From The Principal's Desk

Dear parents and caregivers

What an absolutely fabulous term it has been.

It has been great to see the children actively involved in their learning this term. Thank you to those who managed to support this learning by attending our sustainability open afternoon. I heard many a comment from parents about how fantastic it was to see their child so passionate about our sustainability focus. We had many actions taking place, from videos and posters, to bake sales, book sales and even car washing to promote this great cause!

Our JG Gardener Clean up day was a great success with many interesting findings. Our beaches in general were very tidy, with mainly cigarette butts found in the gutters and streets. Thank you to everyone who was able to help out on this day. The following comments are observations by these year 6 students.

I think it was very important that we did the clean up, because we found a lot of rubbish which could of harmed marine life. I was however, pleasantly surprised that there wasn't too much rubbish on the beach close to the sea - Cerys Gibby.

Even though it was exhausting, it felt good to make a difference. The trip did pack a few a surprises though, like a dead jellyfish and a diamond ring! (It wasn't real though) – Annabelle Olsen.

It was a very great day and I am glad that there was not actually a lot of rubbish on the beach. Most of the rubbish was in the bush part of the beach and we got about 5 full bags of rubbish. – Jacob Quilty

We also had some great writing evident, with letters being written in the persuasive genre to me and to community members . Here is one written to you!

Dear Parents,

Have you ever hurriedly raced into school to pick up your child, and stepped over a worn out, crumpled chip packet? Perhaps you've had to dodge a small thin slither of gladwrap? Litter in our school can be beastly at best, but deadly at worst.

A plastic straw drifts menacingly through the sky, hovers over the playground and lands fleetingly on the field. But its journey is not at an end... Eventually, all litter will end up in our seas. Every miniature stray piece from a lunchbox puts the sensational sea life at Mellons Bay beach at risk.

But you can help! From this day on, you can be the one who can save our remarkable world. Start by blocking out your shadow enemy plastic! When you stroll down the aisles of the supermarket, don't stop by the suckies...instead, consider buying the larger pot of yogurt. It only takes a few moments to portion it out into containers. You could even make this your child's job!

Here are some solutions for less rubbish in lunches:

Instead of wrapping sandwiches in gladwrap, try using a sandwich fitting container, and the bread won't go stale.
Say no to those snack packs! Try buying larger packs, it's better value too!
Avoid buying too much single use plastic.
If you keep this up, you won't be the one who is putting our magnificent sea life at risk of dying. It's just like a villainous monster forming a larger army. Together, we can stop it!

Everyone's got the power to make our world safe again, and we won't have stinky, brown polluted waters or areas in our world that are groaning under the weight of litter. If we reduce, we definitely won't need as many landfills. And that would be fantastic for everybody!

Written by Ella Burton, in collaboration with Indi Nicholas, supported by Alice Brown, Room 2.

Absolutely fantastic to see our children standing strong for their cause. Kia Kaha! They have also been problem solving, collaborating with each other, showing creative and critical thinking skills. These skills will assist them to survive in a changing world!

Thank you for attending our recent student agency presentation. We offered both a daytime and an evening session. If you were unable to attend, it is now on our website.

Here is a link to an article that was handed out at the session. This paper shows the ten trends in education for 2018. Learner agency is on page 60- 63. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask. We are all learning together.

http://core-ed.org/assets/Uploads/Ten-Trends-14May2018.pdf

I wish you all a safe and happy holiday and look forward to Term 4. Over the latter part of the break and week 1 of next term, I am privileged to be travelling with a Principal Delegation to China. I will be visiting Beijing, Hangzhou and Shanghai. This will give me a wonderful opportunity to have a greater insight into the language, identity and culture that contribute to our community. Thanks to our Board for agreeing to this, I know that the school will be in good hands, I would also like to thank the senior leaders and teachers for all their hard work and organisation this term.

Ngā Mihi

Colleen Margison

Principal 

News Bites

Kindo is here!!

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