FAVONA PRIMARY SCHOOL

Thursday 13 April Week 11 Term 1 2017

Kia ora, talofa lava, malo e lelei, fakaalofa lahi atu, kia orana, namaste, bula

vinaka, greetings…

We have reached the end of Term 1, which has been busy and exciting. Our new playground is being enjoyed by our children, and we have made the most of it on the sunny days we have had, in between all the rain!

I would like to thank our hard working staff for the thought, time and aroha they have put into their role here at Favona, this term. From our DP, Mr A and AP, Whaea Tania, to our teachers, teacher aides, office and grounds staff, social

Phone - 09 275 8449 Email - dianew@favona.school.nz

From the Principal

worker, health carers and Board of Trustees, so much heart and soul has been put into achieving so much for and with our children.

I also want to say how proud I am of our children, for the learning they have worked hard at, for their warm smiles and enthusiasm, for their efforts to learn how to be good friends and the way that each and every one has pitched in and helped here at Favona. We have had many examples of children who are showing great leadership skills, including our student councillors, Tamariki Arohanui, milk and fruit monitors and road patrollers.

And of course, thank you, our parents and community for supporting us this term. We have seen an improvement in attendance and arriving at school on time. This makes a huge difference to your child’s achievement and progress, when they are at school and not missing out on important learning. We have also really been grateful for the numbers of families who have come in for our community evenings, so we can hear from you about your child and what we can do to have a stronger partnership with you to support your child’s learning. We look forward to having many more events like this, and to developing new opportunities and initiatives from these important discussions. We now have a whanau room, which we look forward to using as a place for our community to meet together.

Our library will be open before school so that you can take some time to read with your child, if you have a few spare minutes. Children’s reading skills improve greatly when they are read to and this is an enjoyable way for you to help your child make progress.

We farewell Jan Senikaucava at the end of the term, who has been with us for over 25 years, teaching and caring for the children of our Favona community. We also farewell Ofa Halo who has contributed over the years to our Niuean cultural groups and musical events. We welcome Parvinder Kaur, who will be taking on a role as classroom release teacher. Tony Dillon and Jo Hadfield will share the teaching in E2 until we appoint a new classroom teacher for that class.

I wish you all a safe and happy holiday and look forward to Term 2 and the many exciting events and learning opportunities that are already being planned.

Nga mihi nui

Diane Wiechern

Do Good Day

We were really grateful to OMD Media for sending us 90 volunteers recently, to do a day’s hard work completing some beautification projects around the school.

Some of our students worked alongside the workers and the results of the day were amazing- 2500 wheelbarrow loads of bark shifted into the playground, mural painting, gardening, applying a finishing coat to our lovely new stage were just a few of the jobs tackled. The day started with a powhiri for the group, and a lovely lunch was provided by our Favona whanau.

PB4L

Our PB4L team (Positive Behaviour for Learning) have been meeting and planning this term, and next term there will be a consultation process happening, where our community- students, families, staff, all put forward ideas about how we expect behavior to be at Favona, in order to make it a place that we are proud of

Recent Happenings

and feel good being a part of. Our recent questions to families about our Favona vision and values has all been a part of this process, also.

Our Favona Breakfast Club has been really successful this term, happening on Tuesdays and Thursdays before school. Our children are enjoying coming in, having something to eat, playing some of the games that are set up, and just enjoying the start of the day with their friends. We are keen to run the Breakfast Club every day, but to do this, we will need help from our community to help set up and supervise. Please contact me or Iese Afutoto (iesea@favona.school.nz) if you can help with this great initiative for our children.

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