Nga mihi nui ki a koutou katoa te whanau whanui o te Kura Tuatahi o Whakatu – greetings to friends and family of Nelson Central School.

Food For Thought
As part of our commitment to Human Rights in Education our children have been fundraising to support an orphanage in Cambodia. Recently many children took part in Food For Thought, an initiative designed to have children experience the menu of children in the orphanage and at the same time use sponsorship to raise funds to support the work of the orphanage. Georgia M (Rm 2) shares her thoughts about Food for Thought:
“Doing Food For Thought was fun! I felt a bit strange when I started but eventually I got used to it. While I was eating I remembered the children in the orphanage; happy to have some-one supporting them. They were relying on us and we did brilliantly! When we combine the money we raised for Food For Thought with the money raised through Pyjama Day, the children in Cambodia are going to get some of what they need. I’m glad that loads of people did the Food For Thought; the money went to a good cause.”

Pyjama Day
We are very proud of our School Council and the social and leadership skills they are developing. Last week they demonstrated their skills by organising a Pyjama Day. Hannah P and Ella M (Room 2 representatives) shared their thoughts about Pyjama Day:
Why Pyjama Day? It was a fun thing to do – everyone has pyjamas so everyone could take part! Our first goal was to raise a lot of money – more than any other coin trail in the school’s history. Our second goal was to apply the money to the Cambodian orphanage.
Why did you choose the Cambodian orphanage? Tracy, the Room 11 teacher, had been to the orphanage and showed us what it was like for the children there. When she showed us their living conditions we thought it was so sad and we wanted to help them. We had an idea for a pyjama day and helping the orphanage was a good way to use the idea.
What did it look like on the day? It was very cool – everyone was into the idea. They were enthusiastic about wearing pyjamas. Little kids were excited about putting their money down on the drawing of pyjamas. Children new where the money was going to and what it will be used for.
Well done School Council for running such as successful day – and for raising $360.70 in the process!

Guitar Lessons
If your child is interested in learning to play the guitar Zoe Jackson is interested in teaching him/her. Lessons will be organised in groups of four for half an hour at a time. An attempt will be made to do this during the school day. The cost will be $8 per half hour. The school has a limited number of guitars for use. If you are interested please complete a form at the front office.

Supporting Children’s Learning at Home
The most important way parents and whānau can support children’s learning is to show them that they care about their learning. This means:

• providing lots of feedback and positive praise;
• asking open-ended questions about their learning;
• asking about how the child feels about the progress they are making and where they want to go next; and,
• being patient and realising that children make progress in fits and spurts, not usually in a linear fashion – don’t expect perfection immediately!

Even if you don’t feel that positive about your own school experience, you can still make a real difference to your child’s learning. After all, maths, reading and writing are part of our lives, and learning about them happens all the time, not just at school. For example, we are born with our very own built-in decimal counting system – the 10 fingers on our hands! And many children recognise numbers and letters before they get to school, not because they have been “taught” but because there are letters and numbers in our daily environment – on letterboxes, car number plates, the back of buses and so on.
Here are a number of suggestions about what parents and whānau can do as part of your family’s daily life….

For children aged 3-7
If your child is not yet at school, you can give them a great start in life by ensuring they take part in quality early childhood education. Children are active learners from birth, and their early learning experiences are vital to their success in school and in later life. Research has found that high quality ECE has a positive and long lasting impact - even at age 16, children’s literacy, numeracy and problem solving abilities as well as their social skills still show benefits from their pre-school education.

Numeracy

• When you’re cutting up fruit or pies – how many pieces are there? What is half/quarter?
• Asking questions when you’re putting on clothes – how many toes are going into your sock, how many arms into your jersey?
• Getting them to find “their” number (their age) on number plates, billboards, the back of buses
• On a wet day, get out the cards and play Snap, Go Fish, Last Card etc – great for number recognition
• Watching TV – what numbers are the channels/volume
• Check out websites like : www.nzmaths.co.nz/families for on-line games
• Shopping and cafes – for real or make-believe – offer lots of opportunities to talk about prices, help draw up shopping lists, look for prices and letters and weight.

Dr Paul Potaka
PRINCIPAL

Term dates for 2010

Term 3 started Monday 19 July

18 – 30 Aug :  Senior staff prepare for annual self reviews
8 Sept : Prospective students to NIS at 9:30 am, Parent evening at NIS 7pm
13-24 Sept : Staff appraisal interviews
15-16 Sept :  Numeracy Coordinator in classrooms
21 Sept : BOT meeting in staffroom 7pm
21 Sept : Inter-regional cross country champs
21 Sept : Kids for Kids Concert with Suzanne Prentice
22 Sept : Inter-school skiing
24 Sept : Literacy professional development – Chanel Ngaruhe, Rachel Randrup, Dianne Thomson
Term 3 finishes Friday 24 September

Term 4 starts Monday 11 October
12 Oct : Grasshopper  tennis starts
18 Oct : Nelson Central performs in Red Square 12-12:30pm
19 Oct : BOT Meeting
26 Oct : Prospective families/students meeting
26-27 Oct : R5-6 camp
28-29 Oct : R3-4 (+y3 R14) camp
29 Oct : SCG Disco
11 Nov : NIS powhiri/school tour for new students
16 Nov : BOT Meeting
23 Nov : Inter-school athletics
7 Dec : BOT Meeting
Term 4 finishes Thursday 16 December

Public Holidays During Term Time
Labour Day : 25 October (Monday)