Newsletter Thursday 29 July 2021

He mihi mahana ki a koutou katoa

Welcome to the first newsletter of the term. We hope you managed to get a break over the last two weeks and it wasn't just juggling work commitments and children!

Term 3 - Swimming

This starts on Friday 30 July for our Year 4-8s. The Year 4-5s are going to Little Makos at Berhampore School and the Year 6-8s are going to Karori Pool. The Year 1-3s start their swimming lessons next week on Tuesday 3 August. They are going to Little Makos at Berhampore School. If you are able to come along as a parent helper for the Year 1-3s please let your child's teacher know. Please remember swimming gear on these days.

Working Bee Saturday 31 July at 10am

We are still needing parents for our working bee on the field. We really need at least ten helpers and so far we only have three! We only need you for 1 hour. Bring spades, gloves, and if you have them, loppers and / or garden snips to cut back weeds would be good. Any fertiliser and compost to go in the plant holes would be great! There are lots of plants that need planting so your help is needed Parent sign up form

Pōwhiri on Monday 2 August

We are having our pōwhiri on Monday 2 August to welcome all our new families to our school. It will start at 9.15am but if you are a new family please be here by 9.10am.

Ridgway Parents Connect - RPC @ VBC August 20

One of our fabulous parents has worked with VBC to organise a venue for monthly get togethers for our Ridgway parents (sorry, not for children). This will be held upstairs at the Vogelmorn Bowling Club from 5-9pm. This is a chance to meet other parents, debrief, de-stress, unwind and have fun! Damascus will supply a light menu and drinks will be available from the bar. This is on Friday August 20th. Grab some friends and come along or come along and make some new friends if you don't like the friends you already have...or both! Please get in touch with Elizabeth Clement with any questions on elizabethclement454@gmail.com.

Thank you to The Vogelmorn Foundation

Our thanks to The Vogelmorn Foundation for their grant of $8,668.00 which is going towards our Treetop Walkway. It will help to pay for the installation of the slide and crows nest (Phase one). Thanks Vogelmorn Foundation!

Seeds to Feeds

Jess Skinner of Seeds to Feeds coordinated a team of volunteers at the start of this year, including some of our students, to tend to the community garden at Vogelmorn Bowling Club, in conjunction with Seeds to Feeds.

From the event enough money was raised to cover all the costs. They now have $350 to donate to Ridgway School to be put towards our school gardens, tools, seeds, compost etc for the outdoors learning of all our students.

Thank you Jess!

Community Notices

After school care / babysitter available

Do you need after school care for your children? One of our fabulous teacher aides is looking for after school work. She is available to walk your children home and hang out with them until you get home from work. She can do light cleaning and also dinner preparation. She's also available for evening babysitting and comes highly recommended. Get in touch with Nicole on nicolebeach0503@gmail.com if you're interested.

Comic Fest 2021

On Saturday the 21st of August, Wellington City Libraries is partnering with the National Library of New Zealand to put on ComicFest 2021, the country's largest celebration of home-grown comics and their creators. We have the biggest names in NZ's comic and graphic industry, including Kay O'Neill (The Tea Dragon Chronicles), Jonathan King (The Inkberg Enigma) and Selina Tusitala Marsh (Mophead) joining us for workshops, talks, presentations, meet-and-greets, book signings, panel discussions, live drawing, and more. As well as all of these exciting events, there is a drawing competition, a cosplay competition, both with heaps of awesome prizes up for grabs, and literally thousands of FREE comics to give away, courtesy of Graphic on Cuba St. If you have even a passing interest in comic books or graphic novels of all shapes and sizes, you won't want to miss this celebration of creativity and passion - check out the full details at www.wcl.govt.nz/comicfest.

Where? National Library of New Zealand, 70 Molesworth Street, Thorndon

When? Saturday 21 August, 9.00am - 5.00pm

What? ComicFest 2021, the country's largest celebration of New Zealand comics and their creators

Cost? All ComicFest events are totally free, but some require registration. Check out the programme for the full details: www.wcl.govt.nz/comicfest

Information for Parents (From Regional Public Health)

Colds, flu and other respiratory viruses including respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are more common at this time of year in schools, early learning centres and homes. These winter illnesses can be easily spread by sneezes or cough droplets. For most adults and older children an RSV infection will be like a cold. Most people take about 10 days to recover and will get better on their own. Very young children and babies can become seriously ill and require urgent medical care and hospitalisation. RSV infections may progress to cause pneumonia and bronchiolitis, especially in infants.

To stop the spread of RSV and other viruses, everyone should maintain good hand hygiene and stay home if they have any cold or flu symptoms.

Symptoms If you or your child has RSV, the most common symptoms are: a runny nose coughing or sneezing fever wheezing and difficulty breathing loss of appetite, or difficulty feeding due to breathlessness.

https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/respiratory-syncytial-virus-rsv-infection