Dear Parents/ Whanau, 

A huge week with bugs and very sick children and adults around the school. We have 35 children away today, several with Influenza A which is a serious illness. Please keep your children away until they are well enough to be at school. There is a lasting cough which we understand will take ages to go and we know it is not practical to keep your child at home until this is fully better. 

Please remember to use the App to inform us your child is sick. Anneke is spending far too long following up on absences. 

Polyfest - Monday 24th at  11.35am
We are ready and excited to perform at Polyfest on Monday morning at the ILT Stadium in Invercargill.  
There has been a lot of hard work going into the performance. Our staff are amazing and full credit to Jane Matthews, Rebekah Prattley and Kasey Owen-Wilson who have led the performance group. A special thanks to the other staff who have taught the rest of the school who are also participating on stage as a whole school performance. 

Monday Arrangements - Kapa Haka
 Sickness : We need to know asap if your child is sick and won't be attending. Don't send sick children to school please.  
Please send a message via the App on Sunday evening or early Monday morning

COSTUMES 
Performance Group :  Girls 8.30am Room 5 (back of Room 4, Junior block)
Girls : Room 5 for dressing, hair, (if needed), lipstick etc.
            Wear navy or black bike pants for under dress 
            Hair in a bun 
(Send the girls with a named supermarket bag for clothes to change into )
Boys : Room 14 - usual arrival time no later than 8.45am.

All Other Students
 Girls:  Tidy school uniform, navy socks (not tights), hair in a bun 
 Boys:  Tidy school uniform, navy socks, hair neat 

Buses 
We have got recorded if you have told us you are collecting your child after the event to travel home. You may take them after their performance. 
If you are now attending and taking your children home with you and we have not been notified you MUST tell your child's class teacher. 
Lunch Eating 
Students to bring water bottles and lunchboxes as they would on a normal school day. We have decided after viewing the forecast we will stay at the stadium , eat lunch while watching some more school performances.
Departure from Stadium 
We will depart at 1.30pm sharp from the stadium for our return back to school. Children will be dismissed on our return to school at the regular time. 

Speech Finalists 
We were delighted to have Katelynne, Isabelle and Izette represent us at the Eastern Southland Schools Speech Competition this week, hosted by East Gore School.  

The three girls did us proud with their excellent delivery of their entertaining speeches, entitled Principal for a Day, Being the Youngest and Facing Fear. 
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Katelyn had an extra bonus of actually trying out being the Principal for a day with Miss Prattley guiding her. The jelly beans were the biggest hit. I may need to up my game to stay in this job! 

 Speech writing and delivery is a great skill and we are proud of all our students competing and having the courage to deliver their speech to their peers. 

Student Uniform
At West Gore School, our school uniform helps foster a sense of pride, belonging, and identity within our school community. We encourage all parents and caregivers to review our Student Uniform Policy on SchoolDocs and support their child in wearing the correct uniform each day.

We ask families to ensure that students come to school dressed in the approved school uniform and that all items meet the school's uniform expectations. Wearing the correct uniform helps create a positive learning environment, promotes fairness, and reflects the high standards we have for our students.
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If a student is unable to meet uniform requirements due to financial hardship or other exceptional circumstances, we encourage parents and caregivers to contact the school so we can work together to find a supportive solution.
Thank you for your support in helping our students represent West Gore School with pride, both at school and when attending events or travelling to and from school. The full policy can be viewed on our SchoolDocs website.

Upcoming Safety Exercises: Fire, Earthquake, and Lockdown 
At our school, keeping your children safe is our absolute priority. To make sure we are all prepared for any situation, we will soon be running practice emergency exercises for fire, earthquakes, and lockdowns. These practices help our students and staff feel confident and familiar with what to do. 

When we conduct our lockdown exercise (and in the case of a real emergency), we will send a message out via the school app to let you know what is happening. It is therefore of the utmost importance that you have the West Gore School App installed on your phone.  We approach these exercises with care so our tamariki feel safe and supported throughout.  

Important note for both practices and genuine incidents:
If you become aware of a lockdown or evacuation, please do not come to the school or phone the office. Our team will be fully focused on looking after the children, so we will not be able to answer the phones or open the doors. Extra presence or phone calls can also make it harder for emergency services to do their jobs.
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Please rest assured that we will keep you updated via our school app as soon as it is safe to do so. 
Thank you for your understanding and support in keeping our school community safe!

Life Education 
The wonder of Pip and Harold in the Life Education van brings our health focus to life in such a special way for our children. 

Harold was caught changing his clothes on Tuesday after the snow by  Room 3. He got a bit muddled and came into the classroom in just his undies!  What was Harold thinking about? 

The beautiful Pip has been the educator at West Gore School for many years and she is the magic that brings the Life Education programmes alive. We always love when she visits West Gore. She lifts everyone with her positivity and love of bringing her programmes to our students.

