West Melton School Newsletter Te Kura o Papatahora Innovative, Connected, Empowered, learners, Driving their passion for learning 743 Weedons Ross Rd West Melton 7618 Ph: 03 3478 448 Website: www.westmelton.school.nz Principal: Sue Jackson
Issue 13 25 August 2016
Whakatauki – Maori proverb expressing “positive thoughts” to guide us through our day. He moana pukepuke e ekengia e te waka.” - We are on the waves of learning in our waka
Dear Parents / Whanau, Kia ora koutou e nga matua,e nga whanau I am sitting in the portacom writing this week's newsletter on Wednesday afternoon sheltered from the freezing cold blustery wind. It has been a very bitter day...A wee reminder that we are still in winter!
Welcome to our new learners and families Deputy Principals: Tracey Riley Kim Busch
Piwakawaka welcomes New Entrant students: Paige Neal and Indy Paterson.
Term Dates – 2016
The NZEI are holding Paid Union Meetings throughout the country to discuss the impact of the proposed bulk funding of teacher‟s salaries. All teachers at West Melton School who are union members have the right to attend this meeting which will be held on Thursday 15 September at 1.30 pm.
Term 3 - 25 July – 23 Sept Term 4 – 10 Oct – 16 Dec
Dates to Remember Term 3 Week 6 31 Aug Week 6 1 Sept 2 Sept
Week 7 6 Sept 7 Sept Week 8 12 Sept 14 Sept 16 Sept Week 9 21/22 Sept 23 Sept
Pukeko Planting Day at Kowhai Sanctuary FoWMS New Parent Intermediate Biking the Rail Trail Kids Can National Mufti Day School Safety Travel Plan Launch Cultural Festival FoWMS New Parent Afternoon in the Staffroom Student Welfare/Wellbeing Mtg 7.30 – 9.00 p.m. Board of Trustees Mtg Festival Choir Rehearsal FoWMS Mtg Intermediate Ski Trip to Mt Hutt School Photos Last Day Term 3
For all future events please refer to the calendar on the school website Please also refer to the school blogspots: to read about student achievements, trips, etc. Also accessed from the school website. westmeltonschool.blogspot.nz moateam.blogspot.co.nz pukekoteam.blogspot.co.nz kiwi-team.blogspot.co.nz
Teachers / Support Staff Paid Union Meetings
Please be aware that although the school will remain open with skeletal staff, normal classroom instruction will not be continuing during the half day of paid union meetings. Parents are welcome to pick up their children from 1 pm.
Dogs on the School Grounds At the last Board meeting there was discussion regarding dogs coming onto the school grounds whether they are on a lead or carried in your arms. The Board are following the Selwyn District Council By Law regarding “No dogs are permitted on the school grounds.” Dogs can be tied up outside school grounds but away from the gate entrances. This is to ensure the safety of all concerned. Thank you.
Learning Landscape We are proud to share with our community, the school learning landscape explaining our vision, values and pedagogy.
West Melton School Learning Landscape We have great pleasure in sharing our Learning Landscape. The purpose of preparing this document, is to explain its purpose in relation to learning and West Melton School Aspect of Learning Landscape
Detailed Explanation and Purpose
Vision…
It was important we developed a combined vision that all could articulate – ākonga, staff and community. A vision that was easy to remember, understand and was meaningful.
‘Innovative, Connected, Empowered learners, driving their passion for learning’ Innovative / Auaha Connected/ Tūhono
Empowered / Whakamana
The Vision (why) is our purpose of being who we are. The vision was finalized after consultation with ākonga, staff and community in 2015-2106.
Our educational purpose is for our learners to leave West Melton School as Innovative, Connected and Empowered learners who DRIVE their learning through authentic and self directed learning opportunities. We want them to be passionate about learning and to continue their learning into the future working in partnership with home and the school. The acronym for the Vision is I.C.E. D.R.I.V.E.R. We needed a simple and catchy phase in child’s speak that all ākonga can use to remember the purpose of the vision.
Logo This is the graphic West Melton School is identified with on uniforms, letterheads, website and documentation.
