Week 11, Term 1 Newsletter

Newsletter Contents:

1. Message From the Principal

2. Fundraising Committee

3. From the Board

4. Welcome to new whānau

5. Important Dates and Reminders

6. From the classrooms – Room 4 & 8

7. School Events

8. Hero Tips and Tricks

9. Community Notices

Kia ora e te whānau, 

As a staff, we recently reflected on the many wins we have had as a kura throughout Term 1. As you can see from the visual below, we have achieved a great deal! One thing that has really stood out is the incredible level of whānau support and engagement across all areas of school life.

We have seen record numbers of parents attending assemblies, strong whānau involvement in school trips, fantastic turnouts at Whānau Fun Fridays and Raumānuka Café, and an outstanding 90% attendance rate at our MANA hui. We have also had amazing whānau support for Road Patrol duties.

This high level of engagement from our families significantly strengthens what we are able to offer and achieve as a school. We are so grateful for your ongoing support and partnership. Thank you to all the parents and whānau who have supported us throughout Term 1 — we couldn’t do it without you!

You may have noticed that fresh fruit is now being delivered to classrooms each day. This wonderful initiative has been made possible thanks to the generosity of one of our parents, Hamish Dawson, who has organised weekly fruit deliveries for our tamariki. The fruit has been a delicious and much-appreciated addition, especially with the changes to the school lunches scheme this year, where fruit is no longer included.

We are proud to offer a range of supports to help reduce barriers to learning: daily breakfast club, fresh fruit each day, and a hot meal and snack for every child. Keeping our tamariki well-fuelled is something we are deeply committed to. A huge thank you to Hamish for his incredible support of this venture — it is making a real difference for our ākonga!

Looking ahead to Term 2, we have an exciting range of events and activities planned. A key highlight will be Huttfest, an event our Kapa Haka roopu work incredibly hard towards with their intense preparation and outstanding performances. Whaea Col and Mātua Whaitiri will be leading this kaupapa, and there will be a strong focus on commitment to practice times to ensure our roopu achieves the high standard expected.

Our values focus for the term will centre on Ako, with an emphasis on students being ready to learn and striving to be the best learners they can be.

We are also excited to be setting up a Cultural Council — a student-led group that will meet weekly to discuss and plan ways different cultures can be celebrated and represented at our kura. This group will be supported by Penny Clout.

Additionally, we will be preparing for mid-year assessments and reporting. Early in Term 2, we will share more information about the reporting process and how this will be communicated to whānau through the HERO app. 

Inquiries across the syndicates will also be a major focus. Ako Nui will be exploring the theme of sustainability, culminating in the creation of wearable art pieces. Meanwhile, Ako Iti will be investigating space, with a special connection to Matariki woven into their learning.

It promises to be an exciting and enriching term ahead!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday with your whānau and get the time to rest, recharge and reset for Term 2. 

Ngā mihi nui,

Lee Ewington

Tumuaki

This week’s principal’s award winners. 

The Fundraising Committee is next meeting on Monday, 5th of May 2025 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/

Update on Recent Fundraisers:

Pop Up Portraits

Our photo fundraiser was not a huge success with only 14 bookings and only 12 bookings attended on the day. However, those who did book have given positive feedback. The photographer has asked us to provide feedback on any reasons why our school community didn’t participate. Some shared so far have been:

– prefer outdoor photos

– already had family photos recently

If you have any further feedback, please let the committee know by emailing Meg Waghorn or commenting in the Facebook group. It is always good to try different ideas out. Those who had photo shoots should receive their shots within two weeks. We will know how much money was raised once people have finalised their purchases. 

Easter Raffle & Hot Cross Buns

These were a great success with over $2600 raised. Thank you to those parents who helped gather or made donations of Easter prizes, set up order forms, made promotional materials, communicated with the bakery, and picked up and sorted buns. A real team effort with a great result for our tamariki. 

Upcoming Fundraising Events:

Term 2 is looking a bit quieter at this stage for fundraising ideas. The committee is aware that Hutt Fest and Matariki will need some parent support, so we have kept the fundraising calendar lighter. 

At the next meeting, items for discussion are: supporting Year 5/6 camp, school disco and a movie fundraiser for the term 2/3 holidays. 

Prize winners of the Easter Raffles – “Do the Mahi, Get the Treats” Pack – Anita Manu (being accepted by Tāne – ticket sold by the Moeau whānau), New World Hutt City Hamper – Fern Harper (accepted by Marlow Harper) and Easter Craft and Choccie Pack – the Cole whānau (accepted by Aria Cole).

Welcome to the new students and their whānau who joined us over the term:

Room 1: Anime, Arthur, Fiona, Leica, Riley, Archie and Jasper

Term 2

Week 1

Mon 28th April – School begins for Term 2

Fri 2nd May – Pōwhiri for new students and whānau

Week 2 

New Zealand Sign Language Week

Monday 5th May – Fundraising Committee meeting 7:30 p.m.

Tues 6th May – Ako Nui Te Papa Trip

Wed 7th May – Assembly, 2:15 p.m.

