Address: 282 Victoria Avenue, Remuera, Auckland | Telephone: (09) 520 0602
E-mail: [email protected] | web: www.victoriaave.com
Dear Parents,
I love summer, but what a relief when daylight saving actually finishes. A relief because I don’t like the dark mornings and struggle to wake up. Seems I am not alone. One of the most common greetings in the morning over the past couple of weeks was about the dark and also about how tired people were feeling. We certainly noticed more children appearing to be tired.
Sleep; too much, not enough, rarely just the right amount. So why are conversations about sleep so prevalent? That’s because a lack of sleep affects our lives.
Oh no, not another column about sleep. All very well to read about it, but how does that help? That is certainly my attitude. I know all about relaxing before going to bed, no heavy meals or caffeine, no TV in the bedroom. I laugh out loud at warm baths with scented candles, as if I have time for that. Reading about what to do about lack of sleep doesn’t make the slightest difference. I just carry on regardless.
However, when it comes to children’s lack of sleep, I have a completely different attitude. It is well researched and well documented that lack of sleep has enormous implication for children’s learning.
The guidelines for adequate sleep for children generally are as follows:
3 – 6 years 10 – 12 hours
7 – 10 years 10 – 11 hours
10 – 14 years 9 – 10 hours
14 – 18 years 8 – 9 hours
For a child, the risks of sleep deprivation are much more serious than simply waking up in a grumpy mood. Poor sleep makes life unpleasant. More worrying, however, are long-term behavioural, cognitive, and health problems.
Poor or inadequate sleep can lead to mood swings, behavioural problems such as hyperactivity and cognitive problems that impact on their ability to learn in school. Sleep restriction is associated with impaired memory (Hairston et al 2005), poor academic performance (Fallone et al 2005), and obesity (Lumeng et al 2007; Bell and Zimmerman 2010).
Usually it is easy to identify children with sleep problems. But parents may have trouble recognizing the signs of sleep deprivation in their children, and it appears that many children go undiagnosed.
An experimental study of school-aged children has shown that even children who had no reported sleep difficulties performed better on neurobehavioral tests after they were given an extra hour of sleep (Sadeh et al 2003).
For this reason, it makes sense to examine your child’s sleep schedule, even if they don’t show obvious signs of sleep deprivation. Good sleep practices will help ensure that your child gets the sleep they need.
I can tell you that sleep has a huge impact on academic performance and behaviour but I can’t tell you how you can get your children to bed earlier; that’s your problem!
Teachers’ Carpark
Parents are not allowed to use the teachers’ carpark as a drop off / pick up zone. This week a parent snuck in behind a teacher and dropped his son off in the carpark. The carpark is always full and staff cars are parked everywhere. As the father did a turn he hit one of the parked cars and damaged it. Cue one unhappy teacher and one parent who has to pay for the damage. An expensive drop off! Please, even if you know the code, do not come into the carpark before or after school.
Teachers’ Carpark Driveway
Following on from the reminder about the carpark, please do not bring your children to school via the carpark driveway. You may think you are looking after them as you walk down, but having had a child, who was walking down with a parent, jump out in front of my car last year, parents need to realise that the carpark is potentially dangerous for children. We have large red signs written in English and Chinese which say that children are prohibited from using the driveway but we still have people ignoring the signs and walking down anyway. It is about safety!
PTS Update
A group of parents met last week to continue the discussion around the structure of the PTS. The results from the survey we sent parents was very useful and the feedback informed the discussion, so thank you to all who responded. I think we are very close to letting the school community know about the new way of getting people involved.
Family Fun Night
I am looking forward to seeing many of you this evening. Bring a picnic tea, some ‘refreshments’ and enjoy the atmosphere. Highlight for the children will be the water slide!
Kind Regards
Janice Adamson
Safe Parking Promotion
Travelwise was in action this morning! There mission was to promote safe parking on Victoria Avenue to help keep our kids safe when arriving at school. Student’s in yellow vests gave out ‘FREE COFFEE VOUCHERS’, postcards and lollies to those drivers who parked correctly and obeyed the law!
More students’ will be out and about this afternoon!
Click Here to view our BLOG PAGE.
