Newsletter - Week 2, Term 4

Tēnā koutou kātoa,

Today is New Zealand Teacher's Appreciation Day ... and it is a timely reminder of the wonderful teachers we have on the staff of Greenmeadows School. Our kaiako are dedicated, talented and committed to giving the best opportunities for your children. We have given them a morning tea today as a token of thanks for all they do.

Our shortened final term of school is racing by ... we only have seven weeks of school remaining in 2022: and so many exciting things in front of us! Read on below to find out just a little more about some of them.

Ka kite anō,

Mark Johnson

Principal

It is so neat to have some more new children at our school!

A very warm welcome to Hudson and Ezra Reid, Alexis Nunan, Amelia Graham, Aebel Noyal, Claire Young and welcome back to Leeunyddous Rapana.

The school continues to grow and we are now at virtually the same number of students as we had this time last year. Our roll is currently 485 pupils.

The weather is getting hotter (YAY!). So it is time for the children to front at school with those GMS wide-brimmed hats.

We have had a number of queries from parents about purchasing sun hats from The Warehouse. The Warehouse have now set up in their store a separate area just for hats. You will still find them within the uniform area, but now all the schools hats are displayed together. So they are there!

Reminder: we have Photolife photographers at school next Thursday, 3rd November, to take our school photos. Clean uniform and tidy hair will be in order that day!

The Halloween Disco is coming up ...

Below is a notice from out PTA:

We just thought we would clarify that dressing up is optional. We know not everyone celebrates Halloween and costumes can be costly. Dressing up is not limited to the “Halloween” theme - children can come as anything they wish a superhero, 'Tinker-bell' or simply just wear some accessories ... this might be fang teeth, a witches hat or some devil horns!

There are no rules and again it is optional to dress up.

Cash cards – this is to reduce the amount of cash your child/ren have to carry to the disco and is being handled (also helps with no more lost money).
The card can be loaded with any value from $1 - $10, each 'ghost' is worth $1 and will be marked off as your children spend it on entry, sausage sizzle, photo booth etc.

They are available to pre-purchase on Wednesday and Thursday outside the dental clinic. A reminder we can only accept cash.
* Card balance can be used at future discos, so keep it somewhere safe.
* If you have some credit on last year's card, bring it in and it can be transferred to a new card when buying more credit.
We will still be accepting cash at the disco.

Thanks to everyone for their support in this promotion over Term 3. We collected more than 620kg in caps, including more than half a tonne of metal caps. Overall the ten schools ensured that 2800kg of waste was diverted from going into the landfill - this is a staggering amount for a limited time period.

And the Greenmeadows School community efforts definitely paid off - on Friday 18 November at 1.45pm we will be treated to a Nano Girl Superhero Science Assembly!!!!

So exciting!

Our school is going to be performing at the Ōtātara (Taradale district) schools Kapa Haka festival at ... WAIT FOR IT - the Municipal Theatre.

Our school has the largest group of performers of all the schools involved - we have more than 150 performers. The Greenmeadows School performance will start at 7.45pm.

Tickets will only be $8 each - we will let you know as soon as they go on sale.

We had planned on holding an opening for the hall this week. But alas, the rain we have experienced throughout September and into the holiday break meant that there were delays in the laying of drainage and concrete. The opening is coming - probably in late November. It is definitely worth waiting for!

Thanks to all you dedicated apple eaters out there in 'GMS land' - we have just found out that we are getting close to $700 worth of free sports gear for 2023. Miharo!

The school canteen is open Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. All orders are to be done online through Kindo, click on the link below to create an account if you haven't already:-

https://shop.tgcl.co.nz/shop/flow_join.shtml

Please encourage your children to speak up if there is anything wrong or missing from their lunch order. Its too hard for Mrs Batt to put this right a day later, it needs to be dealt with then and there.

Nathan Wallis, New Zealand's favourite Neuroscience Educator is heading to Napier on 3rd November to present the Teen Brain presentation and will be at Napier Girls High School from 7:30pm to 9:00pm.

Nathan's talks are very popular with parents, teachers, coaches, leaders and anyone else who is interested in learning about the workings of the brain. Nathan has a profound reputation as a lively and engaging speaker. He uses humour and plain language to condense 25 years of neuroscience research into his unique ‘tell you how it is’ style. You’ll be absolutely captivated and walk away jam-packed with more than a few “ah-ha” moments.

More information can be found by following these links to Eventfinda NZ or by following the link below:

https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2022/the-teen-brain-napier/napier

Below is a link to download our school App if you haven't already.

This is how we communicate with the school community any importmant messages or reminders.

https://www.smore.com/app/reporting/out/ktaxf?u=https%3A%2F%2Fschoolappsnz.co.nz%2Finstall%2F&t=install%20link&w=w-5610919473&i=&l=l-7600403145

Email: admin@gms.school.nz
Website: http://www.gms.school.nz/
Location: Greenmeadows School 45 Osier Road, Greenmeadows, Napier, New Zealand
Phone: +64 06-844 7024
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gmsnapier