August Newsletter

August 2017

Term 3 2017

Older Group: 24^th July – 27^th Sept

Younger Group: 27^th July – 29^th Sept

Term 3 Update

Welcome back to Term 3 and a big welcome to our new families that have joined us and those that are starting in the next few weeks.

These winter terms can be a bit more challenging with the weather and also colds going around. Encouraging your child to blow their own nose and cough into their elbow are ways to help us to stop the spread of bugs. Sometimes a day or two at home is what’s needed to really kick those winter nasties.

During this term we get outside when we can, making the most of our concrete and bark spaces. Our vege gardens are planted out now so we will be keeping an eye on whats growing, although there isnt much need for watering at present.

Our Pepeha

Ko Rangitoto te Maunga

Ko Waitemata te Moana

Ko Deep Creek te Awa

Ko Torbay te Kura Kohungahunga

At Torbay Kindergarten we have our own pepeha. This is unique to our Kindergarten and represents who we are within our community.

A pepeha is a form of introduction that establishes identity and heritage. In its simpliest form a pepeha will tell you about a persons maunga (mountain),  moana (ocean), awa (river) and place.

Our kindergarten pepeha represents the land marks that are special to us, Rangitoto, the Waitemata, Deep Creek and of course, our Kindergarten.

Our pepeha promotes a sense of belonging for our tamariki and whanau. It affirms our connection to our turangawaewae – our standing place.

We often say our pepeha during mat time and individual children take turns to lead.

Your childs portfolio has a copy of our pepeha in it.

Introducing Cathy

It was with much sadness that we said goodbye to Angela, our wonderful administrator, at the end of last term. On a brighter note we are very lucky to introduce the lovely Cathy Hanna. Cathy is a local mum and her daughter Pippa is currently in our older group. If you haven’t met Cathy then she would love you to pop into the office and say Hi! Cathy is here every morning from 8:30.

Beach Explorers

Our Beach Trips will start up again in the 3^rd week of term. This term these may be weather and tide dependent. We will endeavour to go fortnightly when possible. Please don’t be disappointed if we need to postpone a trip. Your child will then be put on the list for the next trip. Remember that we only take our oldest children. Your child will get a turn when the time is right.

These trips focus on our roles as guardians of the environment and the role we have in looking after our Turangawaewae, our local standing place.

Our beach trips bring our kindergarten pepeha to life supporting our links to the land, to our maunga – Rangitoto, our moana – Waitemata and our awa – Deep Creek. As we explore the beach we can see all of these special places and the children have a wonderful sense of belonging.

Quiz Night

Our big fundrasier for the year is our annual quiz night on Saturday 2^nd September. This will be our 9^th event and, as always, is sure to be a wonderful evening.

We already have many live and silent auction items. Keep an eye out for notices on Storypark Community Page, your mail pockets and on the blackboard for ways that you can help.

We really appreciate your support for this event as it allows us to raise money for some of the bigger projects at kindegarten. This year we are fundraising to cover in our back deck in the same style as our verandah. This will give us an extra space at kindergarten, particularly in the winter months when this deck has always been too cold to use.

Student Teacher

This term we are lucky enough to have Mel as a student with us for the next 5 weeks on practicum. You may have met Mel last term as she spends 16 hours in our kindergarten per week for work experience.

Clothing for Kindergarten

One of the areas where we strongly encourage independence is toileting. To enable children to go to the toilet independently we ask that you dress your child in clothes that are easy for them to pull down and up by themselves. Shorts, trousers, skirts or tights with elastic waists tend to be best as buttons, domes and denim can be really tricky when you are in a rush. We are happy to support children in this process while they are learning to use the toilet.

Waiting List

Our waiting list is looking healthy at 104 children with 47 children over 3. This does mean that our entry age has increased slighty as we have only a few children heading off to school this term and next.

We take children in order of age from our waiting list. Please bear with us as we do our very best to ensure all families are catered for.

Donations and Fees

Since January 2015, all the fee payments are now passed on to our Head Office at NAKA. This money goes towards repairs and maintenance at an Association level.

The donation amount is now even more important to the kindergarten as we use this for all resources- consumables (paint, paper etc) and equipment (games, toys, furniture etc).

You will be receiving an invoice either by email or in your mail pocket within the next week or so. It would be great if we can get these paid as soon as possible. Your support is much appreciated.

Gate

Please be mindful when you are entering and leaving kindergarten that only your own child is going through the gate with you. We ask that you make sure that the gate is never left propped open, and is closed properly behind you.

Parking

Again we would like to remind you to please not park any highsided vehicles 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 under any circumstances unless you have seen a teacher about this.