  Dear Parents / Whanau, We are enjoying the connection with you, our community. Community partnership is at the heart of great education. When you, our parents actively support your children’s learning journey, our children develop confidence, resilience and the skills needed to thrive. We have had several opportunities to connect with you recently which we have loved. Eastern Cross Country was held yesterday where our team performed so well with two children now representing us at Southland next week. Congratulations to Lachie & Ollie. Our Busking was such a fun event with our children believing they were super stars on the street singing their hearts out to a large crowd. Thank you for making our children feel special and donating us $269.00 which we will spend on some musical instruments for next year. Thank you to all who sent back the Home and School sign up sheet. We are hoping this new system will allow more people to be involved in the way that suits your work and family needs. We will make contact later next week with families that are still to respond. Please send back early next week to still be in the Hot Chip and Grocery Voucher draw. We are planning our Cultural Festival for the end of this term. Information will be sent home today. This was an amazing event last year where we all learnt so much about each other. We are excited to share in further activities, kai and culture together. And … I hope you have all seen the brilliant advert for our School App that was posted on Facebook and our app last evening. It was enacted by our clever and creative Miss Prattley, Laya, Issy and Izette. No excuses now to not have this App. Thank you for your support of our Teacher Only day on Tuesday. Teachers had a full day learning the new Maths curriculum while our Support Staff participated in professional development relevant to the work they do. Enjoy your weekend Nga mihi Linda Fraser Principal   Hello Everyone, Over the last weeks there have been so many activities West Gore students have been involved with. We have had the Cross Country, well done to those who placed in their Girls and Boys age groups. Special congratulations to Ollie, Lachie, Harry, Lachlan and Malachai who did a stellar job of representing West Gore School! At the Southland Festival of Dance our fabulous dancers took out First Place in the School’s section! Our dancers achieved recognition in several categories, well done everyone for that hard work and your fantastic efforts on the day. Keep dancing Katelynne, May, Issy, Izette, Willow, Isabella and Aaliyah. Pink shirt day was a valuable and engaging way for our tamariki to learn about and consider the effects and feelings associated with bullying. An ongoing awareness, especially at such a young age can change the lives of so many young people, now and into the future. Our students who participated in the busking last Thursday gave such a joyful performance that was so well received. Many parents came out and the positive vibe on the street that was full of parents watching their particular school groups was so good. To all of the students who took part in all of these activities, you did your school proud. The focus on learning at West Gore goes hand in hand with the collaboration, fellowship and team spirit that these fun activities promote. All of these really cool achievements are reported on our school app, check us out on Facebook too. Of course the success of all these endeavours rests in large part on the staff , community and parent helpers who offered their time, knowledge, experience and encouragement, our grateful thanks to you all. Also last Thursday our school acknowledged and offered thanks to our incredible Support Staff who are a constant and ever present strength not only in our school function but in the day to day experience of your children’s day at school. I was very happy to be there on behalf of the Board and to express our gratitude. At our Board meeting last week Principal Linda Fraser and Deputy Principal Rebekah Prattley updated the Board on the new curriculum reporting that will be coming into effect over the next months. The repeated adjustments to the curriculum over the last two and a half years have brought with them intense ongoing change. The staff have been spending valuable time with curriculum advisors from the Ministry of Education trialing new assessment procedures, identifying issues and preparing early to best serve the needs and requirements for our students. We are fortunate indeed to have such experience in our leadership team to guide staff through a large amount of change and the intense work required. We are in good hands and the Board appreciates this very much indeed. Susan Hasselman Presiding Member   This amazing group of children did West Gore School proud at the Eastern Cross Country yesterday. They all ran hard and gave it their best! Congratulations to Ollie and Lachie who will be going on to represent us at Southland Cross Country on 12th June 2026.  AGM - Thursday 11th June at 7pm in the staffroom Volunteer sign-up sheets went home yesterday. A massive thank you to everyone who has already stepped up to join a sub-committee or offered to be a general helper on event days. We truly appreciate your support! We Need You! If you haven’t sent your form back yet, our friendly office team will give you a quick call soon to check in. Joining a sub-committee is a fantastic way to help because these smaller groups work independently. This means fewer long meetings and more quality time back with your family! Committees to sign up for are: Heat Ups, Breakfast Club, Home and Garden Tour, Pizza Days, Disco, Sport Uniforms and Community Support.  Road Patrol – Supporting Student Safety Did you know that Road Patrol plays an important role in helping keep our students safe when travelling to and from school? We encourage all parents and caregivers to take a few minutes to review our Road Patrol Policy on SchoolDocs to learn more about how crossings are managed, the responsibilities of students and supervisors, and the safety procedures in place. The policy also highlights the important role that parent volunteers play in supporting the operation of Road Patrol. At present, we do not have enough volunteers to safely run the programme, meaning that Road Patrol has had to be scaled back, and not all crossings are always managed. If you are able to assist, even occasionally, we would love to hear from you. Together, we can help create a safer environment for all students travelling to and from school. If you can help with Road Patrol in the mornings at either Robertson or Kitchener Streets, please contact Anneke in the office.   Kia ora Parents / Whānau, There was lots of excitement and many duck shooting stories on Monday morning… we must have the best shooters, so many ducks shot! Sounds like a fun weekend for many families. Southland Festival of Dance We are excited that twenty four students will compete in the schools section of the dance competition in Gore on Saturday. We are very grateful for Rachel Wilson and Jysse Prattley who have donated their time to teach our children their dances. We had our own show yesterday and we loved seeing the flair and skill of our dances after just 7 weeks. The festival is on at the Gore T&C on Saturday, starting 9.30 am. The dance crew would love you support. Thank you to Rachel and Jysse for offering this wonderful opportunity to our students.
