Dear parents and caregivers,
Term four is an exciting term at school. Hopefully we see a turn in the weather and a return to some sunshine. We have the excitement of school athletics and our summer fayre, as well as our year 6 children have their school camp. I look forward to seeing you at some of our term four events.
Our PRIDE values of Perseverance, Respect, Initiative, Diligence and Excellence are very important to us at school. The children are reminded about what these values look like in many contexts around our school, including in the playground, on the sports field and when learning in the classroom. The leadership team of myself, Kelly Knowles and Michelle Butler give out PRIDE certificates when we catch children obviously showing our values, these are displayed in the office, before coming home with the children. It is one of our highlights to see these values being shown around our school. We acknowledge those children who get these awards in the newsletter. In the last two weeks, the children who have gained these awards are: Brody Watts, Riley Choat, Marley Matthews, Aidan Holman.
Board Elections
I’d like to thank both Kathy Frame and Samantha Ebel-Brown for stepping up again to support the school and your children by continuing on our board. I would also like to thank and congratulate Kelly Olsen, who has joined the board. The election process is run externally.
Book Fair and Readathon
We are very excited about the Readathon, and I’d like to thank Gabby Aranky for her coordination of this great fundraiser that supports children’s literacy. The in-school competitions are certainly spurring the children on!
We also have our book fair opening tomorrow. I know the children love to look through the exciting offerings! A thank you to Leandra, our school librarian for getting this ready for you all. We also have visiting authors and the much anticipated book parade to look forward to. For any more details on what is happening in your child’s room, please contact your child’s teacher.
Bugs and Sickness
Unfortunately we still seem to be at the mercy of winter bugs and illness, despite moving into October! We are having a few tummy bugs and colds going round. We would appreciate it if you can talk to your children about general hygiene and hand washing. We are also reiterating these messages in the classroom. If your child is sick, please keep them at home! Please be aware that we have a 2 day period when the children are not allowed back to school after vomiting. This means if they are sick at school on Monday, they are unable to return until Thursday. Adhering to this is important to allow full recovery and to ensure we protect the health of the other children and staff at the school. We appreciate your support and adherence to this protocol.
Uniform and Sunhats
As we move into summer we have to ensure our children are sun safe at school. This means we will be enforcing the wearing of school hats by the children at morning tea, lunch times and times outside with their class. The hat MUST be a school hat and also should be named and have their current class number as well! This helps us to return lost hats to the children. Our sunshades on the playgrounds and outside areas will be going back up shortly to give us some additional shaded areas.
Our uniform is important. Please remember that shorts and trousers should be plain and navy blue, denim is not allowed. If you have any questions about uniforms, please talk to the office or your class teacher. We also don’t allow children to wear jandals, sandals are fine, but we have had accidents and lots of tripping when the kids are running around in jandals.
2023 and 2024 Enrolments
We are finalising our teacher recruitment and class numbers for 2024. If you have a child who will be joining our school in 2024 can you please contact the office to begin the enrolment process. This is vital to ensure we can secure the best teachers for our school.
It is important we know our numbers to help us secure the best available teachers for your children. If you know of any families through daycare or kindy that also may have children joining us in 2024, can you please ask them to come and see us.
School Donations and Activity Contributions
These donations and contributions allow us to be able to run special days at school and have amazing trips for your children. Thank you for supporting us to give your child the best opportunities we can.
School Donation – $55 per term or $220 for the whole school year. The amount for 3rd or
subsequent children will remain at $37.50 per term or $150 for the whole school year.
Classroom Activity Contributions – $40 per term or $160 for the whole school year.
Kindo is our preferred method for all your school payments. We also have links for you to follow on our school website in the Community Connect section or in the drop down on the Info tab.
If you have any trouble setting up or accessing your Kindo account, please follow the help links on the Kindo website.
Renovations and building work
Our office area is now reopened and running as normal. The work on the new playground has started and we should have the playground ready for use this year! We are very close to completion of the classroom spaces on Isobel Road, exciting times to have these projects close to completion, enhancing the facilities we can offer. You will have also noticed the drainage work we are continuing with at the moment. The field should be back in full use very shortly. This infrastructure work is vital to ensure we are well maintained and to avoid any future issues with drainage or flooding.
Ngā mihi
Stephen Grady
Tumuaki/Principal
Greenhithe School
English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish