Final assembly

Thank you to every person who came tonight to support and celebrate the achievements of all our students over 2010, and to farewell those that are moving on to the next stage of their school life.

We squashed more than 170 people in our hall ... what a night !... what a team!...

Your children are a credit to the community they represent, their parents and their teachers.

We may be off to a slow start tomorrow but are looking forward to seeing some seriously out-there clothing as we celebrate Loud Shirt Friday.

Get your sunglasses out...

Swimming pool keys

The pool is being filled today, after a further coat of paint... and should be in operation by the end of next week.

We are hoping we can continue to upgrade the pool over time - I know some parents have got some great ideas.

Families who would like a key, can purchase these from the office for $50.

Refunds of $10 will be given for each returned key at the end of the season.

This increase has been needed to cover the cost of the chemicals over the summer break and the cost of a whole new set of numbered keys, after the padlock was removed at the end of last season by an enterprising keyholder.

The system has now been upgraded to avoid cutting of unauthorised keys- thanks to Motlock.

We have 40 in total, and some have already gone - so it will be first come , first serve.

You will also be asked to sign a pool use agreement so everybody knows what is expected.

We will need a series of volunteers to check the pool over the holidays so we can keep it open ... Please give your name to Margo if you can take a turn.

If you still have keys from previous years you can dispose of them and return the key ring to Margo.

We will look forward to a long swimming season, if this weeks weather is an indication.

Enjoy!

New Driveway layout

As many of you will know by now we are trialling a new driveway plan.

The idea is to keep the flow of traffic all going in the same direction , and eliminate students crossing to individual cars.

We have already seen that we will need to increase the size of the roundabout and some of the carparks - but the actual traffic flow is much better.

We are training children to all cross at one point by the entrance to the tennis court...

Thanks for your feedback and patience with this.

Term 4 begins

Term 4 begins with a flurry

We welcome Jenna and Duncan's daughter Lily to our community! Lily was born at home on the first Wednesday of the holidays and has already come visiting!

Everybody is well into the mask making as I write so coma along on Friday and join us!

Monday Rooms 3 &4 will be performing at the Red Square in Nelson as part of the Arts Festival and Tuesday Rooms 1 & 2 will be treated to the Wonkey Donkey show at Tasman Bible Church Hall.

Next Friday we will be relaunching our newly painted library ... and that is just the start of what we have in store for Term 4!

Time flies!

So much done ... so little time left!

This term has gone in a flurry of activity ... winter sports , speech competitions, orienteering, mask making, mathletics, gymnastics, music making, expo days, technology challenges...to name a few.

Today our room 2 paeleontologists are off fossil hunting, and our artists are examining the wearable art entries at WOW.

Tomorrow - weather permitting - we will all do our 'Jump Off' for Jump Rope for Heart and Thursday will all head off to Kina Peninsula to do our bit as part of the great NZ Clean up week, and then on Friday we will be entertained and educated by our senior pupils as they share their learning about Japan at our final assembly for the term.

All the best everyone for a wonderful holiday.

If you are about ... remember to join in our car boot sale on Saturday 2 October from 10 - 1pm.

I'll look forward to seeing everyone - batteries recharged - ready for term 4, on Monday 11 October.

Newcomers

Morena All!

We welcome Ms Jenna Harton, to Room 4 whilst Sue Shand is on study leave.
Jenna has already wowed the class, built strong connections with the students and has the learning programme well underway.
We are lucky to have Sue still involved weekly to keep all the threads together so we have the best of both worlds for our senior students!

Welcome also to Alexia and her family who have moved to the country from Nelson city. Alexia is now an integral member of Room 2.
By now Orrin, Tala, Harlee and Johnny are "old hands"... but we welcome them in "blog time" as well!

Last Friday we welcomed Evelyn to Room 1. Evelyn is the fourth generation of her family to come to Tasman School.
What a rich tapestry of history she represents!

We will look forward to building towards our centennial in 2013... Anyone who is keen to be involved in the planning - please let the school know.

We look forward to a fantastic term 3!

Room 3 on the move

Today Room 3 moved back into their newly decorated classroom.

Comments included ... "Wow ... this is real cool"
I like the way all the colours work together"
" The walls are so soft"
"look at our new sink!"

Everybody was so patient with the noise and disruption and the wait was well worth it!
It will be a wonderful backdrop for the students work.

Room two can't wait for their turn!

Book week

...What festivities!
Highlights included dressing up of course , but also the second hand book swap, ( with catering, courtesy of room 3 chefs), the Ashton Scholastic book fair, ( that has produced a commission of $250 for our library) and the fabulous book quiz which saw students and parents working together to solve the clues developed by students in each room.
Congratulations to our winners, our quiz masters Tayne and Francis, and all those that have made the week so successful.