Attendance We are delighted to see a significant shift in our attendance in term 1. 82% of our students attended regularly compared with 67% in term 1 last year. We had 95% of our students arriving on time regularly. We appreciate your attention to ensuring your child is at school unless sick or other emergency /unavoidable situations. Lets keep a strong focus on this as there is room for improvement, especially unjustified absences at 26%. Ministry of Education statistics have recorded our absences for the following reasons: 56% Illness / Medical 5% To be followed up 26% Unjustified 2% Stood Down 10% Explained and Approved  Learning Through Play We are constantly reviewing and being upskilled by Longworth Education’s director Sarah Aiono, as to how to improve our learning experience for our students. Our senior school has introduced a stronger thematic approach under the umbrella, ‘Under One Sky’ which symbolises our cultural connection focus for this term. The modified approach provides more structure for those learners that need it while leaving options open for those that have ideas and creative thoughts they want to explore further. This will be showcased as part of our Cultural Festival at the end of the term. We wish all our mothers a wonderful day on Sunday. On this Mother’s Day, we honour the quiet strength, endless sacrifice, and unconditional love of mothers and mother figures. Their guidance shapes hearts, builds communities, and inspires the next generation every single day. Nga mihi Linda Fraser  Cross Country is happening on Friday the 22nd of May at Dolamore Park  We are excited to share that the Home and School committee is moving toward a more efficient way of working! To value everyone's time and reduce the number of formal meetings, we are restructuring into smaller, focused sub-committees for projects like the Home & Garden Tour, Uniforms, Pizza Days, Breakfast Club, Disco, Community Support, and Heat-ups. Each group will operate independently under a team leader who reports directly to the Presiding Member, allowing us to spend less time "around the table" and more time making things happen. We are also introducing online meetings as a flexible option for our busy volunteers. Our AGM will be held on 10 June, and we are currently seeking enthusiastic individuals to step into the vital roles of Presiding Member and Secretary. If you have the skills to help lead our school community in this new format, please get in touch with Anneke in the office. Keep an eye out for a notice coming home soon, which will provide a detailed description of each sub-committee and what each role entails. Families can expect a detailed information sheet coming home soon, which will include an opportunity to sign up for your preferred sub-committee. 
