Address: 282 Victoria Avenue, Remuera, Auckland | Telephone: (09) 520 0602
E-mail: [email protected] | web: www.victoriaave.com
Dear Parents
This is the column I wrote in week 6 last year and it is worth repeating this year.
It’s the time of year when we are all thinking ahead to the new year. There are two topics I want to touch on this week.
The first is about the way councillors and house captains are chosen. The following is a letter that will be sent home to all parents of Year 5 children today. It is important that children and parents understand the democratic process of nominating and voting for these positions. The process is as follows:
Year 5 children are given a list of all Year 5 students. They are asked to circle one girl and one boy whom they would like to be a councillor. This process is not public, children do it privately in class. Teachers and senior managers are also given the list of names and they also nominate one boy and one girl. Jane Cameron tallies the results and the six girls and six boys with the highest number of votes become councillors.
The same process is followed for house captains, except that lists of Year 5 students in each house are given to all the children in Year 5 in that house. The votes are then tallied as above.
It is important that children and parents understand that no member of staff can influence the results or has the power of veto. The process is fair and transparent.
The second topic is about parent’s anxieties as to how their child will cope next year and more importantly, who their teacher will be.
It is the time of the year when parents can become a little anxious about how their child is going to cope next year. Have they learnt enough to be able to move seamlessly into the next year level? Are they socially ready or mature enough for being in a higher year level? Will next year’s teacher understand them? Are they ready to move on?
We know that every child has areas of strength as well as areas of weakness. If ‘being ready’ for something meant that every child had to be strong in every aspect, then many of us would never have moved forward. As they move forward children mature to a point where suddenly they gain understanding. The supports the child has been getting and will continue to get will help them learn and grow. A new teacher may be the one to unlock the learning.
Parents can be anxious about who the new teacher is likely to be. Remember that children want to like their teacher whoever they are. Teachers want all of their children to have the best possible year. None of us can confidently predict whether a particular child is going to hit it off with their new teacher, because these are new relationships that are being forged. What we do, is think very carefully about every child and together decide on which teacher we believe we should place them with.
We have found that children are less worried about who their teacher is, but can be more anxious about whether they will be in a class with their friend or whether they are going to be in a class with someone they really don’t get on with. We ask the children to nominate friends and we guarantee that they will all be in a class with at least one of their friends.
Leavers’ assembly is on 9 December. This year, we are combining it with the announcement of councillors and house captains. Reports and class placements sent home on 9 December. Children will visit their new classrooms on 9 December.
Carol service on 12 December and prizegiving at Baradene at 1pm on 13 December. School finishes on Friday 16 December at 12.30.
Belated Thanks
Huge thanks to Amanda Dick and her team for organising Halloween this year. With the heavens opening about 15 minutes before it was due to start, Amanda calmly organised alternate places for each of the activities. Fortunately, the rain stopped and those who came had a great time. I really love how our hardworking PTS organise both ‘fund’ raising and ‘friend’ raising events for the school community. Halloween is a great example of families gathering together to enjoy themselves with other families.
Cupcake Sale
Please support our wonderful Year 6 girls who approached me with an idea for raising money to go to the earthquake fund to help Kaikoura residents and schools. I am so delighted that they are thinking about the wider New Zealand community. See details further down the newsletter.
Our Lovely Linley
Linley Garrett is retiring at the end of the year. She has been at VAS for many years and has made such a wonderful contribution to the school. We are holding a celebration for Linley at a special assembly on 15 December at 9am. a reminder will be sent out closer to the time.
I am delighted to announce that Joanne Henderson, who currently works at VAS as one of our accountants, will be taking over from Linley.
Kind Regards
Janice Adamson
Please note that we have the following school wide events coming up:
Please refer to our school calendar for the many other events for the rest of the term!
- Ice block Sales every Friday – Outside Rooms 6/7/8 and at the hall
- Cup cakes sale … November 22nd … see below
- Mufti Day Friday November 25th for Bottle Tombola for Gala
- 2 December Junior Athletics Day for Years 0, 1 and 2
- 5 December BOT Meeting
- 12 December Carol Service
- 13 December School Prize giving
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 4 2016
Click here for details on these activities.
