4 March 2010

From the Principal

Our values for term 1 are PCS:
Polite, Considerate and Sensible
Our focus is on really good manners.

Dear Parents and Caregivers

It was great to see you last night at our “Meet the Teacher” evening.  Thank you for providing additional information about your children’s interests and skills and also a special thank you to those of you who have offered to be a class parent.  Your help with PTA activities will be hugely appreciated.

Our summer sports teams had a great day at the cluster field day on Tuesday.  Please see the next section for the outcomes.  A special thank you to coaches, parents and congratulations to all students involved.

Term One Community Group Meeting:  You are all welcome to come to our term 1 meeting next Tuesday at 2.00pm in the oval room.  We will be discussing the government’s national standards.  Please come along with your questions.

PTA Meeting: Monday 15 March:  Please join our great PTA team at 7.00pm in the oval room.  These are short and purposeful meetings and you will be very welcome.  

PTA Disco: Friday 19 March:  The PTA disco evenings are the highlights of our school’s social calendar!  The first this year is on Friday 19 March.  Please note the date in your diary.  The children enjoy coming along and cutting loose!  We love to see you here, too.

BoT Meeting: Monday 29 March:  We will be sharing baseline student achievement data for 2010 at this meeting.  You are all welcome to attend.  Included in this newsletter, for your information, are our student achievement targets for 2010.  You will note that we have set targets this year for our very able students as well.

Focus teams:  We have a number of staff focus teams this year and we have included a student representative on each of them.  These teams meet once a term to plan their activities and initiatives in and around the school to support student learning.  These senior students are already making a fine contribution to our teams and we thank them for their willingness to support our school in this way.  We are finding that they have great ideas and perspectives.  The student representatives are: 
 
ICT                                               Euan Raill            
English language learning            Jasneet Johal
Maths                                           Teiman Rhind
Performing Arts                           Ashrita Kumar
Tikanga Maori                             Kaingakau Puru
Library                                         Brittany Andrews
Assessment Review                     Kelan Siale-Welsh
Science and Technology              Nicholas Keestra
NZ Curriculum/National Standards        Joeli Filipo
Literacy                                       Arushi Shetty
Environment                               Holly Foster
Health and PE                             Jone Rokoqica
Inquiry learning                           Elizabeth White
School community research project        Sam McGillicudy

All the best for the best of weekends.  I hope that you can enjoy some special time with your special children.

Kind regards,
Marilyn Gwilliam
Principal

General Notices

Welcome to our New Students: Papatoetoe Central School welcomes the following new students to our school –Elizabeth & Sarah Sovincet, Irshaad Iqbal, Manako Piutau, Bhavjeet Kaur, Ben Morgan and Ceasar Tamua.

Assembly Day:  On Monday, 8 March, our assembly will be a singing assembly.  As always you are most welcome to attend but please make sure that you are seated by 1.15pm.
Playball & Cricket Zones Results: On a very hot sunny day our school competed in the Papatoetoe sports zones competition on the 2nd of March.  We were represented by the girls and boys playball and girls and boys cricket teams.
The A and B boys cricket team had one win out of three.  The girls also winning a game of which they were very proud.
The boys playball team had a win and a draw and three losses of one run.  Some very impressive batting left opposing teams mouths wide open. The girls playball were without a result but demonstrated excellent improvement throughout the day in their first competitive matches.  We were really proud of our playball and cricket teams with their PCS behaviour and effort, always doing their best and always being well mannered. They were a credit to the school.

Tips from the PCS Environment & Sustainability Team:  There are a number of simple steps we can all take to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle much of the waste that is produced in our school and at home.
CHANGE YOUR LIGHT
Use energy-saving bulbs throughout your home. They reduce pollution and save power. If you don't like the colour from the light use these bulbs for closets, laundry rooms and other places where it won't bother you as much.  And instead of leaving outside lights on at all times, fit motion sensor lights.

Newsletter Advertising:  We are doing updates for advertising on the back on our newsletter if you are interested or know of anyone who would be, please phone Teresa on  (09) 2779713 for more information.

Maths Problem:  This term we are going to have a maths problem in the newsletter each week for children to solve, cut out and bring back to school.

Grandpa's Chocolates
Grandpa has five pockets in his jacket. In one pocket he has one chocolate. In the second pocket he has two chocolates. In the third pocket he has double the number in his second pocket. In the fourth he has double the number in the third. In the fifth pocket he has double the number in his fourth. How many chocolates does Grandpa have in his jacket?

    
Grandpa has _______ chocolates in his jacket.  Fill in the answer and return the slip to the Maths box
in the school office.  
Name_____________________________________________ Room ___________

Term Events

PCS Mufti Day- World Vision       Friday, 5 March           
Community Group meeting            Tuesday, 9 March
PTA Meeting                                  Monday, 15 March       
Swimming Zones                            Tuesday, 16 March
New Parent’s seminar                    Wed, 17 March           
PTA Disco (6 pm – 7.30 pm)         Friday, 19 March
‘Chess Kids' Tournament               Tuesday March 23rd       
BoT Meeting                                  Monday, 29 March
Last day of term                             Thursday, 1 April

Community Notice

GIRLS' BRIGADE IN PAPATOETOE:  Girls' Brigade is a Christian organisation that has been delivering development programmes to New Zealand girls' since 1928. The Girls' Brigade programme is a four sided programme designed to develop girls' mentally, physically, spiritually and socially within the community, and is for girls' and young women aged 5 - 18 years.
 The 5th Papatoetoe Company, meet at the Wesley Methodist Church Hall, 37 Kolmar Road, Papatoetoe on Wednesday's of school terms and from 6.00pm to 7.30pm.
 The cost is $20.00 per Term and the uniform is purchased through Postie Plus shops.
 We also have three other Girls' Brigade Companies in Papatoetoe who meet on other nights of the week.
 If you would like any other information please don't hesitate to contact me by email cbknock@xtra.co.nz or phone me on mobile 0274394395, or home 2784373.

Kiwi Kids Learn:  A new educational magazine is being launched for parents and caregivers to support their children to be all they can be.  Kiwi Kids Learn is a fantastic resource and full of useful information to use with school age or preschool children.  Kiwi Kids Learn also includes two sections specifically for kids.  There is a dedicated 8-page lift-out for the kids with activities and games.  There is also a section within the magazine for students to ‘showcase’ their work to the rest of New Zealand. To find out more or to order a copy go to www.kiwikidslearn.yolasite..com