Newsletter - Week 5, Term 4

Greenmeadows School 18th November 2022

PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE

Tēnā koutou kātoa,

The clock is really racing now ... and the end of the 2022 school year is getting closer all the time.

The great news is that the new hall is very close to being completed and we will definitely be opening it before the end of the school year. The wet September has set us back, but we are building towards an official opening on Tuesday 6 December. That is also the day we have planned to hold the Year 6 social which will make it a memorable first function for our departing students.

I am constantly amazed at the opportunities that our teachers and community volunteers provide for the tamariki of this school. Just over the past few weeks we have had children involved in:

- Jump Jam at the nationals

- Robotics team

- Kapa haka

- an incredible amount of sport on at present

- the ukulele festival

- the inaugural art competition which a great success

- a dynamic disco

- a brilliant atheltic sports day with so many GMS whānau attedning

No wonder they love GMS so much ... thank you to everyone who contributes.

We are also getting close to our school breakup and prizegiving on Tuesday 13 December at Greenmeadows School, under He Kapua. More details to come in the next newsletter ...

Ka kite anō,

Mark Johnson

Principal

WELCOME TO GREENMEADOWS SCHOOL

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, Hugo Leveau, Aubrey Guy and Chris Skea.

Our roll is currently 488 pupils.

Staffing 2023

We can announce a couple of changes to our staff for next year.

Mrs Leah Hambleton has chosen not to work in a fulltime role next year. Leah has been here for four years and has been a wonderful classroom teacher in the Kōwhai syndicate. However she will not be lost to GMS, as she will take on a part time role in 2023.

Mrs Sharon Young will finish at the end of this year, after working in the New Entrant class alongside Mrs De Lange these past three years. These two teachers have formed an excellent partnership and created such a nurturing place for the five year olds who have started school in the latter part of the year.

Mrs Jess Harvey is relocating to Townsville with her husband for 2023. Jess has worked at Greenmeadows School over the past two years and will be an absolute asset to any school in Queensland that employs her. We wish Jess and Sam all the best for the move.

All three teachers will be farewelled later on in the year. Joining our team for 2023 is Miss Marcia Carpenter. Marcia was an EIT candidate teacher at GMS in 2020, and we are thrilled to have her join the school in the Kōwhai team. We also welcome to our staff Mrs Nicole Johnson. Nicole will work alongside Mrs de Lange in a Year 1 class.

Exciting stuff!!

SCHOOL PHOTO - ACCESS CARDS

The photo access cards from Photolife are now available. These were emailed out directly to parents earlier in the week.

If you did not receive an email from Photolife, try these steps:

* firstly check your spam folder and if its not in there;

* email the office as we have a list of the codes.

TERM DATES 2023

Below are the term dates our school is going to be using next year. We have opted for a later start to the year, simply to allow as much of the construction work to be completed. The later start gives more chance to move into the (hopefully) finished off administration area at the front of the school.

Term Dates 2023

Term 1 7th February - 6th April

Term 2 24th April - 30th June

Term 3 17th July - 22nd September

Term 4 9th October - 20th December

As we are starting later, this means we will go later into December which will also be different to a number of other schools.

HEALTH PROGRAMME CONSULTATION

We run a wide and varied Health and Physical Education curriculum at Greenmeadows School. The Board of Trustees is required to consult with our parents and whānau about the school's health and physical education programmes.

The purpose of this consultation is to outline:

* the programmes that we are delivering

* how we are delivering health education

* what we see as the health education needs of our students

* seek feedback from our community on what we offer

This notice outlines our Health and Physical Education programmes which is linked in one curriculum document. Opportunity to comment on our provision and programmes in these areas is provided. We welcome your feedback as this allows us to develop policies and practices that reflect the needs of students at our school.

Here is a link to this if you are interested:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QPPc9J_tvAiGvF9XBJ39RaYZ9G9uoTZ8/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=105127231129840836376&rtpof=true&sd=true

SCHOLASTIC LUCKY BOOK CLUB

Lucky book orders close Friday 25th November at 9am. No cash orders, all orders need to be completed online.

SCHOOL READING BOOKS AND JOURNALS

We are looking for any reading books that belong to the school - if you have any lying around home, please send them back to school so Mrs Cunningham can do her end of year stocktake.

SANITARIUM WEETBIX KIDS TRYATHLON

Entries are now open for the Sanitarium Weetbix Kids TRYathlon, which is to be held on Wednesday 15th February 2023 at the Mitre 10 Regional Sports Park, Hastings.

This popular event encourages kids of all sporting abilities aged between 6 and 15 to get out and give it a TRY!

Full information is now available on our school website, just follow the links under the Sports tab. All registrations are made online, go to https://tryathlon.co.nz and make sure you tick the box to join our GMS school group. We look forward to a huge event with lots of GMS children involved.

SCHOOL CANTEEN NEWS

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.