Principal's Newsletter

Kia Koutou Katoa
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
First and foremost, I am aghast at the events unfolding in Christchurch. My thoughts and sympathies to everyone in Christchurch and their relatives and friends both within and outside of NZ. I am sure many of our Woodstock families are affected by this and my thoughts are especially with you.

School Term Activities
Mar 02 Junior School Triathlon
11 Senior School Swimming Sports
22 Fairfield Cluster Swimming Sports
April 10 BOT meeting
15 School closes for Term 1 holiday 2:00pm

Woodstock School now has its own blog!
You can access our blog through the school website or at http://woodstockschoolnz.blogspot.com
We are using this as another way of keeping parents/caregivers up to date with the latest news at Woodstock School. If you sign up to subscribe to our blog you will be automatically emailed of any new entries on the web site ie Principal & Syndicate Newsletters, Charter. It is definitely worth joining. I am sure those of you who join up will find it most informative.

2010 Annual Report and Statement of Variance.
I will be placing the ‘2010 Statement of Variance’ on this ‘blog’. This is in regard to reporting on our 2010 student achievement targets set in Mathematics as well as what we are focussing on this year in Written Language (2011).
We set these against National Standards as our first ‘trial’. The report is quite lengthy and the data presented in colour chart form so it is more useful to use this medium to view it. Hard copy will be made available at school (office) for those who cannot access this via the internet.

Parental Concerns about student behaviour
I would like parents to understand it is not acceptable for any parent to take matters into their own hands and approach another child in the school to interrogate them about any concern they have regarding their behaviour.
The correct process for parents if they have any concern about another child’s behaviour is to inform classroom teachers (or the Principal or Deputy Principal) about the behavioural concern in order that they can investigate and work on resolving the concern.


School House Leader
I am delighted to congratulate the 2011 house leaders.
Tui: Aimee Jones & Alfie Stevens
Kiwi: Joe Wallbank & Jazmin Hotham
Pukeko: Grace Fowler & Maia Barbuzza
Kea: Annabel Jordan & Jordan Edwards


Children and Cyber Safety
Children throughout the school have been learning aspects of Cyber Safety using the Hector’s World website. You may like to continue discussions with your child at home around the following concepts explored at school:
Personal Information
Details like our name, address, phone number and age can be used to identify us and we should be careful who we share it with when we meet people (online and offline).


Property News
The Board of Trustees is finalising two extensive Property Projects at the school which includes upgrading and improving Special Needs wheelchair access right across the school and replacement of B Block Roofing.

National Standards
The debate continues.
I will reiterate that Woodstock School’s position is; although we have major concerns and issues with NS, we are nonetheless implementing them as best we can into our assessment and reporting procedures (as we are required to do).

To this end, we are continuously reflecting and working on an improvement cycle in regard to achievement reporting in student portfolios which meets the National Administration Guideline (NAG) 2A ie
‘Where a school has students enrolled in years 1-8, the board of trustees, with the principal and teaching staff, is required to use National Standards to:
report to students and their parents on the student’s progress and achievement in relation to National Standards.
Reporting to parents in plain language in writing must be at least twice a year;

Last year was our first attempt adapting the student portfolio to meet this requirement and it would be truthful to say that this has caused us some significant issues to work through. The issues are essentially to do with modifying the achievement criteria, aligning the NS to curriculum levels and with the moderation of student work.
We have revised our 2011 document to better reflect an alignment with National Standards and the curriculum levels (has been somewhat problematic). Our teachers are becoming more familiar with the National Standard requirements.

Hopefully you will see this reflected in the revised student portfolio which will be coming home at the end of this term.

Summer Sport
We have two Friday night cricket teams,
· Junior Yellow Caps
· Senior Red Caps.

In Touch we have the
· Junior Terminators
· Yr 3-4 Incredibles
· Senior Stylistics
· Yr 5-6 Impossibles
Well done to those who have joined a team and good luck for the season.

