Newsletter 29th October 2024
From the Principal
A very warm welcome to all our new families. We look forward to a busy, productive school term and improving weather.
School Sun Hats and Sunsafe
These are compulsory in Term 4 and Term 1 of each year as part of being sunsafe. Although Skin cancer is rare in children it can be a problem later on in life. . Skin cancer is more common in people with light skin, light-colored eyes, and blond or red hair.
Every classroom has sunscreen available to use and children with no hats can play under the sunshades around the school.
Junior School Sunshade Makeover
This is currently getting a refresh with a new cover and upgraded poles. We anticipate this will be back in place in a few weeks
School Production: Shrek the Musical
The school production, Shrek the Musical, will take place next week on Thursday 7 November at the Pakuranga Intermediate School hall.
There will be two performances, both on Thursday 7 November, the first at 1pm and the second at 6.30pm. Tickets are now available for purchase via Kindo. Any problems with purchasing tickets, please email Claire Stretch, claires@pakurangaheights.school.nz
Attendance
One of the things we are continuing to focus on this term is student attendance. You will hear us talking about this with you and with our students.
If a student misses one day of school every two weeks, they miss more than a whole year of school by 16 years of age. As a parent or caregiver, you, alongside our school, play a key role in building strong habits of regular school attendance.
All students are legally required to attend school every day and it is a shared responsibility to make sure students attend and engage in learning from when they first start school.
You must let the school know if your child is going to be absent or intends to be absent for a portion of the school term for whatever reason, like a tangi or medical procedure. Family holidays or taking time off for extracurricular activities (not organised by the school) are not considered justified reasons for being absent. You can notify the school via phone, or by using the report an absence function on the school website.
If you're struggling at home with getting your child to school, please talk to us. Our school is committed to supporting your child to attend school and building a culture that fosters excellent attendance.
Year Level Attendance Weekly Prize
This term we are monitoring regular attendance by year level. Each week, the year level with the most students with 90% attendance or more will win some additional play time and at the end of the term the year level that has won the weekly prize the most times will receive an additional reward.
Week 1 Attendance Winners: Year 4
Week 2 Attendance Winners: Year 6
School dates for 2025
Term 1 – Friday 7 February - Friday 11 April
Term 2 - Monday 28 April - Friday 27 June
Term 3 - Monday 14 July - Friday 19 September
Term 4 - Monday 6 October - Friday 19 December
Major School Events this term
Last day of school this year is Friday 20th December at 1.00 pm
More information about trips and events will be sent out closer to the time
Week 3 Starting October 28th
- Labour Day – Monday - All schools closed
- Interschool Athletics Trials
- Board of Trustees Meeting - Tuesday
- Junior and Middle School Cricket lessons continued
- 2025 Road Patrol Training
Week 4 Starting November 4th
- School Production - Thursday performances
- New Parent Meeting -Thursday
Week 5 Starting November 11th
- Pakuranga Intermediate Open Morning for Enrolled Students - Tuesday
- Inter school athletics - Wednesday
- Photolife -Team and New Entrant Photos - Thursday
- Full School Assembly - Friday 9.15 am
Week 8 Starting December 2nd
- School wide fun athletics event - Wednesday
- New Parent Meeting - Thursday
- Senior School - BigFoot Adventure - Friday
Week 9 Starting December 9th
- Board of Trustees Meeting –Tuesday
- Student reports go home – December 15th
Week 10 Starting December 16th
- School Duty Awards Ceremony – Tuesday 17th December - 9:15 am
- Junior School End of Year Celebration –Wednesday 18th December - 9:15 am
- Middle School End of Year Celebration –Wednesday 18th December - 11:45 am
- Senior School Graduation Assembly- Thursday 19 December - 9:15 am
- Last day of the school year – Friday 20th school finishes at 1 pm
Fintan, Sue and Monique
Celebrating Excellence - Room 20
In Room 20 for writing we have been focusing on extending our range of sentence types. One sentence we have been creating is creating a: Red, white, and blue sentence. This is a catchy name for a complex sentence that can deliver a lot of information in one sentence. The colours represent the 3 ideas/information and helps students to separate the clauses with a comma after each idea. Room 20 have worked hard to draft and revise their sentences to convey meaning. We used an image of the mighty Thor to create our Red, white, and blue sentences.
Celebrating Excellence - Mathex
