VOGELTOWN SCHOOL TE KURA O HUATOKI

There are many people who contribute to making Vogeltown School | Te Kura o Huatoki the caring and inclusive place we want it to be, and our wonderful team of teacher aides are a very important part of this: Justyna Rose, Rosheen Benton, Julia Bolton, Sam Wythe, Rachel Burke, Kim Robson, Hannah Harvey, Tracey Flay, Claudia Hamilton-Posthuma, Annette Chadwick and Lisa Fabish.

At the moment, 80 of our 337 students are receiving some form of additional learning, health, communication or literacy support. This means that almost one in four students across our school need some level of additional support alongside their classroom learning and it is this team delivering most of this support.

Each day they work alongside our learners who need the greatest level of support, helping them to participate, and feel successful and connected at our school. Besides supporting individuals in classes with learning and classroom life, their work also includes helping those with high health needs, teaching English as an additional language, and delivering speech and language programmes.

What stands out most about them is the patience, professionalism and care they bring to their work. They are also a team in the truest sense - checking in on each other and lending a hand when needed, pivoting with adjustments to their role or timetable, and continuing to grow their own knowledge through professional learning.

One part of our school vision says: Manaaki tangata | Care for the People, and our teacher aides bring these words to life every day. Much of their work happens quietly and without a fuss, but the difference they make to our children, teachers and wider school is significant.

We’ve noticed a growing number of children choosing to stay at school after the bell to play with friends. While we love that they enjoy spending time together, we ask that all children head home first at the end of the school day. This ensures parents and whānau know where their children are and have given permission for them to be at school with friends.

If you are picking up your child, please also ensure you are at school promptly at 3.00 pm. Children who remain at school waiting to be collected continue to fall under our duty of care, and keeping an eye on them can get in the way of teachers and admin staff attending to after-school responsibilities.

We appreciate that the occasional delay happens, but regular arrangements need to ensure children are collected or head home at the end of the day.

Many thanks for your support in helping us keep everyone safe.

Six weeks into our Australian adventure and we have already travelled over 4,000 kilometres. We have seen some absolutely incredible scenery, from the 300-million-year-old Bungle Bungles to massive termite mounds, waterfalls, gorges and some of the most spectacular sunrises and sunsets we have ever seen.

We have explored places with ancient rock art painted thousands of years ago and driven roads that have taken us well and truly off the beaten track. It has been amazing to see just how different the landscape can be from one place to the next.

Then there is the heat! We have quickly discovered that when you are travelling in the north of Australia, finding somewhere to cool off becomes very important. Unfortunately, swimming in rivers and waterholes is not always an option when there are crocodiles around, so swimming pools have very quickly become our new favourite places!

Of course, travelling around Australia also means learning to live with the local wildlife! We have dealt with millions of mozzies, mysterious noises outside the tent and frogs appearing in places they definitely should not be. I am still struggling with the frogs in the toilets – I just cannot seem to get past them!

We are having a fantastic time and are loving the freedom of travelling, exploring and discovering new places and communities. Every day seems to bring something different, and we are certainly collecting plenty of stories along the way.

After six weeks of sleeping in a rooftop tent, however, we are starting to think that perhaps a caravan might be a good idea!

For now, we are enjoying the adventure, the scenery, the sunsets, the sunrises and everything else that comes with life on the road.

Congratulations to the following tamariki who received a principal's award at today's full school assembly:

Thea Carter, Lucy Shotbolt, Harper Morrison, Oliver Meyers, Kaylee Growden, Boden Brears, Cormac Julian, Jasper Meredith, Aiden Dsouza, Tilly Coates, Ollie Gnoth, Beah Schoeman, Harper Newland, Eddie Vooght, Clara Cockle, Tyson Barnett, Rhonda Gecse, Caitlin Johnson, Azariyah Gear, Charlie Morrison, Vega Collins, Kaison Russell, Amelia Duffy, Jack Rawson, Harper Lowl, Luca Gooch, Skyla Anderson-McNae, Noa Peterken, Otto Popata, Elias Ramos, Elsie Miller.

Ka rawe!

Kia ora whānau,

We’re already planning our Term 4 hāngī, and we need your help!

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. We had great support last year and we’re keen to continue building this so that this event becomes more sustainable for the future. So far we only have four volunteers and need more people to help make this a successful event.

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!

If you can help us out please add your details using the link below. We’ll be in touch closer to the time with more information.

https://forms.gle/u3YwYV7xXoasWzmn6

Ngā mihi nui,
The Vogeltown School Team

Tuesday marked the last day for Molly Williams, who is heading off on maternity leave. Molly has done a wonderful job working alongside Kim Proffit in Room 14, and we’re very grateful for her commitment towards our school this year and last year too. We wish Molly and her whānau all the very best as they prepare to welcome their newest family member!

Molly’s departure has meant a few adjustments in Room 14, and today we were delighted to welcome Nicole Goodin to the Vogeltown team. Nicole will teach in Room 14 each Friday, as well as providing release for Kim Proffit at other times in the term. We’re really pleased to have Nicole joining us and know she’ll be a great addition to our teaching team.

