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newsletter ­ 9th december 2011 since our last newsletter i have attended another fabulous school camp our thanks to the parents who provided assistance at purau as i have said before in this newsletter school camps these days involve enormous amounts of extra work in order to meet the stringent requirements for risk management and safety planning it is not like it was when we were at school camps cannot go ahead without the support of parents who are prepared to invest their time and energy we do realise that this time of year is not ideal for people to be away from work or home but it s a great time of the year for children to be learning in the outdoors robotics round-up the 8 members of the `nanobots can pat themselves on the back yet again the team was placed 9th out of 20 teams in the robot game section and gained 1st place and another lego trophy for their research in the project section each student was also given an fll medal they represented the school like true ambassadors and carol was very proud to see how they interacted with others and had exemplary behaviour wherever they went the trip wouldn t have been possible without the support of our parents and wider community who fundraised to help the team get to auckland and special thanks must go to carol and the two parents jill and tim who travelled with the team since their return the team have continued to work hard they had a skype call with another fll team from ontario in canada they wanted to meet our team and compare notes it was great to meet them and find out how much the two groups of children had in common this week we welcomed students from freeville school who are wanting to get started in robotics and came out here to see how it all works robotics looks set to grow next year another generous donation from the pta means that we can purchase a second robot which means that more children will be able to get involved reports reports come home today for all classes with the exception of year 7 this group is due back from camp at the end of the day and to avoid reports being left behind or inadvertently packed up with camping gear they will be issued to this group on monday in with the report you will find a notice with classes for 2012 a stationery list and your goal setting appointment time for february 1st next year stationery once again you have options for purchasing your school stationery for 2012 you can buy stationery preferred supplier from your this year you can purchase your stationery on-line by going to www.myschool.co.nz/springston and follow instructions for purchasing stationery this link will be posted on our website and will be live from 19 december stationery ordered from officemax will be posted directly to your home as an alternative a range of stationery will be available for sale at school on picnic day lincoln digital print will be selling off their stationery stock at cost which will mean great savings for our parents to give you an example a 1a5 will cost you 80 cents on picnic day rrp on this product is $1.95 which is how much you would pay at stationery warehouse.

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scrapbooks will cost 90 cents rrp $3.00 and amos glue sticks will cost $1 rrp $3.15 you will need to pay by cash or cheque on the day whole class packs will not be available so bring your stationery list with you learning pathway meetings for the past two years we have held goal-setting meetings at the beginning of the school year these are not parent interviews learning pathway meetings provide an opportunity for children to develop and extend their ability to talk about their learning and to deepen their relationship with their parents around their school learning they also provide an opportunity to build motivation for learning to enhance self esteem and to confirm that children are taking significant responsibility for doing the work of learning for parents they provide an opportunity to actively and meaningfully support their child in his or her learning enjoy a learning orientated conversation with the child and the teacher and be aware of how much the child is taking repsonsibility for their learning in 2012 the format for the learning pathway meetings will be different so do read your appointment sheet we do understand that some of you may find it difficult to attend without having a specific appointment time and you are welcome to arrange this directly with the classroom teacher using their school email address as contact our email format is he same for all teachers e.g liz.weir@springston.school.nz please note that children in room 3 have not been given learning pathway apppointments there will be an alternative meeting for these parents in week 2 class organisation for 2012 we have an expected starting roll of 185 children which means that we will have 8 classes in operation from the beginning of the year with a ninth set to open before the end of term 1 this necessitates the use of all available teaching spaces including the library extension until the new classroom can be built year level year 7/8 year 6 year year year year 4/5 4 2/3 2/3 teacher simon dakers rachel hellyer wendy hamlin allana taylor rachelle watson melissa welch bev carter julia rose helen hogarth room 7 library side room room 5 room 6 room 1 room 2 room 4 room 3 room 8 this class opens at the end of term 1 year 1/2 year 1 ne the 23 children in our year 6 class will use the library extension room and one of their first jobs will be to come up with a name for the space `the room off the side of the library is not going to work for the whole year this room has a lovely outlook thanks to the recent landscaping and we owe thanks to john barker for both the planting plan and the planting he and lorraine scarlet along with a team of room 5 boys took care of this for us last week all that remains to be done in this area is for the chess board to be painted on to the paving the pta have already purchased the giant chess pieces and an outdoor checkers set.

