GRETA VALLEY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

31 May 2017

GRETA VALLEY SCHOOL SKILLS FOR LIFE!

Dear Parents/Caregivers

GREAT GRETA VALLEY HUNTWhat a marvellous job the ‘Playgroup’ and ‘Friends of the School’ did for the Great Greta Valley Hunt. It is just great to see the community pulling together to improve the educational outcomes for the children here in the Greta and Scargill Valleys. Thank you all so much for your efforts in this fun fundraising event. We have attached some photos of the pig carrying competition.

WHEELS WEEKLast week was ‘Wheels Week’ here at school. There were some rich highlights in this event. The student council conducted the great burger BBQ on Tuesday and it was delightful to see the council so well organised and delivering rather tasty burgers to the whole school. Thank you for your support here, your children were well fed. Another highlight was to watch one of our students who couldn’t ride a bike at the beginning of the week gain some confidence to ride on their own. It was interesting to note that a staff member offered to help train them but it was the students who were able to get them on the bike and well on the way to riding independently.

NEWPAPERSIf you have any spare newspapers could you please send them to school to be used in Room 1.Also if you have any old black pantyhose, Room 1 would like these by Friday this week.

NATIONAL YOUNG LEADERS DAYYesterday our 4 Year 8 students went to the National Young Leaders Day event at the Horncastle Arena. They came back rather impressed and motivated by the experience. Thank you Jo Gardner for taking our students along, we know that you enjoyed the experience as well. Our students are very fortunate coming from a small school not having to compete with hundreds of others to get to attend these activities as students in larger schools do. As I spoke to Adele this morning she stated that National Young Leaders day lived up to every expectation she had, and she asked me if I would like to look at her diary that she kept from yesterday. I was pleased I took the time to look at it and here are some precious gems that will give her great "Skills for Life."

Adele wrote these quotes in her book;"Be the best you can be," Aaron Jackson from Shortland Street"You will never fail if you never try," Zane Scarborough"Impossibility is only someone's opinion," Daniel Flynn"Goals are dreams with dates on them," Anna Galvan"Persistence is the key for life," Anna Galvan"Your integrity is worth more than anything," Adam Gardener and Duane Major"If everyone plays a part, something good will come of it," Adam Gardner and Duane Major "One piece of kindness can change someone's world," Matt Brown

 

Phone 314 3800 - fax 314 3809 - E-Mail: office@gretavalley.school.nzPlease support our sponsors

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PRINCIPALS AWARDSCongratulations to Will, Lucas, Nikolas, Logan and Ryan for being awarded class certificates in assembly last week and to Zoe and Lucia for their Principal’s awards. Josie, Kane and Ciaran received the special “You’ve got the Power Awards’ given out following the El Gregoe performance. All these awards contribute to the house competition and at present Vulcan is in the lead with 194 points, Alexander is second with 173 points and Lookout is third with 167 points.

SPEECH AND POETRY COMPETITIONNext Wednesday 7th of June we are having our Annual Speech Competition here at school. Impromptu speeches will begin at 11.30am, there will be a barbecue lunch at 12.00pm followed by the Junior School Poetry section which will be beginning at 12.45pm sharp. We will then proceed into the senior room speech competition and have a short break half way through. We would like to invite all parents extended family and friends along to spectate in this entertaining event. The judges have been chosen and the students are ready!

LEADERSHIP CAMP SPEECHHorton’s presentation to the Glenmark Lions for their subsidy of the Leadership Camp was excellent. Comments were made by the Lions congratulating the young leaders having the courage to stand up and speak confidently in front of them. Well done Horton.

ZONE CROSS COUNTRYSix of our students, Zach, Sam, Elsie, Latisha, Logan and Flynn will be representing our school at the Hurunui Zone Cross Country. We wish them well and congratulate them for qualifying for the zone competition.

CHRISTCHURCH MUSEUMNext Thursday 8th of June, all these trips seem to come at once this term, we have a trip to the Christchurch Museum which is looking at Maori and the use of technology as part of our Maori Cultural awareness programme. We are looking forward to an informative and interesting day out. While one class visits with a tutor the other will do a Museum treasure hunt. Once again thank you to all those who have volunteered to help with transport on this great day out.

MATATIHI PERFORMANCEOn Tuesday 13th June we will visit Cheviot School again to view the performance of Matatahi by the Court Theatre from Christchurch. Matatihi- Maia’s journey of bravery will expose children to stories and characters routed in the Canterbury region, taking the audience on a journey to discover Te waka o Aoraki; local mountains, lakes and legendary creatures. This show will inspire young people to be bold, to be proud of what makes them different and to carve their own path in the world. Matatihi- Maia’s journey of bravery is an action-packed, unapologetic and fierce story of bravery told through live music, puppetry, kapahaka, song, story-telling and Te Reo Māori language. We will take the bus but will need some further assistance with transport. If you haven’t been able to help with transport so far this year perhaps you may be able to help out with this trip to Cheviot. This event is between 2.00pm – 3.00pm. We will need to leave here at 1.30pm in order to be there on time. Buses will run later that afternoon. More details to come next week.

