September Newsletter

September 2016

Term Dates:

Term 3:

 Older Group: 25 July – 21 Sept

Younger Group: 28 July – 23 Sept

Term 4:

Older Group: 10 Oct – 21 Dec

Younger Group: 13 Oct – 16 Dec

Teachers’ Update

This term has been a busy one.

For our older group we started with much interest around the upcoming Olympic Games. This gave us many learning opportunities from flags, world maps, currency, languages and of course sports. We started trying out our own Olympic events at kindergarten, and found we had many budding weight lifters, long jumpers, gymnasts, shotputters and runners.  We extended on these activities with a trip to the North Habour Gymnastic Centre where we had the opportunity to try out the high beams, parallel and uneven bars, vault, trampolines and more. We then had a medal ceremony on our return to kindergarten, acknowledging all of our childrens amazing effort.

Market Day has returned to kindergarten this term with children bringing in citrus galore as well as herbs, carrots, leafy greens and eggs. We also contributed bok choi out of the childrens kindergarten garden. This was another wonderful opportunity for families to come together for a coffee and a chat while the children had a chance to ‘shop’ amongst the delicious produce.

For our younger group there has been a real focus on settling in new children and getting to know the way we do things at kindergarten. It is great to see our new children exploring our wonderful environment and establishing their sense of belonging here.

Scholarship

Earlier this year we applied for, and were lucky enough to be awarded a scholarship from NAKA to further our Te Reo and Tikanga Maori. We now have Ally Gamby coming in weekly to work with the children and teachers. She integrates language, waiata (songs), myths, cultural practice and games into our morning session. As teachers we are embracing this opportunity to extend our own learning alongside the children. Have you noticed your children singing songs or saying our karakia. We hear them in the playground sharing with their friends.

What is your fundraising being used for?

We are grateful to everyone for helping out with fundraising and paying your fundraising levy. This has enabled us to buy new resources this term. We have purchased some new items for the light table including coloured blocks, liquid timers and a full set of anthropods. We have also purchased a full pa site complete with whare, fencing, waka and people. This is a wonderful wooden set and has already been well used.

We are in the process of upgrading our outdoor equipment and have installed a retractable hose and bought some new soccer goals. We have new outdoor mats on order and will be having our shed refitted so that our new equipment is stored safely and with easy access.

Quiz Night

A massive THANK YOU to Nicole Thompson and our wonderful committee for bringing together a fantastic quiz night. The evening was well attended with 17 tables, much laughter and some healthy competition.

A big thanks to everyone who contributed hamper items, auction items, sponsorship, sold raffle tickets and attended the evening.  

The evening raised $9200, which is impressive! This will be used towards our shade sails to cover our concrete area, which gets very hot in the summer.

Beach Explorers

Our Beach Explorers expeditions have continued through winter but we are being a little bit flexible during this time due to weather and tides. The children are all eagerly waiting for their turn. Don’t worry if your child hasn’t been yet, we only take the oldest children, usually in the term before they are due to go to school. Everyone will get to come when the time is right. These trips have a real focus on caring for the environment and the role we have in looking after our Turangawaewae, our local standing place.

Parking

Again we would like to remind you to please not park any highsided vechicles in the parking spaces outside kindergarten. THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS. If you have a high-sided vehicle (this includes people movers, SUV’s and vans), please park on the road. We have had a few near misses when people are trying to back out of the car parks; they are unable to see the traffic coming down the hill.

We have reserved the right to park behind the teachers cars for families that have special needs. Please do not park there unless you have seen a teacher about this.

Survey

Have you seen the survey on the ‘Torbay Facebook page’ that has been set up to make Deep Creek Road safer for our children? Please support this as it directly affects our community and ideally we would like to see a zebra crossing to help slow traffic and make the road safer for everyone. For more information you can visit Road Safety Petition