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School Newsletter Term 4, Week 8

Friday 6th December 2024

School NewsletterTerm 4, Week 8Friday 6th December 2024

Kia ora West End whānau,


As the year races to a close, we want to thank you all for your continued support and involvement in making 2024 a successful and memorable year for our tamariki and community.


Next week marks an important time as student reports will be sent home. These reports provide valuable insight into your child’s progress, achievements, and next steps. We encourage you to take some time to review them together as a family and celebrate the hard work and learning milestones your child has achieved this year.


We are also preparing for our Poroporoaki to farewell our amazing Year 6 students. This special event will take place next Thursday evening, and we look forward to celebrating their journey at West End School and wishing them all the best as they take their next steps into intermediate school and beyond.

Our end-of-year Prizegiving Assembly will be held next Friday at 11:00 am in the school hall. This is a wonderful occasion to celebrate the achievements of our students across the year. The assembly will conclude at approximately midday, after which students will be released to you for the start of the holiday break.


Looking ahead, the school will reopen for Term 1 on Wednesday, January 29, 2025.

We’d like to take this opportunity to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has contributed to the school’s success this year—our dedicated teachers, incredible support staff, committed volunteers, enthusiastic PTA, and of course, you, our parents and caregivers. Your support enriches our school community and makes a lasting difference.


We wish you all a safe, restful, and enjoyable holiday season. Meri Kirihimete me te Hape Nū Ia—Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!


Ngā mihi,

Tony West

Principal - Tumuaki

West End School - Te Kura O Urumutu

Upcoming Events

WEEK 9

  • Swimming (2, 3, 4, 5) - Monday 9th December
  • Swimming (6, 7, 10, 11) - Tuesday 10th December
  • Meeting your class of 2025 - Wednesday 11th December
  • Fun Day (Te Wao Nui o Tāne) Lido Trip - Wednesday 11th December
  • Swimming (13, 14, 15, 17) - Wednesday 11th December
  • EPIC Music - Wednesday 11th December
  • Year 6 Leavers Dinner and Poroporoaki -Thursday 12th December
  • Whole School Final Farewell Assembly - Friday 13th December (11am start)
  • Last Day of the 2024 School Year - Friday 13th December (school closes at 12pm)


2025

TERM 1, WEEK 1

  • First day of School - Wednesday 29th January



WEEK 2

  • Swimming (2, 3, 4, 5) - Monday 3rd February
  • Swimming (1, 6, 7, 10, 11) - Tuesday 4th February
  • WAITANGI DAY - NO SCHOOL - Thursday 6th February

Fun Day!

A huge thank you to our PTA for supporting our kura in making our Fun Day a huge success. Thank you also to our wonderful helpers, who have been in charge of face painting, or manning the obstacle course! It is greatly appreciated!

PTA Calendars are going home on Tuesday

If you have ordered a PTA Calendar, these will be delivered to classes and be ready to take home on Tuesday. Thank you for your support of the PTA and we hope you enjoy your child's amazing artwork all the way through 2025!

School Sports Tops

Term Sports are beginning to wrap up, can all PE tops start being returned to school. Names are recorded and if they are not returned you will receive an invoice for the top.

Meet the new class of 2025

Wednesday 11th December

Next week we will be having all of our students meet their next year's class and teacher. They will be doing a fun activity to get to know their new class and will be bringing home a stationery list and a letter explaining what class and teacher they have for next year for you to read. Since Term 3, we have been through a robust and extensive process to place tamariki into our 2025 classes, and we look forward to an exciting new year of learning and fun.

Te Wao Nui o Tāne events in Week 9

  • Lido Trip: Next Wednesday 11th of December we have the TWNOT trip to the Lido. We will be leaving school around 12pm and returning for the school bell.


  • Poroporoaki: On Thursday 12th of December we look to host the seniors for a dinner beginning at 5:15pm in the school hall. At 6:00pm we have whanau joining us in the hall for our regular senior prize giving where cups, medals and leavers certificates will be handed out.

    This year the school's major awards will be awarded during the whole school proceedings. These major awards will be centered around our school's values.

End of Year Prizegiving 2024

We have our West End School End of Year Prizegiving on the last day of school (Friday 13th December). This Prizegiving will be to recognise those children who have exemplified our School Values this year within each team. It will also be a chance to celebrate our year and come together for the final time this year. Our Prizegiving will start at 11am and will be in our school hall. All whānau are welcome!

Pihipihingā

https://youtu.be/CT1m4H5Bniw

Rūma Tahi raua ko Rua

Pihipihinga has been working hard all year and is celebrating our mahi with a Christmas jingle. We love coming together for tuakana teina time and look forward to continuing next year.

Kia pai te hararei!

Meri Kirihimete!

Ngā mihi o te tau hou!

Kia pai te raumati!

Tipuranga

Room 8

We have been learning about where we live. We have learnt that the city we live in is Te Papaioea Palmerston North, and it is in the country of Aotearoa New Zealand. We used a globe to locate where we are in the world and a map to find where we are in Aotearoa. We have been using lots of Mana Aotūroa to ask questions and learn about the city and country we live in. We have now all completed our pictures depicting our Pepeha. We used lots of Mana Aotūroa and Whakamana to complete them with crayon and dye.

Room 15

This is our kindness art. In room 15 we have been talking about Manaakitanga. We traced our hand prints to represent Kind hands.

Then we divided our work into panels and coloured them in. We use manaakitanga in our classroom. It is how we look after and support each other to be the best we can be.

Puāwaitanga

Room 6

After a year of hard work, Room 6 opted to have a maker day in the classroom. They brought lots of boxes from home, and spent the day creating anything they could think of. This was a great chance for the kids to show our school values. Many tamariki chose to work in teams, planning and executing their designs. Collaboration isn't always easy, but Ruma Ono tamariki navigated these challenges well, demonstrating kotahitanga. Mana aoturoa was also on display as the tamariki let their imaginations run wild! There was everything from football fields to shops to robots to shops. It was a lovely start to the end of year wind down!

Room 11

This year, as part of the Health and PE curriculum, we have been undertaking the Navigating the Journey programme. Room 11 have really enjoyed this as we have learnt about so many things. Some of them include: classroom culture, gender diversity, what makes us happy, how to be a friend, hauora, talking about our emotions, how to help at home. Our latest project has been to find out about what humans need for healthy growth and development. Check out our awesome ‘person poster’ of the things that we think we require for healthy growth and development.

Te Wao Nui o Tāne

Room 4

Room 4 has begun creating beautiful tessellation Christmas cards as we begin to wrap up for the year. We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Swimming at West End

Our FINAL week of swimming is next week. Swimming will start up again in Week 2 of 2025.

Term Dates 2024

Term 1: Monday 29 Jan - Friday 12 April

Term 2: Monday 29 April - Friday 5 July

Term 3: Monday 22 July - Friday 27 Sept

Term 4: Monday 14 Oct - Friday 13 Dec

Term Dates 2025

Term 1: Wednesday 29 January – Friday 11 April
Term 2: Monday 28 April – Friday 27 June
Term 3: Monday 14 July – Friday 19 September
Term 4: Monday 6 October – Friday 12 December

Community Notices

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