Junior Jottings Number 7

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

The children are really looking forward to 'Grandparents and Grandfriends' Day on Monday. We have been very impressed with the efforts grandparents have made to join us for this occasion, especially those who have had to travel long distances. Over this week, the children have been busy writing about their grandparents including character descriptions, what they enjoy doing and about activities they do together. They have also drawn pictures to share with their visitors and have enjoyed discussing how their lives today compare with the childhoods of both their parents and grandparents. One thing that they are amazed at and they cannot believe is that there were not any computers. Thank you to all those parents who have completed and returned the information and family tree sheets to help with the discussions. Before Monday, can you please inform your child's grandparents and grandfriends that they need to come to the school hall and be seated at 1.30 p.m. We are then going to move to your child's classroom to share items of interest together before culminating in a shared afternoon tea. We hope to be finished by 3 p.m. but chatting over afternoon tea may take a little longer.

Could your child please also place a plate of food for the shared afternoon tea on the trestle table in the hall before school on Monday? If your child does not have a grandparent or grandfriend please let us know so that they can join with another child.

If there is a grandparent who is prepared to stand up in front of everyone in the hall and share their item of interest can you please email me before Sunday with their name and the details of the item. I also need a couple of extra adults to help serve the tea and coffee during the afternoon tea. If you are able to lend a hand please also email me by this Sunday.

Hutt Valley Mobile Community Ear Clinic
Ear problems affect many children. The Mobile Community Ear Clinic provides free checks for children from 0 to 18 years old. This service is provided by a Registered Nurse who has special training in Ear Health. The clinics are run by appointment only between 9.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. If you would like to use this service, please phone 570 9002 to make your appointment.

Parenting Courses

If there is anyone who would like to attend parenting courses please let me know and I can give you the details.

Wasps

At the moment we have a lot of wasps around. The children are eating their food inside the classrooms and then going outside to play.

Gates

If you are coming in or going out of the gates can you please make sure that you close them as we have two busy roads on either side of our school.

Classroom Blogs

Please have a look at these from time to time to get a snapshot of what your child does in their busy school day. We know that they may not tell you what they have been doing so have a look at the blogs. The children always love reading the comments that people have left on the blogs.

Coming up

We will be having a drummer come to school to give a performance before the end of this term. Further details will be given next week.

School finishes on Friday April 15th at the usual time of 2.55 p.m. and starts again in term 2 on Monday May 2nd at 8.40 a.m. with Jumpjam in the hall. 

Term 2

We have planned another term of interesting learning experiences for the children. We will be having a Science focus with the children involved in a wide range of science experiments. We will also be doing lots of painting, folk dancing, and running practices for the Annual Cross Country run, to name but a few. Portfolios, reports and parent conferences will be at the end of the term.

Room 3 will be full and our next New Entrants class - Room 16 - will start in May with Mrs Mills-Smith as the teacher.

'Hooked on Books' Programme

This is a programme carried out at school where parents come in for approximately half an hour, usually in the morning when they drop their child at school or just before home time and listen to individual children read. If you are interested in helping with this programme during term 2 and are able to give up some time could you please email me by the end of next week with the days that suit you so that I can organise a roster.

Kind regards

Maureen Buckley

Deputy Principal