Dear Parents, Caregivers and Children,

Welcome to what will be our final School Newsletter for 2018 (as bizarre as that sounds). Over the past couple of weeks our team have been writing reports that summarise the progress and achievement for you with your child's year of learning. While this is a substantial task it is a very rewarding one for our team as they get to acknowledge the successes for each child. Having conversations with our teachers of late they have really enjoyed not having to label children's achievement as we have in the past few years and in turn, our children are not having to see themselves as being labelled, but more how they are progressing within the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC).

In addition, myself along with Katherine and Nyree have enjoyed looking through our end of year data results and take enormous comfort with how our children have progressed throughout the year. Across the school we have 94% succeeding or exceeding within the NZC for Reading, 94% succeeding or exceeding within the NZC for Writing and 95% succeeding or exceeding within the NZC for Mathematics. While these three learning areas do not reflect the breadth of our curriculum it demonstrates that as we ensure our learning programmes encompass all learning areas from P.E and Health to the Arts, the Core learning areas of English and Mathematics are complimented by their inclusion rather than compromised. 

Next week we have our Term 4 Student Led Conferences. These conferences are another excellent opportunity for you to come in and share in the learning that your child has been doing over the last couple of terms. Please take the time to book a slot using the www.schoolinterviews.co.nz website. Our code is: 43eqn. We will be asking for an early pick up (1.45pm) if possible on the Thursday as our teachers will be involved in conferences from 2.00pm onwards. Thank you for your support with this. 

While my opening sentence may give the impression things here at school are on the wind down, you will notice that it is quite the opposite. So please take the time to read through the many events and key dates that are left until the end of the year.

Finally, thank you to you all for your committment to your children and ongoing support of us a partner in their growth. I look forward to seeing you over the next couple weeks at the many events we have planned.

Warm Regards

Geoff