Welcome to 2015

A huge 'Happy New Year' and welcome back to all of our Waltham School family. We are 'up and running' for the new school year and have welcomed many new families already. If you are new to this  area and would like to arrange a visit to see what we are all about please don't hesitate to call or pop in.

We have published a newsletter today with a few latest bits and pieces to keep families up to date. If you haven't received a copy it can be accessed through our web site.
www.waltham.school.nz

Once again can I pass on a very warm welcome to all of you as we look ahead to a very exciting and positive year ahead.

Latest News Brief

21^st November

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            To all Parents/Caregivers,                                                                                                                                          

Athletics day

A huge thank you to all of the families who supported yesterday’s Athletics Day. Once again this annual event was a real highlight to the year. The children were fantastic and it was such a pleasure watching them trying so hard and supporting each other win, lose or draw. Another highlight was seeing such a warm family atmosphere with participation from younger brothers and sisters. Thanks so much to all of the staff,  as Athletics day is one of the many times of the year I get to look around and feel so proud and fortunate to have such a great team.

Milk in Schools

Starting on Monday we are very excited to announce that Waltham School will be an official ‘Milk in Schools’ participant. What this means is that Monday-Thursday all students that choose to participate will be given a free serving of milk to drink. The system works in the same way as our Fruit in Schools, where children will have the milk delivered to the classroom and all those who want it will be able to have a box. We will be trialling it after lunch initially as a part of the afternoon session.

 If your child has any allergies or intolerances to milk or you would like to discuss their participation for any reason could you please phone the office and let us know urgently.

Waltham Star Search

Next Friday  28^th later in the morning we will be holding the finals of our Waltham Star Search. The children who entered will be performing to their own classes over the next few days and those who make it through next Fridays public performance will be confirmed on Monday. Once we know how many performers we will have in the show we will decide on an exact start time. If your child is chosen to perform next Friday we will send home the exact details and start time  early next week. Parents and friends are welcome to come along and cheer the performers on.  A  huge thank you to Mrs Atherton and Mrs Planika for organising this great new event.

School Holidays

I have had a few people ask me again about finish dates for this year and start dates for 2015. Our final day for normal classes is Monday 15^th December when we will also be having our Final Prize-Giving Assembly. School will be open for supervision and  tidy ups all day Tuesday 16^th and the morning of Wednesday 17^th until 12:30pm for those families who choose. School opens for 2015 on Monday 2^nd February.

Kind regards

Gordon Caddie

Principal

Athletics Information for Tomorrow.

Athletic Sports

A warm welcome to all friends and supporters of the school to come along to our annual Athletic Sports this Thursday.  All children will be competing in their class groups and will rotate around a combination of traditional and 'fun' athletics events. If you do not have a full programme please call in and pick one up from the school office at any time or give us a call.

See you Thursday!

Term 4 Update

Year 5/6 Camp

This week we had a fantastic overnight experience with our Year 5/6 students at Woodend Camp. Climbing Wall, Go-Karts, Orienteering, Archery and a whole lot of great team building time were the highlights of a neat few days. A huge thank you to Mrs Atherton, the driving force behind the camp and to three of our amazing support staff, John, Kelly and Sylvia, who came and supported us throughout the visit.

Parent Conferences

Last week we held our second round of main Parent-Teacher Conferences. Students were also invited to join in the meetings to discuss their strengths and dreams for the future. it was a really positive time and we thank everyone who was able to attend.

New Entrants

Waltham School is steadily growing and as a result it is really important to help with future planning that we know about children turning 5 over the next few years. Please give us a call or pop in to the office if you have a 3 or 4 year old who might be starting with us in the future. This really helps us to plan ahead.

Some Dates....

Show Day- Friday 14th November-School Closed

Athletics Day- Thursday 20th November

Monday 15th December-Final Assembly

Wednesday 17th December 12:30pm School Closes for 2014

Monday 2nd February-Classes start for 2015

Term 3 Update....

Hi again all,

Can I start with a sincere apology that the past few weeks have seen a total absence of blog updates.

Senior Camp:  Senior camp this year was a three day ski adventure to Porter Heights. What a fabulous experience it was for myself, Craig (class teacher) and out two support staff Kelly and Sue, to accompany our Year 7/8's on this trip.
We stayed at the Ski field Lodge right at the bottom of the mountain for the two nights and this meant it was only a 10 minute shuttle bus trip to the the slopes.
Three days of skiing, a lot of  great community time together and some very sore muscles latter... we headed back to school very proud of our achievements on the slopes.
For almost everyone it was their  first experience on a ski field (and for some the first time in snowy mountains).
Thank you so much to our wonderful senior class for sharing such a special time with me, and to our fantastic Board of Trustees who helped me ensure every child had the opportunity to attend the camp.

Some photos will follow shortly.


Swimming:  We are currently in the middle of our two week swim programme. All classes are busing to Pioneer Pool every day for a lesson with their great instructors. Thanks to everyone who is supporting this great annual initiative.

Welcome to Term 3

A warm greeting to all of you as we begin on a new term. I hope you were all able to squeeze a little bit of extra family time in to the last couple of weeks.

We have a busy and exciting period ahead as we look forward to the days becoming lighter and warmer as Spring approaches.

Our Year 7 and 8 students are planning and organising their up coming Ski Camp to Porter Heights, we have whole school swimming lessons at Pioneer Pool, Cultural Festival, Book Week, Maths-a-thon, and 'Computers in Homes Programme', just to name a few of the interesting things on our Term 3 calendar.

We have also just opened up our 8th classroom and are currently working with the Ministry of Education on plans to extend and upgrade our school buildings to accommodate our growing school and provide the best modern learning environments for our amazing kids.

Please keep in touch with us and remember we are always keen to chat about your children's hopes and dreams.

Gordon and all of the Waltham Team