 Staff Farewell - Megan Johnston It is with mixed blessings we inform you Megan has accepted a promotion at East Gore School, from the beginning of next year. While we are happy for Megan to continue to grow in her profession, we are very sad to be losing Megan from our team and our West Gore community. Megan has wonderful relationships with many of you and your children as you have entrusted her with your new 5 year old starting school. Megan has a lovely ‘fan club’ that visits regularly in the mornings to touch base which is testament to the safety and aroha she creates for children. We will celebrate Megan in our final assembly  Staff Appointment Process
The Board of Trustees is working through the appointment process now and we will inform you when we have our confirmed staffing and class placement of teachers for 2026. Class Placements for 2026 The teaching staff are working on class lists for 2026. Our new curriculum is year level based so it makes best sense to have straight classes whenever we can to cover the curriculum. This will mean there is less flexibility in children's placements than composite classes allow. We will notify you of your child's class in the final week of school along with stationery lists so you can purchase with the back to school deals in January. Leadership day - Year 5 students Our year 5 students will enjoy a day of challenge & leadership activities on Monday at Camp Columba. This is a great opportunity for teachers and all our year 5 group to come together and get to know each other better before their year 6 year next year. We encourage our Year 6 students to take on leadership roles within the school and this day sets the scene for this. Thank you to parents that are accompanying this group on Monday. Launchpad Next week is the last day of launchpad for the year. We are very grateful to our local team of teachers, Merle Barnett, Andrew Dodds, Janice Elder and Valmai Redhead for their dedication and commitment to our children. This team has been coming to west gore for years and have built up significant relationships with our children and families. We are grateful for the care and support this offers many children. Reporting to Parents - December 2nd You will receive your child’s report home on December 2nd. The format will be the same as mid year. We will send an update with the reports explaining further changes to the curriculum announced very recently by the government. We appreciate this is challenging for you to keep up with but be reassured, in spite of the changes your children are receiving excellent teaching and they are making great progress. If, after receiving your child’s report you would like clarity, please make an appointment to speak with their teacher. They will be happy to discuss and explain anything further. You will have received your child’s folder home with two new learning stories this term. These learning stories will reflect the other areas of the curriculum. Please read, respond to your child in the way of a comment and return to school. We have several learning journals not returned. Dolamore Park - Whole School Day - Friday 5th December We are looking forward to this day together with our community. It is a fun day out and we encourage you to come out and join in the fun as your work commitments allow. The children will participate in a rotation of fun activities, enjoy a Mr. Whippy ice cream, compliments of the Home and School and have a surprise event. All children will be travelling on the bus, leaving school at 9.30am and returning before 3.00pm. If you wish to take your child home from the park please inform your child’s class teacher. (More details to follow) Year 6 Graduation / School Breakup Monday 8th December (note change of date), Calvin Church at 6.00pm (Children to arrive at 5.45pm when the doors open) This is a special event for our school where we celebrate and honour our Year 6 students graduating from West Gore. We encourage all families to attend and feel it is important we honour our leaving students as a school community. All our children are part of the ceremony to honour the year 6 leavers. There are also class awards and it is disappointing when children are not there to receive them. School Rumble Thursday 11th December (from 2.00pm – 3.00pm) - Students to set up from 1.30pm This day is always a highlight for all our children. Year 6 students have the opportunity of buying a desk to sell their own goods. They pay $5 per table top and sell goods they have made or their own treasures to the other children in the school. The prices range from 10 cents with a maximum of $2.00 per item. This does not include commercially purchased goods but things like headbands, books, toys, sweets, drinks etc. You are welcome to send your child along with a few coins to make some purchases. As a guide, $2 - $5 would buy a child several bits and pieces. It is a good idea to send them with a purse / wallet for their money and a bag to put their purchases in. Teachers will hold on to this money for safekeeping in the morning. The Year 6 students decide on the charity they are going to support each year with their $5.00 desk fee and children then keep their own profits. This is a great opportunity to see the entrepreneurial skills of our senior students. Do come along and enjoy the buzz of this fun afternoon. Last day of school Just a reminder we finish on Friday December 12th at 12 noon. Buses will not run at this time so we ask bus families to collect their children at this time please. Beginning of School - 2026 School will commence on Wednesday the 4th of February 2026. Enjoy your weekend. Nga mihi Linda Fraser Principal  Our talented golfers have brought the trophy home for the second year in a row! Maehe, Jett, Blake, and Karlee represented West Gore School at the Southland Primary Schools Golf Tournament in Drummond yesterday, and we couldn’t be prouder.
These four keen players had a fantastic day on the course—having fun, supporting each other, and giving it their absolute best. Their efforts paid off as they were crowned Champions of the Year 5 & Year 6 division! A big thank you to Hayden, who accompanied the team as manager. We truly appreciate your time, support, and dedication. We would also like to acknowledge Katelynne who showed the West Gore values of resilience and respect when she was the unlucky person to be balloted out of this team. Katelynne managed this disappointment with respect and understanding. We are proud of you Katelynne. Congratulations, team—what an achievement! On behalf of the Launchpad teachers I would like to thank the school for allowing us to present this programme again this year to students in Rooms 1, 12, 14, and 16.
