Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Yes There Is Swimming this Friday and Please Collect Lost Property

We DO have swimming this Friday.  It is the last session.
 
Koru kids and parents - please collect any lost property before the end of the term before it gets donated to others.

 

Breaking News - It's a boy!

Just letting everyone know that little Mattias Bengtsson was born yesterday at 15:00, weighing a healthy 4kg.
Everyone doing well and resting now.

Lisa thanks everyone for their love and support.

Congratulations, Lisa. It has been a long wait, but well worth it. What a gorgeous boy!

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

School Baking Sale TOMORROW.

Hannah C and Emma L from the Year 5/6 camp group have been busy baking biscuits, cup cakes, rocky road and lolly cake as a fundraiser for the camp.
They plan to sell their goods at lunchtime.  The cost of their goods range from .50 c - $3.00.

Thanks
Hannah & Emma

Weetbix Tryathlon

Amesbury School will be entering a school team for next years Wellington Weetbix Try. The event will held on March 23rd. Entries will open shortly. 

More details can be found at http://tryathlon.weetbix.co.nz/my-location/wellington
 
If your child is interested, please email Liza at  Liza@eyespysecurity.co.nz  so they can be included in our training program

We are also exploring a couple of other away events:

Hamilton-Feb 9
Tauranga-Feb 23
Palmerston North-March 26

If you are interested in any or all of these events, please email Liza also.

Unveiling of Gravesite Memorial in Glenside

On behalf of the Glenside Progressive Association I would like to extend an invitation to your staff and students to attend the official unveiling and commemorative service for the Gravesite Memorial located in Westchester Drive to be conducted on Thursday 10th October at 2pm.
As well as official unveiling of the plaques (not as yet installed) there will be short ceremony conducted by Rev Ben Johnson-Frow of St John Anglican Church in Johnsonville followed by the option to adjourn to Thyme Cafe for a celebratory cake.
This is an interesting piece of local history and the event will be an opportunity to learn more about the memorial and its significance. The date was particularly chosen because of the preceding events it commemorates.
I appreciate that the timing is not the ideal for a school attendance, but would appreciate it if you could extend the invitation to your school community as the service will be a public one and there has been a great deal of interest expressed about this memorial located halfway along the new Link road extension of Westchester Drive.
Please feel free to call if you have any questions.
Yours sincerely 
Jan Voss
President 
Glenside Progressive Association inc
Home 478 1796
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"Girls' Night Out - Celebrating Women in Churton Park"

Friday evening, 8 November at Amesbury School

Mark this evening on your calendar

A great night out is being planned for women in Churton Park. This will be an opportunity to find out what our women are up to and to enjoy an evening together while raising funds for Women's Refuge and Kiwi Community Assistance. The evening will include:

1. Entertainment
2. A Women's Expo - where women in the community share their interests, business products and services etc.
3. Demonstrations and seminars
4. Fundraising auction
5. Food and fun

COST: $15.00 with a glass of wine

This event is being organised by a group of women from around the community. Anyone who would like to be involved in helping to get this inaugural event off the ground would be warmly welcomed.

If you would like to be involved as an exhibitor, or have a product, service or experience you would like to donate for the auction, please contact Natasha Murrihy (event manager) at natashak.murrihy@gmail.com


Attendance July 2013


Student attendance has improved over the first half of this year with 70% of students achieving an attendance rate of 96% or more. 


The number of students for whom attendance is 90% and below and/or have a pattern of lateness to school has decreased slightly but for these few students their low attendance is of concern, particularly when it is not the result of an extended trip overseas.



When you consider that an attendance figure of 90% means that by the time a student goes to High School they will have missed almost a year of schooling, this can have a significant impact on achievement. However, of even greater concern is the long term effect of developing a pattern of intermittent non-attendance. Students for whom this is the case are less likely to remain at school or go onto higher education. The research shows very clearly that this can have an impact on their long term success and happiness in life. Allowing students to develop a pattern of having a day off here and a day of there when it is not absolutely necessary is setting up a pattern that can have quite a long term negative impact on students and parents need to be aware of this. This is as true of five year olds as of older children. Attendance in the first two years of school has been shown to be the best indicator of long term success in education. 



