Week 9, Term 3 Newsletter

Newsletter Contents:

1. Message From the Principal

2. Fundraising Committee

3. Important Dates and Reminders

4. From the classrooms – Room 4 & 2

5. Community Notices

We are now into the final week of Term 3. It really has flown by with lots of awesome events and opportunities for our tamariki over the term. Reflecting back, it’s been nice to get our tamariki outside of the classroom and learning in different environments. This term alone, we have had

• Whole school swimming at Stokes Valley Pool
• Dancesplash/ Artsplash 
• Epuni Kapa Haka Exchange
• The Space trip for Ako iti
• Stem challenge 

It’s been an impressive effort to facilitate these experiences for our tamarik, and I want to acknowledge the effort and organisation that sits behind each one to make them a success. 

Dyer Street School is celebrating a significant milestone with its current school roll sitting at 188 students, the highest it’s been in many years. This impressive number is a tip of the hat to the collective hard work of our entire school community and the positive impact we’re making for our tamariki and whānau.

To accommodate this increase, we’ll be opening a new roll growth class called “Room 6” at the start of Term 4. This new classroom will primarily consist of students from the current Room 1 class and will be co-taught by Ms Waghorn and Mrs Frecklington. This expansion brings us back to a total of nine classrooms at our kura.

Looking ahead, we are about to begin the process of drafting class lists and placements for the 2026 school year. If you plan to enrol your child for next year, or know of anyone who is, please complete the enrolment form on our website or pick up a hard pack from the office. Conversely, if your child will be leaving Dyer Street School at the end of the year, please notify the school office as soon as possible.

You might notice that we have had some new curtains installed around the kura. This was a direct action as a result of one of the lockdown drills, to ensure that all spaces have some level of security and protection. These curtains look fantastic, improving and modernising many of our spaces. A huge thanks to the board for their support of this significant purchase. 

Speaking of the Board, I just want to firstly acknowledge the value of the work of the outgoing board of trustees. To Emma, Matt, Amy, and Rochelle ( staff rep), thank you for your contribution to our kura and your support of me as tumuaki.  A particular thanks to Natalie Keyes, who has been in the presiding member role over the last two years. It’s been a real pleasure working alongside such a dedicated and progressive board. We now look forward to working with the incoming board of trustees, who were announced recently. They are 

Matt Weldon-Smith, Jacob Whaitiri Poutawa, Dale Warburton, Amy Marshall, and Graeme Knight. I look forward to our work together over the next 3 years. 

Finally, the annual Dyer Street School quiz is on this evening. This event is always popular, and we have sold out of tables. A huge thank you to the incredible fundraising team for their organisation in bringing this night to life. Their efforts, along with the generous support from our wonderful local businesses, are what make this event possible. The quiz night is always a huge success, consistently raising a significant amount of money for our kura. This year, the funds raised will be used to make much-needed improvements to our school hall, ensuring a better space for our students and community. See you there tonight.

Have a great weekend.

Ngā mihi

Lee Ewington

Tumuaki

Week 7 Principal’s award winners

The Fundraising Committee is next meeting on Monday, 6th of October 2025 (first day of Term 4) at 7:30 p.m. in the school library. 

This year, Hero is being used to communicate about meetings and opportunities to contribute to fundraising and support for the school. If you would like to receive these posts, please let Ms Waghorn know – megw@dyerstreet.school.nz. We also have a Facebook group where information from Hero is duplicated, and some discussion between meetings happens: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1QS2HYTXXz/

Upcoming Fundraising Events:

Book Fair – Saturday 1st of November

Early Finish Next Friday & Term 4 Teacher Only Day

Please note that the final day of Term 3, Friday, September 19, we are enouraging an earlier finish for students due to staff first aide traning in the afternoon. 

Our staff will be taking part in an important first aid refresher course starting at 12:30 p.m. This training is essential to ensure our staff are fully accredited and up-to-date with their first aid qualifications. A considerable effort was made to hold this training in the holidays but due to scheduling issues we have had to settle for this date.

While the school will remain open with limited staff for supervision, we encourage you to pick up your child from 12:30 p.m. if possible. All students who are collected early must be signed out at the office.

We appreciate your understanding and support as our staff undertake this crucial training.

In Term 4, we have a teacher only day scheduled for the Friday of Week 3, Friday October 24th. This is the Friday before Labour Weekend. School will be closed for instruction on both Friday 24th October (Teacher Only Day) and Monday 27th October (Public Holiday).

