Some other great recent examples of bringing joy to others:

• Chatting with a teacher who said that no matter what is going on in her life, working with our DPS Kids brings a smile to her face everyday

• We had a family in need during their isolation and a staff member put out a call for some support…got some firewood and food instantly from someone not connected to our school. Very kind and generous!

• The thanks that we have been getting for our COVID response…both at school, and the online learning we’ve been providing.

• Children coming in the gate each morning…saying hello, having chat and a laugh

• Parents commenting on HERO posts about their children…seeing their faces light up that their work has been seen and recognised.

I recently had some joy brought to me when I got a call from Matt…one of our awesome parents, and Pastor of the Equippers Church. He gave me a call to see if Equippers could use the school grounds for a fun ‘Good Friday’ event. It was the purpose of the event that really grabbed me…to bring people together, to provide some positivity after a challenging couple of months and to have a day of fun and joy. While I am in no way claiming this is something that DPS has organised…we haven’t…I was more than happy to help out by lending our grounds out for this…’Nurture’ in action!

The blurb from Matt at Equippers below:

“GOOD FRIDAY!! We're excited to be hosting an Easter Fest event at Douglas Park School, from 1-3pm. With the recent changes to outdoor gatherings, we have decided that we can pull off an event that brings back some joy, and community connection here in Masterton!

There will be chocolate egg hunts for the kids, candy floss, bouncy castles, and fun games/activities for the whole family. We've got local food-trucks coming along to serve food at the event, so please bring some $$ to buy some lunch and support them in a tough season in the hospitality industry.”

Farewell Renee!

Renee has finished up and has headed into her maternity leave! While Renee hasn’t had a class this term, she has been a key member of the Rimu team getting underway in 2022, and has been an amazing teacher for us over the last two years. Always popular with the kids and parents, we wish her well on her maternity leave and look forward to meeting the new addition to the whānau!

Learning Conversations

Just a reminder…booking forms for these went home last Wednesday...and they will be held on Monday 11th to Wednesday 13th April. Remember, these will be different this term, with teachers giving each whānau a call to discuss their child/ren’s learning. There are a range of times available, including some later times into the evening (as we normally would).

In that last week we will print off your child's HERO graph and progress dials so that you have access to those while on the phone to us.

COVID Data

Another week, and a further dropping away of cases at school…just a handful (e.g. today just 2). All of our full time staff are at work, and our attendance has picked right up again. Aside from those having to isolate themselves, the number of children away is tiny…and the kids onsite are really enjoying that quality DPS teaching, and the connection time with peers. As the graphs show it looks like the Wairarapa has passed its peak (thanks again to John Hart for the graph), and the DPS data shows the same…all numbers trending downward! While the government has made adjustments to the traffic light system, we are going to keep our systems running for the rest of the term and adjust in the holidays. They really have served us well, and have really minimised the impact of this Omicron wave on us…we haven’t had to send classes home, close the school…we’ve largely carried on the same from Day 1 of the term. One really interesting thing has been made apparent…and that is the positive effect of mask wearing. We’ve seen less than half the amount of cases (both student and staff) in the senior teaching teams compared to the junior teams, with the only difference being compulsory mask wearing in the seniors. Interesting, and a real win from the Public Health COVID response decisions.

Teacher Only Day - Thursday 14th April

Reminder…we are having a Teacher Only Day on Thursday 14th April. This was to be a townwide teacher only day, but due to COVID we aren’t coming together across all the schools. DPS is still going to have the day to do some powerful learning together. Many thanks for your support.

This makes the last day of term Wednesday 13th April (as Friday is Good Friday).

This week some lucky children from Years 3-6 participated in a Rippa Rugby tournament held at Memorial Park. We had such a fun day being active. Thank you very much to our helpers on the day - Mr Harkness, Eleina Mitchell and Nikki Monaghan.