Family holidays overseas have once again made an impact on the attendance in the first half of this year. As a school we are supportive of the “broad” education overseas trips. However, it is important that parents make the decision to take their children away on holiday during the term on an informed basis. Parents should be informed of:



i.                Their child’s current attendance rate

ii.               Research regarding the impact of attendance on achievement and long term success in school

iii.              Likely impact on their child’s achievement and social well being. e.g. some students may find it hard to fit back into their social group having been away for a number of weeks.



Amesbury has revised its Attendance Policy to include its own definition of justified and unjustified absences. We will post this on this blog after it has been approved the Board of Trustees.

Amesbury School Board of Trustees Agenda

Amesbury School Board of Trustees
Meeting: Wednesday 25 September, 2013 at 5.30 pm in Meeting Room, Te Rito, Amesbury School
AGENDA
1.       Attendance
1.1.          Present
1.2.          Apologies
1.3.          Conflict of Interest

2.       Minutes of previous meeting: 28 August 2013
2.1.          Confirmation
2.2.          Matters Arising
2.3.          Action Table

3.       Education/Curriculum/Student Achievement focus
3.1.          Student achievement
-          Reading
-          Writing
-          Maths
-          Focus on individual needs

4.       Property:
4.1.          Development of grounds – Consultation with students (Verbal update – Urs/Angela)
4.2.          Proposed improvements to Romaine Road entrance 

5.       Self-review
5.1.          Check- Annual Self – Review Programme 2013 (standing agenda item)
5.2.          Review of annual plan goals

6.       Health and Safety
6.1.          Health and Safety Policy – annual review

7.       Legislation
7.1.          Recapitation: Up date 
7.2.          Attendance Procedure revision – school definition of justified and unjustified absences
7.3.          Attendance Report for year to July 2013

8.       Personnel
8.1.          Staffing for term 4/2014
8.2.          Board reading
-Documents from Central South Property Forum

9.       Charter Development

10.   Finance
10.1.       Finance Committee Minutes  (Finance Committee)
10.2.       Finance Committee Report  (Finance Committee)
10.3.       Financial Reports for June 2013
  
11.   Community Engagement
11.1.       PPT Update (Lorraine) – 
11.2.       Women’s Event 
11.3.     Inter denominational Christian School in Churton Park
11.4.     Communication 
11.5.     Term 4 community evening

12.   Next meeting:

12.1.       Wednesday, 27 November 2013

Monday, September 23, 2013

Ignite

What a stunning evening! Our team was impressive.

The presenters and presentations were:
Tara - Spoken Word
Jo - Minecraft
Lesley - Humanising Education
Matt - Visual Literacy
Jolene - Developing Opinionated Contributors
Angela - Personalising Learning in Koru
Demelza - Inquiring With a 5 Year Old Mind
Urs - Personalising Learning in Harakeke
The five minute presentations were dynamic and informative with one parent saying:
 "It was really inspirational.  I came away uplifted.  What a fabulous concept to have short, snappy, five minute presentations on what's on top educationally for each of the presenters. 

I was proud of the Amesbury staff who presented their ideas and thoughts in this forum. It made me stop, think and reflect. 

I also thought what a great thing it would be for the rest of our Amesbury parents to experience, as it would be fabulous internal public relations as our teachers were promoting concepts that they are implementing at Amesbury.  It also helps them to consolidate their learning or plans for the future.  These talks are another way for parents to be hooked into their children's learning and to be a part of that.

I went home and imparted my experience to my family and we talked about what issue we'd each talk to if given the opportunity.  The topics my family came up with, ranged from 'Cause n effect', 'Creativity in Minecraft', 'Awesomeness', 'Strategies' and 'PD for parents'.

Given the opportunity, I would love to be invited to attend again - or if the presentations go up on YouTube or similar, I would like to have access to those links."

Matt will post some clips from the evening soon. Watch out for these.



Sunday, September 22, 2013

Onslow Drama Production

Once again it was brilliant to see our students excelling in another area of the curriculum. Thanks must go Bolke Water who gets the best from students.