The logo reflects the School Vision. The shape reflects the steering wheel to DRIVE learning. As a community, we strive to be inclusive in our practices and culture. We are global in shape. This is also seen in the slight curve of the two colours - green and blue identifying West Melton as part of a global community. We have brought in a new colour - a soft green. Future discussions with our Intermediate learners will see a proposed change in uniform colour specifically for these learners. The yellow ‘W’ signifies our location ‘West’ of Christchurch. It also identifies with our local environment - the Southern Alps and the Waimakariri River. The blue curve of the W shows a road that continues into the horizon - lifelong learning. The colour yellow has traditionally been a school colour and is the colour of our school representative sports and cultural uniform. It also acknowledges the links we have with the Kowhai Sanctuary and our enviro connections. The blue ‘M’ signifies ‘Melton’ where we live. It reflects the W as the Braided River of the Waimakariri. The colours acknowledge our links to the Tangata Whenua and our history of farming and the pioneering families of the past. The shining glow empowers all our learners - children and adults alike, as stars in their own identity.
School Bus
In 2008 after consultation with learners, staff, Board of Trustees and community we decided the logo would be a school bus. At this time 70% of learners travelled to school by bus. This was our vehicle for learning. Currently three buses safely deliver our learners to school from within our catchment zone. We believed it was important to retain past aspects of our school specific curriculum that our learners can continue to relate to - we just spruced it up a little!
School Values:
D -Determination/Aumangea R - Respect/Whakaute I - Integrity/Ngākaupono V - Vitality/Hiringa E - Empathy/Aroha R - Resilience/Manawaroa Our reviewed community values have been broken down into specific learning indicators to empower our learners to act and promote our ‘DRIVER’. They are incorporated into everyday school life in numerous and varied aspects.
D.R.I.V.E.R
We believe they provide the life skills to support our learners to be respectful global citizens. The D.R.I.V.E.R graphic represents all the values.
Personal Excellence
Our previous values had an overarching theme of ‘Excellence’. We are a high performing school and have high expectations for our learners. We expect our learners to achieve to a high standard, whilst supporting and empowering their learning journey
Next Stop
On our learning journey we often need to get on and off the bus at different stops depending on our needs and interests. We move on with our learning when we are ready and get off when we need to. At times, we seek guidance from others to support our decision making processes and learning. We make connections along the way building relationships, taking with us our prior learning, knowledge and skills.
Waimakariri River
The Waimakariri River runs 151 kilometres from the Southern Alps (source) to the Pacific Ocean (mouth). It runs across the Canterbury Plains and is 45.4 kms via the Old West Coast Road from West Melton School. It is well known as a Braided River on the Canterbury Plains. This river was very important for Māori as a hunting and gathering area for food and supplies. You can see it meandering through the Canterbury Plains to the Pacific Ocean.
Ka Tiritiri o te Moana
The Southern Alps ‘Ka Tiritiri o te Moana’ is the backbone of the South Island. It is a key geographical feature framing the Canterbury Plains. The tallest peak is Aoraki Mount Cook. The Southern Alps ‘frame’ our future direction. We want our future focused learners to look to the future by exploring such significant future-focused issues as sustainability, citizenship, enterprise, and globalisation. Future focus is about supporting learners to recognise that they have a stake in the future, and a role and responsibility as citizens to take action to help shape that future.
Kowhai Tree and Toi Toi
In the past, the Kowhai Tree and the Toi Toi grass were in abundance and were used by local Māori and European. Our partnership with ‘The Kowhai Sanctuary’ supported by specialists, provide our Eco-Warriors and learners the opportunities to engage and learn in an authentic environment. Our learners realise their place in the environment and understand how their connections and actions have an impact. They are able to develop and build on sustainable practices and authentic relationships with the environment
The Canterbury Plains
The Canterbury Plains are recognized as a main feature in our local environment. The Canterbury Plains illustrate the diversity of the landscape and the connections with its various communities. We embrace cultural diversity. We affirm students’ different cultural identities, and incorporate their cultural contexts into teaching and learning programmes. We value learners as individuals and celebrate the diversity that they bring. We equip them for life in a multicultural world and provide opportunities for them to share their language and culture. The internal flooring of the administration and learning hubs symbolises the Canterbury Plains.
Te Kura o Papatahora
West Melton School was gifted its Māori name by our local Taumutu Runanga in 2014. Papatahora means spread out, laid out uncultivated open country reflecting the nature of the area. This area was filled with fern root and bracken shrubs in the early years.
