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School Newsletter Term 1, Week 10

Friday 4th April 2025

School NewsletterTerm 1, Week 10Friday 4th April 2025

Kia ora West End whānau



What an amazing week with so much going on.


We are incredibly proud of the 10 students who represented our school proudly at the recent interschool swimming competition held at the Lido on Tuesday. We are very fortunate to have such talented athletes in our kura. A huge thank you to Sandy McCorkindale for dedicating time and effort to support them throughout the event – your commitment is truly appreciated.


Our bilingual unit, Pihipihinga, embarked on an enriching learning hikoi along the river track yesterday, delving into the history of Rangitāne. The students returned tired but greatful for the learning experience. A heartfelt thank you goes out to the many parent helpers who joined us, ensuring a smooth, safe, and successful trip. Your support means the world and shows the value of strong home/school relationships.


A big shoutout to the PPTA for organising the hot cross bun fundraiser – every order brings us one step closer to our goal of new basketball hoops. Your contributions are valued and truly appreciated.

Lastly, we want to acknowledge our Rippa Rugby team for their dedication and team spirit at today’s rippa rugby tournament, braving the rainy weather to represent our school with pride. A massive thankyou to Sarah and David Le for your commitment to training this team leading up to this tournament. Ka rawe.


Thank you to everyone who continues to support and uplift our school community, we couldn’t do it without you.



Ngā mihi nui,

Tui Halakatoua

Deputy Principal

West End School - Te Kura O Urumutu

Our newsletters will be sent out fortnightly from Term 2

From Term 2, you will be receiving your West End School newsletters every second week - the first being in Week 2 - on Thursday 8th May. These will come out as an app message, an email and you can access them via our school website.

Lost Property is on display this afternoon! Please collect

Awareness of Chickenpox

We want to inform you that cases of chickenpox have been reported in our school community. Chickenpox is a contagious virus that spreads through coughing, sneezing, or direct contact with the rash. Symptoms include fever, tiredness, and an itchy rash that turns into blisters.


If your child develops symptoms, please keep them at home until all blisters have dried (usually about five days). If unsure, seek advice from your doctor or Healthline. To help prevent the spread, encourage
good handwashing and covering coughs and sneezes. If your child is immunocompromised or at higher risk, please speak with your healthcare provider.

Thank you for your support in keeping our school community healthy.

Kapa Whakamana

We have had 70 applications and CV's sent in from Year 4, 5 and 6 students to help promote our school values, and give service to our kura by taking on leadership responsibilities. The effort and time that went into most of these applications were noteworthy. We will be announcing those students who will be in our Kapa Whakamana roles next week, and these will be starting in Term 2. Thank you to all of those applicants and to whānau for helping to support their children.

Dance NZ Made

Trials on next Tuesday (8th April)

Next term West End a selected group of year 5 and 6 students will take part in Dance NZ made. Mrs Gobie and Mr Minchin will be holding trails on Tuesday the 8th April at lunch time to finalize the final team going to Dance NZ Made.

Students trialling will need to learn the choreography to the Gonoodle ‘ROAR’ by Katy Perry, which is on Youtube. We are looking forward to seeing all students who put their name down to trail show their dance skills off.

Swimming timetable

Last week of swimming next week

Children will need to bring togs, towel, goggles and if your child has long hair it will need to be tied up for swimming.

Tipuranga

Room 13

In Room 13 we have been using lots of materials around our classroom to understand maths concepts. After cross country practise we came back to class and tallied all of the laps we had done using popsicle sticks. This was a great way for us to practise tally marks and counting in 5s.


We have also been using objects around the classroom to compare sizes. We talked about phrases such as longest and shortest, and heavier or lighter. We had lots of fun making these comparisons with our maths buddies.

Puāwaitanga

Ko Wai Ao? Room 10

Rūma Tekau have created portraits of themselves for our wall display. They have demonstrated mana aotūroa (creativity) and whakamana (stickability) whilst using cross-hatch to colour and shade. They have designed their own clothing to represent their interests and personality.

Fair to say that they look AWESOME! Ka pai tō mahi tamariki mā!

Pihipihingā

Room 1 and 2

Tēnā koutou e te whānau

On Thursday Pihipihinga went for a hikoi to Turitea Pā. We have been learning about Turitea through Aotearoa histories. The tamariki displayed mana aotūroa by making connections from their learning in class to what they saw, heard and felt at the stream and modern day pūhara. We were also lucky enough to have a couple of tuna swim up the stream and show off their skills in the water. Some favourites from the tamariki were the tuna (eels) swimming up over the rocks, the view from the pūhara (watchtower) and the waiata, lead by Whaea Karen, on our hikoi back to kura.

We would also like to thank all of our ameihi volunteers who made it possible for the hikoi to happen.

Nāku iti noa, nā

Whaea Karen rātau ko Whaea Vicky, ko Matua Rhys
Turitea Pā

Plant to Plate

Room 3

Last Wednesday Room 3 was the second class to meet the wonderful volunteers and participate in gardening and cooking. The class was split into two groups and they spent half the time in the garden and the other half cooking.

