Week 7 NEWSLETTER

From the Principal

Teacher-Led Innovation Fund

Some exciting news for Douglas Park, we have been selected into the Teacher-Led Innovation Fund! The Ministry allow schools to apply for funding to support new or innovative ideas in education and they have accepted our project. We talk a lot about the Core Beliefs at DPS (see the video above) and our project is looking at how the Maker Movement (play-based learning, maker time, click, make build...we do these things here at DPS) can promote and develop the Core Beliefs. It is exciting to be acknowledged as a school with innovative thinking and amazing that we are being resourced to explore this. The $$$ will go towards bringing in outside experts, visiting schools, buying resources (think robotics, sewing machines, 3D printers etc), but most importantly...give us time to test our ideas, gather the evidence and then share our findings with other schools.

Shaun Harkness and I are off to Hamilton and Tauranga today and tomorrow to visit schools and gather some ideas for Douglas Park. Exciting times ahead!

Tana - Swimming Success

Tana enjoyed some more swimming success in the weekend, placing 7th for his age group in a Wellington meet. He is super-proud (as he should be) and talked about the hard work that got him to compete at that level...grit, determination...those great DPS Kid attributes again. Well done Tana!

Enjoy what we do?

Spread the word amongst your parent friends. Early next term the ballot will open for Out of Zone applications for terms 1 and 2 next year, 2019. Douglas Park does have an enrolment scheme, but twice a year the Board of Trustees open up spaces for those families who live out of our zone, but want to come to this great place of learning. There is always confusion around this, which has seen many students miss out on coming to DPS as their parents wrongly thought they would not be able to get in. No promises, no guarantees...but if we know that you are interested the BoT can consider opening up places. If they don’t know...they don’t know!

WHAT'S HAPPENING AT DPS?

Te wiki o te reo Maori

Next week 10-16 Mahuru!

Theme: Kia Kaha te Reo Māori. – Let’s make the Maori language strong.

Plus Conservation week the same week.

“Strength for an endangered language comes from its status, people being aware of how to support revitalisation, people acquiring and using it and from the language having the right words and terms to be used well for any purpose.”

RED PRIDE TICKETS for next week worth 2 points each for having a conversation in Te reo.

RED PRIDE Boxes will be in the foyer beside the PRIDE BOX for posting tickets in.

Maori themed books for prizes in Celebration Time time next week.

Kia ora

Claire Blomgren

MIS 2019 - Enrolment Forms

Packs have been sent home with Year 6 pupils who are, or might be attending MIS next year. Please complete all forms and return them to your child's home class teacher by Friday 14th September.

If you will be returning the forms to MIS yourself, please let your child's home class teacher know.

Orientation day will be at the end of Term 4 and more information will come out about this closer to the date.

DPS Enviro News

The team of Enviro Reps have had a really busy term here at Douglas Park School. We had been worried about the student safety for some time and have been working on a problem that surfaces each day at DPS with car congestion outside the school gates in Cole St.

We noticed that during our Walk or Wheel to school promotions that the car traffic deminished and heaps of students were independently walking or wheeling to school. Getting some exercise and reducing car emissions at the same time.

We have created some wonderful Travel Pou that will be placed in several locations near the school that will act as safe drop off /pick up points for students and parents plus one outside DPS to connect the pou to our school.

We worked with REAP, Wairarapa Road Safety Council and Police re the palcement of the Pou or markers.

We applied for an Arts grant and received enough money to go ahead with the project and have been lucky to have Michelle O’Connell one of our parents working with the students.

The students have worked on designing the pou with pictures of how we travelled to school in the past, the present and designed some way we may travel in the future. These designs are tied to our area by way of Papatuanuku in Maunga Tararua, Ruamahanga awa through to Matariki and the Southern Cross at the top.

Look out for these pou being erected in our area by Fulton Hogan soon.

Tracking and Trapping!

2nd hand Uniform Shop @ DPS:

We have good stock of polar fleeces at the moment. Other items are available in various sizes. Shop is open on Wednesdays 8 - 9 am and 2.15 - 3 pm

Wairarapa Schools Photography Competition

The entry categories are:

• Living Photographs
• Non-Living Photographs
• Photo Essay

Photograph Essay

Must:

• Tell a clear, compelling story, or illustrate an emotion or event
• Have a title that adds impact to the essay
• Be a large size (e.g. at least 1 MB)
• Be named using the title of the photo and the name of the photographer.

Examples of Photo Essays:

Living and Non-Living Photographs

Must:

• Be saved in jpeg file format and at least 1 MB.
• Be named using the name of the photographer.
• Be taken by the student
• Be taken in 2018

Examples of Past Entries:

All images can:

• Be in colour or black and white.
• Be cropped but they cannot be digitally altered in any other way.

DPS learners can enter as many photographs/Photography Essays as they wish and teachers will select which 10 for each age group will represent the school.

Entries close Tuesday 18th September.

If you need assistance with getting your images to us you can bring your camera/memory card into school, or email the photos to Miss West or Mr Harkness.

awest@douglaspark.school.nz

sharkness@douglaspark.school.nz

DPS Lunch Orders

Subway lunch available to order on Fridays. Order online or pick up an envelope from the office.

Please have your Lucky Book orders in by Thursday 13th September!

Writing

Check out what we do in Miss macs whanau class!

Community Events