No 3 Feb 28 - Merrilands School

MERRILANDS SCHOOL NEWSLETTER
No.3 28 February 2013
Dear Parents/Caregivers
Kia ora koutou katoa
Here we are. Almost half way through Term 1
already! The Summer weather has been
incredible (unless you are a farmer!) and
tomorrow sees the official calendar arrival of
Autumn. It is unbelievable how quickly the days
disappear. We are thoroughly enjoying the
school year to date. The community feel of our
school is wonderful and all interactions, with
children and adults, are positive and rewarding.
I have been reading an article by Phil Cullen, a
retired Director of Primary Schools in
Queensland, Australia, who believes schools
should be driven by the 3 L’s – Love, Laughter
and Learning, which lead to success in the 3
R‟s (I believe they should be called the 4 R‟s –
Relationships, Reading, „Riting and „Rithmetic).
I hadn‟t heard the term 3 L‟s before but it
struck a chord with me as I felt that is what
our school is about and what helps make us so
special.
BIG DAY OUT Wednesday 20 February
A huge thank you to all those who joined us on
our Big Day Out to Ngamotu Beach on
Wednesday 20 February. Your involvement and
help made it another memorable and very
successful school community event. The
number of parents and other family members
almost outnumbered the children! We were
very proud of our students and the whole day
was yet another example of our school being
“where your child gets to shine.”
IMPORTANT
TEACHER ACTIVBOARD TRAINING
WEDNESDAY 6 MARCH 1.30 -4.30
To enable all teachers to be involved in this
training, children will be able to go home at
1.00pm on Wednesday 6 March.
If this is inconvenient for any family your
child/children can remain at school and will
be supervised until the usual finish time of
3.00pm. Please let the school office or class
teacher know before Wednesday if your
child is going to remain at school.
STAFF NEWS
It is with much sadness I inform our school
community that we are losing a highly valued
teacher at the end of Term 1. Rachel
Keegan, Room 4’s teacher, has won the
position of Maths Facilitator for New
Plymouth. We congratulate Rachel on this
great opportunity to follow her passion of
Mathematics teaching by helping other
teachers. We will have to make the most of
her skills and talents during her last 7
weeks with us and farewell her appropriately
at the end of term.
Y5/6 CAMP – VERTICAL HORIZON
Wednesday 13 – Friday 15 March
Just under two weeks to go. Notices and
forms have gone home but a number have yet
to return their forms. Mr Rees is sending
home further information next week.
POOR LIZZIE!
We had a number of very upset children on
Tuesday as a result of an unfortunate incident
involving our much loved school pet Lizzie.
Lizzie lost her tail! This is a survival strategy
of skinks to escape enemies. It was gruesome
to see as it was a very thick, long tail! Lizzie
will recover as her tail will grow back but, alas,
not as long or pointy as it was. We may have to
rename her Stumpy!

CELEBRATING STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
Special awards presented at our school
assembly on 15 February were:
R1
Laura Jones – Thanks for settling into your
new class and school so quickly Laura. Your
bright, bubbly, friendly and fun personality is a
huge asset to our school! Continue to strive for
excellence.
Koby Neumann – Thank you for leading the way
in Room 1 and for your excellent swimming
demonstrations. Our school appreciates all of
your hard work and excellent role modelling!
Go for gold Koby!
R3
Tayan Papuni – Independently practising
swimming drills in your free time. It‟s great to
see you striving to do your best.
Ryan Goodwin – Getting in the pool for class
swimming.
R4
Amber Rennie – Working hard in all areas, neat
presentation in all work and for being well
organised.
Benji Tanner – Being focused in class, showing
initiative and completing all assigned tasks.
R10
Baxter Hopkinson – His positive attitude in all
subject areas. He is always willing to give it a
go!
Maximus Bullock – Being a fantastic friend to
his classmates and being a reliable classroom
messenger
R9
Toby Willis – Having great self management
skills and for helping others
Bella Jackson – Having great self management
skills and for great improvement in swimming.
R8
Darcy Keenan – Showing determination with
his handwriting
Kaelynn Lowe – Learning five new words
SENIOR SWIMMING SPORTS
This Y4-6 event will be held at our school pool
on Tuesday 5 March. Starting time is 1.30pm .
PARENT/TEACHER MEETINGS
These are being held at school on Monday
afternoon/evening 18 March, and Tuesday
afternoon 19 March.
A notice will go home next week giving parents
the opportunity to select their preferred time.
The following week a confirmed time notice will
be sent home. We request that next week‟s
notice is returned by Tuesday 12 March at the
latest. The quicker they come back the more
likely parents are to get their first option.
We want to see every family to enable us to
work in partnership to ensure every student
gets the best support possible.
GBMs – Good Behaviour Medals
Lucky GBM winners at our 15 February
Assembly were all Room 4 students!
Congratulations to: Amber Rennie, Summah
Skellern, Ben Swan, and Willow Kirk. Who will
be our lucky winners at tomorrow‟s assembly
CENSUS WEEK
Next Tuesday is the day for the 2013 Census.
As part of this we will be asking our students
to get information from families about their
cultural background. This will support our
schoolwide theme Cultural Diversity Through
Art. Please help your child by providing them
with the information.
CULTURAL DIVERSITY THROUGH ART
This is our school wide inquiry learning theme
starting in a few weeks. We will have an
exciting learning time celebrating the cultures
within our school community through art. Each
child will be asked, in Week 8, to bring an item
from home that reflects their culture. An
Open Day will be held in Term 2 for families
and friends to come along and see all we have
learnt and created.

KEY DATES FOR TERM ONE
School Assembly – 2pm Friday 1 March
Senior Swimming Sports –Tues 5 March
Taranaki Anniversary Day-Mon 11 Mar
Y5/6 CAMP –Wed 13 – Fri 15 March
KIDS’ MARKET – Sunday 17 March
Home&School AGM&Mtg- Tues 19 Mar 7pm
Parent Interviews – Mon 18 – Tues 19 Mar
School Assembly – 2pm Friday 22 March
Board of Trustees Mtg – 7pm, Mon 25 Mar
School Tryathlon – Wednesday 27 Mar
Easter Friday – Friday 29 March
Easter Monday – Monday 1 April
Easter Tuesday – Tuesday 2 April
School Assembly – 2pm Friday 5 April
Weetbix Tryathlon – Wed 10 April
Term 1 Happy Hour – Thurs 18 April
School Assembly – 2pm Fri 19 April
Term 1 ends – Thursday 5 April
BIG DAY OUT – the swim was soooo much fun
BIG DAY OUT – snack break at Kawaroa Park
BIG DAY OUT – creative beach artists
Enjoy your Taranaki Anniversary Day
holiday on Monday 11 March
Graham Wilson
Principal
BIG DAY OUT – fast runners in the beach races
PS Don‟t forget children can go home at
1.00pm on Wednesday 6 March.
See notice on Page 1.