School Newsletter Term 3, Week 6

Kia ora koutou,

It has been another busy and exciting week here at West End School. We are so proud of all of our tamariki who took part in the Ricoh Sports Tournament. Across the five different sports, our students showed fantastic teamwork, determination, and sportsmanship. It was wonderful to see them representing our kura with such pride and enthusiasm – well done to everyone involved, and a big thank you to the coaches, teachers, and whānau who supported them.

Today we gathered together for our Vibe assembly, which was a real highlight. It was a chance to celebrate student achievements, share learning, and enjoy being together as a wider school whānau. Assemblies like this remind us of the special culture we have at West End School, where we celebrate success and encourage one another to be our best.

Looking ahead, our three-way conferences are coming up soon. These are an important opportunity for students, parents, and teachers to come together to reflect on learning progress and set goals for the rest of the year. We look forward to seeing you all at these conferences and strengthening the learning partnership between home and school.

A reminder that next Friday school will close early at 1.00 pm. Please be prompt to pick up your children as our staff will be offsite at a Paid Union Meeting. We understand that this may be tricky for some whānau, so emergency supervision will be available in the afternoon. If you require this for your child, please let your classroom teacher know as soon as possible so we can plan accordingly.

Ngā mihi nui

.

Tony West

Principal

West End School - Te Kura O Urumutu

Please send your child to school with a named water bottle so they can drink water during the day. We are having a lot of children coming to the office as they are thirsty during the day.

Many children are also drinking straight from the classroom sink taps as they have no water bottle. These bottles don't have to be expensive - just something your child can refill when they need.

Forms have been sent out with information regarding ordering. If you would like sibling photos you will need to complete the back page of the form and return it back to the office by the end of today (Friday 22nd).

Due to school photos being in the hall, there will be no Breakfast Club on Monday morning.

Paid Union Meeting

We have been advised that there are paid teacher union meetings planned nationwide. West End School teachers will be attending on Friday 29th August so school will close early on this day. We will close at 1pm, so please make arrangements to collect your child at this time. There will be limited supervision available. Please contact the school office if you need this.

We have our Student Led Conferences in Week 9 of this term. These will happen on Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th September.

These conferences will be 20 minutes in duration.

Timings -

Wednesday 10th September: 12.40pm - 7.20pm. School will finish at 12pm on this day.

Thursday 11th September: 3.20pm - 7.40pm.

Please click on this link below to make a booking.

Or scan this QR code to make a booking.

During our Three Way Conferences, we will have an Art Gallery on show in our school hall for everyone to enjoy. All of our classes have chosen a country/culture to learn about and present a piece of Art that represents them. We also have all of our ESOL students present a piece of art from their country with help from our families and Mrs Larsen. There will be more information will follow, but this is a wonderful way to get a glimpse of some of the amazing things going on at West End, see what your child and their class has been doing and to learn about the many amazing cultures around the world. We will be hosting this Art Gallery in our school hall during Conference times.

We are in need of parent volunteers to help with breakfast clubs. If you are available to do even one morning please contact sport@westend.school.nz

We have Daffodil Day next Friday. All students are welcome to wear yellow in support and bring a gold coin donation to help the Cancer Society continue their research to finding a cure and improving outcomes for the approximately 28,000 New Zealanders diagnosed with cancer every year.

On Friday 8th August one Year 5 and one Year 6 West End School team stepped into an exciting world of numbers to compete in the Manawatu Mathex competition. This competition pushes young mathematicians to demonstrate problem solving skills and critical thinking, competing against fellow students in a fun inspiring environment. Our tamariki performed exceptionally well with our year 6 team coming in the top 1/3 of competitors.

Our teams showed perseverance, determination and a love for maths, spending their morning tea training in the lead up to the event and completing challenges at home.

We are incredibly proud of their achievements and look forward to seeing their continued progress in future competitions.

Room 17

We have been learning about Japan in class. We have learned about cherry blossom trees because these trees are special in Japan. Did you know that cherry blossom trees are called Sakura trees? Cherry blossom trees have beautiful pink flowers. In writing, we have been learning how to write information reports. Information reports have to include real, factual information. We have been writing information reports about the learning we have done on cherry blossom trees. We hope you enjoy it.

Room 7 – Learning About Totem Poles

Room 7 has been exploring the fascinating totem poles created by the First Nations peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast (Canada and USA). We have learnt about the stories, symbols, animals, and meanings carved into these poles, with a special focus on the totem poles of Stanley Park in Vancouver.

They also made connections to Aotearoa by comparing and contrasting these traditions with Māori carving. We have been working hard on class designing and creating our own symbolic totem poles, reflecting what is important to them.

Room 2

This week, our tamariki, along with some from room 5, took part in Plant to Plate. They learnt about the garden, how to plant and harvest. They also learnt about the mahi in the kitchen. Our ringawera worked the tamariki hard and we made some amazing recipes come to life. We loved the hākari at the end where the tamariki got to taste their kai.

Check out all of the mahi!

RICOH Rugby report written by Te Ariki Tawharu Barber

Hi I am Te-Ariki I represented Te Kura o Urumutu in Ricoh rugby. We played College Street first and lost. Second it was us versus Cloverlea. Guess what?… we lost, but it was a good game. I got 2 tries and Enilei got 1. It was a really enjoyable game. We showed Whakamana in that game by keeping on running and tackling, Kotahitanga by passing and Manaakitanga by giving the oppositions high fives as they scored a try. We showed Mana Aotūroa by looking for gaps to score. Thank you to Connor for coaching our team.

RICOH Football report written by Asher Linton

Hello, I'm Asher and I represented West End School in Ricoh football.