Whakataukī
Te kura o Papatahora was gifted our school specific whakataukī by our local Taumutu Rūnanga in 2016
‘He moana pukepuke e ekengia e te waka’ - We are on the waves of learning in our waka A whakataukī is a Māori proverb that contains words of wisdom to guide our behaviour and attitude to our lives. The language of the environment is often expressed through the use of whakataukī (Te Taumutu Rūnanga)
Our whakataukī symbolises the school, community, wider community and our global connections as the vehicle (waka) to support learning as our ākonga (learners) ‘Drive their Passion for Learning’
Currently our learners and teachers are engaging in discussions around our Vision and Values and what they mean. There are some great conversations in communities identifying how the DRIVER impacts and empowers our learning, the purpose of who we are and how we belong!
Parent workshop - Behaviour Development Programme A reminder about the interactive parent workshop sharing our journey on our reviewed Behaviour Development Plan incorporating our Restorative Justice learning. Last week Mrs Busch and Ms Riley spent three days of intensive training with Margaret Thorsborne and other teachers from primary and secondary schools discussing and learning more about becoming a Restorative School. This community workshop is on Wednesday 7 September from 7:30pm in the Ti Kouka community.
Buildings Steady progress is being made on the new build. It is great to see the cladding going up on the external walls. Last week key personnel had a walk through finalising data points and power outlets to meet learning needs. We are still expecting to be able to move into this build at the end of November. However communities will remain in their current learning spaces until the end of the year for continuity. We will be holding an open day for a walk through towards the end of the year.
Portacom Progress The portacoms arrive on site on Saturday 3 September. Ramps and services will be built shortly after that. Nice to know we will be in there by the beginning of term 4!
Landscape Plan The Board of Trustees are pleased to announce the successful tender of Hayden Stark‟s company Xteriorscapes Landscaping, to work with learners, school and community in preparing a school wide landscaping plan. Hayden is a member of our school community. This includes conversations with learners on their needs, particularly for outdoor learning opportunities. We will present the final proposed plan to the community by the end of the year. This will be a Board/School/Community funded project which we are very much looking forward to creating. The West Melton School Fete coordinated by our „Friends of West Melton School‟ will direct funds raised to creating/implementing the design into a reality!
Traffic Safety Management Plan Don‟t forget this great celebration - 2 September now starting from 1.30 -3 pm with fun activities to celebrate the launch of this safety plan. We welcome members of our community to help celebrate our launch
Rolleston Cluster Schools The Rolleston Cluster schools were gifted a name from our local rūnanga which we were delighted to receive. Ngā Peka o Tauwharekākaho - the connecting branches of the Rolleston area. Events in the future where staff network and connect with other professionals include the “Unconference Week” where teachers within the cluster facilitate a session on a specific area. This takes place the week beginning 5 September. Staff will be off site every day this week from 3.30 pm to attend their selected sessions. In November the cluster are bringing back John Parsons to share his wisdom and extensive knowledge on Cybersafety. John spoke with our community in March this year. This will be held at Clearview Primary in November. More information will follow early in Term 4. The trip to Melbourne was a great learning opportunity especially going with other cluster members. There were lots of interesting & thought provoking learning and observations. We are presenting our findings in September to the cluster and to the Ministry, in November. There were discussions around the 2015 student achievement data released a few weeks ago for Reading, Writing and Mathematics. The cluster are exploring the impact of Writing (which was lower than the data for Reading and Mathematics) and how we can support teachers and meet the needs of our learners particularly our boys as a cluster wide goal. Our big goals - the cluster priorities, in line with our vision were discussed. At our last workshop session in term 2 we discussed what we want from the Rolleston Cluster - What will be our focuses for 2017? This is set for further discussion on 9 September. Cluster schools: Rolleston College, Rolleston School, Clearview Primary, Weedons School, Burnham Primary, Rolleston Christian School, Lemonwood Grove School (Opening in 2017), West Rolleston School, Waitaha Learning Centre and West Melton School.
School Band Our school band, which has been organised by the guitar and drum teachers, Dave Morris and Steve Howden, have entered in the Rockshop Band Quest which is being held on Tuesday 6 September at 7 p.m. at the Rangiora Town Hall. We wish them all the best!