Karina, Jasmine and Kali, who were offered the opportunity to be a part of a drama group at Onslow College, performed admirably.

"Journeys was funny and relevant.  The children devised the play - collaboratively wrote each scene from scratch with Bolke's guidance.  The students went through the process of writing a play and performing the original piece in front of an audience.  What an extraordinary experience for this group of year 5 and 6s".


Reading through the script

Term 3 Learning Celebration

As we rush towards the end of another busy, exciting term, Amesbury School extends a warm invitation to anyone who would like to attend our Term 3 learning celebration. This is a chance for students to share some of the learning that has been happening across the school through the term.
Please note that this event is not in the usual time slot of the last afternoon of term, as our swimming lessons are running on the last Friday of term. This term's learning celebration is on Thursday afternoon next week (26th Sep) from 1:45-2:45pm.
Hope to see lots of you there.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Summary of information from BOT meeting 28 August 2013


Summary of information from BOT meeting
An e-meeting of the Board was held.
RECAPITATION
The recapitation revised application was submitted to the Ministry.
ERO REPORT
The ERO report has been made available to parents.
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT DATA
Full reports will be presented to the next meeting of the Board.
PROPERTY:
Romaine Road entry is continuing as a work in progress with Wellington City Council.
POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
Health and safety policies are currently under review as part of the policy documentation review schedule.
The Board reviewed the risk assessment for the Year 5/6 camp venue given the recent earthquakes. It was agreed at this stage to continue as planned but to also prepare a Plan B location should this be necessary.
OTHER ISSUES
The Board also discussed a number of other issues which are under consideration including:
  • BYOD
  • Software development
  • Development of grounds (students will submit suggestion to the landscape architect)
  • Mobile squash courts (being investigated)
  • Milk in Schools
  • Board strategy day planned for November 2013
NEXT MEETING:
Wednesday 25 September, 2013 5.30p.m.

Joining KiwiSaver and get a donation to Amesbury School

Joining KiwiSaver with TMF will get a donation to our school

If you are thinking of joining Kiwisaver check out the link below


"Cash4SchoolsTM is a fantastic initiative from TOWER Managed Funds Limited (TMF), designed to help New Zealand schools reach their full potential. A school will receive a $20 donation from TMF** for each new member who joins or transfers to the TOWER KiwiSaver Scheme and nominates that school, as well as an ongoing donation based on a percentage of what that member has in their TOWER KiwiSaver Scheme account (currently equivalent to $5.00 p.a. per $10,000 invested for each member who participates in the programme)."

You can also enrol your children in KiwiSaver.
 

 





The Churton Park Community Centre Weekly News

 Hi Everyone

I hope you have had a good week. I know there is a lot of illness out there at the moment, with people being knocked over by the True Flu all over the place, so look after yourself and each other.

For what’s coming up next week, please click here http://wellington.govt.nz/~/media/services/community-and-culture/community-centres/files/calendar-churtonpark.pdf

 
ON NEXT WEEK
** School Holiday Activities **
Reminder: We have some fun activities lined up for the kids these school holidays. Bookings are required and some classes are nearly full, so please get in touch to reserve your place. Have a look at the attached flyer for details of all the activities.

** These Girls Mean Business **
The Girls will be back in for their popular monthly seminar on Wednesday 25th September from 11am – 12.30pm. This month’s seminar is a workshop to brainstorm “Making working from home work for you”.  Come along for some fresh ideas and networking opportunities. RSVP Angela Craig angela@bulletproofreading.co.nz  or Melanie (muragproperties@xtra.co.nz).

COMING SOON – MARK YOUR CALENDARS
** Sing for Your Life **
We are very fortunate that Sing for Your Life will be running a pilot class for 9 weeks here at CPCC during Term 4. Here’s your opportunity to get involved and see what all the fuss is about with this amazing community singing programme! Sessions will take place every Wednesday from 11 – 1.30pm, starting October 16th. Sing for Your Life will help you learn to sing in harmony and is open to all ages and abilities, learning great songs from the past and recent decades. Please see the attached poster.