Congratulations

We have a bit of a news to catch you all up with .
Our senior class took out the honours winning the Nelson Hockey tournament last week. Congratulations to all involved!

Further congratulations...
We have three new Board members as a result of our recent elections.
A special welcome and congratulations to Adele Bremner, Saree Dickson, and Joseph Scragg... and to our new Board secretary Pip Weir.
We know each of you will be a great asset to our school in this role.

BoT Elections

Last week saw the election of three new trustees to the Tasman Board of Trustees:

Congratulations to Adele Bremner, Saree Dickson and Joseph Scragg, who join Peter Van Veen , Jolene Salmond , Fraser and Pip.

Thank you to all those who stood for or considered standing for Board positions this time.

Farewell and huge thanks to their predecessors - “retiring” trustees - Noelle Griffiths and John Stephens, and previous members Jim Campbell, Martyn Peat and Lee Stevens - who have all given considerable time and energy to our school over the last three years- and ultimately to the education of your children.
We thank you for the parts you have played ( and often continue to play) in the life of our school.

Websites for learning

Some of you have asked for ideas to support learning at home, using computers.
This is a great way to get children motivated to take responsibility for their own learning_ which is one of our ongoing goals.

We have developed a link for you to go to if you want suitable on line activities for your child.

http://tasmanhomepage.blogspot.com/

This will be updated over time and is linked to your child's class blog.
Have fun!

Renovations begin!

Work is scheduled to start on the refurbishments of Rooms Two and Three, next Monday.
This is Stage One of the programme of work developed by your Board, and has been eagerly awaited for what feels like a long time.

Staff and children in these rooms are highly excited, and Room Three are busy transferring to the hall...for what we hope will only be three weeks.
Room 2 will them have their turn- and by the end of the term, we will have two beautifully renovated classrooms!

This will, of course, have an impact on our hall use over this time period but we are working to minimise the disruption as best we can.
I will be working with the builders next week to identify possible issues- Please be aware of potential dangers - particularly for supervision of preschoolers -as you drop off and pick up your children each day. I would encourage you to use the Dicker Road entrance if possible.

Im sure you will all enjoy watching the progress over the coming weeks!

Board of Trustees elections

Thanks to everyone who has been busy talking about this important job...
We are lucky enough to have four highly skilled candidates who have agreed to stand for the election
They are
Adele Bremner
Saree Dickson
Doug Donelan
& Joe Scragg
You will have read about each of them in your voting information.

Thanks to all of you who have already placed your votes in the box in the office.
Voting closes this Friday 6 May. Make sure you have your say.

Term One speeds by

It is hard to believe we are nearly in our last week of what has admittedly been a short term.
We have had a fabulous Taste Tasman festival which proved to be a celebration of, not only our school, but our entire community.
Our students were active supporters prior to the event by preparing and marketting ginger beer and lemon syrup as part of their science and technology studies and growing garlic, tomatoes, corn, herbs etc in their class gardens.
On the day, many became avid 'Muddy Buddy' contestants.
Check out some of the photos on
www.tastetasman.co.nz
(use the Muddy Buddy link on the right of the page...)
Great photos!
Our senior students also played a key role in supervising many of the activities, and acting as hosts for the thousands of visitors we hosted on the day.- A record crowd of over three thousand ( using our numeracy estimation skills).
We loved all the entertainment - especially Sharon O'Neill - but also appreciated our very own musos including Fraser, Aly and Chrissie!!
Fab food, fab goods, fab people, fab day !! And a wonderful fundraiser for our school and community. We can't praise enough the wonderful hard working Taste Tasman team that put it all together!
You are awesome.

... More about all the other stuff we are so good at in Tasman - very soon!

2010

WELL!!!

We have started 2010 with a bang!
Routines and expectations are being established and work is well underway.
We have a fantastic school we can be really proud of!

A special welcome to Katelin, Hayley and Hudson who have joined us this year, and to Jordan who arrived at the end of last year.
All the best to our past pupils for their ongoing education. We look forward to hearing of your successes.

Congratulations To Anna, Greg and Hudson whose new baby daughter / sister- Harriet -arrived early this morning, and to Justine, Carl, and Cameron whose daughter Jay Lee, arrived during the holidays.

Please tell everyone you know how much fun we are all going to have on 7 March
Registration for Muddy Buddies starts at 9.30 am on the day and Taste Tasman kicks off at 11am with wonderful music, entertainment food and drinks.
We are looking forward to hearing Sharon O'Neill at the festival.
We are also holding a workshop for musicians and those interested at the School of Music the following Wednesday with Sharon O'Neill, Appra, NZ Music Commission Creative NZ and others focussing on songwriting, copywriting etc.

Details for all at www.tastetasman.co.nz

Check it out and pass the word.

See you all there
Pip