WHOLE SCHOOL SWIMMING EVERY THURSDAY

A reminder that the whole school swimming is compulsory and is a part of the NZ curriculum. Please ensure

that your child has togs, towels, goggles, swim cap (NAMED) for long hair. All staff have completed an in-duction into the new State Kiwi Swim Safe Programme. This is an updated version of the Lotto Swim Safe programme. Our drowning rates over summer were again tragic and we MUST ensure that children are confident in water.

The Invercargill Licensing Trust assists us with generous donations to provide the Splash Palace Pool,

buses and instructors , which assists us in making this a high quality experience at no cost. We ask that parents ensure their child attends every week please.

If your child is well enough to attend school we expect them to be swimming.

Term 2 Week 1 27th April 2012

Kia Ora tatou katoa

Welcome back to an Anzac day first week of term 2! We are all feeling very spoilt with the fabulous term break weather and other than the peo-ple that have been forced to buy water are totally enjoying the extended Summer!

Term 2 has many exciting learning opportunities coming your way, the first one being the

PARENT INFORMATION EVENING WEDNESDAY MAY 2 at 7pm.

This will be a very informative evening where we have a variety of stands to show you and give you resources to take home and work with your child. The how you can help your child and us evening is a DO NOT MISS!

Staff have planned the Inquiry over the term break and today many Tuning In stations were in action, this term our Throughline is from the Science curriculum. Look forward to many discussions with your child about Science. I have already been bombarded with wonderings and questions! On Tuesday, we saw many chemical reactions, making Hokey Pokey, Rocky Road, Pikelets, and an exciting array of Tuning In activities. Let the fun begin! This will culminate in a parent evening to share all our new Science knowledge and Understandings on the 20th of June at 7.00pm.

THROUGHLINE: How do reactions and the physical properties of these affect chemical processes?

UNDERSTANDINGS: • Explore simple physical properties and use them to describe and group

materials • Investigate reactions and the use of these in chemical processes • Apply knowledge of properties of substances to the safe and appropriate use of • these in everyday life

Our key competency for this term is “Thinking”. This will be mainly about asking

questions related to the inquiry.

This term is our reporting term, and we ask that you revisit the Individual Learning Pathway set with you and your child in term 1 and discuss what they need to do to achieve these goals. This will also be covered at the parent evening, so if you are wanting further ideas please come along and ask. If you cannot make this evening please ask the classroom teacher.

Have a fabulous April weekend in the sun! Marlene .

Calendar: � Pita Pit Orders

Every Monday � Sushi Orders $5

Every Tuesday � Subway Orders

Every Wednesday � Heat-Ups

Every Thursday � Sausage Sizzle

Every Friday $1.50 each

� 30 Apr—BOT

meeting

� 30 Apr—James

and Giant Peach

11.am

� 2 May—Parent

Information

Evening 7pm

� 7 May —PTA

AGM—7.00pm

� 8 May—Parent

Digi Night— 7pm

� 30 May—Southspell

� 6 June—Zone

X– Country

� 11 June—BOT

Mtg

BRAIN FOOD Please remember we have a continued focus on healthy lunches following last term Inquiry. Students may well need a couple of extra things this term espe-cially on Swimming Day as they use their energy at the pool. Brain Food must be fresh fruit, vege sticks, dried fruits, nuts, anything that used to be alive and is

not preservative and packaged.

Public Health Nurse Visits for Term 2 Thursday, 3rd May 2012 Thursday, 24th May 2012 Thursday, 14th June 2012

If you would like to make a time to meet and discuss any health issue you feel your child may have, call Gillian Sim on 0274223699 and make a time to meet.

GirlGuidingNZ Southland Is offering girls aged 5-18 the chance to come along and experience fun activities. Call Suzanne for info 032348229.

WILSON McCASKILL Some parents may recall the staff reading the book Children are not made of China. We are excited to host the author this term, Wilson McCaskill. Wilson will spend a day in school working with our students and providing professional learning for our staff.

We are also hosting a parent evening. If anyone is interested we have some copies of his book available for you to read prior to this. Come and see Marlene for a loan.

This is his outline, please mark this in your diary and do not miss it he is a fabulous presenter!

TUESDAY, 26th of JUNE at 7.00pm

School is a more complex and intensively social place than the family home. At school, children learn to make sense of things. The first step in this process is to make sense of themselves, others, the world in which they live and while doing this, to make sense of the things that are taught to them (it’s amazing what you can learn about yourself and others while trying to complete a group science project!)

School is obviously not the only place where children learn. Even with five hours a day, for five days a week, for four terms a year, children still do most of their “learning for life” outside school. In fact, most of their character shaping comes from family influences.

What they learn within the family allows them to apply it outside the family. Hopefully, what they have learnt allows them to conform to the demands and expectations of community standards in behaviour and to the requirements of everyday school life and learning.

Schools rely heavily upon the values and abilities that family life trains into children. Therefore, the development of pro-social behaviour is a shared responsibility between schools, parents and families.

As parents we are all concerned about the wellbeing of our own children and hopefully that of other children as well. Wellbeing is often thought of as happiness, but it is more than that. We need to feel worthwhile, with lives that are fulfilling and meaningful.

We need the skills to create close personal connections and a network of strong relationships that give us a sense of belonging. We need the skills of emotional intelligence and social competency, if we are to really feel like “WELL- BEINGS.”

A simple definition of emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, evaluate and express emotions appropriately. We do this by the act of reasoning. Everyone in a school community has a role to play in helping children become independent, mature, socially competent, emotionally intelligent and successful human beings.

JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH MONDAY 30TH APRIL

$5.00 TO CLASS TEACHER.