MOA Team Athletics Day – Parent Help Required We are holding our Moa Team Athletics Day on Tuesday 11 October (Week 1 Term 4) {pp Thursday 13 October, ppp Tuesday 18 October}. The Moa Team teachers cannot run this event without the support of our parents. The morning programme requires at least 12 parent helpers and in the afternoon we also need at least 12 parent helpers. The tasks would include measuring, writing results, collecting disks/shot puts and time keeping. We really appreciate the volunteers who continuously help us out at various sporting events. If you are able to help please email Rita Spadoni at rita.spadoni@westmelton.school.nz with the attached form, Parent Help specifying when you are available. Thank you!
Bus Vests & Bus Notices If your child catches the school bus, they are required to wear their bus vest to and from school. We are having an increase of children not wearing their vests. If your child has lost their bus vest, the cost to replace the vest is $15. A reminder also that if your child is not catching the bus on the day, they need to fill out a notice in the office before school starts. We ask that you do not email the office as sometimes we may not have access to the email due to staff sickness.
Save Our Whio Colouring-in Competitions With Conservation Week happening in September, we have an exciting Whio colouring-in competition starting this week! ALL colouring-in sheets and information are in the Totara foyer. Children are also able to enter the Whio Forever Boot Camp competition online as well. Sheets need to be returned by Monday 12 th September. Have fun!!
Sickness As you are aware, there is a lot of sickness in our school community at present. We have a steady stream of students being sent down to the sick bay and then home each day, sometimes as early as 9am. If your child is presenting with sickness, please keep them at home until they are well. Schools are great places for spreading bugs and germs! We are trying very hard in encouraging children to wash their hands after going to the toilet and before eating, using tissues, coughing into sleeves to prevent the spread of germs.
Student Absences Our school protocol for managing absences is that an absence is reported to the office by way of leaving a message on the answerphone before 8.50 am. This ensures that messages get to the administration staff who then follow up on any child unaccounted for. Holiday absences may be reported by completing the Absence Notification Form (available online or from the office). Please do not email teachers or office staff to report absences as they may not access their email or may be off sick. If your child arrives at school after 8.50 a.m. or you are taking them out of class or returning to school, please call into the office to report their arrival/departure. Many thanks for your continuing support.
Updating Health / Contact Information Today a Health Information form has been sent home with your eldest/only child. This also has your contact details on it. Please check your email address, mobile phone number and address and if any of these have changed please send the form back to the office with your correct details. Thank you.
A Big Thank You Jess Frater and Mitch Shaw are two local youth workers who have been coming into school, this term. They normally come in four lunchtimes a week, Mitch has been involved running football and other sporting activities, helping kids with reading and supporting kids through conversations, and encouraging them. Jess has been connecting with the younger children and organising fun lunchtime games including, "Duck, Duck Goose" and "Sneak Up Granny". They are passionate about connecting with our children and supporting the school by helping serve where the needs are. We are lucky to have them involved in our school and really appreciate the time and effort they put in. Most importantly the children are loving having them around school.
Scholastic Book Club Orders A reminder that ALL Scholastic Book Club Orders are due in by 3.15 pm Friday 2 September.
Kings Seed Orders - FoWMS Just a reminder that the final day for Kings Seed orders and payments is tomorrow (Friday). Thank you to everyone who has ordered already.
COMMUNITY NOTICES On our school website under Notices – Community Notices, you will find further information on the following community activities and groups.
West Melton Before & After School Care Carparking at the Kindergarten Selwyn Athletic Club Registration Day School for Young Writers Plunket “What a Women Wants” – 5 September On the Spectrum “Coffee Croup” Clearview School Fete Busy Bumbles After School Care Brainwave
Calling all old Mobile Phones to help Sustainable Coastlines look after NZ’s coastlines and waterways After $2.5 million donated to the Starship Foundation from the sale of unwanted old mobile phones it is time for a new multi award winning NZ charity - Sustainable Coastline to benefit from this scheme. It would be great if you could rummage around in your drawers and toy boxes and bring into School any unwanted mobile phones you may have. Phones collected help our School gain valuable rewards and also the environment benefits by keeping our landfills free of mobile phones and their array of hazardous toxic substances. Please drop any unwanted mobile phones you may have in the collection box in the reception area at School.