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final assembly our final whole school assembly is to be held at the lincoln primary school hall at 7 p.m next tuesday all children are expected to attend this formal occasion and all families are invited to join with us as we celebrate achievement and farewell our year 8 students the programme for this scheduled to run for an hour event is parents are welcome to attend this assembly to be held in the springston community hall and finally this is our last newsletter of 2011 it has been a difficult and challenging year but one in which our school has enjoyed significant support thank you to you our parent community for continuing to support and be so loyal and positive about springston school and to our staff who have been simply astonishing and a privilege to work with have a great week a great xmas and a relaxing break make sure that you bring your children back to us safe and sound in 2012 ng mihi ki a koutou katoa liz weir principal principals awards r1 josh g children must wear full and correct school uniform for this occasion children are to meet in class groups on the lincoln primary school field from 6.45 we request that parents are seated in the hall by 6.55 picnic day you are all welcome at picnic day on wednesday of next week 10 a.m to 2 p.m check our last newsletter for all of the details i have it on very good authority that simon dakers will be having a hair cut on the day and we are not talking about a light trim simon is raising money for a child cancer charity so bring your wallet spud in a bucket this competition will be judged on picnic day so if you bought a spud and a bucket at the beginning of the term you need to bring it along for harvesting on the day unless like me your spud has not yet been planted in the bucket in this case it is probably best to leave both at home and avoid embarrassment on the day helpers happy hour for catering purposes we request that you respond to your invitation and inform joyce of your intention to attend certificates assembly on thursday morning at 11 a.m we will hold our certificates assembly this is where we will acknowledge service to the school by various groups of students all important dates december 12 community garden opening year 8 leavers dinner 13 final assembly 7 p.m 14 school picnic 10 a.m 2 p.m `helpers happy hour 5.30-6.30 15 certificates assembly 11 a.m term 4 ends 12 p.m february 1 goal setting meetings 2 classes start buses running 6 waitangi day

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christmas hamper raffle tickets are on sale for the pta christmas raffle which will be drawn on picnic day school photographs another lot of photos has been delivered if you have not yet received your photos please call the school office pta second hand uniform pta will be holding a second hand uniform sale this will be held throughout the day from the office if you wish to sell off any clothing please send along to school clean named and packaged thank you from the robotics team to the many wonderful parents from our school community who provided baking for us to sell at our cake stall during the leeston half marathon our generosity helped us raise approximately $320 towards our auckland expenses malcolm ph 325 7754 or email geja.malcolm@inet.net.nz parents there are still market stalls and parade spots available contact geoff for more information kittens to give away four kittens to give away to a good home all short haired 1 ginger and white 1 mottled and 2 white with grey patches phone sue on 3295434 lincoln s very own twilight christmas market thursday 22nd dec 4pm to 7 pm get in the christmas mood with live festive entertainment throughout the event buy those last minute unique locally made gifts from our many craft stalls and fresh produce and yummy treats ready for the holiday weekend start christmas early at this local community event contact debbie on 03 3295757 community noticeboard sport canterbury active kids holiday programme enrolment forms at the office for anyone who requires them lincoln pageant junior buskers competition can you juggle sing a song play an instrument get a group together ever wanted to try busking if you are 16 and under why not have a go at the lincoln pageant saturday 10th december get practising and be in to win great prizes while earning some cash for christmas buskers will be dotted around the pageant area with multiple competitors performing simultaneously you must supply all equipment required secret judges will assess individual performances prize winners announced after the parade twenty spots available so be in quick to enter contact geoff

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