We have enjoyed working with the children, following the Launchpad programme, which uses Bible stories and stories of famous people which support the values of West Gore School. Our last day for the year will be on Friday 28 November when we will present the Christmas story to the children in the hall. As has happened in previous years all classes are invited, including those in which we haven’t been teaching. If you have a child in one of these classes and you don’t wish them to attend please notify the office or their classroom teacher. Parents, grandparents and caregivers are also invited to come at 9:30am to join the children to watch this finale. All Year 5 children who have attended Launchpad will be presented with a Bible on our final class day which will be 21 November. Have a wonderful Christmas break. Blessings Merle Barnett Co-Ordinator Kia Ora Everyone,
Following a stormy start Spring weather seems to be finally settling. Longer evenings means more play outside and the excitement of looking forward to holidays and the Christmas season. There is much for school staff and the Board to do over this time. On the 23rd of October I joined with our staff at the Save Our Services Rally at The Triangle. We were joined by people from the Health sector too. Education staff, medical professionals and emergency workers took part in the Nationwide action to draw attention to the serious issues affecting all of these sectors. They and us were there for students, patients and the public who access emergency services, in short, families. Our presence at the Triangle was well received by the public passers-by. We could only be there for a short time as the storm that went on to cause so much destruction arrived shortly before 1.00 pm. To protest is at the basis of any democracy and I was happy to be there. On November 4th our Home and School Committee held their annual Home and Garden Tour. It was very successful and I would like to personally acknowledge and thank sincerely those parents and staff who devoted a huge amount of time and effort to this. The sole purpose of course is to raise funds for the benefit of our tamariki. Please consider joining the group or volunteer when you can during fundraising efforts, you would be welcome. Home and School support is really vital to our school and students. I never take for granted the work this group does for us all. The November Board meeting was held this week on Wednesday 11th 2025. We regularly cover a lot of important topics at each meeting covering the management and governance of West Gore School. There are topics I want to address here. As you know we are undertaking further action under new direction from the Government pertaining to school absences. Of pressing concern is children being withdrawn from school in order to holiday overseas with their families. As per legal guidelines this is judged to be an unjustifiable absence. Our school Leadership team is often not informed of these plans in the appropriate manner. In some cases, notification is not within a suitable timeframe and occasionally there is no notification at all. There are many reasons why an overseas trip may happen. It may be for cultural, medical or legal reasons. However, taking time away during Term time is discouraged for the purpose of holidays. In all cases though the Board requires you to make contact with Principal Linda Fraser in the first instance. Please consider the timing of overseas holidays and how it can impact your child’s learning, especially if your child is taking part in a supported learning program. Every year a sub-committee of Board members undertakes a review of School Policy and Procedure. The policies are scrutinised for serviceability, suitability and improvement if required. For parents and caregivers to participate please go the School app, click ‘ links’ and then ‘School Docs’. It’s a great tool, do go and have a read. Work is currently being done to make updated guidelines on school policy as it applies to you and your whānau easily available. I will keep you all posted as to when that comes it to being. Til next time, Ngā Mihi, Susan Hasselman Presiding Member Yesterday, eight of our students travelled to Mossburn to take part in the Southland Primary Schools’ Festival of Golf. After being postponed twice due to weather, it was wonderful to finally see the event go ahead — and what a great day it turned out to be! A huge thank-you to Cody and Hayden for generously accompanying and supporting our two teams. Congratulations to Danel, Jett, Coby, Lachie, Maehe, Blake, Katelynne, and Karlee, who all played their best and represented our school the West Gore way! An extra congratulations to Maehe, Katelynne, Karlee, and Blake, whose team placed second overall and has qualified to compete in the final on 20 November 2025. We are so proud of all our golfers for their fantastic effort, teamwork, and sportsmanship!  Regular attendance at school is important to your child’s success and there is a clear connection between going to school regularly and doing well in the classroom. Making sure students attend and engage in learning is a shared responsibility. As a parent, you are responsible for making sure your child attends school every day.