DATES

Term 3

Week 9 

Fri 12th – Quiz Night 

Week 10

Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori

Bee Healthy Dental Van on site 16th Sep – 10th October

Tues 16th – School Photos

Fri 19th – Last Day of Term 3 – Early finish for Staff First Aid Training 12:30 p.m.

Term 4

Week 1

Mon 6th October – First day of Term 4

                               – Fundraising Committee meeting 7:30 p.m.

Fri 10th October – Pōwhiri for new students and whānau

Week 2

Wed 15th – Assembly

Thurs 16th  – Shake Out Nationwide Earthquake Drill 

                                   – Cricket Wellington Visit

Week 3

Monday 20th Oct – Thursday 23rd – Life Education Bus Visiting

Friday 24th Oct – Teacher Only Day – School closed

                            – Te Ara Whakamana Hui a Tau 

Week 4

Monday 27th Oct – Labour Day Public Holiday – School closed

Week 9

Monday 1st Dec – Friday 5th – Year 0-4 Education outside the classroom week (EOTC)

Monday 1st Dec – Wednesday 5th – Year 5/6 Camp @ Kaitoke

Room 4

Room Four Writers in Action!

In Room Four, we’ve been busy setting and working toward our own personal writing goals. Each of us has something special we’re focusing on to become an even better writer.

One big focus for many of us has been making sure our stories have a clear sequence of events. We’ve been learning how to organise our ideas so that our writing flows smoothly from beginning to end.

We’ve also been exploring creative ways to start our sentences. Instead of using the same words over and over, we’re challenging ourselves to mix things up and keep our writing interesting. 

I wonder how many different sentence starters you can spot in our writing?

For the last few weeks, Dyer Street School has been going swimming. First, we got dressed at school in the bathroom. Next, we got on the bus and we drove to Stokes Valley Pool. Then we got in our lines and hung our towels up. Lastly, we hopped in the pool and learnt things. At the end, we got dressed and hopped back on the bus to go back to school and then home.

By Ivy Poutawa

At swimming last week, we got changed at home and school. Then we got on to the bus. When we got to Stokes Valley Pool, we got into our group lines. We did backstroke and rocket kicking. We then got a little bit of free time. At the end, we got changed and on to the bus to go back to Dyer Street School.

By Asha Seymour

Last week my school was swimming. We needed to get into our togs at school. We drove to the pool and we got into our groups. Our swimming instructor told us what to do. I was really good at it, and then we got out of the pool and changed again. We then got on the bus and went home.

By Isobel Colebrooke

Room 2

The Brick Show also has a colouring competition running: Full Size Copy Here

PRIDE LANDS FUN HOLIDAY ADVENTURES 

SPRING SCHOOL HOLIDAYS AT HUTT VALLEY PRIDE: 9 DYER STREET SCHOOL, EPUNI, LOWER HUTT

22nd SEP – 3rd OCT 2025 from 7.00am-6pm daily from 7.00am-6pm daily. Age range is 4 – 17 years with overnight sleepover activities provided with Interactive Activities and NO TV or Video Games. 
Kai Cubs Cooking, and Life Skills Programme creating healthy Breakfast, Lunch and Afternoon Teas. One-on-one care and shuttle services available. 
Daily $84.04/cub per session or $142.87 for two siblings per session; Weekly: $336.16 per cub/week or $571.47 for two siblings/week
. MSD Approved & WINZ subsidies are available for eligible families.
Qualified 1^st Aid Trained Activities Coordinators and Youth Mentors
One-on-One Care: Available for cub(s) if extra support is needed
 at $14/hr
ACTION (Home support 1-on-1) Mentors is also available if needed at $37/hr per mentor.

Please contact us: 0800 PRIDE 4 U Or Register online: www.PRIDELANDS.co.nz or 
Visit our Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/PrideLandsChildcare

 Here To Support All Tamariki & Rangatahi (Neurotypical and Neurodivergent)

At Pride Lands, we welcome neurotypical and neurodivergent children and youths with one-on-one support available to those that need it in our communities.

Back in week 6, Union member staff joined those from schools across Lower and Upper Hutt to launch our campaign. Included is a flyer of what we are asking for from the government. Part of this campaign is to request your support! If you support what we are asking for, please sign the petition via the link.

Sign the petition here: https://action.nzei.org.nz/petitions/back-education-that-works-for-all-tamariki