exciting! We recently advertised four full time positions for 2024 and are thrilled to announce that Hayley Christie, Rachel Earle, Mel Beattie and Holly Siemonek have accepted these. We are currently in the process of recruitment for a Deputy Principal and will announce the outcome in due course.

It was great to see support for our first whanau hui today to start a conversation around our aspirations for students who identify as Māori. It is encouraging to see our 55 students who identify as Māori currently achieving as well, and in some cases better, than Non Māori students in Reading, Writing and Mathematics. We looked at a guiding document developed by the eight iwi of the top of the south titled Nga Kawatau and had some great feedback to guide our work going forward. We look forward to building on this conversation through regular hui moving forward.

The remaining five and a half weeks of term are looking really busy. Please be kind to yourselves and engage with school events as you are able, we really appreciate what you do to support your child's learning and our broader operations.

Ngā mihi nui,

Symon Beattie

Principal