 Kia ora Parents / Caregivers, We loved seeing everyone back after the holiday break. It is certainly challenging times with the fuel situation creating added pressure for all families. Let’s hope we see some relief very soon. The Ministry of Education have assured us it is their priority to keep schools open even in the event of this potential fuel crisis worsening. Our school is heated with wood chips so a less direct effect than diesel radiators. I am sure we will always have enough fuel to stay warm. We are aware some families live a distance from school so we ask you to keep in contact if you require any assistance. ANZAC Service - Saturday 6.30am We are proud to have three of our senior students lay a wreath on our behalf on Saturday morning at the dawn parade. We have Ava, Katelynne and Laya representing us. This is an important day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand commemorating all who served and died in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations. We encourage families to attend in honour of those that fought and fall for us all. It is a moving, short ceremony held at dawn. Children who have attended in the past have enjoyed the ceremony and significance of the gathering. Maths Homework We hope you have enjoyed the new routine of the basic facts homework this week. We are very confident that the partnership with you will make a big difference for our students knowledge. If you are unsure about this or the process has been challenging for you and /or your child please talk with your child’s class teacher. Arrival and Departure from School Arrival at school: 8.30am The first bell will ring at this time Departure from School: 3.10pm The bell will ring at this time It is expected children will leave the school grounds as soon as they are dismissed from class at 3.00pm and be on their way by 3.10pm. If these times are challenging for you please speak with Anneke in the office. Enjoy your long weekend and we look forward to seeing everyone back on Tuesday. Nga mihi Linda Fraser Principal     Dear Parents / Whanau, Well, term 1 is done! It has been a very short but very busy term. So many highlights with Year 6 Camp, Athletics - West Gore School, Eastern and Southland that so many of our tamariki did so well in; Swimming and of course a solid term of learning. We are delighted with the progress so many of our students have made in their phonics, handwriting, writing, reading and mathematics during the term.
As you already know there have been so many changes with the Maths and English curriculum and our teaching staff are the real heroes. They have implemented so many changes over the last three terms. We are very proud of the progress so many of your children have made in these areas. Because of the demands of the new curriculum and the higher levels across the board for all students in NZ, many of our students have or are receiving extra support to bridge the gap for their year curriculum. Our Learning Support Coordinators are working very hard with our Teacher Aides to develop and deliver these programmes. We are proud of this work and the professional development providers working in our school are very complimentary of the focus and success of our students.  Fuel Crisis The Government has put out a 4 stepped plan. We are at step 1 currently with no restrictions. The Ministry of Education has said they have no intention for online/ home schooling at this time. It would be a very last resort to do this. The Ministry of Education is monitoring the situation and has advised if there is any dramatic change they would give us notice. Our Board of Trustees met last week and some key areas of focus were: 1. Approval of the Budget for 2026 2. Policy and Procedures , please see the School Doc information in the newsletter and review the policies. This is one way of being up to date on how things run in our school. It only takes a minute or two to review a policy and have your say. 3. Attendance - it is a legal requirement for us, under our Attendance Management Plan to follow up with you when your child has had 5, 10 or 15 days absence over the term. This is regardless of sickness or explained absences. We still have several children away for unjustified absences, ie going to town, recreational trips away, visiting friends, family etc. In New Zealand, school attendance is a legal requirement under the Education and Training Act 2020, and the Ministry of Education (MoE) is now monitoring every absence with unprecedented detail. Schools are strictly required to record and report "Response Activities" through their student management systems, which submit this data to the Ministry weekly. This means that for every absence, we have a legal responsibility to investigate and follow up with whānau. While we understand that illness occurs, medical certificates may be requested for extended or frequent absences to justify why a student is not in class. If your child is sick, of course they should be at home. We also do not want sick children in our classrooms. Remember why we are in this situation, Nationally, we have just over 50% of our school age students, Year 1 -13, attending school regularly. Let’s work together to get our West Gore children to school regularly.
After School Pick Up We would please ask you are prompt to school in the afternoon to collect your children. All children need to leave the grounds by the 3.10pm bell. If you are here with your children you are welcome to enjoy the grounds or your children may return with your guidance after they have been home.
Uniform The holidays is a great time to sort our uniforms. We have uniforms so many of you have kindly donated back to us so others can continue to wear. Come in and have a look and see if the size you require is available. We would love to receive any uniform pieces your children have grown out of. Please ensure your child is wearing the correct uniform. No Canterbury pants or shorts please. Navy socks Thank you for your support during this term. We hope you can enjoy some special time with your whanau over the holidays. The fuel situation may restrict travel but we have so many lovely playgrounds, pool, ice skating rink, Dolamore Park, Art gallery etc. in our own town. We will see you back on April 20th! Nga mihi Linda Fraser Principal   Dear Parents / Whanau, The term is racing by, with so many great activities /events already completed and many more to happen in the next 4 weeks of school. Teacher Only Day - this Monday March 9th SCHOOL CLOSED While we understand these days are a challenge for whanau, they are very necessary to ensure our teachers are keeping up to date with the ever changing landscape we are experiencing in our school. The Ministry of Education has granted two days for Maths development this year, the first on Monday and the second, Tuesday June 2nd , following on from King’s Birthday weekend.  Eastern Athletics - Tuesday 10th March We wish our large team of competitors all the very best for Tuesday. This is a great accomplishment to reach this level as the standards are very high.  Congratulations and the very best of luck for Tuesday. Children will report to Vanessa Bennett when they arrive at the grounds so they can be directed to their event. Our thanks to Sandi Pasco, our sports coordinator for her organisation of this event. 
