| | | | | | IMPORTANT DATES Term 3
Week 4
Thursday 18th August - EOTC/Ski Day 2
Week 5
Thursday 25th August - EOTC/Ski Day 3
Week 6
Monday 29th August - WPS Cross Country
Information and times to follow closer to the event
Thursday 1st September - EOTC/Ski Day 4
Friday 2nd September - Fathers Day Breakfast 8-9am - Hall
Friday 2nd September - PTA Hot Chocolate at Morning Tea
Friday 2nd September - Tribe Day (Random Acts of Kindness)
Week 7
Wednesday 7th September - Board Elections
Thursday 8th September - EOTC/Ski Day 5
Week 8
Monday 12th September - Board of Trustees Meeting - 5pm - Staffroom
Tuesday 13th September - UC Cross Country
Thursday 15th September - EOTC/Ski Postponement Day
Thursday 15th September - Wanna Be a Star
Friday 16th September - Wanna Be a Star Finals
Week 9
Pod 5 Swimming Lessons
Talk Like a Pirate Week
Friday 23rd September - Dress Like a Pirate Day / Tribe Day
Friday 23rd September - PTA Sausage Sizzle Lunch
Week 10
Pod 4 Swimming Lessons
Thursday 29th September - Strike Drumming Performance |
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Board Elections Election Day – Wednesday 7th September
At the close of nominations at 12 noon Wednesday 3rd August, the following
nominations were received for parent vacancies on the School Board:
· Brendan Hearle
· Mitch Campbell
· Niamh Shaw
· Stephanie Welch
· Francis Jasper
We will now be proceeding to election. Papers on how to vote electronically will be distributed by email - please check your spam filters - particularly for those who have a gmail address. For those without valid email addresses voting papers will be mailed for a paper vote.
Voting closes at 12 noon on Wednesday 7th September
Please take some time to read through our candidate statements below. We value your participation in this process.
Returning Officer, Wayne Jamieson, CES, 89 Nazareth Avenue, Middleton, Christchurch | PO Box 414,Christchurch 8140 | P (03) 338 4444 | Cell 021 399 744 | Web www.cessl.org.nz.
Brendan Hearle
I'm seeking re-election to the Wānaka Primary School Board of Trustees for one more term as Chairperson. Our School has a strong management and governance structure which I'm keen to help evolve. I have 20+ years of Financial Management experience in the Banking & Finance sector which I have relied on while being the Finance Representative and Chairperson of the Board over the past few years. My governance philosophy ensures that the children and teachers are at the centre of all the decisions made at a board level and I relish the opportunity to help guide the school through the next term.
Mitch Campbell
Hi, I'm Mitch Campbell. I have been on the Wānaka Primary School Board for the last 3.5 years and have really enjoyed supporting the school's governance and strategic direction. My wife Portia and I have two children at school, our son is in Pod 4 and our daughter is in Pod 7. They keep us very busy with their involvement in activities, both during and after school! Our family moved to Wānaka just over five years ago from the North Island, where both my wife and I worked in senior management roles in Auckland. I've found my experiences in corporate leadership positions have been really advantageous in assisting the Wānaka Primary School board as an active board member. With a background in property and housing, I successfully project managed the new build for Wānaka Primary School's rental house, here in town. I am an active member of the community and believe that we've got great opportunities on offer here in Wānaka. You will often see me coaching the kids' cricket, rugby and soccer during respective school terms. My wife has just completed her Masters in Child Psychology and the knowledge that she shares with me is invaluable as we navigate new challenges that kids and parents are now facing. I believe that education and the school environment play a critical role in how we support kids in becoming the best versions of themselves and I'm excited about the future of Wānaka Primary. I look forward to representing you, as parents, for another term.
Niamh Shaw
My name is Niamh Shaw and I am standing for the Wanaka Primary School Board. As the Mum of two primary school children – Finn (Yr 7) and Saoirse (Yr 5) - the school has played an integral part in our family’s life in Wānaka since we moved here five years ago. I am currently a Parent Trustee and Treasurer of the Board. I love our school’s whānau and the dedicated staff who support our children in being the best they can be, and would be honoured to continue offering my experience, enthusiasm and drive to support the school and our community. I am committed to representing the parent perspective; encouraging clear and timely communications from the school; policy around access to and use of technology; and supporting those critical transitions into and out of Wānaka Primary School. My governance experience includes 10 years of volunteer work within the community, and a three-year term as a Queenstown-Lakes District Councillor.
