Week 1 NEWSLETTER

from the principal

Our Vision: Together we Nurture, Explore and Create for a Better Future

It has been a huge few days for the Rātā and Kahikatea students this week…camp for the Year 5/6 children, and EOTC activities for the Year 4’s!

A great example of our Vision for learning in action once again.

Strong evidence of the great school culture we have, relationships to the fore. I lost count of how many times the children at camp supported each other to tackle the activities…even when nervous or scared, the other children Nurtured them through it. The parent helpers (at camp, and with the Year 4’s) also showed a deep care for the children around them...helping with the challenges, and being cheerleaders for the successes. We got children out of the school gates to Explore our local places, and explore themselves by challenging themselves in the activities. Being at the summit of Rangitumau, seeing the Wairarapa valley all around, standing on the shore at Castlepoint, or being on the top of the Giant Swing at Kaitoke about to pull the release pin. We have a dream, a plan, to get all of our kids to ‘stand’ at all the local places of significance around us. To know our local area well. At camp children put their Creativity skills into action by designing and building both shelters, and rafts. The skills built up during their play learning, their maker learning got a real workout. Some rafts survived, others sank, some shelters survived the water test, others leaked like a sieve…but in all cases our kids and their skills shone!

A massive thanks to the parent helpers we’ve had this week. Without your support these events wouldn't be possible. You were great role models for our vision, showing our children what it means to be nurturing, and helping them with the challenges they faced. Legends.

And, a massive thanks to the staff…it is a lot to plan for these events, months of work, but what a win for our children. I thank you all for being so awesome.

Grandparents Day

Next Friday 28th October we are having our annual Grandparents day…our invitation to your whānau to bring the important people in your lives to school. The day is always a magic one…our children are so proud to show their family around, families connecting with one another and sharing stories. Keep an eye on HERO and Facebook for the details, but lock the date in your calendars now.

Acts of Service

Some great things to highlight here:

The Kids Community Library: Outside the front of school is the product of Mrs Brienza’s Whānau class’ act of service last term. Already proving popular, feel free to bring a book in and take a book away for yourself
Looking through the Times Age and I saw a familiar face of one of our parents, Steve Olds. He has partnered up with WaiWaste and the New Zealand Food Network to get, process and distribute a heap of venison (2.5 tonnes!) to food rescue organisations around New Zealand. Loved a quote from him…“So, this was an opportunity for us to spread the love around, and lend to people who need it.”. Great work! You can read about it here.
At the end of term we received a nice email from a parent recognising a group of senior girls pitching in to help out a neighbour. “We saw another example of great DPS kids serving their neighbours before school earlier this week. A group of senior girls had brooms and rubbish bags out to clean up a DPS neighbour’s rubbish bag which had split and spilled into the street overnight. It looked like a pretty unpleasant job but they we’re getting stuck into it and setting a good example.”

For the Calendar

We have one confirmed half day this term, and another one is possible.

Monday 28th November: School closes at 1pm. Staff are heading out with Joseph Potangaroa to look at local sites significant to the area
The Teachers Union are also going to be holding a Paid Union Meeting at some stage…this date has not been confirmed, but will be between 14-25 November. In the past this has also meant a half day at school. Once confirmed I will share this information out to you.