Open Morning We had a wonderful morning welcoming our new and prospective families to West Gore School. Ms Flaus and Mrs Napier demonstrated parts of the programme and our new children loved meeting their buddies and joining in the programme. Our Open Mornings are held each term so our community can come and meet our staff, hear about our school and see the programme in action.   Dance Lessons & Festival We are very grateful to Rachel Ferguson for again offering weekly dance free lessons to our children for the next few weeks. These conclude with the Festival of Dance on Saturday May 10th. If you have missed this and would like your child to have this opportunity please email Anneke at [email protected] by Monday 3pm.  Year 6 Camp 16-18 March Year 6 students are very excited as camp looms very soon. This is always a highlight for our senior students with an added bonus of a night at the Museum this year…. so cool sleeping in a museum, especially after the Egyptian Mummy tour! Thank you to teachers & parents who have put in a huge amount of work to make it happen. Our thanks to parents for being available to accompany our children. We can't do this without your support and help.  Cultural Festival - rescheduled to end of term 2 We are now holding our Cultural Festival at the end of term 2, July 2nd This festival will now tie in with Matariki and will be a wonderful time to celebrate together.   Year 6 Graduation / School Break-Up
Monday 8 December Calvin Church – 6.00pm start (Students should arrive from 5.45pm when the doors open.) Our Graduation evening is a significant occasion where we come together to recognise and celebrate our Year 6 learners as they complete their time at West Gore. We warmly encourage all families to join us in honouring our leavers as a school community. Every child plays a part in the ceremony, and class awards are also presented. It is always a shame when students are absent and miss receiving their acknowledgements. The Choir has been practicing so we would love everyone to be present on the night. Meet the Teacher On Thursday students will be told who their class teacher is and will have a class visit with their teacher and classmates. They will be given their class and stationary lists for 2026. School Rumble Thursday 11 December, 2.00pm–3.00pm (Year 6 students will begin setting up from 1.30pm.) This is always a favourite event for our students. Our Year 6s can purchase a desk space for $5 and use it to sell homemade items or personal treasures to other students. Prices range from 10 cents to a maximum of $2 per item. While commercially produced goods are not included, items such as homemade headbands, books, toys, sweets, and drinks are welcome. Children may bring a few coins if they wish to buy something—around $2–$5 is usually plenty. A small wallet or purse and a bag for their purchases is helpful. Money will be kept safely by teachers during the morning. Each year, Year 6 students choose a charity to receive the proceeds from the $5 desk fee, while they keep any profit they make. It’s a wonderful chance to see their creativity and entrepreneurial spirit in action. Families are invited to come along and share in the excitement of this enjoyable afternoon. Final Assembly - Wednesday 10th December 2.15pm At this assembly we will be: > Farewelling Megan Johnstone , Sarah Cruickshank > Presenting Road Patrol Certificates < Presenting the Main Freight Duffy Book Award We would love to see lots of parents / whanau along for our final assembly for 2025. Final Day of Term A reminder that school finishes at 12.00pm on Friday 12 December. Please note that buses will not be running at midday, so families who use bus transport will need to arrange pick-ups. Start of School – 2026 School begins again on Wednesday 4 February 2026. School Uniforms If you have uniforms your child is finished with we would love if you donated them to school so we can on- sell them to others families. We charge a nominal fee as our aim is to ensure all families can access a uniform at a reasonable cost. Our school office will open late January so you are welcome to bring in uniforms and purchase at this time before school starts. Enjoy your weekend. Nga mihi Linda Fraser Principal  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  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  Weather Event It sounds like many of you have experienced some hardship as part of yesterday’s weather event. It is great to have most children at school as it gives them some normality and time for you to get on and sort things at home. We were greeted with lots of stories this morning and some children have gone on to do some expressive writing about their experiences and feelings. It is great for your children to talk about their feelings as it helps them process what has occurred. We have had two wonderful St Peters students come across the road to help load a trailer of branches etc. Thank you to Harrison & Josh. Thank you to our wonderful caretaker Brent, who was here early to clean up our grounds. He is just the best!  