Stephanie Welch
My name is Stephanie Welch, and I am standing for the Wānaka Primary School Board. I have one son Lachlan that currently attends Wānaka Primary School in year 1. I am a Chartered Accountant by profession, with over 15 years’ experience working in corporate finance roles. I have sound, all round, business acumen and strategic planning skills. I’m able to identify areas for improvement, successfully work through problems and implement innovative, robust solutions. I strongly believe in the importance of good governance at schools to support the wellbeing of our students and staff and I encourage active engagement with the parent community. I am collaborative, have good communication skills and I am passionate about making Wānaka Primary School the best it can possibly be so that all students, now and in the future, can excel at learning and grow into happy, caring and thriving children.
Francis Jasper
I have been lucky enough to have had a career in financial services culminating in a role as Chief Investment Officer at a major New Zealand based investment management firm. In more recent times I have been working with two start-ups one developing B2B software and the other in ecommerce. In these roles I have been focussing primarily on corporate strategy and helping the companies scale. As part of these positions I have served in various governance roles including Board membership, participation in Board sub committees and a Chairman role. If my commercial skills would be useful to the School Board I would be keen to help out and make any contribution I can. In terms of my life outside of work like many of us I am a keen skier, along with my six year old son, love mountain biking and running (slowly). This would be a great chance to make a small contribution to our community and to help us all raise epic Wānaka kids. |
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Masks Protocols to Continue The Board reviewed the number of absences due to illness and this has thankfully dropped from the 100 plus a day last term to an average of 30 a day. Given that there are now a number of people contracting Covid for the second time in Wānaka, and thus the rest of the family are isolating, the Board will review the absence levels in 2 weeks time, and the mask wearing protocols.
Parent Survey re Lockdown and Home Schooling Included in this week's newsletter are the long answer responses to some questions from the survey. These were going to be sorted into themes but as there were so many different comments, they have been included as they were written and where something was mentioned more than once, the number of repeats is at the end of the statement. You will see there is a diversity in responses, which I am sure you will be interested in reading. We have taken some great feedback which we are already acting on e.g. we are looking at setting up a part of our school website which can be accessed if we ever go into lockdown or have lots of illness. It will provide links and information for parents to use in the basic literacies when home learning. So watch out for this, we will let you know once this is launched probably later in the term.
Assemblies Most of the assemblies and 'get togethers' for the remainder of this term will currently be Pod based, apart from some whole school events which we will give you plenty of notice about. This is because of the EOTC/Ski programme taking up Thursdays for half of this term and the need to keep up with work on our foundation literacies and to be able to get through our local curriculum requirements, more so, after having so much time away from the classroom with illness etc. Please remember you are welcome into Pods and into the school to engage with teachers and to see what your children are up to...just remember masks inside of Pods at the moment. All Pods will make sure they share invites with you for any showcases or sharing of learning.
Chess Tournament Markus and a team of our 'elite' chess players are off to a competition in Queenstown today. They have been practicing so we wish them the best of luck.
EOTC Activities at School - AWESOME! Lots of fun, excitement, activity and learning happened last Thursday with the children working from school. There were bodies everywhere, totally engaged in what they were doing, whether it was part of the Garden to Table and Enviro activities, coding and technology challenges, scientific explorations of parachutes, catapults and fierce challenges, drama and artistic pursuits or physical endeavours such as Judo and active games. Take a look at the photos below. |
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EOTC School Based Day 1 Pod 1 Pod 1 had an afternoon of fun and adventure exploring our outside school environment and collecting natural materials. Digi - Year 2 Our Year 2 group participated in a digi tech day where they went on a treasure hunt around the school in search of QR codes, a photography lesson where they produced some amazing photos, and a digital sketching lesson where they created their own version of a landscape that included the Wānaka Tree.