** Creative Card Making Class **
If you think the school holidays might get a bit much, take a break halfway through with some special creative time for yourself. Fiona and Rachael, two clever local ladies, will be running a card making class on Friday 4th October 7.30 – 9.30pm. For just $5, learn how to use punches, ink and stamps to create beautiful cards.

EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
** Spin Classes **
I have an experienced (and awesome) Spin trainer lined up and amping to run spin classes here at CPCC. So, who’s keen? You will need to bring your own bike and wind trainer and the class would run for 45 mins, starting the first week of Term 4 (around 14th October). Day and time to be determined, but it is likely that this will be an early (pre-work) morning class. Let me know if you’re interested.

** Stroller Fitness Group **
I am looking for expressions of interest in a stroller fitness group, run by experienced instructor. These classes would be $5 per session and would start in Term 4. The proposed class would start and end at CPCC and would involve a decent workout using the stroller for resistance up at Churton Park. Let me know if this is for you – and let your friends know as well!

** Evening Table Tennis **
I’ve had a few people mention that they’d like to get in on the table tennis action, but they are working during the day – let me know if you’d be interested in an evening or perhaps late Sunday afternoon table tennis session.

COMMUNITY NOTICES
** Bric’a’Brac & Baking Day at Beanstalk Kindy **
Beanstalk Kindergarten is having their Bric’a’Brac fundraising day this Saturday from 9 – 12. I’ll be working on one of the stalls, so come and say hi, have a pony ride, hunt for treasure in the sand pit and meet the bunnies while you’re there! Beanstalk Kindy is at 39a Duncan Street, Tawa.

** Low Cost Activities with Baby**
If you have children under the age of 2, Tawa Community Centre has a Baby Sing-A-Long group that meets every Monday and Wednesday mornings at the Tawa Community Centre from 10-10.30am.  This is during both the school term and holidays.  You are more than welcome to stay afterwards for a coffee/tea and have a chat with the other mums/dads.  Entry by $1 Koha donation.

** First Aid Classes at Newlands Community Centre **
If you need to train in First Aid, Newlands Community Centre has a couple of regular classes that you can hook up with:
'Triple One Care' run classes on the last Tuesday of every month at the Newlands Community Centre.  The next class is Tuesday September 24th.  Contact Dean on 027 3344417.
Meditrain runs classes on the last Wednesday of every month at the Newlands Community Centre. The next class is Wednesday September 25th.  Phone John Mitchell on 027 6535984.

To keep up to date with what’s on at CPCC throughout the week, you can follow us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/ChurtonParkCommunityCentre). It’s publically available, so you can view it even if you don’t belong to Facebook.

Have a fantastic weekend!
 
Beckie Duffy
Community Centre Advocate
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Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Learning in the Hubs

What's Been Happening in Our Inquiry?

Koru

"We have been learning about what we need to get other animals to live in our wetland. What they will need to eat and how to look after them. I have been finding out what eels need. Other people are finding out about swans, fantails and pukeko. 


 "Other groups are looking at the forest and some are learning about plants.  

We are using the internet and things we found out on our science trip"  - Harry

 

Harakeke

The students have chosen to be in one of four groups. One group is involved in an inquiry focussing on the wetlands in the school grounds. Another is focussing on the Gully, one on how the school recycles material, litter etc. and the forth is studying the 'Nothing Spaces'. 'Nothing Spaces" are areas in the grounds that do not seem to be used by students.

"I'm working in the 'Gully Group'. We don't know what we'll do yet. Part of our group is trying to find out who owns the land. The rest are coming up with ideas of what we could use the gully for. We have thought about a flying fox or a water slide. We are looking at what is living there because we don't want to kill them or wreak their nature." - Maya 



"We are trying to find out what plants would suit the area by the harakeke. I'm looking for plants that would grow in the shade. We need to integrate the plants though. Wind resistant plants can provide a canopy for the shade loving plants and plants not resistant to the wind. We have talked to Mark the landscape person about this.

