Newsletter 

Friday 2 February

He mihi mahana ki a koutou katoa
Bonjour à toutes nos familles

Minute taker for our Board meetings

We are looking for someone to take minutes at our meetings, which are twice a term on Thursday evenings. You will be handsomely rewarded with the princely sum of $55 per meeting plus you get to enjoy the company of the fabulous Board for an evening (snacks and bevs too). Get in touch with Sarah if you’re interested. 

Goal Setting Conferences

The booking link for these will be coming out early next week.  They are 15 minutes long and the purpose of these conferences are to: 

• - build collaborative relationships between parents and teachers

• - raise parent engagement with their child’s learning

• - learn more about their child’s interests, talents and needs - so that we can better know the learner

• - hear parents’ views on priorities for learning 

• - give parents a chance to get to know the teachers better

• - work together to set two academic learning goals and one social goal.  

School picnic

Come join us next Thursday evening for a picnic on the field.  Bring some kai and a picnic blanket, chat to other parents, children and teachers and enjoy a lovely evening together.  Not to jinx it but typically the weather is beautiful on our picnic nights. If the weather is disgracing itself, we will have it inside instead! 

Kathryn’s pōwhiri

Yesterday we took a group of kapa haka performers to Kathryn's pōwhiri at her new school.  The children represented us so well and Kathryn was really proud of them all. I can confirm she is settling into her new school and is ready to change the world (and increase the amount of children at Wilford School reading). 

Term 1 Touch Rugby - all years

If your child is keen to play Touch Rugby on Wednesday afternoons at Wakefield Park, please fill out this form. At the moment we only have six people signed up, so we need a few more before we can enter a team! Ask your friends! 

Reminder about Term 1 Netball: Years 1 - 4

If your child is in Years 1 - 4 and would like to play netball, please fill out this form. Also, if you know there are other keen netballers, please give them a reminder about it. 

Futsal - all years

This is on again this term, but is on Fridays between 3.30 - 6pm starting 16 February and running for 5 weeks. Having it on a Friday seems like it might be a bit of a dealbreaker for most of those who played in Term 4, but get in touch with Sarah if your child is a new player (otherwise Term 4 coaches will probably have been in touch directly).

Chess club

We have our chess club running again this year, so follow the sign up form to register your child. These are weekly lessons and games with our chess tutor, Mark, and there is a $30 fee per term, per child.

German lessons

Each year we provide German lessons for everyone from beginners to native speakers.  We usually have a teacher from the Goethe Institut coming in to take these lessons. They are once a week on a Friday.  If your child would like to join, please let Julie (juliel@ridgway.school.nz) know. 

Library grant

We were lucky to receive $2000 for the library from the T G Macarthy Grant.  Yay! New books! (Kathryn would be delighted!)

Upcoming Events

• 6 February Waitangi Day - school closed!

• 8 February School Picnic 5 - 7pm

• 12 February Pōwhiri 9.15 - 10.15

• 12 - 15 February Goal Setting Conferences

• 21 March School Athletics Day

• 2024 camps - Year 5 & 6 Forest Lakes 3-5 April, Year 7 & 8 Camp Makahika 17 -20 September

Sarah Patterson 
Acting Principal
Te Kura o Tawatawa - Ridgway School