Interviews 
Our teachers loved the opportunity  to chat with you last week and share details of your child’s progress. We hope you found it a useful experience to hear from your own child speaking about their goals and learn some more about the new reporting system , how it relates to your child, extra support they may require and to celebrate their strengths. 
If you wish to meet with your child’s teacher or myself at any other time please feel free to make an appointment through the school website or Anneke in the office can help.

Attendance / Illness
We are in the middle of many winter bugs. If your child is unwell please keep them at home. 
We notice we still have several children not attending school for a variety of unexplained events and  unjustified reasons. Remember, your child should be at school unless they are unwell or for a justified reason.
Overseas trips must be notified to me in advance. In most instances these are unjustified but I do need to record the details for the Ministry of Education.  

Children with more than 5 , 10 and 15 days of absence in each term are reported to the Ministry of Education regardless of the reason. You will receive a letter advising you of your child’s attendance. 

The Attendance Service will be involved when absences reach a certain level. This service is in place by the Ministry of Education to provide extra support beyond what the school can offer. They will access other agency support if necessary to help return your child’s attendance to regular levels. This is a proactive helpful service that supports families and the school.

New Entrant Open Day – Wednesday August 19 from 9am – 10.30am 
Please inform your neighbours, family and friends of this opportunity coming up where they can see the school in action, connect with our staff and be informed about our programmes and opportunities at West Gore School.

Have a great weekend and stay warm.

Nga mihi
Linda Fraser
Principal​

There are two policies that need to be reviewed this week. It is "Communicating with Parents and Whanau" and "Student Attendance". 

Please head over to School Docs and review these policies:

Communicating with Parents and Whānau
At West Gore School, effective communication between home and school is essential for supporting student learning, wellbeing, and safety. We encourage all parents and caregivers to review our Communicating with Parents and Whānau Policy on SchoolDocs to ensure they understand how the school shares information and how families can communicate with us effectively.

A key part of this policy is the importance of maintaining accurate and up-to-date contact information. Current phone numbers, email addresses, home addresses, and emergency contacts enable us to contact families promptly regarding student wellbeing, attendance, learning progress, emergencies, school events, and other important matters. In emergency situations, having correct contact details is particularly vital.

If any of your contact information has changed recently, please notify the school office as soon as possible. We also ask parents and caregivers to ensure any relevant care arrangements or court orders that may affect school communications are kept up to date.

Thank you for partnering with us to ensure clear, respectful, and effective communication for the benefit of all students. The policy can be accessed through our SchoolDocs website.

Please ensure that you have the West Gore School App installed on your phone.

Student Attendance
At West Gore School, regular attendance is essential for student learning, achievement, wellbeing, and maintaining strong connections with school life. We encourage all parents and caregivers to review our Student Attendance Policy on SchoolDocs to ensure they understand both the school's processes and their responsibilities.

It is important to note that under the Education and Training Act 2020, parents and guardians have a legal responsibility to ensure their child attends school every day that the school is open, unless there is a valid reason for absence. Families are also required to notify the school as soon as possible if their child will be absent or late and provide a reason for the absence.

Our school closely monitors attendance and works alongside students and families to address any barriers that may affect regular attendance. Strong attendance habits support academic success, social development, and student wellbeing.

If your child is experiencing difficulties that may impact their attendance, we encourage you to contact the school early so we can work together to provide support.

Thank you for partnering with us to ensure every student has the best opportunity to learn, grow, and succeed. The policy is available for review through our SchoolDocs website.

Kia Ora Everyone,
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It was my happy duty to welcome new students to our Kura at the start of Term 2. I have been fortunate to attend three
Mihi Whakatau gatherings at school since I became a Board member and it is a pleasure every time. The participation
of our entire student body, our Kapa Haka group, our teaching staff and our Principal make every occasion such as this
something our entire school community can be very proud of.

I am very pleased to inform you that Board Parent Representative Sonya Stewart has been appointed Deputy Presiding Member of our Board of Trustees. This an important role in actioning Board business as well as working alongside our Principal.

The Board is grateful for the engagement of our parent community with the new Attendance Management Plan set out
by the Ministry Of Education. There is ongoing and consistent Ministry oversight and follow up of our actions around
our management of student attendance. We appreciate your ongoing support and attention to this very much.

With the start of a new Term the School Policies and Procedures team reviews current school policies on a number of
topics. We really want as much participation in this as we can get from our School Community.
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To review a policy just go to the school app, select ‘Links’- School Docs. Depending on your device you can type in our
school name or select from the drop box.
User name- westgore
Password- wiggie

Policies for review will be highlighted. You can select which one you wish to review. Once you have read the topic you
can select the blue button ‘Start Your Review”.

We appreciate your input very much so over the term if you have a spare five minutes do have a look. All of the school
policies are in place for the well-being and safety of everyone at West Gore School.
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Nga Mihi
Susan Hasselman
Board Of Trustees

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.
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Til next time,
Ngā Mihi,
Susan Hasselman
Presiding Member