Week 3 NEWSLETTER

We have also invested heavily in the tech…another 60 iPads joined the school crowd this term, all teachers now have an Apple Pencil and we have a set of pencils for the children to be using. Right away we are seeing the potential here…the children’s drawing ability was great with their fingers, but wow what they are doing right away with the pencils is awesome. Michelle runs a drawing club at lunchtimes, some examples below…how good!

I love seeing the children’s creativity in action, and I’m also very proud of my staff pushing their own capability along this year. Well done DPS!

Ministerial Visit!

Yesterday we hosted the Minister for Climate Change Simon Watts, and our local MP Mike Butterick. They were here to check out our EnviroSchool practices, and to discuss solar power for schools. Daniella, Savannah, Maisy and Henry took the MP’s on a tour showing them our gardens, worm farms, compost and talked through our tracking & trapping programme (pest control!). The children did a marvellous job…very passionate about what they do, and the environment. My absolute favourite part was when the girls snapped off some celery they are growing, and the Minister had to eat some! Have a look here

We sat down afterwards and I shared our solar journey, and was able to make the point that schools are great places for solar panels…we are big consumers of power, but mainly from 9 - 3 while the children are here. Conveniently…that is when the sun is at its best for solar. At the moment when we get a fine day we are pretty much self-sufficient with power from 10am onwards. Not only does this reduce the load on the national grid, it also saves us $$$ which I am able to allocate to ‘things’ for the kids. Win win I reckon. 

Teacher Only Day & the new New Zealand Curriculum

Many thanks for your support of this day last week, it is appreciated. Staff spent time looking through the new English and Maths curriculum documents, and the thinking that sits behind them. When we did the mahi the documents were in draft, but as of today they have been revised again and are now confirmed for the start of 2025. As we did the work looking through them it became apparent that what we do at DPS largely meets the needs of the new curriculum, with a few tweaks here and there. The new Maths curriculum does raise the expectations for what children are expected to do, with quite a few concepts now being expected to be taught earlier in a student's learning journey. 

Tararua Challenge - Russell Street School Sports Exchange

Unfortunately the weather has once again been a pain, and Russell St have cancelled our sports exchange for tomorrow. This is a real shame, but it is what it is! Our DPS Staff are awesome though…and have swung into action and made a replacement plan for tomorrow. Check your child’s HERO account for the information as it comes out today!

Hockey Wairarapa are raising funds to help with the cost of the new turf. It is a great initiative to support if you can and will help make sure hockey stays strong in the Wairarapa!