Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Greetings to you all.
Firstly many thanks for your support with the early finish and strike day last week. It was fantastic to see nearly every family attend Learning Conferences which provides the foundation for our educational partnership and the 2023 reporting cycle. If you didn’t manage to connect with your child's teacher, please contact the office to arrange a time that suits for a face to face meeting, or alternately, a phone call.
Congratulations to Masha, Ryan, Emily, Harry, Benson, Reuben and Amelia, Amelie and Quinn who represented Witherlea and the Marlborough Interschool Swimming Championships on Friday. They performed beautifully both in the water and on the poolside, making us incredibly proud!
Last weekend eighteen students from Witherlea took part in the Weetbix Tryathlon in Nelson. The field of participants was 1400 strong and it was great to see all of our students complete the course and give it their all!
We are thrilled to see the Witherlea School Parent Community Group (WSPCG) now Friends of Witherlea reestablished with a committee eight strong. Many thanks to Marion Terpstra and Tash Stewart for their past involvement in this group and current efforts to enable succession. The new committee met today to plan their first meeting which will be on Tuesday 28 March at 7.30pm in the staffroom. Anyone is welcome to attend and an agenda will be circulated prior. The new committee is:
Chairperson: Kristen Hammond
Treasurer: Ruth Hawker
Secretary: Kylie Sheard
Committee: Kim Davies, Kelsi Johnston, Ruth Daudjee, Felicity Franken and Lucy Best.
This week we start a focus on Road Safety Education with our junior classes looking at pedestrian safety and cycle safety for our senior students. These programmes are led by the Police Education Officers and the Ride On facilitators funded by Marlborough District Council. Please talk to your children about what they are learning to reinforce these messages.
We were excited to hear Martina Suleiman's efforts with the Closest Room have been recognised by the TVNZ ‘Good Sorts’ programme. Hayden Jones (TVNZ reporter), visited school on Friday to celebrate Martina’s contribution to the community. The Closet Room has raised over $$36,000 for the school through the proceeds of second hand clothing sales. These funds will be used to build a scooter track around the top field which should be completed over the coming term break. Congratulations Martina on this recognition - well deserved!
On Saturday 1 April we are hoping to run a working bee to remove some of the unnecessary internal fences and landscape the area behind the amphitheatre. We plan to kick off at 8.00am and conclude with some sustenance at 12.00pm. If you are able to help, please complete this form to inform our planning.
Ngā manaakitanga,
Symon Beattie
Principal