PE - Year 3
On Thursday Year 3s had fun in the hall learning some traditional Judo practices. They all loved it - especially getting a chance to 'flip' David onto the mat. There were a few tired bodies by morning tea so a couple of stories read aloud allowed them all to re-charge and re-energize and then be introduced to a new PE movement concept of Pirates and Treasures. Enviro - Year 4 On Thursday the Year 4 school-based EOTC group were involved with Enviro activities. They were lucky enough to have Clint from Matukituki Natives, Kit from Grow Wanaka and Damian from Enviro Schools sharing their expertise throughout the day. They planted trees earned through recycling paper as part of the Paper4Trees programme, hunted and learned about worms, as well as a spot of baking. It was a wonderful day! Science - Year 5 The Year 5s spent their first EOTC day enjoying a collection of science and technology challenges. Using creativity, collaboration and critical thinking, they were challenged to make successful catapults, parachutes and bubble mixtures. It was a lot of fun seeing their ideas come together.
The Arts - Year 6 Year 6 took part in an arts programme. They were given the task of creating a logo to represent their tribe. These designs will be used in coming weeks, as stencils for screen printing onto fabric for tribe day t-shirts. They also took part in some cooperative games, made props for our upcoming pantomime and got creative with a drama mystery bag challenge. A great day was had by all! |
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Garden To Table Do you want to be a part of establishing the school “Garden To Table” area?
Help is needed with constructing our new tunnel house, weeding, donating plants and planting. If you would like to be involved please email
debbiek@wanaka.school.nz or jor@wanaka.school.nz.
Fresh Envy Apples For Sale A huge shout out goes to Kiwi Harvest (New Zealand's largest food rescue charity) who have delivered to us 5 boxes of beautiful Envy Apples that have come straight from the orchard. We welcome you to come into the office and take a bag for a small donation, which will go towards our Garden to Table initiative. The sooner they go out the door the better. Worm Farm For Sale  Worm Farm for Sale - $50 |
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School Camps 2022 - Term 4 Approximate costs - these costs are yet to be finalised. Payment is not required until costs have been finalised. Further information will be sent out during term 3. If there are challenges that would make payment of camps difficult please come in and see, ring or email Wendy or Lucy as soon as possible. Once costs have been finalised payment can be made by instalments. |
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Spring Seed Fundraiser for Garden To Table |
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Library News 
Ebooks and Audio Books The Wānaka Public Library has 2 fantastic Ebook Platforms which are highly recommended. All you need is a library membership which is free. Click on the image below to find out more and browse to see what is available: 
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Head Lice Head lice have been reported in Pod 4. They are (an unwelcome) part of life, and are easily spread between people, particularly children. The key to managing head lice is early detection: look through your child’s hair on a regular basis – nominate a certain night of the week so it becomes routine.
Use your fingers or a head lice comb, and look for little brown insects on the scalp. The eggs are almost invisible before they hatch, so by the time you spot the little white eggs on the hair shaft they are already hatched.
Do not treat your child unless you see live lice.
The best treatment is thorough combing with a head lice comb and lots of conditioner in the hair. This should be done every 2nd day for 10 days.
If you choose to use a head lice shampoo, you should still do the wet combing as described above. Shampoos do not kill eggs, and do not always kill all the live lice.
Do not use animal products on your child’s scalp. They are harmful to humans.
Tying hair up, especially long hair, is beneficial when trying to avoid catching headlice or spreading it.
For more information: www.healthed.govt.nz/resources/headlice-facts.
Contact for our local Public Health Nurse Pip McLean is our local Public Health Nurse - should you wish to get in contact with Pip her contact details are: 03 440 4309 or 0272 839 395 or email Pip.McLean@southerndhb.govt.nz |
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Fine Free Trial Community Feedback |
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UPPER CLUTHA SCHOOLS – SKI & SNOWBOARD RACE Tuesday 20th SEPTEMBER (postponement day Wednesday 21st) Registrations for this event are open NOW! Close STRICTLY Friday 16th Sep 4pm (NO late registrations can be accepted) IMPORTANT INFO – PLEASE READ Open to all Year 3 to Year 8 students of intermediate skiing/boarding ability, no racing experience required. Come and have FUN racing down a Giant Slalom course. Get a team of 3 or 4 together from your school. PRIMARY OR INTERMEDIATE - they will have to race in the category according to the corresponding school year of the eldest team member. Teams are either - all boys, all girls or mixed where the best 3 combined times count towards placings. NO MIXED DISCIPINES – EITHER SKI OR SNOWBOARD TEAMS ONLY. SEE LINK BELOW TO REGISTER & PLEASE READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY. |
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| Delicious, nutritious and popular with kids, Subway delivers school lunches every Friday. Order online at subwayexpress.co.nz by 9am. |
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