Please take a few minutes to catch up on what's been happening at school this week, coming events, or things to plan for with your children.

GRIT CAMP PARENT MEETING

A reminder, on Tuesday, March 5 at 6.30pm in the staffroom there will be a meeting for all parents of students attending Grit Camp. The purpose of this meeting will be to meet the Camp Parents, take you through the camp programme, discuss gear requirements and answer any questions you may have.

There will also be a meeting for Camp Parents following our first meeting that evening.

PAID UNION MEETING Tuesday 19 March 2019

As much as we know this is a big inconvenience, it is again time to take action to ensure work conditions and pay will support quality people being attracted to the teaching profession, and ultimately teaching your children. The union meeting is on Tuesday 19 March 2019. Children will need to be picked up from their classes at 12.50pm. Thank you for your anticipated support.

The answer is no; it is not compulsory for parents to do this. However, we ask our parent community to support us as much as possible in this difficult situation as most of our teachers will attend this meeting to fight for better pay and work conditions.

If you are unable to help us this time, your child will report to the library at 1pm and be supervised until 3pm by some staff who will stay behind.

If your children normally walk home from school, you will need to email your child’s teacher before 11am to confirm this please.

GIFTED LEARNERS and COGNITIVE ABILITY SCREENING TESTS

Each year since 2009 Whangaparaoa School has offered Cognitive Ability screening (using the Woodcock Johnson III tests of cognitive ability) to further help identify our gifted students - those with very high cognitive ability. An assessor from Educational Assessment Services comes to school to carry out this screening. Teachers help to identify students in a number of ways, looking at school test results and observing specific traits or abilities in children, and some of these students are recommended for cognitive screening to help us clarify strengths / needs.

However, we may not see the same child that you see at home. If you feel that your child is possibly gifted, you may put their name forward to be looked into further. Some common characteristics of giftedness can be found here. If you would like to chat or to nominate your child please contact Debbie Thompson: dthompson@wgp.school.nz

Please note that there is a cost of $60 for parents if your child is invited, and you agree, to complete Cognitive testing - you may apply for help if you need it due to financial hardship. You do not need to agree to the screening, but we find it is another way of helping to identify who our gifted learners are, so that we can ensure we try to cater for their needs.

Check out what's new on our Million Dreams website here, browse the opportunities on offer this term, bookmark the website and check back from time to time as new opportunities will be added as they come up.

We want to encourage our children to be proactive in seeking out these opportunities and take ownership for completing the application process, though they made need a little help with completing the application form. Please do not persuade your child to apply, or apply on their behalf. Ownership is key to the purpose of this project.

Please consider supporting A Million Dreams in any way you can. More information can be found in the donate section where you can offer time, resources, experts or funds to guarantee the continued success of this project at our school.

LIBRARY

We would like to remind parents they are welcome to come and use the library with their children in the morning from 8.30am and after school until 3.30pm.

TRIATHLON

We would like to inform you that again this year we are going to do our very own school triathlon. We will be encouraging every child to participate and give it a go. Details of the event are as follows:

• WHY : Fitness, fun and challenge.
• WHEN : Wednesday 13th March 2018
• WHAT : Run, bike and swim. If children do not have a bike, they may be able to borrow a friends of another age group. We also have a limited number of school bikes available. If a child is not a competent swimmer they can use a flutter board and people will be there to help them.
• WHAT TO BRING AND WEAR : All children who are participating in the triathlon can wear sport mufti to school this day. They will also need togs, towel and athletic shoes. Students MUST WEAR SHOES WHILE RUNNING AND CYCLING. They are allowed to wear togs in the running and cycling sections - girls must wear full swimsuits (no bikinis) and boys must wear a t shirt with their togs. While cycling all students must wear helmets.
• WHO : All students. There will be a triathlon for each year group, as well as a boys and girls event at each year level. Students will be encouraged to support and help each other so all children finish safely and feel good about competing in the event.
• WHERE : In school and on footpaths around our school. No child will need to cross a road. Maps for each year group are attached. View maps here.

Every child who gives the triathlon a go will earn a point for their learning community.

The year 5 and 6 events will run from 9.30am to 11. The year 3 and 4 events will run from 11.30am to 1pm. The year 1 and 2 events will run from 1.45pm to 3pm.

Parents are welcome to come and support the children, but must stay off the course due to safety reasons.

We are looking forward to the event and supporting our students through this challenge.

NETBALL

The Whangaparaoa Netball Committee are looking for new members to come on board this season. Meetings are held approximately once a month. If you're interested in getting involved in the planning, organisation and decision making for netball at our school now is your chance!

First meeting is set for 7pm Monday 4th March at school, in the boardroom (the room inside the school office opposite the reception desk).

NETBALL REGISTRATIONS

Registrations are NEXT WEEK for ALL Years 3-6: 3pm Wednesday 6th March in B1 and 3pm Thursday 7th March in B1. Look out for registration forms coming home this week!

VOLUNTEERS

Thank you to everyone so far who has volunteered to help at Gala. Even an hour or so on the day can make a huge difference. To help click here and sign up now.

DONATIONS

Our first mufti day will be on Friday 8 March. Bring a bottle for our bottle shop as payment. It doesn't have to be perishable, if it is, please check the expiry date! No alcohol allowed, and make sure the bottle hasn't been opened.

You can start dropping off your soft toys and 2nd hand toys from Monday 11 March. There'll be a drop-off point in the hall foyer.

We're also in need of sugar for candy floss, clean jars for Jolly Jars, and beeswax and 100% cotton fabric for our beeswax wrap stall. These last items can be dropped off at the office.

If you have any queries about Gala just drop us an email. If you or anyone you know wants to support us through sponsorship then please email wgpgala@gmail.com