Week 5 NEWSLETTER

from the principal

Camp!

Wow! What an amazing experience our staff, parent volunteers and children had over the last 3 days. We really got to experience what it truly means to be wet! The rain was fairly relentless...but (as I kept saying to the kids) it’ll make for a great story...the time I went on camp during a monsoon!

While it may have been wet and a bit chilly at times, the children were amazing at persevering, daring to dream and making sure they challenged themselves at the activities. Lots of stories of conquering fears, doing something new, being nervous and going ahead, and so many stories of fun, joy and laughter. My favourite part was while I was helping on the Super Fox, and a child had just finished and I asked “how was that”? She looked at me and all she could say was “wow”. 2 minutes later I asked again, and once again...all she could say was “wow”. Then a few minutes later she came over and said “Mr Sinton...I didn’t want to do the super fox. I didn’t want to put on my harness, I didn’t like seeing the people go before me...but I wanted to be able to say that I tried...and I did, and it was so cool”! Stories like this are what camp is all about...kayaking with a frog in your boat, falling off your DIY raft when it breaks, cheering for your friend who shot a bullseye, building a shelter in the rain, opening your eyes and looking down while on the super fox...and sharing and celebrating the day over dinner together.

Year 4 EOTC Days

While the weather also had an impact on the Year 4 EOTC days, they still had an amazing time. Off to Riversdale on Monday for Beach Ed...learning some great skills from the surf living crew, and playing games. Sadly the trip to the Forest School had to be cancelled, but instead the two days of pools, movies, games and a massive indoor bouncy castle filled the gap and were enjoyed by all. Many thanks to the parent volunteers who supported the days to make them possible.

School Athletics

The rain held off last Friday, and we had a great school athletics down at the sports bowl. The event is always great...very cool for the kids to compete at an ‘actual’ venue...run on a real track, jump in a real long jump pit etc. The house relay this year was won by Hillary House, well done guys...and the adults vs children was taken quite convincingly by the adults. A few grudge matches between parents and kids there! A great day.

Congrats Max Mitchell

An ex-DPS Kid, brother to Quinn who is still here, Max was announced last night at the Wairarapa College Prize Giving as the Deputy Head Boy for 2021! Well done Max, great to hear your story of success!

Douglas park school board of trustees

This year we have the 2 spaces available on the Douglas Park School Board of Trustees. We have 3 candidates who have put their name forward and now you get to have your say. Voting papers will be coming to you via post and need to be returned to school by 4pm on Friday 4th December. There will be a ballot box in the office foyer or you can post it to us. If posting, please try to post it as early as possible as New Zealand Post has reduced postal delivery days in some areas. If you need any more information, please contact Hayley Sinton - hayleysinton@douglaspark.school.nz

Have a read of the candidate statements below.

KIDs korero

Writing - rimu

In Week 3, the Rimu Team caught the train to Carterton where we played at the park, rode bikes and scooters at the new bike park, went to the fire station for a visit and enjoyed a fish and chip lunch - all paid for by our wonderful FoDPS and Board of Trustees. Here are some of the thank you letters our students wrote.

What's happening at DPS?

DENTAL BUS

As you will all be aware, we have the Dental Bus with us for the next couple of weeks. All children have been given a form to return so if haven't seen it, please check your child's bag and return the completed form. Thanks.

Camp Kaitoke

Our Year 5/6 students went off to Camp Kaitoke this week... and what a wonderful experience! The students took part in a range of awesome activities... favourites included kayaking, the super fox and the big swing!

The wet weather didn't dampen our spirits and we were soooo proud of the students for daring to dream in not ideal conditions!!

A big thank you to our parent helpers; Sam McDonald, Matt Duncan, David Boone, Adam Hall, Hadleigh Paku, Gini Jayawardene, Larna Tigerholm, Vicky Lewis, Carrie White, Kelly Tovio, Nikki Anderson, Renae White, Tracey Garrett and Jo Thornburrow. Camp would not be possible without parent help, so we really appreciate your support!

A special thank you to both FoDPS and our Board of Trustees for their contributions to camp. We worked hard to offer our children this great experience at an affordable cost and your help was much appreciated!

DPS Sport

Term 4 Sport

All teams are displayed in the sports board outside Rm 4 and all practises will be during lunchtime at DPS

Check out the draws in this folder - we will add them as soon as they are sent to us.

DPS Teams - Term 4 Sport 2020

Please note...all pupils who play sport for DPS must wear the DPS sports uniform.

GOOD LUCK DPS TEAMS!

Please ensure you have paid at the DPS office by the end of this week.

2020 Interschool Athletics

After a wonderful day at the DPS athletics we now have a team of 40 Yr 4-6 pupils heading to compete at Interschool Athletics tomorrow.

Any pupil who places in the top 3 at an event tomorrow, and meets the qualifying standard will be off to Wellington Regional Athletics on Tuesday 1st December (postponement day is Thursday 3rd December). Best of luck to our team and great DARING TO DREAM!

A notice has been sent home with pupils attending as well as on Hero. Please contact Amy Williams if you can be a parent helper for the day. amywilliams@douglaspark.school.nz