Gosh ... where has the time gone!
We have been part of a number of fabulous events recently....

I joined Room 4 on their city camp in Wellington . This was a superb week of learning and I was so proud of each of our students ... how they dealt with challenge and how they supported each other to get the most from each experience. I recommend you check out their blog to learn more! http://room4tasman.blogspot.com/

LAst Saturday we joined all the other schools in our cluster for the historic Moutere Hills Athletics day and managed to take away the most prestigious prize .. The peace shield. Well done Brad!! It has been 12 years since it last graced Tasman Schools shelf.
Also to be commended are Mark Merriman, Peter Van Veen, Ewen Griffiths and Karola Markert who all were great role models in the parent races! We were represented by our eldest and youngest students at a brief commemoration ceremony at 11 minutes past 11am. What a superb event.

R3 & 4 Parent meeting

Thank you to those who attended last weeks parent meeting. You raised great questions and ideas..
so good, in fact, that I have decided to share some via this blog .

How well do we achieve here at Tasman? How do we know?
How does this compare with other schools?
What standardized tests do we use?
What priority does literacy take?
How do we know how our children are achieving in relation to others?
What do we say to our children if they ask to go to another school?
How have we improved our literacy scores so much?
How can a year six student do the work in a class up to year 8 ( or year 4-6 class? )
What age should children move class level?
Why have some families chosen to send their child to intermediate?
What age is normal for moving through to secondary school?
How do children move from one room to the next? What are the criteria? When? end/ mid year? termly?
How well do our kids do when they get to secondary school?

Will pick up on some of these questions over the next few weeks.

Watch out for the Room One and Two parents' meeting soon!

NINE

We celebrated the 9th day of the 9th month 0f the 9th year of the new millenium at 9 minutes past 9am...by creating a -you guessed it_ number nine!

Speech competitions

Gosh ... So much to say ...so little time!
Congratulations to Hannah and Mark who spoke with authority, humour and confidence at the recent Motueka Speech competitions.
They were great ambassadors for Tasman school.

School Cross Country

Wow!

It was fantastic to see all our students, - from our newest new entrant - giving their best efforts in our school cross country on Friday.
What a wonderful celebration of what we can do !!
Thanks to the fabulous parents that organised the course ( including professional start and finish line! )

Because we achieved so highly we will be taking all of our students from 8 years old and above to the Moutere Hills Cross Country this Thursday.
GO TASMAN!!

Quiz night

We had a great start to the new term last week, with students all fired up to learn.
Notices should be returning today for the Ski trip- coming up Friday 21 August.

Quiz night is coming up fast - next Friday 7 August... register your team at the office.
We have a large array of fantastic prizes to be won- thanks to the generosity of local businesses.
The night promises to be a fun one- so get your teams organised now!!!

HArry Potter premiere

All who have ordered and paid for tickets should have received them via your children on the last day of term.

Any others ... contact Bridget R ( Piet , Lillian and Henry's mum).
You have contact details via your parent handbook.

Have a fabulous holiday everyone

Pip

HARRY POTTER

Please help us to sell all our tickets for this world premiere ...

Thursday 16 July 6pm

Time is fast running out as we wanted all bookings in by tomorrow at the latest ... Ring your friends , colleagues , work mates...Bridget has worked hard to give us the first opportunity for this show as a fundraiser for our senior students Wellington trip ... please support her !
Tickets are $12 each

THANKS!

Fun Musical Performance

Well ... It is hard to believe we are at the end of another term already.

Your children have worked really hard this term. We are all very proud of the achievement each child has made- as their report will testify- and particularly excited with the rate of progress in literacy throughout the school.

Tomorrow we have Kath Bee performing for our junior students and any preschoolers within our community.
All welcome!

This Friday 1.15pm in our school hall.

See you there
Pip

Gymnastics

Congratulations to all our fantastic gymnasts - who represented us very ably on Thursday and Friday last week. You performed superbly and we were all very proud.
Big thanks to Adele who has put in many volunteer hours to train them so effectively.

NZ Curriculum

Friday proved to be an incredibly valuable day as staff from Tasman, Mahana, Ngatimoti, Dovedale, Lower Moutere, Tasman Bay Christian and Upper Moutere schools worked together to gain an in-depth understanding of what high quality teaching and learning is in the context of the NZ curriculum due to be implemented in 2010.... What the research says, what it looks like from a student, teacher, parent and environment perspective and how that applies to each school.
We are fortunate to have clear guidelines in regards to our communities aspirations from our parent forums - and this will form the foundation of the Tasman school curriculum.
There is still much to do but we are well on the way!

Lets hope the meeting I will attend this Monday - on the soon to be announced "National Standards" promised by the National government as an election platform - support what our parents and community want... Cross fingers...
More to come!

Reminders

Tomorrow is Teacher Only Day and teachers will be working with other colleagues at the Upper Moutere Rec Centre.

The office will be open until 12 .00 if you need to drop off baking, or goods for the " Festival of Lights".

We have stall number 32 by the Blood Bank in High St... Thanks to those who have offered to staff this, and thanks in anticipation for all you bring for us to sell!!

Saturday afternoon there is a "Le Reve Aromatherapy " demonstration in the school hall... Have a cuppa on the way home from sport and check it out at 1.15pm.

