Week 8 NEWSLETTER

Camp is a great example of that…Hard Fun. My favourite moment of any camp (and I’ve been going for over 20 years) is seeing the children who are a bit worried, and a bit nervous, a bit anxious…seeing them give something a go. They may not climb the highest, or kayak the fastest…but they faced up to a challenge and took it on…love that. This normally ends with massive smiles, racing hearts and a will to give the next obstacle a crack. For some just being away from home was the challenge, the obstacle that they had to tackle…and again, the children were awesome. Being away from home, climbing a rock wall, hopping on a kayak, doing the dishes, flying through the forest, shooting a bow and arrow, sleeping in a strange place…all of these things provided the Hard Fun, and all of these things are super hard (if not impossible) to replicate at school. Camp offers so so much, and really goes a long way towards bringing our vision to life. Some great feedback about our children as well…one instructor saying that her group was the best she had ever had, from any school, in any camp she has worked at…great stuff DPS!

I really have to take my hat off to our wonderful parent helpers…absolute legends. You guys got stuck in, supported the children so well…and gave them the confidence to tackle the Hard Fun on offer. Alongside them, our staff once again put together an amazing experience…the mahi in the leadup is huge…well above and beyond what we are ‘paid’ to do…so a huge thanks to Sophie, Amanda, Trent, Ginny, Shaun, Olivia, Mrs Blue, Grace and Gemma for being down there with the kids (and to Deb and Maya for holding the fort at school, and giving our Year 4’s a wonderful experience up Rangitumau!). 

Add to your Calendars - Teacher Only Days - Add to your Calendars

A couple of dates to add to your calendars:

• Tuesday June 4th

• Friday October 25th

The June date is the combined Masterton Schools Teacher Only Day that we have held over the last 3 years, and the second date is training for the new school curriculum (the local primary schools will all be closing that date). 

Thanks in advance for your support of these days, we really appreciate it!

Attendance

Once again school attendance has been in the media, the numbers for Term 4 were released and roughly half our NZ school children are not attending regularly (attending 90% or more of the time) and no doubt this is a concern across the motu. The question that keeps coming back to me is…do we have an issue here at DPS? And my answer (like last year) is still Yes and No. 

On again given day we have around 30 children away…so roughly 90% of the school is here daily. Our regular attendance stat (the children attending 90% or more of the time) floats between 55% and 65% depending on the term…most of this absence is due to illness (my own two children had COVID this term so they won’t meet that regular attendance threshold). Our message has been for years that children who are unwell shouldn’t come to school. The pandemic really reinforced this as well, but the result is the attendance stats above. So is that an issue? No, not really. However…we do have children with concerning attendance, and we do have procedures in place to identify, then help whānau improve this for the children.

This article here is excellent, and really drills down into the issue to make sense of these numbers. Despite the percentages that the politicians and the media love to share, it isn’t like our classes are half empty each day!

Security Cameras!

After a spate of vandalism at the start of the year (windows smashed, PE gear stolen, the pool broken into) we are today installing security cameras around the school. I have resisted doing this for a long time…years…as I would much rather spend our school money on the children! But sadly now that cost of broken windows is starting to hurt, alongside the awful feeling that is left when someone has done something like that to ‘your place’. So, the installers are in today doing their mahi and we will have great coverage around the school going forward. 

We went to Mt Holdsworth last week and saw lots of Tūi. Enjoy some of our writing about these beautiful native birds...

Term 1 Sport 2024

Here is a link to the teams and draw for Teeball, softball and netball.