T3 W6 in Pohutukawa

Christchurch Schools' Music Festival

Massed Rehearsal next Monday

The Pōhutukawa Festival choir will be heading to Avonhead School next Monday, the 2nd of September, to attend our area rehearsal. We will be leaving school by bus at 12:15 and will return by 3pm.

Tickets

We will be performing on the evening of Thursday 7th November. Tickets are now on sale at Ticketek. This year marks 80 years since the Christchurch Schools' Music Festival began. Titled ‘You’re the Voice’, this year’s programme features songs from the past eight decades of the festival, as well as some new ones. Some parents or grandparents may remember singing some of the songs themselves as children in the massed or representative choirs during their youth! This year is also the first year that the festival will be held in the Town Hall since the earthquakes. We encourage you to get hold of your tickets asap, as the Town Hall has limited seats in comparison to our previous venue, Horncastle Arena. 

Orana Park Trip

Hopefully you will have received a paper copy of the notice informing you of our planned trip to Orana Park. If not, here is the information:

We are heading to Orana Park on Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th of September, from 9.30am-2.45pm, to tie in with our inquiry focus of innovation, our science topics (habitats, classification, adaptations) and our writing of animal information reports this term.

As we are such a large team we are required to visit the park in two groups. On Monday Tracy’s home group, Rae’s home group and half of Steve’s home group will visit the park. On Tuesday Katie’s home group, Gayle’s home group and the other half of Steve’s home group will visit the park.

We will need the help of some adults to enable us to go on this trip. We will be leaving school at 9.30am via bus and we will have an emergency vehicle. If you are interested in assisting us on this trip as an adult supervisor, please email your child’s home group teacher before Friday 30 August. We will contact all adults who have kindly volunteered to help, to confirm whether your help is required.

The buses are being generously funded by the PTA. The cost per child will be $10 and a request for your contribution to this will be on your Term 3 account.

For the trip, your child will need to be in comfortable footwear and in school uniform. They should bring a jacket in case of inclement weather. If your child suffers from asthma, please ensure they have their medication with them in a named plastic bag, with instructions about administration. Your child needs to give this to their class teacher prior to departure.

On the day, students will need to wear school uniform and bring:

• A water bottle
• A substantial morning tea and lunch
• A warm layer of clothing (especially a windproof jacket)

Please note there will be no postponement day if the weather is unsuitable. An email  message will be sent out at 8am on the day, if the trip is being cancelled.

Thank you to those adults who have shown an interest in being supervisor for the trip. We will contact everyone next week to confirm required help.

Winter Sports uniforms

Once winter sports uniforms have been washed and dried, could they please be returned to school and popped in the pink box in the wee foyer area between the library and the office.

T3 W6 in Pōhutukawa

Christchurch Schools' Music Festival

Massed Rehearsal next Monday

The Pōhutukawa Festival choir will be heading to Avonhead School next Monday, the 2nd of September, to attend our area rehearsal. We will be leaving school by bus at 12:15 and will return by 3pm.

Tickets

We will be performing on the evening of Thursday 7th November. Tickets are now on sale at Ticketek. This year marks 80 years since the Christchurch Schools' Music Festival began. Titled ‘You’re the Voice’, this year’s programme features songs from the past eight decades of the festival, as well as some new ones. Some parents or grandparents may remember singing some of the songs themselves as children in the massed or representative choirs during their youth! This year is also the first year that the festival will be held in the Town Hall since the earthquakes. We encourage you to get hold of your tickets asap, as the Town Hall has limited seats in comparison to our previous venue, Horncastle Arena.  

Orana Park Trip

Hopefully you will have received a paper copy of the notice informing you of our planned trip to Orana Park. If not, here is the information: 

We are heading to Orana Park on Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th of September, from 9.30am-2.45pm, to tie in with our inquiry focus of innovation, our science topics (habitats, classification, adaptations) and our writing of animal information reports this term.
As we are such a large team we are required to visit the park in two groups. On Monday Tracy’s home group, Rae’s home group and half of Steve’s home group will visit the park. On Tuesday Katie’s home group, Gayle’s home group and the other half of Steve’s home group will visit the park.
We will need the help of some adults to enable us to go on this trip. We will be leaving school at 9.30am via bus and we will have an emergency vehicle. If you are interested in assisting us on this trip as an adult supervisor, please email your child’s home group teacher before Friday 30 August. We will contact all adults who have kindly volunteered to help, to confirm whether your help is required.
The buses are being generously funded by the PTA. The cost per child will be $10 and a request for your contribution to this will be on your Term 3 account.
For the trip, your child will need to be in comfortable footwear and in school uniform. They should bring a jacket in case of inclement weather. If your child suffers from asthma, please ensure they have their medication with them in a named plastic bag, with instructions about administration. Your child needs to give this to their class teacher prior to departure.
On the day, students will need to wear school uniform and bring:
A water bottle
A substantial morning tea and lunch
A warm layer of clothing (especially a windproof jacket)
Please note there will be no postponement day if the weather is unsuitable. An email  message will be sent out at 8am on the day, if the trip is being cancelled.

Thank you to those adults who have shown an interest in being supervisor for the trip. We will contact everyone next week to confirm required help.

Winter Sports uniforms

Once winter sports uniforms have been washed and dried, could they please be returned to school and popped in the pink box in the wee foyer area between the library and the office.

T3 W4 in Pōhutukawa

Making Dutch biscuits

Today Forest (Rae's home group) were lucky to have Linda, Keanna's mum, come in to share a part of her Dutch culture with the children. They made Dutch biscuits, which looked and smelt delicious.

The children really appreciated the time Linda spent with them, and enjoyed gobbling up the fruits of their labour. Thanks Linda!

 

Head Lice

This is a reminder to routinely check your child/ren's hair for head lice or eggs. Unfortunately the little creatures are sneaky and need to be treated when detected, as they are very easily transferred from head to head.

School email address

As you may have heard, we have had a talk with the students about the way they use their school email address and school Google account. It came to our attention that some students had been using their school email address and school Google account for purposes other than learning. To make it very clear, we talked to the students about the following points:

• not having extensions (including cursors, GIFs, wallpapers etc)
• slides and docs are to be learning related and set or directed by a teacher 
• slides and docs are not to be shared with other students unless allowed/directed by a teacher (to avoid being distracted by commenting chat)
• school email is to be used for learning purposes only, and not as a means of communication with other students
• students have been asked to 'unshare' docs, delete docs from their drive which are not school or learning related
• students can use their school Google account at home for continuing with any work started at school (especially if directed by a teacher), to go on any educational websites such as Studyladder, Nick’s App, Maths Whizz, Prototec, E-ako, Solve Me, ReadWorks or to complete any home learning set by teacher
• using teacher approved websites only. Some YouTube clips are allowed to be viewed when it is relevant to learning.

For all other usage which is not school or learning related, such as communication (emails), making slide shows or docs with friends, we suggested that the students use their own personal account. This of course would be with the knowledge and permission of parents/caregivers. The recommended age for creating a personal Gmail account is 13 years old. You can create a Google Account for your child under the age of 13 and manage it using Family Link. With Google Accounts, children get access to Google products like Search, Chrome and Gmail, and you can set up basic digital ground rules to supervise them. 

Technology is an ever growing part of our world and we feel it is very important to ensure that at school the purpose of technology is to enhance the students' learning, as well as teach them skills regarding technology to equip them for their future. By monitoring and setting tight guidelines with regards to technology use at school, we hope to grow responsible and respectful users of technology.

Winter sport

Next week is the last week of winter sport. Thank you so much to all of the adults who have volunteered and helped out with a team. We certainly couldn't have done it without you!