8 September 2016

From the Associate Principal

Our value for term 3 is Determination Determination is all about working really hard

to achieve a goal no matter how difficult or hard it seems to be.

Greetings, Kia ora, Namaste, Ni Hao, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Kia orana, Ni sa bula vinaka, Salaam

Dear parents and caregivers Term 3 is going by very fast. It is very pleasing to see students are working hard in their classes and how they are participating in many events and options around the school. Mathex 2016: Papatoetoe Central School hosted the annual Mathex competition last week. The competition was attended by seven local schools with teams of Year 4, 5 and 6 students. Congratulations to the Year 4, 5 and 6 teams from our school who won their Mathex competition again this year. Well done to: Year 4: Henry Lou, Darius Howell, Arush Singh, Karen Kaur Year 5: Likent Liao, Max Luo, Navid Panah-Fischer, Owen Booth Year 6: Vansh Chahal, Michele Wong, Ouzel Mahna, Caleb McIntrye Parent Literacy Seminars: The seminars are an opportunity for parents to hear about our Literacy programmes (Reading and Writing) at our school, and to see aspects of the programmes in your child’s class. The junior seminar (Year 0 to 3) will take place on Monday 12 September at 9:00am in the Oval room. The Senior seminar (Year 4 to 6) will take place on Wednesday 14 September at 9:00am in the Oval room. New School Assembly organisation : A new organisation will operate for assembly in Term 4.

• All classes in year 1, 3 and 5 will have their assembly on Mondays in odd weeks of the term. • All classes in year 2, 4 and 6 will have their assembly on Mondays in even weeks of the term.

Parents will still be notified if their child’s class is hosting the assembly, and if their child is receiving a kapai award. Assembly time is 2:15pm, and we ask that parents be seated by 2:10pm. Papatoetoe Central School community group meeting: Over the past 3 year there have been a number of parent community meetings and evenings for our school families, such as the Maori whanau, Pasifika aiga, families with links to the continent of Asia, and the Indian reference group. We are holding a school community group meeting for those families who do not belong to one of the groups above. A separate invitation to families is included with this newsletter. Town Centre Clean-Ups: The Manukau Beautification Trust is holding four town centre clean ups over the next few months. The trust is asking for volunteers to help with the clean up at Hunters Corner Town Centre on Saturday 5 November from 8:30am to 1:00pm and Old Papatoetoe on Saturday 19 November from 8:30am to 1:00pm. The clean up will finish with a BBQ to thank all the volunteers. It would be great to see a group of families from our Papatoetoe Central School community helping with this very worthy project. Many hands make light work You can register your interest at: Barbara.Carney@mbct.org.nz Phone: 09 269 4080 Driving safely: Some people have made comments about the speed that some people drive on our roads and around our school. There is a special speed limit of 40km before and after our school hours, and the regular speed is 50km. Please follow these speed limits and talk to your friends and neighbours about these speed limits. Let’s keep everyone safe as we travel to and from school. KidsCan raincoats: This week KidsCan raincoats have been distributed to almost all of our students. A few students are awaiting correct sizes. The raincoats have been provided by the charity Kidscan, and I am sure you will join me in thanking KidsCan for their very generous support of our school. The Kaiawhina Rangatahi have written a thank you letter to KidsCan on behalf of our school. If you wish to write your own personal thank you, their postal address is: PO Box 31646 Milford Auckland 0741

Reading Challenge: Our Reading Challenge ended last week with prizes being presented to our class winners. Congratulations to Luca Bland from Year 3 who was our ‘star’ reader – he completed 123 books during the challenge – well done. Many thanks to Scholastic Books for donating the books for the prizewinners. All the best for a very enjoyable weekend, with hopefully ‘spring’ weather. Regards Ross McGowan Associate Principal

General Notices Welcome to our new students; Avneet Jhajj, Brian Nguen, Kayla Liu, Xiaolin Huang and Mason Pivac Assembly Day: Monday, 12 September: Room 02 will lead our assembly. Monday, 19 September: Room 24 will lead our assembly.

As always you are most welcome to attend but please make sure that you are seated by 2.10pm ready for a prompt 2.15pm start.

St Christopher’s Residential Home class visit:

Friday, 9 September – Room 02 (1.30pm weather permitting) Friday, 16 September – Room 24 (1.30pm weather permitting

PCS Talent Show: This will held on Friday, 23 September from 9am -10.30am. Parents and caregivers of the students who will be performing are most welcome to attend.

