Week 6 NEWSLETTER

from the principal

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

I’m not going to write much this week…a picture speaks 1000 words after all. The experiences and successes of our DPS Kids is a real inspiration…and these experiences and success have all come in the last week. What a place to be!

Athletics Day last week…a magic day for it, and a huge number of children qualified for the inter-school event.

Our Year 6’s went rafting! Also learnt a bunch of water safety and water confidence from the instructors.

Saw this random art outside Kahikatea…I love the fact that our children get these opportunities to be so creative at school so regularly

We talk about learning being ‘hard fun’...and you can’t get much harder (or more funner) than coding robots as part of Core Belief Time.

Kahikatea students headed to Wairarapa College for a science experience…elephant toothpaste was a very hot topic afterwards!

Bea had her first game for the under 13 Giants softball team…and came away with a win! Bea was catcher for 2 innings…2 scoreless innings as well. Well done Bea!

Our Rimu students took a trip back in time during their visit to Cobblestones…can’t beat a bit of writing on a blackboard!

And lastly…Miss Mac shared this piece of art that Lilith had done…Miss Mac needed an illustration asap, and in 20mins Lilith had produced this beautiful digital artwork.

All of the above is done in and around ‘normal’ reading, writing and maths learning. What a lucky bunch of students we have here at DPS.

School Donation Scheme

The school has again entered into the Ministry of Education’s donations scheme. Once upon a time we used to ask parents for a donation each year…$50 per child…and around a third would get paid, bringing in 5K for the school. Since joining the donation scheme the school gets around 10x that amount, and we no longer ask for money for trips, events…anything other than camp (and even that is heavily subsidised by the School Board). The money also goes to things like reducing costs for your stationary, providing all the devices for children (rather than asking you to provide), and all of the amazing trips our students do. The cost of a bus would surprise you…a single bus to Mt Holdsworth is $500…and in the last week or so we’ve had multiple buses to the sportsbowl for Athletics, buses to Cobblestones over two days, buses to Castlepoint and hired a van to shuttle students out to rafting. And…none of that cost is passed onto you.

Staffing Update

A few more things I can let you know about:

Sally will be stepping out of the classroom next year to run a mathematics support programme for the school.
Kate Pearce will join the Rimu team. Kate is an experienced teacher, currently at Masterton Primary…but she has done some relieving for us this year
Debra Ryan joins us as a team leader. Debra has been a team leader in the past, and is currently a facilitator for Evaluation Associates
Maddie Rankin also joins the team as a beginning teacher.

A couple more staffing pieces to sort out, but the team is looking amazing for 2026!

Dates for your Calendars

Tuesday 9th December: Final Celebration Time at Wairarapa College
Thursday 11th December: Last day of school, 12.30pm finish

what's happening at douglas park

pride learning in rimu

In Rimu we have been learning to show our ideas or thinking with pictures and voice recordings. Here are some photos from some of our PRIDE lessons, including photos of places that are special to us and things we want to get better at doing independently.

subway lunch available every friday - order online or at the school office

change of details

If you have recently moved house, had a change of phone number, or any other contact details of your child/children have changed, could you please let us know at the school office by calling in to see us, phoning us on (06) 370-0189, or sending an email to office@douglaspark.school.nz

Sports

All school teams and draws will be posted on Hero.

Community notices

Kia ora

Get Involved – Masterton 2050

Masterton is growing and changing. We’ve had 20% growth in the last decade, and we are expecting more to come. We are also becoming more diverse as a community. With growth and change comes opportunity, and to help us make the most of every opportunity, we’re developing a plan for our future. We’re calling it Our Future, Our Story – Masterton’s Vision Towards 2050, and we’re starting the process by creating a shared vision that will set the scene for our plan.

To do this, we need to hear from the community, so we’re inviting you to get involved!

We want to know what you love about our district now, and what you’d like to change. What you want for yourself and your whānau, and what you think about a range of different topics. Your stories will literally help shape our future, and what life here will look like in 2050. We know our community have a huge range of diverse experiences to draw on as well as some wish lists for the district, and we want to hear it all!

How to get involved and share your ideas:

The workshops will be two hours and held in Masterton. Some will be general, while others have a specific theme. We’d love for you to sign up for whatever you’re most comfortable with. At the workshops, we’ll do some context and scene setting, then facilitate group discussions. If you haven’t been to a workshop before, know that there are no wrong answers so don’t be shy.

Only got a few of minutes? Share your thoughts with us online here

You will find different options for providing feedback online. If you only have a few minutes, we have two quick questions. If you have a little more time, share aspirations for yourself and your whānau, and your thoughts on a range of topics that we will need to consider as we develop the plan.

Connect with us at a community event

We will be out and about at a variety of community events up until Christmas. If you see us, come and have a chat and pop up a ‘post it’ on one of our idea boards.

Invite us to your space – if you have a hui or meeting before Christmas, let us know.

We’re a versatile bunch. If you invite us to come along to your hui or meeting, we will do our best to get one of the team there to talk to your group. Let us know what time and place suits – email submissions@mstn.govt.nz or give us a call 06-370-6300.

Future stages and what happens next:

Identifying a vision is stage one of the planning process. As we gather the feedback, we’ll analyse what the community are telling us and identify key themes. These themes will be the basis of scenarios that we will test with the community in 2026. When we start the testing phase, we’ll be back out and about to get feedback on what people think. Feedback from the scenarios will then be used to create a development plan that works towards delivering the community’s shared vision. We’re aiming to consult on the draft development plan in spring 2026.

Follow along:

We’d love for you to follow our progress. To do so, and for more information about the development plan visit: https://whatsup.mstn.govt.nz/our-future-our-story

We look forward to hearing your ideas.

Ngā mihi nui

Our Future, Our Story team