Welcome back to the new school year everyone. We are looking forward to an exciting year ahead.

Regretfully we have to announce that our Chair, Ged Meyer, has tendered his resignation from the Chair and the Board. He has been running the ship since he started over five years ago and has seen the school through a period of highs and lows. He feels as though the school is in a good place now and he can step down in the knowledge that the school is moving in a positive direction. As a Board we thank Ged for his wise and balanced approach in his leadership. We welcome Kelvin Sadler to the role of Chairperson.

Over the holidays we have been busy! We held a planning workshop to lay the foundation for the strategic plan. We will be consulting the Waituna Creek School community further – please see the survey attached. We also made the appointment of our two new teachers, Cat Cochrane and Annalese Patterson and our office assistant Adam Kilmartin . We welcome them into the community and believe they are a great asset to our school. Emma has worked throughout the holidays to ensure the smooth transition for our new staff and will spend this term creating a Curriculum Plan for our school. Her enthusiasm and energy are inspirational!

At our recent meeting we discussed fund raising opportunities. We are looking for events or ways to increase our revenue. Any suggestions are welcome and would be greatly appreciated.

We thank The Waimate District Council for the work they have done on the road and the path to the hall. The path was a bonus that they completed from their road safety budget. They have recommended that we improve the parking area outside the school as it is potentially dangerous for our children. We are going to look at moving the fence closer to the school building to gain more space.

The Waituna Mobile Kindergarten is underway on Monday afternoons. We welcome those who are attending and anyone else who would like to join.

We are extremely lucky to have a new path to the Waituna Creek Hall, along with a clear area for parking. A huge thank you to the Waimate District Council for making this possible.

2012 will see the continuation of of our Junior and Senior Writer of the Month. The children are already busy setting learning targets to achieve and many are hoping to feature in this spot in our next newsletter.

The school Wonderwall is located in the office area on the window to the Principal’s office. Students who are caught showing extra effort in learning, being great citizens of Waituna Creek and achieving their goals will be award with a certificate, a photo and a spot on our Wonderwall.

Our Mobile Kindy started on Monday and is an exciting addition to our school. Karen, Paula and Charlotte (pictured) set up a wonderful array of activities. We are very lucky to have gained some new junior play equipment.

WHEN: Every Monday, 12.45pm – 3.15pm
WHERE: Waituna Creek School
All Birth to 6 year olds are welcome. Please contact Charlotte or the school office for more information.

Robbie has been learning how to use descriptive words to make the reader really understand his feelings. He is developing excellent strategies to stay focused and to attempt words he is unsure how to spell. His writing is becoming very neat. Well done Robbie – You are a writing superstar!

The senior class have been creating still life drawings to be entered in the Waimate A and P show next weekend.

Juniors will be entering paintings and both classes vegetable creations.

We are asking all children to bring 2-3 vegetables to school next week. We will supply some extra vegetables and the tooth picks and skewers needed to join pieces together.

Make sure you visit the home industries at the show and check up our creations.

It was loud. It was fast. What was it? It was CARS! There were heaps of them! It was so loud it nearly made my ears sore. They went very fast.

There were little cars and big cars.  Some of them crashed and went BANG into the walls.  Some went out of control and I got frightened.

It was a very noisy day. There were lots and lots of people at the Waimate 50.

Jaxson has been learning how to use a hook to make the reader want to read his story. He has also used a question to make the reader think about something. Jaxson is using descriptive words to make the reader really understand what it was like to be there at the Waimate 50. Well done Jaxson – You are a writing superstar!

As we came outside to play, the clouds were grey as an elephant.

I turned and looked at the hills. I blinked. I saw a flash, it was as bright as the sun. Two seconds later the sky rumbled.

I went back to class. I got inside it rumbled again. My heart pumped faster than ever.

Another group of thunder started. It was like sirens in my ears. The thunder was angry and ferocious.

Garden Progress: All 3 gardens have been planted each group has also grown seeds inside and have had a great germination success.

We plan to transplant these to our gardens next week. The next challenge is to design something to deter the birds from our gardens.

We will be adding more photos as the gardens develop. Check them out in our photo gallery.