I'm looking only at native plants to attract native animals. Animals like tui. The more types of food we can plant then we'll get different birds. Me and my friends tried to build nest for birds with the grass clippings." - Kate

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Pio's Parenting Show

Last Wednesday a powhiri was held to welcome Pio Terei to Amesbury School. After the powhiri four students (Ethan, Jasmine, Matt and Caitlin) showed Pio around Harakeke Hub and the Library. They explained how their timetables worked and talked about their learning with him. Ethan said Pio kept saying "this is cool" and "what an awesome school".

The show, later that night, was well attended and a great success. Here are a few comments from those attending:

"Just wanted to say thanks for hosting an awesome evening last week with Pio.  We really enjoyed it, and the kids had a fantastic time!!"

"A friend invited me to come along tonight to the Parents Inc. seminar at your school. I just wanted to say thank you so much for a great evening. My three children were in the library for the evening.  Could you please pass on my thanks to the young people who were looking after them.  They were all so polite and willing to look out for the kids. Thanks for opening up your school in this way."




 "Bringing up kids well and having fun with them is just the best thing you can do" - Pio.












Ignite at Amesbury - Emerging Leaders Aotearoa

An invitation is extended to those interested in coming along to the Ignite evening this Thurs (Sept 19) at 6pm for a 6.30 start. Please sign up using the link at the end of this post if you are keen.

 A number of the teachers and Lesley are giving talks. Come along to hear more about how we personalise learning and our views on humanising education.

For those of you unfamiliar with ignite, check this out.  

“Fast-paced, fun, thought-provoking, social, local, global—Ignite is all of these and more. It’s a high-energy evening of 5-minute talks by people who have an idea—and the guts to get onstage and share it with their hometown crowd. Run by local volunteers who are connected through the global Ignite network, Ignite is a force for raising the collective IQ and building connections in each city.  And, via streaming and archived videos of local talks, local Ignites share all that knowledge and passion with the world.” (http://ignite.oreilly.com/)

Come along to experience the crazy, mad, inspiring event that is an Ignite Evening. Watch ignite talks from previous events here.

 Lesley presenting in 2012

Sign Up Here

Parent-student-teacher conferences- Next week, Tues 24th - Wed 25th Sept

A reminder to book your time for the parent-student-teacher conferences next week. Information about how to book online can be found in the emails sent out from Angela and Urs last week.

If you have any further questions regarding student conferences please don't hesitate to contact Angela or Urs.


Milk for Schools - Update

We received our first delivery of milk from Fonterra this week. Harakeke incorporated this into their reading programme. In Koru hub, the students drank their milk while listening to a story.

For further information about the programme see https://www.fonterramilkforschools.com/

Thanks to all for filling out the consent form for this initiative.

Kids Cross Country Events - Medals at the Cross Country - Wow... Go Amesbury


On Sunday the 8th Sept Amesbury students ran in the 4th event of the Kids Cross Country Series.  This series is run by Athletics Wellington in partnership with local clubs.
The event is open to all year 3 to year 10 students although year 2s can run in the year 3 race. Certificates are awarded for the top 3 individual and team placings. Medals are awarded for the Overall Series top 3 individuals and teams (based on 3 best placings over the series). 

The dates and venues were:

Sunday 30 June: Karori Park, Karori (hosted by Karori Athletics Club)
Sunday 14 July:
Grenada North Park, Tawa (hosted by Olympic Harriers)
Sunday 11 August:
Trentham Memorial Park, Upper Hutt (hosted by Upper Hutt Athletics)
Sunday 8 September:
From WHAC Clubrooms, Mt Victoria, Wellington (hosted by WHAC)

The Amesbury students who compete in the events were:

Yr/3 Boys                                      
Cruz Hodson
Freeman Yu
Fynn Jones-Rawstorne
Trey Love

Y3 Girls
Rosa Chambers
Lucy Chambers
Arnah Laracy

Yr4/ Boys

Ryan Topp
Ayrton Hodson
Khan Love

Yr 4 Girls

Ella Jones Rawstorne
Kate Yu

Kate Apperley also competed 
in the Grenada race
Special mention must go to Cruz Hodson and Ryan Topp who were top finishers for Amesbury by age group for EVERY race! They did extremely well representing our school.


