Week 9 NEWSLETTER

from the principal

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

What an amazing evening we had here at school last night, our annual Matariki event. Despite the weather, the turnout was great and the drizzle held off enough for us to enjoy being together, to share kai, to share learning, to enjoy the children performing…and to come together as a school community.

It’s that latter part that I loved the most…people catching up, meeting new people, playing games together, reading stories as a family, having some food…it really brought the ‘Together We’ part of our Vision to life.

Two other wins from the night…

Firstly…we have a Strategic Goal around developing Creativity, and last night we had art, music, dioramas, performances, stories…all celebrating Matariki, and all created by your children.

Secondly…at DPS we believe that reading, writing and maths are important…but they aren’t the only places children deserve to enjoy success. Last night watching our children on stage…smiles beaming, heads held high, voices pure and clear…we gave those children another place to enjoy success outside of core academic learning.

Massive thanks to the staff for all their efforts…legends. Thanks to the Friends of DPS (FODPS) for the lovely soup (thanks to Mr Blue the chef!) it was great. Thanks to Jimbo for the kapahaka performances, we’ve come so far under your direction Matua. And lastly thanks to Whaea Deb and Sophie for putting the evening together…a splendid time was guaranteed for all.

Aquabots!

On Saturday we had two teams compete in the Aquabots competition…a first for Douglas Park!. This is a very cool event where the children first build a controllable, submersible vehicle…then on competition day run it through a series of trials and courses. The learning in all of this is pretty epic, and for a first go our children did well. Now we have this experience…I can only wonder how well we will go next year! Well done guys, and thanks Mr Archer for giving them this opportunity.

What's happening at DPS?

The Kapa haka use panty hose to store the piupiu and we are in need of some more! If you have any that you can send our way, please bring them into the office!! E rere ana ngā mihi!