Art Work: Please check out our newly completed art work by our very talented school librarian, Leia Reid, These amazing murals are behind rooms 4 & 5.

Out of Zone Ballot: The Board has approved to conduct a ballot for out of zone siblings only who are to start in the 2017 school year. The ballot will be conducted on Wednesday, 19 October 2016. This is not an automatic right for out of zone siblings so you must apply on the appropriate forms that are available at the school office. Please ensure that you have your application in on time. Applications close on Wednesday, 12 October 2016.

Term 3 Events 5 to 9 September – Tongan Language Week Monday, 12 to 16 Sept – Chinese / Hindi Language Week Monday, 12 Sept – Literacy Parent Seminar Yr 0 – 3 Tuesday, 13 September – Cross Country Zones Wed, 14 Sept – Literacy Parent Seminar Yr 4 – 6 Thursday, 15 September – PCS Community Group Meeting 6pm Friday, 16 Sept – School Closes at 12.40pm Tuesday, 20 September – Gymnastic Zones Friday, 23 September – Camp Mufti fundraiser Friday, 23 September – LAST DAY OF TERM

Early Closure: Teachers and support staff who are members of the teachers' union, the NZEI, are having a meeting off site on Friday September 16 at 1.30-3.30pm. They are meeting with their secondary school colleagues in relation to the government's school funding review. There are a number of aspects that are of very deep concern to the NZ schooling sector. As a result, our school will close at 12.40pm on Friday 16 September. Please arrange for your child to be collected at this time. If you are unable to pick your children up at 12.40pm, our out of school care provider, SKIDS, is offering this special below for the afternoon.

Keep New Zealand Beautiful Week: Join the Stream Team on Saturday 17 September! Calling parents, caregivers, aunties, uncles, cousins, grandparents and older brothers and sisters! Can you spare half an hour (or a bit longer) on Saturday 17th September between 10am-1pm? We have a great group of students who are keen to help tidy up the stream and walkway near Lloyd Avenue, across the road from Allenby Park, but we are desperate for some more adults to join us. If you’ve been working hard all week and don’t fancy digging holes or weeding, don’t worry, you can just lend us your eagle eyes to make sure our students are working safely :) Refreshments will be provided to volunteers. And students, it’s definitely not too late to sign up and come along if you want to get involved. We would love to have more of you there if you can make it. IMPORTANT: If you have already replied via the streamclean email address, please re-send us your name and contact number, as we have discovered emails weren’t getting through. The problem has been fixed now. Please contact streamclean@pcs.school.nz with your name and phone number or call the office on 09 278-7557 to leave your details if you can help out.

September is Bee Aware Month and this year the New Zealand apiculture industry is urging Kiwis to ‘Feed the Bees’! Everyone can, and are encouraged to, pitch in to help feed the local bees by planting ‘bee friendly’ plants in our gardens, on our farms, in our public gardens and even along our roadsides. The idea for the ‘Feed the Bees’ theme stems from the fact that not many people realise how important it is to plant food for bees. From the Environment and Sustainability Group

Community Notices

Papatoetoe Intermediate School Enrolments for year 6 students: Please note the following dates: All in zone enrolments should be pre enrolled by now. Out of Zone applications close on Wednesday, 12 October. There will be a family Information Evening at the Intermediate on Thursday, 3 November at 6pm If you would like a tour of the school please contact the School Office.

Out and About Holiday Events:Tuesday 27th September- Amazing Race Ngati Otara Park,

100 Otara Road from 2pm-4pm.Monday 3rd October - Kite Day Allenby Park, 66 Allenby

Road 1pm-3pm.Friday 7th October - Park Fun Day Pearl Baker Reserve, 20 Pearl Baker Drive

1pm - 3pm.Email-outandabout@clmnz.co.nz for more info or to join our newsletter

For more information, please contact George or Hazel

09 275 3458 (8:30 to 5:00 pm) | 0800 900754 or 021 105 5303

papatoetoecentral@skids.co.nz http://www.skids.co.nz/location/new_lynn

Papatoetoe Central School

School Hall

School closing 12:40 noon on Friday 16 Sept. 2016

Fee : $12.50 (12:40 noon to 3:00 pm) If you are receiving WINZ subsidy, please complete a

Change-of-Circumstances Form (available on site) by 16 Sept. 2016.