GENEROUS DONATIONThe Community Chest have made two donations to the school recently and we are very grateful for their contributions. Trish and Dave Hassal run the Community Chest shop in Amberley and are dedicated to returning the profit they make to the community. We have bought some board games and construction sets for wet lunch hours and we are going to use the latest donation to replace our aging scooters and skateboards. We were grateful to have the opportunity to give back to them this past week with the donation of some tables that we no longer require here at school. They are using them as sorting tables in the back of their shop. Thank you Trish and Dave for your consideration of our school. Please support the Community Chest in Amberley they’re doing great things for our community.

Phone 314 3800 - fax 314 3809 - E-Mail: office@gretavalley.school.nzPlease support our sponsors

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BOT MEETINGThere is a Board Of Trustees meeting this evening here at school at 7.00pm. This is a public meeting and all are welcome to attend.

ASSEMBLIESWe are thrilled with the parent support we have for our assemblies. Having you here provides us with a new audience and certainly helps us to take pride in our work. It helps the students to lift their performance in all aspects of their work.

MAIA AND THE WORRY BUG AND RISING TIDEWith the generous support of New Zealand Red Cross all children and teachers in Year 1 – 3 have been funded to receive a copy of ‘Maia and the Worry Bug’, a book written to help families with strategies for deal with anxiety. Year 5-8 children in Canterbury were also funded to receive a copy of ‘Rising Tide’. 'Rising Tide' was written and developed for older children to support resilience and emotional intelligence. A copy of the book relevant to your child is included with this newsletter.Massey University will be researching the efficacy of the books and as a school community we’d like to support this. For more info please visit www.theworrybug.co.nz and find them on Facebook.

SCHOOL LUNCHESPlease note that from this week, Fossil Point Café will be closed from Monday to Thursday each week due to the State Highway through to Kaikoura remaining closed and the effect this has had on visitor numbers to the café. School lunches will switch back to Friday as from this week (2 June). Please support this great local business when you can.

TERM 2 CALENDAR Term 2 - Monday 1st May to Friday 7th JulyAssemblies, June 9th & 23rd, July 7th

Newsletters; May 31, June14 & 28 June5 Queen’s Birthday- School Closed7 Annual Speech and Poetry Competition8 School Trip to Museum (Maori Technology

and Treasure Hunt)13 Matatahi (Visit to Cheviot School for Maori

Arts Performance)27 Student Led Conferences7 End of Term (Activity to be confirmed)

**FRIENDS OF THE SCHOOL **Congratulations and thank-you to every parent who has helped big or small towards the fundraising that Friends of the School undertake every year in order to raise funds so that our school can have a teacher aide and also supply some additional resources for our school pupils. The Great Greta Valley Hunt was another extremely successful fundraiser this year and a BIG THANK-YOU must go the the Hunt Committee that worked tirelessly to pull this all together, plus a Thank-you to the parents that helped on Sunday with various tasks and duties. GVFOS profited $2399.28¢ from the Hunt which has ensured we have reached our annual $10K target.As at the 29th May 2017, GVFOS has raised a total of $11042.50¢. This is outstanding so thank-you all.  Please see the attached Graph Tracker that details this.In terms of fundraising from now until the FOS AGM in October there are the Cheviot-Glenmark Rugby Afternoon teas as required and if any impromptu requests for local catering come up then we will consider them on a case by case basis. This means otherwise you can all take a breather and relax knowing we are in good stead to be able to financially help the school as requested by Malin and the BOT.If you have any concerns or questions then please do not hesitate to contact me.Thank-you Charlotte and FOS.

Phone 314 3800 - fax 314 3809 - E-Mail: office@gretavalley.school.nzPlease support our sponsors

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125th YEAR CELEBRATION OF GRETA VALLEY SCHOOLNext year marks the 125th anniversary of Greta Valley School. We have had some queries as to whether there is going to be a celebration to mark this event. We have advertised previously for anyone interested in forming a committee to plan a celebration weekend, but to date have had no takers. If you would be prepared to take on the challenge of organising this event, please contact the school office. If we have no interest from this notice, there will be no event.

**COMMUNITY NOTICES **FOR SALE2 second hand size 6 polar fleeces. $15 each. Please contact the school office if you are interested.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT PRESENTSC02; WHAT TO DO!!Certain farming practices have been found to help sequester large amounts of carbon from the atmosphere . We will screen a talk by Courtney White author of "Grass,Soil,Hope" a journey through carbon country.Hurunui District Library Monday 5th June (Queens Birthday) 7.30pm. Gold coin donation appreciated ,supper and a chat provided. Ph.Nev 033143734

Phone 314 3800 - fax 314 3809 - E-Mail: office@gretavalley.school.nzPlease support our sponsors

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Discovery Day 3 with learning to put a torch together, light a match safely and how to set up and light a small gas stove. Topic Survival

There were lots of fun activities during wheels week, including some delicious hamburgers, some bike riding lessons and even time for a milk and story time for Room 1. Great fun!

Phone 314 3800 - fax 314 3809 - E-Mail: office@gretavalley.school.nzPlease support our sponsors

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DISCOVERY TIME

WHEELS

WEEK

Phone 314 3800 - fax 314 3809 - E-Mail: office@gretavalley.school.nzPlease support our sponsors

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