Email: office@witherlea.school.nz
Website: https://witherlea.school.nz
Location: 214-216 Weld Street, Witherlea, Blenheim 7201, New Zealand
Phone: 64 (03) 578 5568
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/witherleablenheim

Kia ora te whānau,

Yesterday, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to visit the Omaka Marae as part of the Kowhai Team programme this term. Our students were amazingly well behaved and very engaged in the various learning opportunities provided. Many thanks to the students and staff from Te Pā Wānanga, the bilingual satellite class based onsite, who led the learning and to all the parents who took time out of their day to support this trip.

On Friday 22 March the school will close early at 12.30pm to allow teachers to attend a paid union meeting to discuss priorities in preparation for the next round of collective bargaining. Thanks in advance for your support with this!

Welcome to the board newly co-opted parent trustee Ryan Lock who joins Khalid Suleimen, Marion Terpstra, Emma Morrow, Jarrod Dunn, Samantha Forrest, Naomi Anderson and myself on the school governance team.

The board have finalised the 2024-2025 Strategic Plan which is available for community access here and on our website. This document was shaped by a rich array of data including your voice, gathered from past surveys. It provides the school with a clear and measurable improvement focus to ensure we are accountable for continuous improvement. Alongside this document is a refreshed vision, values and purpose statement as detailed below:

Our purpose:

Provide all students with quality learning experiences and opportunities in a safe environment, to develop strengths and talents, so they keep learning, are proud of their individuality, are personally fulfilled, and contribute to society.

Our vision:

Confident, empowered and successful learners.

Our values:

Be Kind, Be Brave, Be Fair - Kia Atawhai, Kia Aumangea, Kia Tika.

Coming up next Friday we have our Y3-6 swimming sports at Stadium 2000. Parents and extended families are encouraged to come along and support students in this event. Children will travel to and from the event by bus and races will be run in the Programmes Pool. All events will be held as timed finals with certificates awarded to place getters at the week 8 assembly. The event is split into two sessions as detailed below:

A reminder that the Weetbix Tryathlon is coming up on Sunday 10 March in Nelson and you can still enter here. I look forward to cheering on our Witherlea School students at this amazing event.

As a team, we are here to get things right for your children and we value your partnership in their educational journey. Your first port of call is always your child's teacher and I encourage you to connect often with them and arrange a meeting should you have any concerns or questions. Equally, it is lovely to hear when things are going well!

That’s all for now, have a great week!

Ngā manaakitanga,

Symon Beattie

Principal

We wish to welcome these new students and their families and whānau to our school and community;

Beau V

Welcome to School Certificates are given out at our assembly on a Monday morning at 9am.

Congratulations to these students who have displayed one or all of our school behaviour expectations and are a model to others;

FERNS TEAM

Addie M - Addie you are such a valued member of room 4. You display all of Witherlea Schools Values and are becoming a great leader! You help create a positive and supportive environment in room 4!

Tilly H - Persevering with her learning even when it gets difficult. Tilly you have a strong determination to work through tricky tasks. Keep this up and you will fly this year. He whetu koe! You are a star!

KOWHAI TEAM

Lili A - the way you live and breathe our motto. You are always kind to those around you, you make others feel safe to have a go and you are consistently fair. Keep it up Super Star!

Holly T - Holly shows kindness to everyone. She supports her classmates in their learning so they feel safe having a go. She is growing in confidence in sharing with groups - you can do it Holly!!

KAURI TEAM

Finlay C - you have been kind to the new year 5 students in room 16, always looking for ways to be supportive and helpful. We are so lucky to have you in our class!

The awards are for recognition in displaying and modelling our school motto and values; Be Kind, Be Safe, Be Fair.

What a blast our Witherlea children have been having in Room 7 STEM. We have been so busy with experiments, making non-Newtonian fluid, turning milk into plastic, cracking codes, and designing and building sunglasses. It has been a fun start to the year!

- Mrs Schollum

The University of Canterbury is delighted to offer the annual Kiwi English, Mathematics and Science competitions for Primary, Intermediate and Secondary schools. The skills based Kiwi competitions are written by New Zealand teachers for New Zealand students and closely align with the New Zealand Curriculum. The online competitions will be run in the last 3 weeks of Term 2 and the first week of Term 3. The competitions take place at school under exam conditions. Parents/caregivers will be provided with an individual student report outlining student performance. All participating students will be awarded a certificate and a prize will be awarded to the top student in each competition. The cost for a student to participate is $9.90 per competition entered. Payments can be made by eftpos/cash to the school office or internet banking:

Witherlea School Board of Trustees

12-3167-0133327-00

Reference: Kiwi Comp

Your child can collect a notice from Mrs Muir in Room 19 - the notice is to be returned to Mrs Muir no later than 10th of May.

The test will be completed in Week 8 of Term 2

Entries close Friday 10th May.