Everyone enjoyed the day even though we lost a few games. We showed whakamana kotahitanga and manaakitanga by working hard, showing kindness to the other team and working together as a team. We won one game out of four games. The matches were challenging but we pushed through and tried our best. Mr Minchin was our amazing coach who trained us up to be ready for Ricoh. We had training every Wednesday at lunch. We ended up coming 6th which I am proud of.

RICOH Netball report written by Luca Dalzell

Hello my name is Luca Dalzell I represented Westend School in Ricoh netball. My favourite part of the day was when we got through to the finals. The team did really well. Our coach Mrs Gobie took us through lots of training and we got really really good. We played at the arena and we tied our first game. The next 2 games we won so we got through to the semi finals! Everyone was excited to get into the semi finals. In the semi finals we won 11-2! So that meant we were in the finals! The whole team was so hyped, sadly we lost 6-9 but we still did really awesome. The main challenge in the finals was this tall girl, she was amazing. We came 2nd which is still really good. The team showed Kotahitanga by showing lots of teamwork in our games and we also showed Whakamana by not giving up when we were losing.

RICOH Hockey report written by Luca Drummond

Hi my name is Luca and I represented West End in hockey for RICOH. We played 3 games, won 2 out of 3 and got into the semis. The hockey team got hyped about the news and played our next game fighting to get into the finals. Unfortunately we lost 4-0 but it is what it is.

We ended up playing for 3rd place which is still good and won 2-0.. After our games MVP and fair play awards were given out to each team. Throughout the day we showed our values and had fun. My favorite part of the day was a lolly after each game. Our end result of 3rd place was really good as we did a lot better than last year. Thank you teachers and coaches for setting this up.

RICOH Basketball report written by Hugo Reid

Hi, I'm Hugo and I represented West End School Te Kura o Urumutu in basketball for Ricoh sports. We had a close game and we lost by 6 points. We also lost to College Street by 18 - but they ended up in 1st.

Now don't think we’re so bad we won 2 games out of 4 which is pretty good if I don’t say so myself. We beat Ashhurst by 4 points! T here were 10 seconds left. I had the ball coming up the court and I was wasting time so they couldn't get more points. They put up a fight but we won to come 5th place. We also beat Cloverlea! They also put up a really put up a good fight. We showed kotahitanga by passing the ball. We used whakamana by not giving up when we were losing, and we showed manaakitanga by helping our team and encouraging our team to keep going. Thank you Tamati for being our amazing coach.

Disco Tickets to be sold via Kindo.

Cash sales only on the mornings of Wednesday August 27th and Thursday 28th August between 8.30am and 9.00am. These will be in the School Office and sold by a PTA member. No cash sales at any other time

WEEK 7 - MATH WEEK

School Photo Day - Monday 25th August
Power Hour Starts - Tuesday 26th August
NE Visits - Wednesday 27th August
School Disco - Thursday 28th August
Math Open Morning - Friday 29th August
Daffodil Day - Friday 29th August
School Closes at 1pm (paid teacher union meeting) - Friday 29th August

WEEK 8

Power Hour - Tuesday 2nd September
NE Visits - Wednesday 3rd September
Board of Trustees Meeting - Thursday 4th September
VIBE Assembly Tipuranga - Friday 5th September

WEEK 9

Power Hour - Tuesday 9th September
3 Way Conferences start at 1pm - Wednesday 10th September
NE Visits - Wednesday 10th September
3 Way Conferences start at 3.20pm - Thursday 11th September
PTA Quiz Night - Friday 12th September

4412 Ora Konnect Community Event - Sunday 14th September

WEEK 10 - Te Wiki o te Reo Māori

Power Hour - Tuesday 16th September
EPro8 Interschool Competition - Wednesday 17th September
NE Visits - Wednesday 17th September
VIBE Assembly Pihipihingā - Friday 18th September

Term 1: Monday 29 Jan - Friday 11 April

Term 2: Monday 28 April - Friday 27 June

Term 3: Monday 14 July - Friday 19 Sept

Term 4: Monday 6 Oct - Friday 12 Dec

Ballot Dates Drawn at 11.30am of the dates stated below

Term 1 for Term 2: Wednesday 26 February 2025

Term 2 for Term 3: Wednesday 14 May 2025

Term 3 for Term 4: Wednesday 30 July 2025

Term 4 for Term 1 2026: Wednesday 8 October 2025

Please do not drop your child to school too early

Our school gates are opened at around 8.05-8.10am. If you have to drop your child off early, please do so as close to this time as possible for their own safety.

West End School starts at 8.50am in the morning. Children can wait next to the turf until 8.30 and then enter the school grounds when the bell goes. Please try to get your child to school on time as this sets them up for the day and helps establish a healthy routine - so they're not catching up with learning if they arrive late.

School finishes at 2.50. If you are picking your child up, please be at school at this time. We are having many parents turning up late which causes disruption for our office staff and teachers who have to delay appointments and meetings after school.

If your child is absent from school.

It is really important under the current circumstances you notify the school if your child is absent.

PLEASE DO NOT TXT OR EMAIL THE CLASSROOM TEACHER.

ALL ABSENCES SHOULD BE ADVISED VIA THE OFFICE.

Please remember to advise the office by 8.30am if your child is not attending school.

You can telephone 358-2465 and leave a message or txt 021 118 0156.

ABSENCES CAN ALSO BE SENT EASILY THROUGH OUR SCHOOL APP

In both cases please give a reason for absence.

Thank you.

It is very important that families register with Kindo, as this is now the only way to register your child for school sports, and ordering PTA lunches.
Below are the links to register.
If you require help please call the Kindo helpdesk on

0508 454 636

New users need this link

Existing users need this link

School Newsletter Term 3, Week 6