Entering the School – Please wait in your car and ring us on the school mobile – 027 525 1848 if you need to pick up a child or drop something off. We are operating at COVID Level 3.2 for the rest of the year. Please do not get out and mix and mingle as the Public Health Order Procedures have not changed.

Communication – Yes, our landline has died.  If you call the school landline you will be diverted to the school mobile – 027 525 1848.  We are in the process of upgrading this system.  We have a school mobile and emails. The office ladies are highly efficient at checking these. We have asked all parents to make sure all changes are communicated before 12:00 pm.    Please ensure your details are up to date for us to ring you. We are always happy to check this information for you.

Buses – Changes are planned for our buses in 2022.  Next year will see a change to the bus providers. The Ritchies Buses are being replaced with GoBus buses and drivers. This should not cause too much disruption as the runs should be very similar. We are finalising this with the company. Please say your farewells over the coming weeks to your bus driver as I know many of you are fond of them.

Graduation Year 8’s – A huge thank you to Mr. Irvine and parents: Dee Robinson, Nikki Browne Hale, Bron Smith and Tania Ledger for the time you have spent trying to put something together for the children with the restrictions that we live with.  Graduation has become such a big event for our school and is a wonderful celebration so we are determined this group of students, one of the largest we have had for many years have something. A special evening with only the students, the teachers and myself will go ahead on Friday 10th December. It is an outside dinner /picnic. We will present awards, have speeches, have dinner and live stream some of the awards and speeches.

Prize Givings and Award Assemblies – All teams are having an Awards Assembly and /or Prize Giving. Staggered days mean each team will have a separate event. These will be outside under gazebos following Public Health Order Procedures. We will Live stream these events and take lots of photos for families and caregivers to see.  Please see the dates below:

Monday 13th December,  9:15- 9:50 a.m Pukeko team (Years 1 & 2) Class Awards and Sports Awards Assembly 

Monday 13th December,  10:40- 11:40 am Takahe team (Years 7 & 8) Prize Giving and Sports Awards,  

Tuesday 14th December,  9:15- 9:50 a.m Kiwi  team (Years 3 & 4) Class, and Sports Awards assembly

Tuesday 14th December,  10:40- 11:40 am Tui team (Years 5 & 6) Prize Giving and Sports Awards 

Whittakers Chocolate – Thank you to everyone who has sold a box of chocolates and sent in the money. There are still a few outstanding, please let us know if we are able to help you return these to school.  We will also be phoning all the outstanding box holders to finish this drive.    Thank you very much to Tania Ledger for the massive effort she has put into running this fundraiser. Tania is in the process of organising the prize draw, for those who have made that extra special effort!!! We will share the information in next week’s newsletter. Simone du Bernard from Harcourts Cooper and Co has donated $500 to this fundraiser, we are so fortunate to still have the support and generosity of Simone.

Art Competition – Bella Brown Hale is extending the competition until Friday 3rd December see the details below.  Kia ora my name is Bella Browne Hale and I am one of your student councillors. One of my goals this year was to brighten and tidy up the school entrance. One of the things I wanted to do was to re-do the art that is next to the notice boards at the entrance. I have organised a competition for everyone in the school where if you win, your art could be proudly displayed at the school entrance.  The date to have these in by is now Friday 3rd December which must feature either the team birds or an image of Ag Day. Once you have handed in your art (either by emailing a picture of your art to me at [email protected] or by handing it to Mrs Bray at drop off) they will all be judged and there will be winners from each team.

The Swimming Pool – The pool has been refurbished and repainted.  It is almost full and nearly ready. We can swim for instructional purposes and the kids can’t wait. The teachers will let you know when your child needs to bring their togs. We will be working through numbers and space for changing.  Sadly we cannot sell pool keys this year as pools cannot be open to the public at the current COVID levels. We may be able to do this when we return, but it will depend on the traffic light level when we return to school.

FINALLY  

This year we farewell our long-serving Assistant Principal / Senco Mrs. Wendy Taylor. Mrs. Taylor is officially retiring but assures us she will be around to do some part-time and relieving work. Mrs. Taylor has contributed to so many children’s growth, development, and enjoyment of being at Wainui School. Mrs. Taylor’s own children attended Wainui School and went on to achieve wonderful things as a result there were a number of times Mrs. Taylor had to have special leave to support Erin (her daughter) at the Olympic Games. Mrs. Taylor has had a fantastic career in education, she has been a Principal of a small rural school, a teacher of every age group from Years 1- 8. We thank her for her service to education, she will be greatly missed by us all. Wendy has left a legacy to us all with the donation of $3000 to be used for the development of our school bush into a sustainable learning environment for all.  We will farewell Mrs. Taylor as a school on the last day of school at the “Special Farewell Assembly”.

Ka kite ano,

Gillian Bray