Newsletter Term 4 Week 1 - Friday 15 October 2010

Kia ora tatou katoa, Talofa, Malo e lelei, Bula vi naka, Kia orana Nga mihi nui ki a koutou, Namaste, Nihao, He mihi mahana ki a koutou katoa! Greetings to you all. Welcome to Term 4 of 2010. Our children are off to a settled start to the Term although the weather is not so consistent.

ERO
This week we have had 3 members of the ERO team visiting our school. They are Norma Black, Richard Leilua and Jane Carroll. These people were in our school until Thursday as part of our three yearly review. Our Kapa Haka group welcomed our visitors to our school with the traditional welcome in fine style, in spite of a number of them having just returned from an overnight stay on the Orakei Marae.

NZEI Meeting
A number of our teachers will be attending a meeting on Monday 18th October at Pakuranga Intermediate to discuss teacher’s pay and conditions. The school will remain open for instruction.

Lunchroom
Unfortunately we are forced into increasing our prices at the lunchroom due to GST and increased food prices. We have managed to retain our prices for the last 4 years. Please continue to support us with our lunchroom as we feel that we are providing a great service for our community. Many thanks to Faith de Villiers our lunch lady, who strives to find the best food for our children.

Class lists
We are in the process of collating classes for 2011. If you have any particular requests, eg with friends or not with other children, please put them in writing addressed to Trish Plowright, Principal ASAP. Please do not request teachers as this is not possible.

Chopper Challenge
Our school is involved in a project to support the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust, The Westpac Rescue helicopter. We are promoting health and fitness in our children, their well being and also the children will get an understanding of what the helicopter does. Our children will be asked to find sponsors to support them to participate in the training. There will be a helicopter ride for 8 children who are the overall winners. This trip will be from Mechanics Bay to Elm Park School via the Sky Tower and Rangitoto Island. There will also be spot prizes donated by the Westpac Bank in Pakuranga. We look forward to some fun days.

Early children
Children who are dropped at school before 8.15 am will be sent to Kids Korner on a user pays basis.

Have a great weekend everyone.
Trish Plowright
PRINCIPAL

GET ON THE WALKING SCHOOL BUS!
In an effort to ease traffic congestion and to provide a safe and environmentally friendly journey to school, we would like to establish walking school bus routes. As a trial to gauge support for this initiative we are going to begin with a walking school bus on 4 different routes bringing the students to school in the morning. The buses will operate on the following days this term:
Week 2: Tuesday 19 October
Week 4: Wednesday 3 November
Week 6: Thursday 18 November
Week 8: Friday 3 December
Maps of the designated starting points and routes and the times of departure will be distributed soon. If your child travels to school by car this is an opportunity to drop them off at a walking school bus starting point and have them enjoy a fun, safe and active way to travel to school.

ZUMBATOMIC CLASSES AND LATIN DANCE CLASSES
Term 4 start 22nd/23rd of October ... spaces are limited. All forms must be in by Monday 18th October, if you didn't get a form pick one up from the office or call Natasha at "Dance it
Ltd" on 021793018.

LUCKY BOOK CLUB
Issue 7 - last day for orders: Wednesday 27th October. All cheques to be made out to Scholastic New Zealand. Orders directly to Mrs Commins in Room 8 please.

LUNCH MENU – Below is the revised lunch menu.
(Combo includes fruit, a sandwich and a juicie/moosie)

Chicken Noodles $3.00 only
Chicken Noodle $6.00 combo

Pizza $3.00 only
Pizza $6.00 combo

Murphy mince & Mash $3.00 only
Murphy $6.00 combo

Pie (mince) or (chicken) $3.00 only
Pie $6.00 combo

Volcano (spag & Cheese) $3.00 only
Volcano $6.00 combo

Hotdog $3.00 only
Hotdog $6.00 only

Shepherds Pie $4.00 only
Shepherds Pie $7.00 combo

Macaroni cheese $4.00 only
Macaroni cheese $7.00 combo

Butter Chicken $4.00 only
Butter Chicken $7.00 combo

Spaghetti Bolognaise $4.00 only
Spaghetti Bolognaise $7.00 combo

Quiche vegetarian $4.00 only
Quiche vegetarian $7.00 combo

BRONZE AWARD FOR ELM PARK AS AN ENVIRO SCHOOL
Last Term it was with great excitement that we learnt we are to receive the Bronze Enviroschool award. The Enviroschools Programme has an award process which recognises the achievements and successes of schools as they journey towards a more sustainable future. In order to be considered for this award all the Enviro learning and actions that have been undertaken throughout the school were assessed and evaluated against a set criteria. Our ARC facilitator Cate Jessep, the Envirogroup and some teachers participated in this self review and reflection day. It was soon very evident that we are a bronze award school and Cate Jessep was very impressed with our amazing work, learning for sustainability and particularly with empowerment of our students, who clearly demonstrated that they are passionately committed to working towards a sustainable school and community environment. Congratulations Elm Park School!!

Student Achievement
Congratulations to Laura Thwaites who came 3rd place competing in the Junior Girls (under 11 years) Open Category at the Metro Judo Club tournament in Hamilton on Sunday 26 September. Well done Laura.

FOCUS ON CHILDREN
In Room 7 we have been learning about birds. We really enjoyed reading and writing about pukekos. Our stories were so good that we published them on the computer. Mrs Kerr climbed on a chair with a big piece of blue string and we helped her make the shape of a pukeko to display our stories.


PERSONAL PRESENTATION
Congratulations to all the students who were selected this term as class winners for Personal Presentation. Students voted as the overall winner in their year level for the most neatly presented in their uniform are:

Year 1: Riko Ellison
Year 2: Katrina Tantau
Year 3: Daniel Chua
Year 4: Jayden Nielsen
Year 5: Grace Samways
Year 6: Daniel Ooi

POSITIVE SOCIAL INTERACTION WINNERS
This term the following students were acknowledged for their responsible, friendly behaviour.

Room 1 Andy Wang
Room 2 Paige Newman
Room 3 Caleb Taewa
Room 4 Bailey Pereira
Room 5 Mauriora Koroa
Room 6 Carne Fa’afiu
Room 7 Benjamin Lowe
Room 9 Sala-Marie Manu
Room 10 Jamie McNaughton
Room 11 Shine Lopez
Room 12 Samuell Tuivakano-Alai
Room 13 Kelly Cao
Room 14 India Wiltsher
Room 15 Shardul Kamat
Room 16 Maurice Daley
Room 17 Alison McWilliams
Room 18 Andrew Thomas
Room 19 Ansel Wong
Room 20 Rebecca Gan
Room 21 Reece Cook
Room 22 Julia McGaghey
Room 23 Lanika Nolan
Room 24 Mortaza Sahar
Room 25 William Kelsell
Room 26 Lily-May Taoete
Room 27 Ali Al-Attar

Value Focus for next week: Honesty and Independence

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