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Dear Parents
A very warm welcome to the many new families who have joined our school community. It has also been wonderful to see the Women’s Football World Cup in NZ and the success of the NZ team and the All Blacks are looking pretty awesome as well. Many great role models to inspire our students.
Parent Reports and Partnership Interviews Reminder
We invite you to meet with your child’s teacher on Wednesday 9th August or Thursday 10th August where your child’s teacher will discuss your child’s progress and achievements. This is an opportunity to discuss your child’s mid year report with their teacher and understand their next steps over the second half of the year.
We are giving you the option of either an in person meeting, a virtual meeting via Google Meet or a phone call. If you choose to meet virtually then you will be able to access a meeting link within our booking platform at the time of your appointment.
Interviews will be held at the following times:
Wednesday 9th August – 1:15 pm – 6:00 pm
Thursday 10th August – 3:15 pm – 6:00 pm
On Wednesday 9th August school will close at 12:30 pm. Please make arrangements to pick your child up at this time. After School Care will be available from 12:30 pm for those students who are enrolled. If your child is not enrolled please ring Pukeko OSCAR (09 576822 or 0223822858) to check availability for a one off attendance.
On Thursday 10th August school will finish as usual at 3pm.
Please book a time through the website www.schoolinterviews.co.nz usi
Bookings are now open.
Art Exhibition
Pakuranga Heights School is proud to present Out of this World Art Exhibition in our hall during the Parent/Teacher Conferences. Please take the time to check out our students art work.
Your Child’s Attendance in Your Child’s Report
In each student’s report the total number of absences and lateness is noted. This is recorded electronically each day when twice a day the teacher takes the roll.
Thank you for your support in ensuring your children are not only attending school each day but are on time. Regular attendance is attending 90% and more
80 % attendance means your child:
· is absent two days every two weeks
· is absent two weeks a term
· is absent two whole school months a year
What about just being regularly late?
If your child is regularly late, does it affect their well-being and learning?
The following advice is adapted from an article called “Effects of Tardiness on your Child’s Education” 2016, which clearly explains how frequent lateness to school affects your children’s well-being and their learning.
We all run late sometimes. For your child, arriving late to school occasionally will not cause major disruption. Inevitably, children will feel sick or tired some mornings, or other situations will prevent them from being on time. Chronic lateness eventually takes its toll on a child’s overall educational experience.
Missing just 10 percent of the school year in the early years causes many students to struggle in primary school, and lateness in later years is associated with increased failure and dropout rates. Fortunately, parents can help prevent lateness from becoming frequent enough to affect their child’s school life.
Disrupted Routines
Children who are late have trouble settling in and mastering routines. Lateness can throw off their whole morning or even their day, especially if the late commute to school was stressful.
Social Criticism
When a child continuously shows up late to class, other students are distracted. Attention is drawn away from the teacher or class work and toward the child who has just arrived. Over time, classmates may begin to criticise this child, affecting how they feel about themselves in school.
Responsibility
Part of your child’s education is learning to be responsible. The school experience teaches children how to meet expectations. They learn to follow schedules, obey rules, complete assignments and keep track of their materials. Learning responsibility in school is a precursor to functioning in the working world, as noted by William Kirby in his 2010 article “School Attendance Tied to Academic Success”.
Once again thank you for all your efforts.
Property Update
New Concrete Paths
During the holidays new pathways were put in to make getting to Room 23 easier and from Room 20 to the field
New Carpet
New Carpet has been laid in Room 20 and Room 21. We are also looking to upgrade the windows and toilets in these rooms.
After School Pickup
Please refrain from using the staff car park as a drive through. This includes using it as a turning point. These actions put our children’s safety at risk as they often run across not expecting a car to be using the footpath. If you are seen doing this you will be reminded not to.
Valerie Bee Winner
Congratulations to Mila Young from Room 16 who won the Valerie Bee Award at Values in Wk 1. The Valerie Bee Award is awarded to a student who has been consistently demonstrating the school values. The award winner receives a Values Victory Voucher which entitles them to an ice block, a milo with a friend in the staffroom and 10 minutes of extra play for their class.
Cross Country
Year 4, 5 and 6 PHS students participated in 2 trials for the HPPA Interschool Athletics competition coming up in Week 4.
Great determination was shown by everyone. Good luck to all of our finalists. The inter school competition will be held at Lloyd Elsmore Park on the 8th August.
Life Education
The Life Education van and Harold the giraffe will be visiting us between Monday 7th August and Wednesday 22nd August. During this time each class will have two sessions visiting the van with their teacher and the Life Education educator. Lessons will be followed up in classrooms.
Session focuses and dates are:
Junior School – Friendships – Thursday 10th – Thursday 17th August
Middle School – Cyber Safety – Monday 7th – Thursday 10th August
Senior School – Why vaping is harmful – Thursday 17th – Wednesday 22nd August
Senior school parents will receive some further information regarding the content of lessons prior to them beginning. Students will bring home their Life Education activity booklets so you can discuss what they have learnt
On Friday 11th August, starting at 8:45am, PhotoLife will be at school for class, individual and sibling photos.
The sibling photos are scheduled for the morning tea break at 11am (please check with the school office staff for further details) – if you would like your children to have a sibling photo you will need to collect a sibling photo form from the school office and complete and return to the school office before Friday 4th August.
Please note sibling photos are only available to children attending Pakuranga Heights School. Any families wanting sibling photos with children not enrolled at the school can call Photolife on 0800 50 10 40 number and organise a studio booking placement for this.
Photolife Shoot Keycode card
Approximately the last week of T3, your child will come home with a Photo Shoot Keycode card. This Keycode is a unique individual code for your child. This code is used for ordering the photos online at www.photolife.co.nz. If you do not have access to a computer our office staff will happily assist in placing an order on your behalf.
Please ensure on this day that your child is wearing the correct school uniform.
If you have any questions please contact the school office.
Term 3 is going to be a busy term for the PTA with great events to look forward to.
July 25th-August 18th Mathathon
The Mathathon started last week with the children bringing back the test sheets and sponsorship forms. You can pay the sponsorship via Kindo this year (see below for instructions).
We hope the children will have fun challenging themselves and getting their sponsorship money.
All money collected will go towards improving our outdoor play areas.
Pizza lunch for the 3 classes who collect the most sponsorship!!
Note that all money needs to be paid by August 17th.
August 18th Casual Friday food drive.
On that day we will be hosting a casual Day/ no uniform and we will be collecting food for the Salvation Army as they are pretty low on stock. See poster for what is specifically needed.
August 27th photo fundraiser.
We will be hosting a photoshoot fundraiser where you’ll get a chance to get a 10×13 inch portrait for $15. All proceeds to go to the school. More info to come. Bookings will open in August 14th.
September 14th School Disco
We have a team planning the disco but as always we will need some volunteers in the Day. Please get in touch if you can help. People needed from 1:00pm to 6:00pm. Email pta@pakurangaheights.school.nz
Thanks from the PTA.
Regards,
Cecile Baranx
Secretary of PTA
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