The year 3 team did so well competing against older opposition. A great effort by that team as they were a year younger than everyone else and were on the podium a few times.

The overall results saw the year 3 girls
team (Rosa Chambers, Kate Yu and
Lucy Chambers) placing 1st. An excellent result.

 

 


A big thanks must go to Liza for organising the teams' involvement in the cross country series.




Interzone Swimming

Phoebe Riddle and Tom Pavan represented Amesbury School at the Wellington Interzone Swimming Sports.
Phoebe competed in 3 events: 
  • 50m freestyle. She came 2nd in the heat and 5th in the final
  • 25m backstroke. Phoebe came 5th in the heat
  • 25m butterfly where she was 3rd in her heat and 2nd in the final. An excellent result.
Tom entered 1 event, the 25m backstroke. He just missed out on a place in the final, finishing 4th in his heat.

Well done to both students. They represented us in grand style.

Friday, September 13, 2013

What's on at CPCC to October 22

We have just received the programme for the Churton Park Community Centre. Please find the holiday programme attached.

Hi Everyone

It’s been a busy week putting the final touches on our School Holiday Activities – I hope you’ll agree that we’ve got interesting activities to try and some wonderful instructors joining us to share their knowledge.  Check out the program, attached to this email and get in touch if you’d like to book!

For what’s coming up next week in the Centre, please click here.

ON NEXT WEEK
** CANCELLED: Vyasa Yoga **
Please note that Ram’s second course of yoga was due to start on Monday from 7 – 8.30pm, but it has now been cancelled. I am currently scouting around for someone else to take this class from 7 – 8pm. If you know of anyone who might be able to teach yoga here on a Monday evening, I’d be keen to hear from you! Also, if you are interested in Yoga in the evening, please let me know so that I can get in touch once we have a teacher confirmed.

** Craft Group **
Our craft group is getting bigger but we’d love more members! Join us on Tuesdays at 10am with whatever craft you’re currently working on.

** Walking Groups **
The Wednesday group just keeps on getting bigger and bigger. I have spied the intricate map for next week’s walk – it looks like a goodie! Meet at CPCC at 9.30am. And don’t forget the Thursday evening walking group, departing at 7pm…it’s getting lighter now, so no excuses to stay at home!

** JPs **
The Churton Park Justice of the Peace Service Centre is at CPCC every Tuesday evening from 7 – 8.30pm. No appointment is necessary, just drop in if you require their assistance.

COMING SOON – MARK YOUR CALENDARS
** School Holidays **
See attached flyer and book now!

** Wonderplay Drama Classes **
I’m excited to announce that Wonderplay drama will be starting here at CPCC in Term 4. Taught by experienced actor and drama teacher, Debs Rea, these classes cater for children from 2 – 17 years. There will be four classes available every Tuesday: Preschool Drama, Kids Drama: 5 – 8 years; Kids Drama: 9 – 12 years and Young Actors Class: 13 – 17 years. For more information, please see the attached flyer and note that the first lesson is free!

** Creative Expressions **
Creative Expressions, an initiative of Churton Park Anglican Church will be running a series of craft classes, starting in Term 4. First series of classes:  Beginner patchwork, commencing Thursday 17 October, 10am-12pm weekly. Fabric is provided for the initial project. Gold coin koha for use of Centre please.


EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
** Cycling **
Thanks to those of you who have indicated interest in starting a cycling group – if anyone else would like to register their interest, please email me.

COMMUNITY NOTICES
** Spring into Tawa **
Don’t forget Spring into Tawa is on tomorrow, so head up the road for lots of fun activities and stalls in the main road of Tawa from 9am.

** Local Body Elections **
There is a mayoral candidates meeting on Monday 23 Sept at Johnsonville Uniting Church, Dr Taylor Tce Johnsonville.

To keep up to date with what’s on at CPCC throughout the week, you can follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ChurtonParkCommunityCentre). It’s publically available, so you can view it even if you don’t belong to Facebook.

Have a great weekend!

Beckie
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