Week 1 NEWSLETTER

from the principal

Our Vision: Together we Nurture, Explore and Create for a Better Future

Welcome Back! I hope all the children had a great break, and were able to rest and recharge for the new term. Term 2 is underway with a hiss and a roar already! It is a shorter term…just 9 weeks, but in those 9 weeks are two public holidays (King’s Birthday and Matariki) and one teacher only day. These dates are down below, please add them to your calendars at home.

The cold, wet weather has arrived. While our classrooms are lovely and warm thanks to the heat pumps, please make sure your child has a school fleece jersey to keep warm when outside.

Tomorrow we have our mihi whakatau to welcome our new students, always a great way to start our term.

Better Start Literacy Approach Training

We have been a Better Start Literacy Approach (BSLA) school for a few years now, and as they have added to their training…we have followed. BSLA is a structured approach to literacy learning, meaning we are in-line with the new expectations from the government. The University of Canterbury (the developers of BSLA) have now released the Year 4-6 version, and training has begun again for staff. The 6 classroom teachers from Kahikatea and Rātā, alongside Shaun and I, had a full day yesterday working through the introductory session. Those 6 teachers were also involved in the BSLA Year 4-6 trial last term for the University.

Doing the mahi yesterday…I was very heartened by the state of our literacy practice here at DPS. BSLA is well embedded in the junior school, and what the University was showing the senior team teachers yesterday was similar in many ways to what we already do here.

Well Done Cameron!

This week Kahikatea had been given the Maker provocation that Miss Hawke moves between the classrooms, and always forgets some of her teaching equipment. Cameron formed a plan, and set about creating a ‘teacher apron’ with handy storage pockets for blue pens, red pens and teacher books. He later added some bags…for iPad and MacBook. Great stuff Cameron!

Key Dates

King's Birthday: Monday, June 2nd
Townwide Teacher Only Day: Tuesday, June 3rd
Matariki Public Holiday: Friday, 20th June
Last day of Term: Friday, 27th June

Stationery - Thank you to everyone who has already paid.

We are very lucky to have the BOT subsidise our stationery for the year. This really keeps costs down and once again we ask that all learners pay $15 as soon as possible. The easiest way to pay is online, our bank details are ASB 12-3290-0064275-00 please put your child's name as a reference. You can also call into the office and pay by eftpos or send cash to the office in a named envelope if you prefer. Please pay promptly as it saves us following up but any problems at all please see the office.

douglas park school disco

Book Club

This year the Hubba Bubba Book Worm Club meets every Tuesday with Michelle and Mr Josh to discuss books, characters and to create. Here we are reviewing our holiday reading recommendations.

Tamariki: Tess Riley

Book: The Emerald Atlas, By John Stephens (Fantasy)

Rating out of 5: 5/5

Why would you, or why would you not recommend this?

It is really mysterious and it is a fantasy adventure book. I like the characters because they are all really different. There are three main characters with different personalities and they get along.

Tamariki: Willow

Book: Dragons vs Wolves, Fallen Star, By Glen Dakin (Fantasy)

Rating out of 5: 4.5/5

Why would you, or why would you not recommend this?

There are too many chapters. There are 35 or 36. There are different parts of the story and not much action at the start. But now I read the chapter about wolves looking at the stars and I changed my mind about the book. Now there is more action in the story.