Coming up …

29th October Mufti Money raised to help Tsunami victims of Samoa and Tonga.

29th October Battle of the Bands. Our school band will compete at Maidstone Intermediate.

4th November Inter Intermediate Touch Tournament Our teams will compete against the best teams in Wellington.

4th November Working together— Kia Kotahi Tatou The beginning of our home/school partnership.

4th November Inter Intermediate Touch Tournament Postponement date. May be needed with the weather we are having,

TOP  HOUSE

Kotare

CHESS CLUB

Restarts Nov 11th

Wednesdays

STUDY CENTRE

Tuesdays  

3.00 p.m. —4.00 p.m.

School Library

Students are welcome to attend for supported independent study.

Afternoon tea provided.

Quote of the Week

“When things are at their worst I find that something always happens.”

W. Somerset Maugham

Principal’s Comment

There is currently a strong consensus in education literature on the link between parent involvement in a child’s education and academic achievement. Many studies conclude that parental support and involvement in the school is the number one factor in predicting academic success, more important even than socio-economic status.

In recent decades, the terminology used to discuss home and school relationships has shifted from language focused on “parent involvement” to a call for school and family “partnerships”. Whereas “parent involvement” puts the onus on parents to engage with schools, “partnership” suggests that the burden must be shared equally by parents and schools, and that it incumbent on both parties to work together so that children might succeed.

Partnership means establishing shared goals and having a shared investment in outcomes, thereby combating the “us-versus-them” dynamic that can be corrosive to the home and school relationship. A lack of partnership ignores the whole child, the child who exists, not separately at home and at school, but whose existence in one sphere fundamentally impacts on the other.

In the past we have encouraged parent involvement in school and, with willingness on both sides, we have had success. We have had great groups of parent helpers on camps and trips, helping with sports teams and dramatic/dance performances. Some years we have had a relatively small but active PTA. We need to continue with this but now take it a stage further.

Our new initiative, “Working Together – Kia Kotahi Tatou” is not seeking parent involvement. I believe we can begin to develop a new relationship – a true partnership where we can work together for your child’s benefit. We are beginning with a workshop on ways you can help your child at home with reading but we can host workshops on any topic that may be helpful for parents.

There will be challenges in forming a true partnership. For a start it was difficult even finding a suitable evening to hold the workshop. Several teachers, including myself, are normally busy with other things on Wednesday evenings. We realise the importance of developing the partnership and so have made ‘Working Together – Kia Kotahi Tatou’ a priority. We all lead such busy and demanding lives.

This first step in forming a new type of school relationship will not be a success without a good number of parents. You will be made very welcome.

M. Debney

Empty Computer Cartridges

Don’t throw them away!

Send them to school with your child. We will collect them and can raise $4 for each one, any size. Remember your empty ones at work as well. Ask friends and family to collect for you.

Let’s see how many we can get!!

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

CONTACT

Lynn McBain (Chair)

027 241 4082

Eryl Jones

383 6235

Lindsay Daysh

027 261 5840

Barry White

021 477 663

Working Together

Kia Kotahi Tatou

6pm

Wednesday November 4th

School Library

I warmly invite all parents/caregivers to be part of this important new initiative to lift our student achievement even further.

We will be holding a workshop on practical ideas to help your child with reading at home. There will be ideas for developing readers and for extending excellent readers.

I believe if we can all work closely together in an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust, we can be a truly outstanding school. This will be an opportunity to work towards this.

The meeting will just take one hour including a light supper that will be provided. Younger children will be supervised and entertained during the workshop.

Please remember this date and time! I look forward to seeing you there.

M. Debney

FOOD TECHNOLOGY

To encourage students to make the recipes they are learning in Food Technology, the recipes are being placed on the SWIS website in the Food/Fabric Technology section.

Bon appetit!

Student Council Mufti

Thursday 29th October

$2

Proceeds towards the Samoa and Tonga Tsunami Appeal

EXCELLENT HOCKEY RESULTS AT INTER INTERMEDIATE TOURNAMENT

The boys team who competed with great spirit and sportsmanship.

The champion girls team who won the Inter-Intermediate Tournament

Our girls team beat almost every other school (one draw) to win the round robin competition. 

They faced Raroa Intermediate in a very tense final, which they won 1-0. 

The boys team played extremely well but did not enjoy the success of the girls. 

The tournament was a great opportunity for many of these first time players to experience the speed and intensity of hockey.  Both teams exhibited a high level of positive team play and all players were a credit to the school. 

Special thanks to all the parents who came to support the teams, especially Brenda Lewis who took up the manager’s role.

It was a pity Raroa Intermediate was so confident they didn’t bother to bring the trophy.