Wed 7th – Thu 8th – Year 5 & 6 Self Defense Sessions

Thu 10th – Future of DSS meeting – Strategic Plan community consultation 6 p.m. 

Week 3 

Tue 13th May – Board of Trustees Meeting

Fri 16th May – Pink Shirt Day

Week 4

Wed 21st May – Assembly 2:15 p.m.

Week 5

Samoan Language Week

Tue 27th May – Interzone Cross-Country

Week 6

School’s Pride Week

Mon 2nd June – King’s Birthday Public Holiday – School Closed

Wed 4 June – Assembly 2:15 p.m.

Week 7

Wed 11 June – Future of DSS meeting – Strategic Plan community consultation 3 p.m. 

Week 8

Thu 19th June – Matariki Whānau Evening

Thu 20th June – Matariki Public Holiday – School Closed

Week 9

Hutt Fest – exact day TBC

Wed 25 June – Assembly

Fri 27 June – Last day of term 2

Car Parking Safety

We continue to experience issues with unsafe parent behaviour during drop-offs and pick-ups at the main Dyer Street entrance (school office entrance). 

Wherever possible we encourage you to drop and collect your children from either the main entrance on Roberts Street (near the kindy and with the pedestrian crossing), the after-school care entrance, or the hall entrance. There is also a gate at the corner of Dyer and Roberts Street. These are all usually safer and less busy options than dropping off at the main foyer entrance. 

Please leave the main foyer entrance for those families who need to use it for safety and mobility reasons. 

The following behaviours are being regularly noticed by staff and families:

Parking on broken yellow and blue lines – making it unsafe for road patrollers. 

Using the mobility park without a mobility card

Parking in staff parks

Driving through the staff car park

Blocking carpark entrances

Dropping off children out of cars in the middle of the street

Dropping children off on the opposite side of the street and allowing them to run across the road while traffic is approaching. 

Room 4

Room 8

Two days a week Miss Muzzy works with some of the children with extra learning needs at school in Room 8. They have been working on a beautiful collaborative Autumn mural to brighten up the corridor outside room 8 – come by and check it out some time!

Hoods Up/Volume Down

Many interesting conversations were had on and around Hoods Up/Volume Down day for Autism Acceptance Month. We focused on talking about how all brains are different and need different things to learn. 

Eid

Ramadan and Eid were recognised by the whole school with an afternoon of collaborative activities in Week 9. It was great to learn more about a celebration that is important to many of our students and families. 

Easter

All classes celebrated the upcoming Easter holiday with fun activities on the last day of term – the Easter bunny was even sighted around the school a number of times…

Did you know that you can track your child’s attendance on the Hero app?

Click on your child’s image, which takes you to the 2025 Report page. At the moment, this has end-of-year data but this will be updated with 2025 data this term. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you will see a graph of their attendance. 

An explanation of how the Ministry of Education instructs schools to record absences as justified or unjustified is below:

Justified absence: An explained absence, within the school’s policy, as an acceptable reason for the student to be away from school. e.g:

• Absent due to short-term illness/medical reasons
• Justified absence – reason for absence within the school policy
• Stood down or suspended

Unjustified absence: An absence that is either unexplained or, explained, but the explanation is not within the school’s policy as an acceptable reason for the student to be away from school. e.g:

• No information or throw-away explanation
• Absent with an explained but unjustified reason
• Holiday during term time
• Unknown reason

The Ministry of Education views children with attendance of 90% or less as at-risk learners due to not attending school regularly. 

We are levelling up our Holiday Camps in 2025 with some new threads. We are supporting local and have partnered with Triple Threat(TT) who combine streetwear and custom sportswear for all ages. So get in quickly and sign up for our next BNZ Kiwi Hoops & 2 Degrees Girls Got Game Holiday camps to get your own custom Capital x TT reversible singlet. These are a limited release so if you miss out stay locked into our merchandise store which will be launching soon.

• All Star Camp: Years 6-8, 14th and 15th of April.

• Swish Camp: Years 3-6, 22nd and 23rd of April.

• Bounce Camp: Years 1-3, 24th of April.

  👇 REGISTER BY CLICKING ON THE LINK BELOW 👇

  NOTE: Ages are in school years, i.e. Year 1 = 5 years old. All camps are held at Walter Nash Stadium, Lower Hutt. Spaces are limited so get in quick!

https://www.capitalbasketball.org/bnz-kiwi-hoops-sign-up

PRIDE LANDS FUN HOLIDAY ADVENTURES 

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

Age Range: 4 – 17 years 


Dates: 14^th APR – 25^th APR 2025 from 7.00am-6pm daily 


Fees: 
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

15% Wild Card Discount Available for $70/year from the day of purchase.

Social Development: Interactive Activities and NO TV or Video Games, 
Kai Cubs Cooking, and Life Skills Programme creating healthy Breakfast, Morning Tea, Lunch and Afternoon Teas provided. No Bag Needed.

Overnight Sleepover ($110 per night): FROZEN –  (Tuesday15th April 2025): Our overnight sleepover will be in Wellington City and our evening activities will be very cold ice cream tasting experiences and some evening entertainment the city has to offer.

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

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 on-on-one support available to those that need it in our communities.