...and make sure you have your team organised for the our Quiz night!! Coming up next Friday at 7 pm... We have some fantastic prizes and raffles ... it will be a great night!!

Dates and happenings

Morena All,

Thank you to room 3 for a fantastic assembly last Friday - Your musicianship is superb ( as is the acting!!)
Thank you also to Mr R for organising the superb Kendo demonstration last week. This is, as many of you will know, a traditional Japanese martial art so we were privileged to be able to take part. All the children greatly enjoyed this "taster".


We have a busy week ahead...
Room 4 students are off to town tomorrow to follow up on letters sent to various businesses requesting donations for quiz nights raffles... Remember to register your team at the office for this fantastic 26 June event !!

This Friday is Teachers Only Day where teachers will be working with other local schools to develop the next stage of implementation of the NZ Curriculum ready for 2010.
Your children do not need to attend school this day. Please see Margo urgently if you have difficulty with childcare for that day ... THIS FRIDAY 19 June.

Now all the pastures are watered and the tanks are full it is great to see that blue sky again!

Have a great day.

Sports successes

WEll done to all the students who played so hard and behaved so well at the tackle tournament last week. Fourth place was a fine result. Thank you to Malcolm Hepburn for superb coaching!

Congratulations to BRAD TUNNICLIFF who has been selected as part of the Under 52 kg Motueka representative rugby team, and to Adele Bremner who is setting a superb example to all our students by winning a covetted position on the Nelson Rep Netball team.

We are very proud of you both and wish you every success in the upcoming season... Go Tasman!!

Frost, soil and rugby

Morena All!
Well.. the grounds have thawed after a couple of good frosts and Room 4 is ready to plant their garlic.
Good luck to our rugby players as they head off to Motueka Sports Park to join forces with Mapua in the annual 7 aside tackle rugby tournament. It promises to be a great day!

Reminders to diary in our Teacher Only Day with other schools in our local cluster on Friday 19 June and our fabulous Quiz night the following Friday 26 June...
This will act as a major fundraiser for our senior class's Wellington camp next term, so start to gather your team mates ready for a great night of fun and challenge.

Book Day

I just couldn't resist sharing these with you!
Celebrating their favourite book was the Cat in the Hat and Things One and Two.. not to mention a couple of the Pied Pipers followers, and Dorothy ( complete with Toto)!

Tuesday 2 June

Welcome to a new month ...one heralded by colder weather and even a wee frost here!
This morning we welcome student musicians from Motueka High School, -and Tasman Bay Christian school as part of an eager audience. It will be great to see past pupils performing for us ! You are welcome to join us from 9.15 - 10 am for this.
Welcome also to Mike Howell, who is replacing Sue today, as both Albie and Lauchie are poorly.
I am busy this morning in an appraisal meeting with Doug Milne but will look forward to hearing all the long weekend stories later in the day.
Have a great one!

Tuesday 26 May

Thanks to all that are using the Dicker Rd entrance whilst road works continue in front of the school. This will be well worthwhile in the long term!

A special welcome today to Ross Ormsby who is staying locally and has offered to speak with Room 3 students . Ross is a motivational speaker who has dealt with the changes of becoming tetraplegic at age 16 and moved on to become a successful athlete and businessman. We look forward to meeting and learning from him.

Reminders... that there is a BoT meeting tonight in the staffroom at 6.30 pm. All welcome.
Room 4 is holding a parent meeting tomorrow night @ 7pm focussing on the upcoming Wellington camp... and Thursday has been set aside to celebrate books. Come as your favourite ( or not so favourite) book character!

MASSIVE

... Our first evening performance is tonight at 7 pm. 

Students need to be assembled in Room 7 at Motueka High at 6.30 pm, ready to go with all the right costumes etc.

Room 7 can be accessed by going through the main foyer at the back of the hall and turning right into the far away corridor.

It is helpful to bring some snacks , water and a book or quiet game for the "waiting time"...

Children need to be collected from the same place (Room 7) after the show. No children will be released without an adult.

Thanks for your support with this.

Other updates...

The work is continuing outside the schools main entrance. Please use Dicker Road entrance until roadworks are completed.

From the principal's desk...Week 4 Term 2 2009

Morena All, 

Well our senior students have all left for their first 'real' MASSIVE performance at Motueka High ... and the adrenaline is running!

The second matinee will be attended by the remainder of our school this afternoon, leaving here at 12.30pm.

All children will return before 3pm to connect with buses.

Could all parents please pick up and drop off from the Dicker Road entrance as we have major road works in progress at our main entrance this week!

Enjoy the show.

From the Principal's desk ...week three

Welcome to Jill Seeney who will provide flute and recorder tuition each Wednesday here at school.

This will complement the wonderful work done by Damon with our guitarists and ukelele players, and by our teachers, with the great music learning they provide in class.

We have a singing tutor waiting in the wings if we have enough takers, ( 8 years and above)...Please let Margo know if you are interested.

A reminder to students in Rooms 3 & 4 that we will spend tomorrow at Motueka High for our dress rehearsal of MASSIVE

From the principals desk...Week 2 Term 2 2009

What a wonderful assembly Room one  Great singing!

Thank you for sharing your learning with us.

 

No assembly this week, as half the school will be at the MASSIVE dress rehearsal.