AUCTION BOOKLET

CLICK HERE to view the long awaited Auction Booklet.

CLICK HERE for the full list of live and silent items that will be up for auction on Saturday night’s Viva VAS Vegas.  If you are unable to attend Viva VAS Vegas but wish to place an external bid on an item, then please contact Amanda Dick either via email at [email protected] or by phone at 021575553; and she will be happy to be your bidder on the night.

Dear Parents

A couple of weeks ago I went to the combined New Zealand and Australian principals’ conference at Sky City. The theme of the conference was Knowledge in Our Hands. It was how we can learn from each other through listening to each other’s stories.

Story telling is a powerful way of getting a message out there. We all (children and adults) like to listen to stories. By listening to stories, I mean in the wider sense, not only about having a story read to us. As adults, we love to listen to a skilled raconteur regale us with their stories. Children love hearing stories. Teenagers love listening to the stories of their babyhood/childhood. Young adults love listening to your stories about the things you got up to when you were their age. Older people love telling their stories to younger family members.

Through story telling Maori people pass on the history, myths and genealogy through the generations.  Experiencing Maori story telling enables us to learn the ancient stories of the Maori people, and understand the culture. Indigenous peoples have used storytelling to pass knowledge and on through the generations since time began.

Storytelling, reading stories and language development go hand in hand. Children ask to have the same story read over and over. There is a comfort, a familiarity with the story that causes pleasure. They engage and learn, becoming familiar with vocab and language. Storytelling and reading stories stir the imagination, evoke feelings and recollections. Don’t ever underestimate the amount of learning happening as you are telling a story or reading a story.

If the children are fractious in the car, rather than give them a device each to keep them quiet, just start telling a story, any story. Make it up as you go along. Embellish details, create a hero. I guarantee you will have them hooked within one minute. Mind you, I once had to keep a story going most of the way from Auckland to Taupo! I thought I was rambling, until another road trip when my daughter asked me to tell the story of the princess again!

Grandparents’ Day

There was a great turnout of grandparents and significant family friends last Friday. The morning started with the concert which was delightful and following that grandparents visited classrooms where children shared their learning. Then back to the hall for a sumptuous morning tea. It was lovely to have so many visitors in the school. We all love sharing the great things happening in school.

 Book Fair

Anyone who walked past the library on grandparents’ day would have seen the mass of people packed into it. As a result of our parents’ and grandparents’ generosity, $9197 was spent which resulted in a $3219 bonus for us to spend on books for the library. What a lovely community we have! Thanks to Jane Clark, our librarian, who organised it and coped with the throngs as well as our parent volunteers helping out.

 Clara Whittington

Clara has reached the end of her maternity leave and has resigned. Clara has made a huge contribution to our school and we have always appreciated everything she has done.We wish her, Jonny and Macy well as they make their home in Warkworth.