Newsletter
Week 8 NEWSLETTER
from the principal
Our Vision: Together we Nurture, Explore and Create for a Better Future
Tomorrow we host Russell Street School for our annual Tararua Challenge sports exchange, a hotly contested event where we fight for the right to ‘own’ the Tararua Challenge flag for a year. Sadly…the flag was taken from us last year, and it has lived over in Palmerston North for the last 12 months. Hopefully tomorrow is the chance to bring it back to this side of the Tararuas!
The exchange is about more than just sport…for many of our Year 5/6 children this will be their first sporting fixture…so there is a lot of Daring to Dream happening. Some children are playing in codes they’ve never done before, Exploring something new. All the sports are team based… so Collaboration is a must! And across the day, in the games…Critical Thinking and Creativity will be on display everywhere as the teams go head to head.
The day is also around friendships…it never ceases to amaze me that you can bring two schools together, and by the end of the day ‘mates’ have been found and formed. The normal start of day shyness exists…but by the end of the day all the kids are mixing, yarning and hanging out. This is the Better Future part of the Vision…we are creating kids who can get on with anyone, kids who can build relationships with different people and kids who are willing to reach out to others.
The day will end tomorrow with an exhibition match of Ki o Rahi between the two schools…fascinating sport to watch, super intricate and a lot of fun.
All the best DPS…go hard, and go for the win…let's bring the flag back!
New Office Space
We are in the new Office space now…and it is super amazing! We are out of Room 7, so if you need to head to the office it is back in the old location…but wow, what a difference inside. I’ll share more next week about the space.
Attendance
Our new system is up and running…this is the new system to highlight student absences once they reach 5 days ‘Unjustified’ in a term. HERO automatically flags these students inside the system, and we have a tiered response depending on how many days absence there have been inside the term:
These days of absence don’t include days away for medical reasons, and I want to reinforce that we don’t want sick children coming to school. I’m currently writing my newsletter from home as our youngest is unwell…so the message about keeping kids away when unwell isn’t just ‘noise’ from me, it's the right thing to do.
Driving, Parking and Crossing the Road
We’ve had a few complaints come in about driver behaviour recently, so time for another reminder to our parent community. The complaints have been around people double parking (and blocking traffic) out the front of school, parent cars blocking residential driveways, and parents encouraging their children to cross the road but not use the road patrolled crossings.
We appreciate that the 3pm pickup can be a busy time, and that parking is pretty limited out the front of school, but we need to be aware of the impact on our awesome neighbours. Having their driveways blocked (or cars park up their drive!) isn’t a fair or neighbourly thing to do. More and more parents are choosing to park over on Essex St, or down on Pownall St and have their children take a short walk to meet them...this is much appreciated by us all. We also know that sometimes things will be hectic, and you’ll be running late…this doesn’t make it right to cross your child over the road instead of using the crossing, or worse…sending them running across the road. Children are creatures of habit…and if they learn that they don’t need to use the manned crossing…they won’t, if they learn that they can cross the road by running through the traffic…they’ll do that. What I want to avoid is at 3pm, when the road is busy, a child making the decision to run across the road and coming off second best with a car. By not using the manned crossing you are saving yourself some time…but realistically, less than 1 minute. Is it worth it?
Well done Mackenzie!
An ex-DPS Kid, Mackenzie has been smashing it in squash for years. You’ll see below…an awesome result representing New Zealand recently. Well done Mackenzie…Mrs McPhail tells me you’ve been beating her since you were 9!
Date for your Calendar - Teacher Only Day - Monday 13th November
An upcoming Teacher Only Day…most of the town’s schools will be closed for the day…Monday 13th November. The New Zealand Curriculum is being ‘refreshed’ at the moment, and schools are holding Teacher Only Days to get to grips with the changes. We held one earlier in the year on the 24th April, and this is the followup. As always…we super appreciate your support for these days.
REMINDER: If your child is going to be away/late, you can report this via the HERO app. This notifies teachers and the office and saves a call home from us to check where your child is.
Out of Zone Enrolments
Our out of zone process for Terms 1 and 2 next year starts this week. Please pass this info on to family or friends wanting to attend our school. Always (always!) someone will contact us after the process has finished and sadly they miss out.
Douglas Park is governed by an enrolment scheme (a school zone) and we only take out of zone enrolments twice a year. The next intake is for Terms 1 and 2 next year. Anyone who lives out of zone comes through this process. Even if you have children here already and have a younger sibling to start...if you live out of zone, you have to apply for your child to attend.
Contact the office if you need to put your child/ren down for a possible place office@douglaspark.school.nz
What's happening at DPS?
Next Paraire (15th September) we will sell ice blocks at lunchtime to raise money for Wellington Free Ambulance. Please send your child to school with a gold coin donation for this amazing cause!
Only 1 more sleep until the Russell Street Exchange.
Important reminders for tomorrow!!
Tamariki need to come to school in their sports uniform with all of the gear they need for their code in their school bag.
Your child needs to bring food to share for morning and afternoon tea. Please deliver the kai contributions to the hall from 8.15am onwards. Students also need to bring some snacks in their lunchbox for morning tea. Please ensure your child has any medication they need and warm clothes to change into after the matches.
PROGRAMME:
9:40 Mihi Whakatau
10:00 Housekeeping / Morning Tea
10:20 Move to sport locations
10.30 Matches Begin
12.30pm Ki-o-Rahi Exhibition Match
1pm Lunch
1:30 Trophies Awarded & Speeches
2ish Farewell
SpORT
We are always on the lookout for second hand sports gear (like shinpads, long black socks, hockey sticks, sports uniform). If you have equipment that your child has outgrown that you wish to donate to school... please send them into the office!
We had a lovely time at the winter hockey break up on Friday! The sun was out for us to share kai and play adults vs students to celebrate a great winter season.
Tino pai to the following students who recieved awards for their contributions this season!
DPS Mānuka
Most improved player- AJ Setu
Most valuable player- Joe Mason
Most promising player- Ivy Duncan
DPS Totara
Most improved player- Mason Towgood
Most valuable player- Sophie Ewington
Most promising player- Arielle Cornford
DPS Nīkau
Most improved player- Ruby Johnson
Most valuable player- Carter Heberley
Most promising player- Hugh Henderson
DPS Kauri
Most improved player- Piper Harkness
Most valuable player- Henry Henderson
Most promising player- Jaxon Tobin
DPS Pūriri
Most improved player- Sophie Hansen
Most valuable player- Khloe Young
Most promising player- Peyton Redfern
It was a fantastic season and we're looking forward to summer hockey in Term 4!
Masterton Intermediate - 2024 enrolments open now
MASTERTON INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL 2024 ENROLMENTS OPEN
PLEASE ENROL NOW
Please enrol online using the below link
We are encouraging online enrolments!
Order Subway online or at the office for delivery to school friday
Every Friday we have Subway lunches delivered to school. If you would like to order your child a subway lunch, the easiest way is to order online. Please make sure you put your child's class (teachers name) on the order as it makes it much easier to sort our end. Subway can also be ordered by filling out a form at the school office before school on a Friday. Please note that these must be ordered by early morning on the Friday to ensure your child's order goes through for that day.
Please note that the app you are looking for is Subway Express - School Lunch programme.
Community notices