Also:
Click here for After School and Holiday Community Based Programmes and Activities for 2016
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
Term Dates for 2016
Term 3: Monday 25 July to Friday 23 Sept ’16
Term 4: Monday 10 October to Friday 16 December ’16
~ Labour Day Mon 24 October ’16
Term Dates for 2017
Term 1: Wednesday 1 February ( This could change to Tuesday 31 January) to Thursday 13 April 2017
~ Waitangi Day Monday 6 February ’17
~ Good Friday 14 April
Term 2: Monday 1 May to Friday 7 July 2017
~ Queen’s Birthday Monday 5 June ’17
Term 3: Monday 24 July to Friday 29 Sept 2017
Term 4: Monday 16 October to Friday 15 December 2017
~ Labour Day Mon 23 October ’17
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 hereSave
Lunch Orders
1. ‘Daily Lunch and Catering’ ordered through ezLUNCH: Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays – ONLINE ORDERS ONLY
Join ezlunch today and Place an order
2. Pita Pit: ordered through ezLUNCH: Thursdays – ONLINE ORDERS ONLY – NEW!!
Join ezlunch today and Place an order
3. Subway: Wed and Fri – ONLINE ORDERS ONLY
Register to order online at www.subwayrialto.co.nz
4. Fusion Sushi on Tuesdays and Fridays – ORDERING AT SCHOOL OFFICE – NEW!!
Click Here for order forms/instructions
School Dental Service
8b Ngaio St Orakei Ph5200603.
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
Reminder school Banking is on every Wednesday
To join go to the ASB display/banking box in the foyer.
To download the app for free on iPhone or Android click this link. http://is.gd/3ffmjc
DIGITAL MANNERS
PARENT WORKSHOP ON iPADs
Workshop for Wednesday 23 November has been cancelled as there was not enough interest.
KidsLink is an online resource available to parents to find a range of services that specialise in working with children, teenagers and their families with issues that affect their learning, development and well-being. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION
Free Parent Evening 1 December
GATE (Gifted and Talented Education)
This is open to all parents and teachers who are interested in GaTE and I will be focusing on improving the communication between parents and schools as well as how we can work together to support gifted students.
Could you please pass this registration link to anyone you think may be interested and/or advertise it in your paSaverent newsletters.
https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/gate-nzagc-opening-the-gate-tickets-28713491827
Thanks so much.
Kind regards
Brooke
Click here for Brooke’s Summary of Practice, including resources and articles
Emily’s Karate Tournament
Emily represented Victoria Avenue Primary School in the Primary and Intermediate Schools Karate Championships held at the AMI Netball stadium, St Johns. As you can see from these photos attached, she was the smallest size but managed to win 1 silver for Kumite (fight) and 1 bronze for Kata (pattern category). She was so excited as this was the first time she had won a medal and she can’t wait to bring and show her medals to everyone at school today.
PUPIL OF THE WEEK
Zac Riley and Arthur MacGill
Room 1: Holly Barker Room 1: Dan Brooks Room 1: Koki Chan Room 1: Primo Gabrielsen-Taylor Room 2: Tyler Gleye Room 3: Jaime Francis Room 4: Logan Cairns Room 5: Keanu King Room 6: Mila Crouch Room 6: Maria Moroz Room 7: Emir Kalkan Room 8: Zara Revill Room 10: Sophie Wakelin Room 11: Ollie Knowsley Room 12: Sebastian McIvor Room 12: Aiden Xia Room 13: Nathaniel Liang Room 14: Henry Martin | Room 14: Serena Saekhang Room 15: Marion Delmas Room 16: Matthew Cunningham Room 17: John Gray Room 17: Brooke Griffiths Room 18: Leo Bonnici Room 18: Sagar Dhakal Room 18: Isobel Pennington Room 19: Sonny Blaylock Room 19: Oscar Kidd Room 19: Bryan Lee Room 20: Thomas Jackson Room 21: Olivia Campbell Room 21: Cooper Kennard Room 21: Breeze McGee Room 22: Blake Field Room 22: Amelia Unsworth Room 23: Matty Lin |
RPS PTA ‘NEW TO YOU’ BOOKFAIR AND BAKESALE SATURDAY 26 NOVEMBER 2016
REMUERA PRIMARY SCHOOL HALL, 25 DROMORNE ROAD, REMUERA 11AM TO 2PM.
We have an amazing collection of
Come along and get your reading sorted for the long hot summer! Grab a coffee and cake while you browse.
Xtreme Rhythmix
Xtreme Rhythmix now has more exciting classes for beginners in rhythmic gymnastics at Sacred Heart College! Come along and learn fun skills with ropes, hoops, ball, clubs and ribbons. RhythmFlex classes (5 – 7 years old approx) available on Wednesdays. Pre-competitive classes (7 – 10 years old approx) available on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Email [email protected] for more information or to book in for a trial class.
CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO DEMONSTRATION