VOGELTOWN SCHOOL TE KURA O HUATOKI
WEEK 3, TERM 3, 2025.
At Vogeltown School | Te Kura o Huatoki, our Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) play a vital role in supporting students who may need additional help with their learning, behaviour, or wellbeing. The SENCOs work closely with teachers, whānau, and external agencies to identify student needs early and put the right support in place, including access to specialist services.
This year, we are fortunate to have both Adrienne Treadway and Laura Seed collaborating in this role. Their responsibilities complement each other well. Adrienne works closely with teachers, whānau, and the RTLB (Resource Teacher of Learning and Behaviour) to facilitate meetings and implement support plans, prepare applications, and lead our ESOL programme. Laura provides oversight of our wider learning support systems such as coordinating our team of teacher aides, and acting as the key contact with the Ministry of Education. This dual-leadership structure is a new approach for our school, and it has already led to great improvements in our systems and procedures.
We are also supported by a team of teacher aides who play an essential role in delivering speech and language support, as well as ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) learning programmes across the school.
Our ESOL teacher aides work with students who are learning English as an additional language. Their role is to support students in developing their English language skills so they can fully engage in classroom learning and school life. This support includes building vocabulary, improving speaking and listening, and strengthening reading and writing skills in English.
Our Speech and Language teacher aides support students who experience difficulties with communication, such as speech sound errors, language comprehension challenges, or language delays. They deliver programmes to help students develop confidence and effective communication skills and are supported by the speech and language therapist.
Together, all of these roles contribute to creating an inclusive, supportive environment where every child can feel more confident and valued in their learning journey.
A huge thumbs up to our Vogeltown interschool rugby team as they head into the final against Stratford Primary School next week! They’ve trained well with Mr Goodwin, shown awesome teamwork, and represented our school very well throughout the season.
We know you'll give it everything on the field in the final so no matter the result, we're proud of you!
Kia kaha, team – you've got this!
A reminder that Highlands Intermediate is holding a Parent and Student information evening next week:
Wednesday 6th August
Highlands School Hall
6:00pm – 7:00pm
This evening is a great opportunity to learn more about Highlands Intermediate. You'll hear a brief introduction about the school and enjoy a tour around the classrooms.
All Year 6 students and their whānau considering Highlands for 2025 are encouraged to attend.
Kia ora whānau,
We’re starting to think about our Term 4 hāngī, and we’d love your help to make it happen!
We’re looking for parent and whānau volunteers to support all parts of the process – from preparation, to placing and lifting the hāngī, to serving the food on the day. While this has traditionally been managed by school staff, we’re keen to build greater community involvement so that this special event becomes more sustainable for the future.
Whether you’re a seasoned hāngī hand or just keen to lend a hand, we’d love to hear from you. If you have experience and can guide others or take the lead in certain areas, even better!
We’ve only had three responses so if you’re interested in helping out please add your details using the link below. We’ll be in touch closer to the time with more information.
Ngā mihi nui,
The Vogeltown School Team
We will be holding a Teacher Only Day on Friday 29 August. On this day, school will be closed for instruction.
The focus of this day is for our teaching team to continue deepening their understanding of the new national curriculum refresh, including how it will shape teaching and learning within our school. This learning is important to ensure we are well prepared to deliver a curriculum that meets the needs of our learners.
We appreciate your support in making this time available for staff.
This term our school cross country will be held on Thursday 21 August, with a postponement date of Friday 22 August. We’re still finalising the details, but the event will likely take place sometime between 10:00am and 1:00pm.
We’re doing things a little differently this year by heading to Vogeltown Park. It’s a great opportunity to make use of a wonderful community space, and it also gives our tamariki a chance to experience the course used for interschool cross country.
To help the day run smoothly, we’d love to have a team of parent and whānau helpers. With your support, our teachers can stay with their classes and support them.
If you’re available to help out, please let us know by following the link below. On the day we’ll need people to act as marshals and help record results.
It is important that every child attends school regularly. A day away here and there adds up to a lot - for example, learners who miss a week of school each term will have missed out on a year of schooling by the time they are 16! Attendance also affects achievement levels, impacts wellbeing, and is a crucial factor in setting up habits and routines for higher levels of school.
If your child is away please ring or email the school. It is important that we understand the reason for the absence because we need to record this in our system. Knowing that a child is going to be away at the start of the school day saves us valuable time because we need to call and follow up on any unknown absences.
If you need to remove your child from school at any stage during the school day you need to sign them out. This way we have a record of who has left, the reason for this, and who they have gone with.
If you would like to remove your child from school during term time for something like a holiday then this needs to be discussed with the class teacher and the Principal. It is important that we have documentation around this and that there has been consideration around the learning that will be missed during the planned time away.
We’re keen to work with you to ensure all children have access to regular learning. If you have any aspects of attendance that you need to discuss, I recommend making a time to talk with your child’s teacher.
Thinking about becoming a school trustee? It’s a great way to get involved and make a real difference in the education of our tamariki. School boards are made up of everyday people who work together with staff, students, whānau, and the wider community to help our schools be the best they can be.
Boards are strongest when they reflect their communities, so people from all walks of life are encouraged to put their hands up - your voice and experience really do matter.
Keen to find out more? Try talking to one of our existing Board members or head to www.schoolboardelections.org.nz
It is important that we know if you have a child starting school sometime in the remainder of this year. This will allow us to put organisation in place for new students - especially those starting school, and to understand our predicted roll throughout the year.
You can do this by contacting the office to confirm that we have your child on our records, or by completing an enrolment form (which can be collected from the school or downloaded off our website).
If you know of anyone else living in zone that may be looking to enrol then please share this message with them.
Thank you for the ongoing support of Vogeltown School, we really appreciate the efforts everyone makes to ensure our kura is such a great place to learn and work!
On behalf of the Vogeltown team, ka kite ano! Have a great weekend.
The VS team
