Term 4 2017

Welcome back to school and to the final term of the school year. We hope that you all had a relaxing and enjoyable holiday. A warm ‘Talofa lava ma Afio Mai’ to our new students who join our school this term: Kapiolani, Tumua and Kaueli Kaisamy, Henry and Billy Crewes, Jarvis and Matilda Every, Aika and Yuka Tanaka, Whitney De Beer, Imogen and Avalon Myer. We welcome you and your families to our school community. We are looking forward to a fun and productive term ahead.

SCHOOL FEES Thanks to all the parents who have already paid their school fees. A reminder that school fees are due no later than Friday 20th October 2017. As per the Vaiala Beach School handbook, any fees not paid by this date will incur a 10% late fee. We encourage all fees to be paid directly to: ANZ Account No.4031570, Vaiala Beach School. Please put your child’s name as reference of payment for easy identification. As this is the final term, please also note that any fees not received by the end of week five (Friday 10th November 2017) will result in your child’s withdrawal from school. Any exception needs to be agreed to by the Principal and in writing.

Students Returning in 2018 Thank you to those who returned the letter confirming children returning in 2018. Most classes for next year have now reached capacity and we still have a high demand for places. Please advise the school as soon as possible should your plans change and your child/ren will not be returning.

New Relieving Teacher Please join us in welcoming our new reliever, Ella Bartley, to our school. Ella will be relieving for Leticia in Room 5 on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Week 1.

Sports Shirts & Hats Sports shirts and hats are a must here at school. Fitness lessons are every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Hats are very important, especially with temperatures starting to climb once more. Students who do not have a hat will not be allowed to play outside during break times.

Year 8 Exams The Year 8 SPECA exams will take placefrom Tuesday 24th October – Friday 27th October.

School Athletics Day This will take place on Thursday 9th November 2017. Details to follow.

Year 1-4 Fun Day This year’s Fun Day for our Junior School will take place at Robert Louis Stevenson School. Date TBA.

Term 3 Assembly DVDs These can be ordered and paid for through the school office. We have ordered 40 copies. Subsequent orders will depend on the number of requests received.

Disaster Management Plan We are in the process of implementing a more robust Disaster Management Plan for the school. This will involve aligning our plan with the emergency processes put in place by the government, ensuring all parents have access to our plan, and holding regular emergency training and drills with the students.In the meantime, we wish to reassure you that in the event of a natural disaster all students will be required to remain at school, where they will be under the school’s care and supervision, until they are collected by an authorised parent or caregiver. Please talk to your children about your own disaster management plan and discuss how you can prepare.

US Embassy Grant Thank you to the US Embassy for generously awarding our school with a grant to upgrade our school security. With this grant, we can look forward to the building of new and more secure fencing around our grounds, cameras and alarms which will help minimise the risk of criminal damage to our school property, and keep out unwanted animals.

Gisborne Intermediate School Visit A huge thank you to the families of our Year 6 and 7 students for providing such an amazing shared lunch for our visitors. They really enjoyed their stay with us and presented our school.