If your child is going to be absent for any reason it is essential that you let us know as soon as possible. It is important that you phone us (03 208 7586) or send us an email ([email protected]) or message us on SchoolApps to confirm your child’s absence and provide us with the reason. We acknowledge that there are genuine reasons students may occasionally be absent. However, without regular attendance your child will struggle to make progress. If your child is absent regularly, or for extended periods, we will reach out to you to discuss the situation. We are committed to supporting your child to attend school. If you are having difficulty getting your child to school, you can ask for support by: • speaking with your child’s teacher, • sending us a message on SchoolApps, or • calling us on 03 208 7586 and ask to speak to the Principal, Linda Fraser. We can work with you to develop a support plan that addresses any barriers to regular attendance. More information on attendance, including your rights and responsibilities as parents or caregivers, is available on the Ministry of Education’s webpage: Attendance.  Internet safety
Last week's incident involving some of our children’s safety on the internet has now been resolved due to Netsafe, John Parsons and our local Police Education officers' involvement. The site has been removed. This is a good opportunity to check up on what your children have access to on the internet and what sort of activity they are involved in. There is a staggering number of children in our senior school with access to phones and other devices. Many of the apps they have access to are restricted for much older children. While John Parson’s and teacher’s messages are very clear about sharing photos and messages without consent, this appears to be very common practice. The risks are enormous when they are used on the internet , can cause distress and is bullying. Let’s work together to keep our children safe. Home & Garden Tour We are delighted with the success of this year's Home and Garden tour. Thank you to all of you for your tremendous support in selling raffles, baking and to those of you that helped in the organisation prior, post and on the day. Many of you sold a huge number of raffle tickets as well as a great number sold on the day. The total form raffle tickets alone was over $8K . Your baking was well received with $1,100.00 raised. The total raised is in excess of $15K. This is a fabulous effort from our school community and our staff. This day could not happen without the incredible support of the Home owners. Our eight home owners very generously opened their homes for our benefit and we are so grateful. Bayleys Realty Group and SBS Bank, our major sponsors, contributed to the success and we are grateful to them. Our local businesses have once again generously supported our raffle prizes. We are grateful for your generosity year after year. A special thank you to Kelly Thomson and the Home and School committee for their work in organising this wonderful event for our school. We look forward to some new swings with the funds raised. Class Placements 2026 Teachers are in the process of organising classes for 2026. We will again have 7 classes in 2026 and they will all be composite, more than one year level in each. We have a small amount of flexibility in the make-up of classes. We would like to hear from you if you have any special requests about the placement of your child, i.e. twins in the same class or separated, being the older or younger child in a composite class. We spend a lot of time placing your child in what we believe will be the best place for their relationships and learning. We have not finalised teaching year levels for our staff yet. This is not an opportunity to request a specific teacher. Please send an email to Linda Fraser, [email protected] with any considerations for your child by Friday 14th November. Dolamore Park Many children and parents are disappointed that we have had to cancel the second class visit for the term due to the weather event two weeks ago. With Southland in a state of emergency the Director of Education suggested outdoor education events be postponed. Thank you for your commitment to accompanying us on these visits. Room 3,4 and 14 will still go on November 27th. We look forward to the whole school visit on December 5th. This day will be a fun school community day. We hope that whanau can join us over the lunch hour at least . More details to follow. School Events We hope everyone has signed up to the School App https://schoolappsnz.co.nz/ School events are listed in this space so please transfer to your calendar. If you would like some help to download the App please pop in and see Anneke in the office. Pond in Junior School This space creates so much pleasure, fun and learning. We love it and all fine days from now on it will be played in. A reminder for your children that it is a learning space where plenty of fun and experimentation can be had but it is not a swimming pool. Teachers are clear with the children about the expectations and we are not phoning parents for changes of clothing. Enjoy your weekend. Nga mihi Linda Fraser Room 2 students have been learning to ‘show not tell’ for writing which means they are describing something without actually saying what it is. This type of writing allows the listener or the reader to create a picture in their mind. It's a fabulous genre to use language features such as adjectives (describing words) or similes in, to enrich writing. Below are some wonderfully descriptive pieces of writing showing an emotion. Can you work out what emotion the children are showing? Remember the time…
My feet were stomping, my fists were punching, my face was as red as a West Gore school T-shirt and my eyes were crunched up like a piece of paper. By Brodie Remember the time… I punched the door, I slammed the cupboard, I screamed and it felt like my head was on fire because it was all red. By Aubree Remember the time… I was screaming, my face was screwed up, my feet were stomping, my heart was racing, I was screaming and I was stressed. By Bella Remember the time… When I was kicking out my legs, my fingers were all crunched up like paper, flames were coming out of my head and I was walking like a giant walks. By Manasvi Remember the time… My fists were scrunched up like a ball, my feet were stomping and I got more angry than a gorilla. Reef Remember the time.. My feet were kicking the wooden pillars outside the classroom, my hands were over my face, my fists were scrunched up like an asteroid and my head was going round like a tether. By Ethan Remember the time… My fists were punching the air, my feet were stomping and my eyes were scrunched up. By Milly Remember the time… My head felt like a circus, my heart was pounding like fast Sonic, my fists were curled like a snail and I stomped my feet on my way to my room. By Nash With the new learning story format giving a space for whanau feedback, we thought we would share some examples of possible responses, in case you’re unsure of what to write. This is a space for you to respond to your child’s learning story with a positive affirmation, tell us where you might see them using this learning at home, encourage them, ask a question, make a suggestion or just say you enjoyed reading it. Teachers are really wanting to build home-school partnerships and we see this as one way to do that. We have noticed that when students bring them back with a comment, they are really thrilled. We are encouraging them to prompt you to write in the box. I’m sure you’ll be aware of the time and thinking that goes into writing the learning stories for you. It would really help us to know they have been read and are valued at home. They show you how your child is learning in the wider NZ Curriculum and how they are developing our Skills for Growing. Examples of what parents / caregivers might write are below:  |
|