The Connection Week 3 Term 3

“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” - Dr Suess

Too much time and energy in life gets spent trying to fit in…trying to be seen as “normal”. I often wonder why so many of us try to fit into a perceived idea about what it is to be “normal”. After all, why be normal when you can be exceptional?

When something simply “fits in” it is too easy to blend in, to go completely unnoticed. But when something stands out you cannot help but notice it. You cannot help but have your attention drawn to it.

I found myself at a vineyard over the weekend and came across a magnum of Rosē that was not normal by any means. It stood like a gangly teenager towering over the other wine bottles. Totally ‘out of shape’ compared to the other magnum bottles of different vintages surrounding it, this one caught my eye for reasons beyond normality.

The winemaker then told me the story of this bottle’s struggle - how the labellers and bottlers refused to complete the final part of the wine’s journey because the bottle was too long and it literally didn’t fit in their machines.

At this stage some winemakers would have given up with the exceptional bottle idea, and just gone along with the status quo - the usual suspects of a typical 750ml bottle. But this wine was born to stand out. So despite the struggles of hand filling 500 bottles and sealing them with wax in a slow cooker, the fruition of an exceptional wine, in an exceptional bottle through exceptional circumstances resulted in one of the best wines I have ever tasted or seen.

For our children, every day they have the choice to focus on being amazing…to go beyond the average or the typical….they have the choice to be EXCEPTIONAL. My message to them:

Why follow the crowd when you can be leading it? Why shoot for ordinary when you can be SPECTACULAR?! Be proud to STAND OUT! Be confident to stand up for what is right, even when you are the only one doing it. Don’t lower your standards to fit in with the crowd. Instead, let your example be what lifts others around you to raise their standards to yours. Be a leader. Stop worrying about fitting in and start aiming to STAND OUT!

Keryn Annan

Deputy Principal

• Monday 15th August - Board Meeting
• Tuesday 16th August - School Cross Country
• Wednesday 7th September - School Board Election Day

Monday 15th August - 6:30pm

This meeting will be held in the school staffroom.

Parents are welcome to attend.

Ella (Year 3) says: “Huapai is a really good school. I like it here. My favourite things to do in the playground are swinging in the basket swing with my friends and climbing on the huge climbing frame. I can climb to the very top! I really like writing at school. My teacher is really nice.”

Our school received 5 nominations for the School Board and therefore does not require an election. Below is the formal confirmation of this from the company the school contracted to run the election. Our thanks to these people who are either returning for a further term or joining the School Board.

School Huapai District School Board Parent Election 2022 - 5 Parent Representatives

At the close of nominations at 12 noon Wednesday, August 3rd 2022, the following nominations were received for the five parent vacancies on the School Board:

Hamish Taylor

Jenny Bull

William Eastgate

Andrew Kinzett

Daniel Rode

I hereby declare the following duly elected: Hamish Taylor, Jenny Bull, William Eastgate, Andrew Kinzett and Daniel Rode.

Thank you to all those who have paid their school donations this year. This is such a key element to the success of our school. Your donation is what moves our school from good to great!

As a means of thanking you, every family who has paid their school donation in full by Wednesday 31st August will automatically go into our 2nd smaller annual draw in Term 3, to recognise those families that are not able to pay in full for our bigger April prize draw. Families with more than 1 child who have paid the family donation will have 2 entries.

Prizes to include a 50% discount to our Huapai Plus programme to the value of $100 and bottles of wine.

You can pay your school donations through HERO, if paid in full.

Alternatively for part (or full) payments, you can pay via direct deposit to the school bank account as per your invoice or below:

Huapai District School

ASB 12-3659-0025306-00

Every dollar received through school donations will be used for resources that will touch the hands of your children.

Next Tuesday, 16th August, we are set to run our school cross country at the Huapai Domain.

Event details can be found here at the link below.

Next Week

Thank you for the support you are showing your child by helping them learn their maths facts from the booklet. Next week is “check week” when the children will be tested on what they know. Students have been given either a paper or digital copy of the maths questions they will be tested on NEXT WEEK.

There are prizes for children at all year levels.

Please keep in touch with your child’s teacher regarding the Math-a-thon. They will be able to let you know which stage your child is working on. Below is a link to a digital copy of the booklet.

Linked below is our school Givealittle page to make sponsorship for your child’s math-a-thon easier. Please share it far and wide.

Thanks to everyone who stepped up to help the school - you are really appreciated. Your help meant that we raised $3,400 for the school over the three days. This money will be spent on our Spring Spruce around the school.

We will be doing this each year as a school, so please look out for the call for helpers in May next year.

A huge shout out to all the members of the HFN who went above and beyond to deliver a night to remember for our students at the end of last term. Huapai discos are always great fun and we are so grateful to the HFN and staff involved for providing our students with a fantastic night of music, dancing, glow sticks and treats.

Kidspot

This website is filled with activities for children to do at home. At this link, there are science experiments for your budding scientist. All the experiments use items that are commonly found around home. Perfect for a rainy weekend activity.

A few pics from an initiative from Harbour Sport we have here at school each Tuesday. The focus for Harbour Sport is to raise the profile of basketball for females.

Registrations opened on August 1st. Please click the link below if you would like to register your child(ren) to play summer cricket.

MusiqHub are looking forward to another awesome year of music in 2022 at Huapai School! They will have some slots available for Guitar, Drums, Piano and Ukulele lessons in Term 3. If you're interested, be sure to get in touch to reserve your spot or ask any questions you may have. Contact details below:

Drums - paul.barry@musiqhub.co.nz

Guitar, Keyboard and Ukulele - scott.wotherspoon@musiqhub.co.nz

Our 2022 Term dates are:

Term 1 - Thursday 3rd February - Thursday 14th April

Term 2 - Monday 2nd May - Friday 8th July

Term 3 - Monday 25th July - Friday 30th September

We use HERO to send classroom updates, to share regular learning posts and now for payment on all in-school costs. HERO sends push notifications or emails. You can now choose how you receive HERO notifications as well as manage devices that receive them.

To set your own notification preferences:

1. Click on your profile image

2. Select EDIT PROFILE

3. Scroll down to My Devices and select your preferences.
   

Or please see the full instructions linked below.

Email: office@hds.school.nz
Website: https://www.huapaidistrict.school.nz/
Location: Huapai District School 40 Station Rd, Kumeū, New Zealand
Phone: +64 09 412 5042
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/huapaidistrictschool