PTA
The PTA held their AGM last week and I am delighted to report that the following people were elected Chair: Megan Smith, Secretary: Jenny Barris and Treasurer: Leonie Crane. My Annual report is summarised below;

‘First and most importantly, I would like to sincerely thank the 2010 PTA Committee for the very successful year of support for the school.

I sincerely thank the PTA for the $22000 donation to the school at the end of 2010. This was a fabulous effort and of course underpins all the hard work and time you all invested in the school and the children. This support is much appreciated and of course assists the school to improve the teaching resources for the children. Thank you.

Looking back to the 2010 events organised and managed by the PTA, is a very real sense of
co-operative spirit and commonality of purpose in supporting the school to present a quality educational programme. The events have all been very enjoyable and have created a real sense of community. To those who undertook responsibility for organising/managing the events and to those who filled in the applications for Grants, my especial deep and grateful thanks to you all for your hard work.

Megan (Smith), once again a very big thank you for your leadership, management and ability to motivate, enthuse and encourage us all towards ever greater heights for the school. We all appreciate your hard work, the time you put in and the sense of fun and humour you bring to everything. We all tremendously admire your leadership skills.

To our competent committee members including Leonie Crane (Treasurer) and Jenny Barris (Secretary), my grateful appreciation for your ‘engine room’ work and the support you give this committee.

I look forward to this 2011 year and your continued support’.

BNZ Community Service Day
On the 9th March there will be staff members from the BNZ at Woodstock School as part of their Community Service programme. They will be completing numerous projects around the school.

Stationery Sales
We ask that if you have not purchased your child’s stationery as yet, you please do so as soon as possible.

School Donation
$25:00 per term $100 per Year. We would appreciate prompt payment of the donation as we rely on this to subsidise costs for classroom consumables, art supplies, physical education equipment and junior school books.

ERO Visit
The school will be visited by an Education Review Team during the first two weeks of next term.

Sun Safe at School
Students have returned to school and of course into bright sunshine and potentially skin damage that might lead to skin cancer in later life. Students are in the school environment (between 11am and 4pm) during the time of peak UV radiation from October to March. During the day students will be out in the sun and we all need to do the best we can to protect them from the harmful effects of the suns rays.

Students must wear a suitable hat that protects the face, neck and ears: wear sun safe clothing eg shirts with collars and sleeves and use at least SPF 30+ sunscreen on unprotected skin.

Caps are not suitable for this purpose and if students wear sleeveless tops to school, they must have other suitable sun safe clothing to cover the neck and shoulders when they go outside in the sun.
Students who do not have appropriate sun protection will be required to play under the trees in the shade.

Appropriate school sun hats are available from the school office at $13 each.

TELEPHONE CALLS AND MESSAGES TO PUPILS
Calls to and calls from pupils are permitted only in emergencies. It should be noted that telephone calls are charged to the school and excessive use by pupils is discouraged. Telephone messages to pupils are conveyed as soon as practicable but parents should note that it is not always possible to guarantee the delivery of phoned messages.

Other Messages

Cell Phones for Starship Foundation
This year we are going to collect unwanted mobile phones to raise funds for Starship’s National Air Ambulance Service. You can help us by donating your old Mobile Phone (in working order). Steps to help us include:
1. Ensure you have removed your Sim card.
2. Remove the battery from your phone. Wrap the battery separately in paper or plastic and package with your phone before putting it in an envelope.
3. We do not require your battery charger, just the phone.
4. Please return your old cell phone to the school office for collection.
Please tell your friends and family of our campaign. The more cell phones we receive, the more we can help Starships's Ambulance Service and the more rewards we can earn for the school


First Credit Union provides a school banking service to all pupils at Woodstock School.
Getting started is easy- just pick up an application pack from the school office, fill in the application form and return it to the school office.
If your children are already doing school banking, remember that the school banking is collected on Thursday each week!

Bible In Schools programme for 2011
Begins 4 March. Anyone not wishing to have their child(ren) participating, need to write a short note to me informing me of their decision. Students not participating are supervised by a teacher in the school library.