DRAMA/SPEECH LESSONS: Click here for information
MUSIC LESSONS: Click here for information on Musiqhub music lessons
AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES:
FOR TERM 2 2018
Click here for details on these activities.
Also:
Click here for After School and Holiday Community Based Programmes and Activities for 2018
What’s Ahead?
Please click here to view our online calendar
IMPORTANT DATES AND TIMES
School Times
School starts: 8.50am
Interval: 10.30-10.50am
Lunch: 12.30-1.25pm
School finishes: 3.00pm
School Times
School starts: 8.50am
Interval: 10.30-10.50am
Lunch: 12.30-1.25pm
School finishes: 3.00pm
Term Dates for 2018
Term 1: Wednesday 7 February to Friday 13 April 2018
~ Waitangi Day Tuesday 6 February ’18
~ Good Friday 30 March
~ Easter Monday 2 April
~ Easter Tuesday 3 April
Term 2: Monday 30 April to Friday 6 July 2018
~ Queen’s Birthday Monday 4 June ’18
Term 3: Monday 23 July to Friday 28 Sept 2018
Term 4: Monday 15 October to Thursday 20 December 2018
~ Labour Day Mon 22 October ’18
Stationery Sales
Tuesdays and Thursdays: 8.30-8.45am
Uniform Shop
– half way up dragon drive in the old dental clinic
OPEN FRIDAYS only: 8.15-8.45am
Orders and payments for uniform can be made online on our website ~ Click here
Lunch Orders
1. ‘Daily Lunch and Catering’ ordered through ezLUNCH: Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays – ONLINE ORDERS ONLY
Click here for term 1 menu and for Pita Pit click here.
Join ezlunch today and Place an order Sushi is available through Daily Lunch and Catering
2. Pita Pit: ordered through ezLUNCH: Thursdays – ONLINE ORDERS ONLY
Join ezlunch today and Place an order
3. Subway: Wed and Fri – ONLINE ORDERS ONLY
Register to order online at www.subwayrialto.co.nz
School Dental Service
8b Ngaio St Orakei Ph 520 0603.
The dental team will be posting letters to all new entrants to our school as required.
Remember to ‘like’ Victoria Avenue School on Facebook.
NIT NIGHT TONIGHT!!
PLEASE, PLEASE CHECK FOR NITS – a number of classes have reported nits and if your infected child is not treated then many others will be!
Here is a link from NZ Health for info and treatment.
http://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/conditions-and-treatments/diseases-and-illnesses/head-lice
To download the app for free on iPhone or Android click this link. http://is.gd/3ffmjc


Parent Teacher Interviews
Parent/Teacher interviews are scheduled for the last week of this term and are an opportunity for you and your child(ren) to meet with the teacher(s) to discuss their learning.
Interviews are set for Wednesday 11 April between 3.10 and 5.30 and Thursday 12 April between 3.10 pm and 6.00 pm.
Your interview time(s) are organised online and can be booked by going to the website www.schoolinterviews.co.nz . Select ‘Make a Booking’ , then enter the school code cbdba in the box where indicated and follow the instructions on screen to book your interview times. If you do not have access to a computer, please contact the school office and we will organise your conference time for you.
Interviews are 10 minutes long, and you are asked to be punctual for your appointment so that all following appointments run to time.
Your input to Parent/Teacher interviews is of value. To assist with this please click here for a form to be completed and returned to your class teacher by Friday 6 April.
The Bell Road Walking School Bus
Our energetic kids and parents would love some more walkers to join our bus, as a couple of families are moving on. We walk daily to school leaving from Bell Road at the top of Shera Road at 8.10am. It’s a great way to give the kids some more independence, less time in the car and an energising start to their day! All it requires is a commitment by one parent or nanny/au pair to join the roster and walk with the children one morning per week. If you are a new family in the area or know of any VAS children moving to the area, please get in touch with Inga Frengley ([email protected] or 021 2776871) to find out more about joining.
Click here for ICAS Registration Form
Epic cricket festival coming to Auckland next week!
- Planning on a family day out to the cricket? As an online exclusive deal get a free junior ticket (aged 2-14) with every adult ticket you buy for Day 3 of the Day-Night Test at Eden Park.
- The cricket’s not the only entertainment on the day – there’s a world record catch attempt, the biggest sports showcase and more!
