Newsletter
Week 3 NEWSLETTER
from the principal
Our Vision: Together we Nurture, Explore and Create for a Better Future
We all love a ‘good news’ story…and at DPS we particularly love the ‘Good Sorts’ clips put out by TVNZ. We use these weekly in our Friday whānau classes as a way to show our students what service looks like in action. Our vision wants us to strive to develop great kids, who in turn will become awesome citizens…and using the ‘Good Sorts’ clips we seek to understand what we have to do, and what qualities we need to have. But…in an awesome twist…we recently made our own Good Sorts clip about our awesome Friends of Douglas Park School (FODPS). These guys work hard in the background to raise money that basically goes straight back into trips and EOTC experiences for our children. The recent pie fundraiser though showed them going a step further, showed true service in action when they gave back to community members in need, 50 pies. Did they have to do this? No. Is it part of their mahi? No. Is it an excellent example of the ‘Nurture’ & ‘Better Future’ parts of our Vision in action? YES! Tino pai to mahi team and thanks once again for being so amazing. Check out our very own FODPS in our very own Good Sorts clip!
Board of Trustees
Nominations for the Board closed last week, and we had two nominations for our three places. This means the two are directly into the Board, so I’d like to welcome Nadine Allen to the Board and welcome back Anita Crocker. They join Carrie White and Adam Hall who are midway through their term. We are now in a ‘casual vacancy’ process and details can be found below. At the end of the 28 days notice we will either have a new member selected by the Board, or hold a by-election.
At this stage I’d like to say a massive public thanks to Waireka and Derek for their service to the school by being on the Board. Waireka has been chairperson ever since joining, and has done a great job guiding us through the challenge of the pandemic. Derek has been our property person, and under his oversight we have maintained the school to a high standard…and have some exciting projects lined up. Thanks so much you two!
Property Projects
A whole raft of property projects at school will be underway soon…the end result will be amazing, but we can expect some disruption in the short term.
New front entrance: We are going to be making our current main entrance vehicle only, and opening a new pedestrian entrance in between the hall and ex-Dental Clinic. This will allow our transport vans and staff cars to come in/out of school without people using the same entrance.
School roof replacement: Around 90% of the school roof is going to be replaced. A massive job, and the Ministry is supporting us financially to allow it to happen. While we only have a couple of leaks…some of the roof is pretty ancient now and we can expect further leaks to keep appearing. This job will start in the summer holidays, but as it is a massive job it may continue into the new school year
Office Block: The entire office block (office, staffroom, meeting rooms, storage rooms) is getting a massive makeover. It is going to transform the front of our school, and bring our adult learning spaces in line with our flexible learning spaces we have for our DPS Kids. A real win for staff will be the larger staffroom, and the extra meeting spaces we are developing. This work will start in the upcoming school holidays…which means the office and staffroom (and all of our resources) are going to be shifted. I'll update you as we get closer to the time as to where the interim office will be. This project will take until March to complete, but we are hopeful to be able to have the office back in place by the start of the 2023 school year.
Classroom work: New carpets will be going into the areas with older carpet, acoustic ceiling panels into the Tui Room, Room 11, 12 and 13…and we have some new wall linings/paint across the junior school as well.
We also have a bunch of minor, yet important, jobs. Our oldest heat pumps are being replaced (some are 20+ years old!), some drainage is being sorted and some of the older electrical switchboards are being updated.
Excited to be so close to these projects coming to life, some have been a long time coming!
Education Review Office (ERO)
Some really nice feedback from our reviewer, full of praise for our systems and achievement at school. She has no concerns, and while she will still be working alongside us on our goal we are in the excellent position of having nothing to rectify.
WRITING - Megan's Homeclass
What's happening at DPS?
Board of Trustees
A casual vacancy has occurred on the school board for an elected parent representative.
The board will fill the vacancy by selection.
If 10% or more of eligible voters on the school roll ask the board, within 28 days of this notice being published, to hold a by-election to fill the vacancy, then a by-election will be held.
Request for a by-election should be sent to:
bot@douglaspark.school.nz
or
Douglas Park School Board of Trustees
P.O Box 313
Masterton 5840
by: Friday 2nd September
Term three sports - miniball
Miniball - Games start Monday 15th and Wednesday 17th August.
Please pay any outstanding fees to the office or pay online. Use your child's name and Miniball as the reference
Douglas Park School
12-3290-0064275-00
Community notices
After a 2 year break due to Covid-19, we are back for 2022 on November 6th
Please find information below about our cycling event for preschool, primary and intermediate aged kids.
iBike has been run by the Manawatu Mountain Bike since 2006, and over that time thousands of kids have had fun riding their bikes at our event. At our last event in 2019 we had over 500 entrants from around the region. This year we have shifted the event from our traditional May timing to early November to take advantage of better weather.
Entries are online only at any of the links below. There are no entries on the day.
Our Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/iBike4Kidss
Our Website: https://www.ibike4kids.co.nz/
Buy tickets: https://ibike4kids2022.lilregie.com/