School Staff Strike Thank you to you all for your support for the school staff strike yesterday. We do appreciate the inconvenience of this. We are very determined that we want things to be better for your children in our New Zealand schools. The main areas requiring urgent support are: > Support for our children who require specialist help and extra support in their learning > Serious teacher shortage in all sectors. > A stop to major curriculum changes and expectations constantly changing for our learners Home & Garden Tour Planning is going well for our upcoming event on Sunday 2nd November. We are grateful to our school community for: > selling raffles cards (already $5K banked) If you still have a raffle card on the bench please return to school asap, sold or unsold. > Baking for next Friday or delivered on Saturday morning. You would have received a tray home on Wednesday so check school bags. If you could like another one please come to the office. > If you are able to help on Sunday morning please let Anneke know. This is a very special and successful event for us and we are always so grateful to our Home Owners who make this possible. Attendance Thank you to those of you that are making an effort to ensure your children are at school, unless they are sick. We are monitoring all absences and following up on unjustified absences so we have an understanding of your issues. Please contact Linda if you have a situation that requires your child to be off school.  Dolamore Park
Thank you to those of you that have supported our classes at Dolamore Park. The weather has not played the game fro all classes so we will let you know of when we can fit the cancelled visits in. Have a good long weekend and enjoy your day off on Monday (Labour Day). Ngā mihi nui, Linda Fraser Principal  Kia ora Parents / Whanau, The term is rapidly coming to a close. It has been a very busy and productive term with so many events and great learning happening in classes. Board of Trustees Last night our newly elected Board of Trustees members met for the first time together. It was great to welcome and do some team building with our team. Susan Hasselman, a previous presiding member has been co-opted to fulfil the role of presiding member for the next year. We are grateful to Susan for stepping into the role, in service to our school. We welcome back Zac Andrews, Monika Du Plessis, Jacqui Ruddenklau & Rebekah Prattley and are thrilled to have Sonya Stewart and Sam Srimanthula join our team. Your board does a huge amount of work, mostly behind the scenes, governing our school. It is an important role and successive people have contributed hugely to the success of West Gore School. Thank you to Shelley Lithgow & Torrone Smith We are very grateful and thank Torrone Smith and Shelley Lithgow for their outstanding work on our board over many years, both serving as presiding members during their tenure on the board. Shelley has given 9 years service to our board and Torrone 10 years. TJ and Shelley have been loyal and committed to the success of our school, providing continuity and careful committed governance to our school. TJ and Shelley are both hard workers and while their contribution has been in the governance of the school they have been tireless in their practical mahi they have contributed over many years. Thank you Shelley and Torrone for your significant contribution. Our school is a better place for your contribution. We Need Your Help Please?
We are in need of help with some straightforward tasks please. Heat Ups We require a parent to help put the heat ups in the pie warmer in the hall on a Wednesday morning at 9.00am and someone to collect them out and sort them into class tubs at 12.50pm. Both these tasks take approximately 20 mins. The children love this lunch option and we need some volunteers please to continue this next term. House and Garden Tour This is organised by our Home & School and is a very successful fundraiser for our school. We are working towards upgrading our Outdoor Play areas in our senior area. We have raised more than $15K each year and is a popular event community members look forward to. We need you to help us with a few jobs, labeling raffle cards, putting posters up around our local community businesses, attending a working bee on Oct 21st to prepare for the day, help on the day, Nov 2nd with registrations, distribution of goodie bags, making lunches for home owners etc. All these areas will have people who can lead but we require extra support to lighten the load for a few committee people doing a lot. Anneke will email a google form home today for you to commit to supporting one of these tasks. Thank you in anticipation of your support. Many hands make light work. Literacy We are delighted with the progress of many of our students in their writing this term. We have been supported by Rebekah Prattley, our literacy leader and Lauren Latimer a consultant who we have developed a great relationship with over time. Lynne Bell and Kay Stevens our Learning Support Coordinators are experts in this area as well so we have a strong team supporting your children. Handwriting is a focus area because it enables children to efficiently record their ideas. All children are working in exercise books that have half height lines and everyone has a pencil grip. This is necessary to ensure we are setting all our children up with good habits or we are now focusing on correcting some bad habits. Enjoy using our wonderful public library over the holidays to keep your children reading. Teachers in the Junior school will send books home over the holidays. Please talk to your child’s teacher if you have any specific questions. Road Crossings It is a great concern that we have several parents crossing with their children in close proximity to the crossings. We encourage you to use the crossings, whether they are patrolled or not. We have had several near misses and one day we won’t be so lucky. The safety of your children is paramount to us. Enjoy your weekend Nga mihi Linda Fraser |
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