A reminder that interschool cross country is coming up on Monday 14 September at Vogeltown Park, with Tuesday 15 September as the postponement date. We have a great group of Vogeltown runners representing our school, and we wish them all the very best!

Racing gets underway at 12.30 pm, beginning with the 9-year-old girls, followed by the other age groups at approximately 15 minute intervals. Families and whānau are very welcome to come along, find a spot around the course and cheer on our Vogeltown runners-it would be fantastic to see plenty of school support there!

For families of children competing: we will leave school at 11.30 am and walk the course at 12.00 pm. All children are expected to remain for the duration of the event to support their teammates, and we will walk back to school together afterwards. Come dressed for the weather and we will provide each runner with a Vogeltown shirt to compete in.

Approximate race times:

12.30 pm – 9-year-old girls

12.45 pm – 9-year-old boys

1.00 pm – 10-year-old girls

1.15 pm – 10-year-old boys

1.30 pm – 11-year-old girls

1.45 pm – 11-year-old boys

Come along, make some noise and help us get behind our Vogeltown runners!

Yesterday, Room 13 and the Tour Guides took part in another propagation session with Bill. It was a successful and enjoyable morning, with the children working carefully and enthusiastically to transplant over 100 of their seed-grown plants from seed trays into planter bags. It is always wonderful to see how much they enjoy getting their hands stuck in and working with the plants.

A big thank you again to Bill Clarkson for sharing his knowledge and time with us. We really appreciate all the opportunities he provides for our children to learn about and care for our local environment.

There is a lot of messaging about improving school attendance, however, if your child is unwell, the best place for them to be is at home.

While we love seeing all children at school every day, trying to push through a nasty cough or a winter cold, rarely works out. A child who isn’t feeling well struggles to focus, tires quickly, and misses out on the fun of learning. Resting up at home means they recover faster and can come back to school ready to learn.

When bugs spread through a classroom, they sometimes reach our teachers too. Keeping children at home who are unwell means all children have their regular teachers in front of them.

Thank you for partnering with us to keep everyone at school healthy and safe.

Options available are:

Summer Soccer - $23 - Games are played Tuesday nights from 5.30pm

Kiwi/Softaball Cricket - $15/$20 - Games are played Friday nights from 5.15pm

Summer Hockey - $43/$53 - Games are played Saturday mornings

Netball (Yr0-2) - Free - Games are played on a Wednesday from 3.45pm

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact me on michelle.sleep@vogeltown.school.nz

Kia ora whānau,

Our Kids Artworks orders have closed off. The first round of orders arrived this week and were given out to our tamariki yesterday. The second round of orders should arrive in the next 2 weeks.

Our Spring Seed Fundraiser has been a great success, and the seeds will be given out to tamariki today.

Thank you for supporting these fundraisers!

The Weet-Bix Kids Tryathlon is being held in New Plymouth on Tuesday 23rd March 2027. If you would like to enter your child, you can click the link below which will add them to the Vogeltown School group. As part of the group you can choose for your child's entry pack to be delivered to your home or to school. More details will be available closer to the time.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__raceroster.com_registration_cd47b9a1-2Df6e4-2D43b1-2D94a4-2D58fff300a914_entry-3Fteam-3D1052174&d=DwQFaQ&c=_Zm2Kb9yJrso4r0-N78Ezl-a6DfgMbIISn5tZXXqWk4&r=zXnw6m0wNCL2eSmp7WJj6TkKKARmg3zpFcVvnXeBNENGQ_9nGttkIR3_tiobu1LI&m=52UCg6rCBDozqpcM76frGnE7L6PMnhm1Fliu_yytbwaS_FDueoP6A5viuR0H1Dsl&s=KqO6Edv0HfnsPafr9x2dgYPZGN0YmVjVe3kKgugFm4k&e=

https://raceroster.com/registration/cd47b9a1-f6e4-43b1-94a4-58fff300a914/entry?team=1052174

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 for those beginning 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.

TERM CALENDAR

Put all these dates in your diary or your phone! Remember we will put all updates on Facebook and Skool Loop.

TERM 3 2026

14 September: New Plymouth Schools Cross Country, Vogeltown Park

18 September: Four Year Old Friday, 10:15am - 11:15am, junior school

22 September: Year 5 Road Patrol Training

23 September: Junior Production - Matinee @ 1:30pm, Evening Performance @ 5:30pm

25 September: Last day of Term 3

TERM 4 2026

12th October: First day of Term 4

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

Email: office@vogeltown.school.nz
Website: www.vogeltown.school.nz
Location: Vogeltown School Huatoki Street, Vogeltown, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Phone: (06) 753 6843

Our school policies, like many schools, are now in an online system through a portal called 'Schooldocs'. Any time you want to bring up a school policy, just log in to schooldocs and you can access the policies.

The login is: vogeltown

The password: huatoki

Website link to Schooldocs.