Together, they planted a variety of new plants in our garden alongside what Room 4 had already planted. While working in the garden, students learned about the science of plant growth and the care required to grow plants that will thrive. We are also carrying on this learning in class by making our own plant out of paper and writing what the importance of the flower, leaves, stem and roots are to the plant.

Inside the hall, students firstly learnt about kitchen safety and hygiene and the importance of it before they started cooking. Then they got into groups and cooked six delicious in session dishes. We even got to use our beautiful feijoas in that baking that were grown in our school orchid.

After both groups cooked and gardened the students set up the tables and shared their amazing kai together. This was an amazing way to end the session and you could tell the students soaked up every learning opportunity the day offered them.

Sport at West End

Flippa Ball term 2

Registrations are now open for Flippa Ball in term 2 for year 4, 5 and 6. Please register through Kindo by April 10th. Any questions please feel free to contact Miss Bone via email sport@westend.school.nz


Winter Hockey

If any parents are interested in coaching Winter Hockey, please contact Miss Bone via email sport@westend.school.nz.

Winter Hockey registrations will be coming out next week.

Upcoming Events

WEEK 11 -

  • Swimming for Te Wao Nui o Tāne - Monday 7th April
  • Swimming for Puāwaitanga - Tuesday 8th April
  • EPIC Music - Wednesday 9th April
  • Swimming for Tipuranga - Thursday 10th April
  • Last Day of Term 1 - Friday 11th April


SCHOOL HOLIDAYS UNTIL MONDAY 28th APRIL

TERM 2 - WEEK 1

  • Pōwhiri - Tuesday 29th April at 9.15am
  • New Entrant Visits - Wednesday 30th Apri
  • Power Hour - Thursday 1st May


WEEK 2

  • Power Hour - Thursday 8th May
  • VIBE Assembly - Friday 9th May starting at 2pm


WEEK 3

  • Cyber Safety with John Parsons - Wednesday 14th May
  • Power Hour - Thursday 15th May
  • School Cross Country - Friday 16th May

Save the Date for Term 2

Event Information

John Parsons - Cyber Education Safety

When?

Wednesday, 14 May 2025, 06:00 am

Where?

West End School College Street, West End, Palmerston North, New Zealand

location_on Open maps

Please click on and read a brief introduction below to this free event held at school. This is a hugely important topic that affects us all - children, teachers and parents. We will be dedicating a day of Cyber Education Safety during this day and evening.

PTA Fundraising and Events

Reminder to pick up your Hot Cross Buns from the hall from 2pm

Remember to pick up your Hot Cross Buns today, 2pm to 3pm from the school hall, please bring bags. Orders under $40 will be delivered directly to yourchild’s classroom. Your support is greatly appreciated! Thank you from the WES PTA.

Term Dates 2025

Term 1: Monday 29 Jan - Friday 11 April

Term 2: Monday 28 April - Friday 27 June

Term 3: Monday 14 July - Friday 19 Sept

Term 4: Monday 6 Oct - Friday 12 Dec

Ballot Dates 2025

Ballot Dates Drawn at 11.30am of the dates stated below

Term 1 for Term 2: Wednesday 26 February 2025

Term 2 for Term 3: Wednesday 14 May 2025

Term 3 for Term 4: Wednesday 30 July 2025

Term 4 for Term 1 2026: Wednesday 8 October 2025

Poly Paddles - free swimming programme for Pasifika children

Niuvaka Trust are holding a swimming programme called Poly Paddles which is a FREE 3-day swimming programme for Pasifika children aged from 5-13.


This will be held at the LIDO's on the 15th, 16th and 17th of April. Children and whanau are provided not only with a FREE entry, but also FREE goggles and FREE kaikai!


Please click on the link below to register

EPIC Holiday Program

The EPIC Holiday Program is an OSCAR-approved, music-focused program led by our experienced EPIC Music Academy team. Based in Palmerston North, we’ve been providing fun, creative, and engaging holiday experiences for over four years. Alongside music, we offer a variety of exciting activities at our venue and often head out on awesome trips. For more info, check out our website at www.epicma.nz/hp

If your child is absent from school.

It is really important under the current circumstances you notify the school if your child is absent.


PLEASE DO NOT TXT OR EMAIL THE CLASSROOM TEACHER.

ALL ABSENCES SHOULD BE ADVISED VIA THE OFFICE.


Please remember to advise the office by 8.30am if your child is not attending school.

You can telephone 358-2465 and leave a message or txt 021 118 0156.

ABSENCES CAN ALSO BE SENT EASILY THROUGH OUR SCHOOL APP


In both cases please give a reason for absence.

Thank you.

Kindo Online Shop

It is very important that families register with Kindo, as this is now the only way to register your child for school sports, and ordering PTA lunches.
Below are the links to register.
If you require help please call the Kindo helpdesk on

0508 454 636

New users need this link

Existing users need this link

West End School
Te Kura o Urumutu
Email: office@westend.school.nz
Location: West End School, 196 College Street, Palmerston North
Phone: 06 358 2465