Week 3, Term 3 Newsletter

Newsletter Contents:

1. Message From the Principal

2. Fundraising Committee

3. Important Dates and Reminders

4. From the classrooms – Room 4 & 9

5. School Events

6. Writer’s Corner

7. Community Notices

Our kura has been buzzing with activity over the past two weeks! A huge shout-out goes to our STEM team, who did an incredible job representing Dyer Street last week in a challenging quiz at the Lower Hutt Events Centre. Meanwhile, our talented Dancesplash crew is hard at work, fine-tuning their performance for their upcoming event on August 26th. Make sure you don’t miss out – tickets are available now!

It was also impressive to see such a strong turnout for our Mana hui last week. This provided a valuable opportunity for parents and teachers to discuss mid-year reports for their tamariki. We received some vital feedback on both the strengths and areas to develop in our reporting process. As we continue to gain confidence, clarity, and familiarity with the new curriculum, we anticipate even greater progress and achievement over the remainder of the year. 

Next week, we are excited to share the next stage of your child’s progress. This first instalment will focus on writing, providing an example of a learning goal your child is actively working on or has successfully achieved. You will see either a piece of work demonstrating their learning goal or other evidence of their progress, accompanied by a supporting comment from their teacher. These personalised updates will go live on Wednesday, August 6th. The next learning post update will be on your child’s maths goal in early September. 

You might start hearing whispers about the ongoing negotiations for the teachers’ and principals’ collective agreement. As part of this bargaining process, a paid union meeting for all NZEI union members will take place at Walter Nash on Wednesday, August 20th. We encourage parents to pick up their children early, at 1 pm, on this day to enable our staff to attend this important hui. Please note that there will be a limited number of staff available to supervise any remaining children at kura.

As Room 1 continues to grow, we’re excited to announce the creation of a new Roll Growth class in Room 6, starting in Term 4. This will help us maintain comfortable class sizes and ensure all students receive the best possible start at Dyer Street School. We’re incredibly fortunate to have experienced educators, Meg Waghorn (Deputy Principal/SENCo) and Rochelle Frecklington (BSLA Teacher, facilitator, and school literacy leader), co-teaching in Room 6 for Term 4 only. A huge thank you to Meg and Rochelle for supporting in the school in this capacity. 

Speaking of roll growth, a big thank you to the whānau who have already enrolled siblings for the 2026 school year. This helps us immensely with our planning and staffing, and provides the Ministry of Education with accurate data about our projected roll. If you’re intending to enrol a child next year, you can do so through the Hero app, on our website, or by grabbing a paper form from the office. 

Just a reminder that orders for our new school sports merchandise close at the end of this coming week! You have three great choices for your child: sports shorts, a standard hoodie, and a polar fleece hoodie. We’re encouraging all students who already have their own sports tops to purchase the shorts to complete our kura’s sports uniform. You can check out samples at the office, and please make sure all orders are in by next Friday, August 8th.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. 

Ngā mihi

Lee Ewington

He tumuaki no to kura o Dyer Street

Week 2 Principal’s award winners

The Fundraising Committee is next meeting on Monday, 4th of August 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/

Upcoming Fundraising Events:

Save the Date – Fundraising Quiz night – Friday September 12th

Hoodies and shorts available to order now: Order Form 

DATES

Term 3

Week 4

Cook Islands Language Week

Monday 4 August – Fundraising Committee Meeting, 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday 6 August – Assembly – Room 10 hosting, Room 10 & 1 sharing

Week 5

Mon 11th – Thurs 14th Swimming Lessons, Stokes Valley Pool

Week 6

Tongan Language Week

Mon 18th -Thurs 21st Swimming Lessons, Stokes Valley Pool

Wednesday 20th – Hutt Valley Teacher/Principal Union Meeting 2 p.m., most teaching staff off-site from 1:30 p.m.

Week 7

Week 8

Mon 1st September – Fundraising Committee meeting

Week 9 

Friday 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

Room 4

Back in Room Four – A Fantastic Start to the Term!

The first few weeks back in Room Four have been full of energy, learning, and connection. The children have hit the ground running—not only with their in-class work but also with some exciting activities at home.

This term, our Room Four tamariki have been given a fun challenge: Homework Bingo! These are engaging, educational activities designed to reinforce what we’ve been doing in the classroom. It’s been fantastic to see so many whānau getting involved—playing board games and card games, building with LEGO, cooking meals together, and making the most of the great outdoors.

Homework Bingo has not only supported learning at home but also helped to strengthen the relationships between school and whānau. It’s been a great way to bring parents into our learning journey and make it a truly shared experience.

It’s safe to say that Room Four is loving the challenge—and so am I!

Room 9

Room 9 has been learning about persuasive writing this term. We have been working on having a topic sentence, supporting details and a concluding sentence. We read Jack and the Beanstalk and discussed who we thought was the villain. There were lots of different ideas around who was the villain, so we wrote a persuasive paragraph to attempt to change our friends’ minds. Let’s see if we can persuade you! 

In one story, there was a villain in Jack and the Beanstalk. In that story, the Giant and Jack were the villains. The Giant was obviously the villain because 5 years ago, he stole the gold and went to his home. The Giant stole the gold from Jack’s father. Jack was the villain because he stole the precious gold from the Giant. Obviously now you know why Jack and the Giant are the villains. 

By Darsh

I think everyone is the villain…. “Yes, even the cow”!

The cow could have planned the whole thing!

Jake stole from the giant. The merchant put them all in danger! 

The giant stole from Jake’s dad. The cow is very sus!!!

By Aria C

Today, we are discussing who the real villain is in Jack and the Beanstalk. I believe that the mother of Jack is the villain because she sent Jack to sell the cow for some anonymous seeds that the merchant sold to Jack, then he went home just for the Mum to throw them out of the window. Secondly, the Mum made the beanstalk and the Giant appear out of the blue! The third and last reason is that the Mum never gave a punishment to Jack for stealing from the Giant; therefore, you now know that the mother is obviously the real villain here.  

By Jared

I believe that the Giant and the mother are the villains.

1)When Jack came home with beans, his mother threw them out the window, and the Giant was mean.

2)The Giant stole Jack’s dad’s coins, and the mother never told Jack not to steal.

3)The mother was not nice, and so was the Giant. 

Therefore, you know that the Giant and the mother are the villains.

By Tane 

We are now publishing writing from students in the school newsletter. If students want to submit writing, they can share it with Ms Waghorn megw@dyerstreet.school.nz. This can be work done at school or home, but must be to a publishable standard (e.g. no spelling errors).

Oh no! I haven’t received any writing for this issue – I hope to see some submissions for the next one! – Ms Waghorn